Ferries in Greece
Jun 25th, 2022, 11:48 AM
#1
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Ferries in Greece
It's been many years since we were in Greece and we used a Greek travel agency based in Athens. This time booking on our own. Is ferries.gr a good online booking agency for ferries? Do online options for receiving tickets work well (actually, I should say "more or less flawlessly"---errors about ferries can be a disaster). Thanks in advance!!
Jun 25th, 2022, 10:46 PM
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Best places to book ferries online are the ferry companies own websites. Booking through a third party is asking for trouble, and you may pay a commission. I use openseas.gr and gtp.gr to search for ferry schedules, and to find out which ferries serve the route I plan to travel. Then go to the ferry company, eg Blue Star Ferries, Sea Jets to make the booking. Unless you are travelling in peak period, eg Greek Orthodox Easter or August it’s much easier to wait until you get to Greece and buy from a local agency. Some Greek ferry companies are beginning to issue E-tickets online, and that is a game changer.
The larger islands all have airports, and for those more distant from Athens, eg Crete and Rhodes, it’s better to book a flight with Aegean Airlines/Olympic Air or Sky Express. Why spend 8 or 9 hours on a ferry when a flight from Athens takes less than an hour? There are no inter-island flights, though, everything with one or two exceptions goes through Athens.
The larger islands all have airports, and for those more distant from Athens, eg Crete and Rhodes, it’s better to book a flight with Aegean Airlines/Olympic Air or Sky Express. Why spend 8 or 9 hours on a ferry when a flight from Athens takes less than an hour? There are no inter-island flights, though, everything with one or two exceptions goes through Athens.
Jun 26th, 2022, 01:02 AM
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Ferries gr is he booking platform of the Paeologos agency based at Heraklion and selling tickets since decades.
But as Heimdall says, in most cases it's easier to book in advance directy with the ferry company or to buy the tickets a few days ahead at any local ticket selling office.
But as Heimdall says, in most cases it's easier to book in advance directy with the ferry company or to buy the tickets a few days ahead at any local ticket selling office.
Jun 26th, 2022, 02:22 AM
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The problem with third parties occurs when you need to change your ferry booking, such as what happened to many people during the recent Covid pandemic, or the ferry is cancelled for some reason, eg weather or strikes. If you book directly with the ferry company and something happens you can go to the company’s online customer services. If the ferry is cancelled while you are in Greece you can go to any of its agencies in Athens or the islands for a refund and new tickets, or if you buy the tickets from a local agency go back to them.
Jun 26th, 2022, 08:36 AM
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THanks to vets Heimdall & Neckervd for calm & lucid explanation of best approach for planning ferrry trips ,... and also the flight option lincluding (importantly) the most reliable airlines .,.. in these tumultous times, go with reliability.
