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East Mediterranean And Greece Cruise Tips And Watch Outs. 9 Must-Knows Before Cruising.
Jan 28, 2025
Discover 9 things you absolutely need to know if you are considering or going on a cruise that includes Greece and the Greek Islands. The most popular cruising option is an Eastern Mediterranean cruise that travels between Venice and Athens, including some stops like Dubrovnik and Kotor. In the video I look at things like the best time to go, your options of itineraries, the islands and excursions you should ensure are on the itinerary you choose, things to watch out for and be ready for, the cruise lines to consider, what to pack and the best way to book a cruise that includes Greece and the islands.
Note: I travelled as a guest of Titan Travel and Azamara Cruises before making this video
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Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
ha and gay beverage and this is another
0:02
of my tips for travelers in this episode
0:04
we're going to learn about cruising
0:06
Greece and the Greek islands and I'm
0:08
going to share with you 9 tips to make
0:09
the most of any cruise vacation around
0:12
this magnificent part of the world first
0:15
of all why on earth should you actually
0:17
go it has something for pretty much
0:19
everybody they are very beautiful and
0:22
all of the islands have unique
0:23
characters and stories and landscape
0:26
secondly they have magnificent beaches
0:28
some of the islands have some of the
0:29
best beaches in the world so if you're a
0:31
beach lover
0:32
you're gonna love cruising the Greek
0:33
islands thirdly if you're a history buff
0:36
like me you're gonna love Greece it's a
0:38
cradle of civilization both on the
0:40
mainland stops and on the islands you're
0:42
gonna come across some magnificent
0:44
historical and archaeological sites for
0:46
tea if you're in just shopping
0:47
there's remarkable amounts of local
0:50
produce like olive oil and different
0:53
foods that you can buy but also there's
0:54
a great range of crafts so when is the
0:57
best time to go so the season really
0:59
runs from May to late October July and
1:03
August are the most popular times the
1:04
islands and Greece can be absolutely
1:06
packed and also it can be very very hot
1:09
with temperatures up to the late 30s
1:11
Celsius over a hundred degrees
1:13
Fahrenheit in my view the best times to
1:15
go are actually in June and September or
1:18
into early October it's before and after
1:20
the real madness of the season but
1:22
everything's open the weather's feel
1:24
great my third tip is around what is the
1:26
best itinerary there are three broad
1:28
types of itineraries the first of these
1:30
is the eastern Mediterranean many of
1:33
them start in either Venice or Leicester
1:35
on Athens and that often cruise down to
1:37
Greece or from Greece stopping and also
1:39
some places along the Adriatic like the
1:41
prof Nick called our corner places like
1:43
KOTOR in Montenegro they then also
1:45
include of course a number of stops at
1:47
some mainland parts of Greece and on a
1:49
number of the islands they do tend to
1:51
focus on the bigger and more popular
1:53
islands the second cruise you can choose
1:55
is a Greek islands only cruise now these
1:57
tend to be operated by Greek owned
1:59
cruise lines actually much smaller ships
2:01
and they will just go around a number of
2:04
islands the third type of cruise which
2:06
used to be very big is much less big now
2:09
because of lots of the issues with
2:11
Turkey but they used to be combined
2:12
Greece and
2:13
turkey cruisers and many of these would
2:15
then include a couple of stops at the
2:17
Greek islands and go to some of the key
2:18
sites in Turkey also some of the
2:20
cruisers would then go on to places like
2:22
Israel however there's much less cruise
2:25
lines that do this itinerary now because
2:27
of many of the issues at certainly the
2:28
time of recording with Turkey personally
2:31
I really like the eastern Mediterranean
2:33
or the Adriatic cruise because you get
2:35
great chance to see some of the parts of
2:37
the Adriatic like Montenegro and Serbia
2:40
but you also get to spend time in the
2:43
Greek islands and of course you see the
2:44
two iconic cities of Venice which is
2:46
magnificent City and Athens which is
2:48
another magnificent city many of the
2:51
cruises will focus on the big island so
2:53
they're just kind of things like McCann
2:54
asked Santorini and perhaps Crete look
2:57
at itineraries and cruises that include
2:59
the following these are for me the
3:00
must-see places to go Santorini is a
3:03
real must on an itinerary the area of
3:06
Santorini is really created by massive
3:08
volcanic activity so it's not a big
3:10
caldera as you have big 300 meter high
3:12
cliffs and the town's perched on top of
3:15
the cliffs secondly of course you want
3:17
to go to Mykonos it was very trendy and
3:19
very hip in the 70s and 80s after a
3:21
period of decline it's really back in
3:23
vogue also very important are visiting
3:25
places with huge historical significance
3:27
obviously Athens so make sure if you're
3:30
embarking or disembarking your cruise in
3:32
Athens that you do spend time in Athens
3:33
and go visit the Acropolis which is on a
3:36
big outcrop overlooking the city and
3:38
also make sure you go and visit the new
3:40
acropolis museum and also make sure that
3:42
you are going to cut a colon on your
3:44
cruise and head out to olympia which is
3:47
the side with the original Impa cannes
3:48
were held and still has a link to the
3:51
olympic games of today because the flame
3:54
is created there for each of the Olympic
3:57
Games I recommend that you ensure that
3:59
creatures on your itinerary and you'll
4:01
head out to the incredible Palace of
4:04
Colossus this was the centre of the
4:06
Minoan culture and of course is famous
4:09
for the Minotaur which allegedly lived
4:11
underneath it in the labyrinth which is
4:13
a half-man half-beast other key places
4:16
to go and visit is Patmos it's a very
4:18
beautiful island not many cruises go
4:20
there you have the Monastery of Saint
4:22
John then you have the famous cave where
4:24
Jesus appeared to John and
4:26
encouraged him to write the Book of
4:28
Revelations which is the last book in
4:30
the New Testament
4:31
another great island which I recommend
4:33
you look for on the itinerary is called
4:35
Gideon this is a very small island and
4:37
it has a beautiful little town and also
4:40
you can head out to the Nevada caves and
4:43
go on a boat trip which lasts about half
4:45
an hour weaving your way through this
4:47
magnificent complex another island which
4:50
a lot of cruisers will call on is Corfu
4:53
Corfu is great more if you want to go
4:54
and have a beach type of scene so those
4:57
are my tips around the places and
4:59
islands to look for make sure that you
5:01
don't just go to the obvious islands and
5:04
the jetty really does include some of
5:05
those more unusual places so look at the
5:08
itinerary and places you want to go to
5:09
first and then decide the cruise line
5:11
now the good news is that pretty much
5:13
every major Cruise Line visits Greece
5:16
either for the whole season also any
5:18
part in the season so probably any
5:19
cruise line that you want to cruise it
5:21
is probably going to go to Greece and
5:22
the Greek islands at some point during
5:24
the year
5:25
first of all you could choose to go on
5:27
one of the major cruise lines which
5:29
operate bigger ships and you'll find
5:30
they all go there so whether it's
5:31
Princess Holland America celebrity Royal
5:34
Caribbean Norwegian all those cruise
5:36
lines will include Greece at some point
5:39
during the year so if you like to go on
5:40
a ship with lots of facilities then
5:43
definitely do that however bear in mind
5:45
you can be on a ship with lots of people
5:46
so some of these islands are quite small
5:48
and can get really packed and really
5:50
busy with the big ships in secondly
5:52
which is my personal preference is to go
5:54
on a smaller ship Cruise Line so for
5:58
example when my most recent cruise
6:00
around the Greek islands was with
6:02
Azamara Club cruises but I've also done
6:04
it with Windstar Cruises so on cruise
6:06
lines which have much smaller ships
6:08
advantage of those is they're much more
6:10
likely to go to some of those smaller
6:12
and out-of-the-way places because they
6:14
have a much smaller ships the third
6:16
thing you can do if you wanted a real
6:17
Greek experience is to go with one of
6:19
the Greek cruise lines
6:21
so for example the celestial cruises
6:23
which does lots of Greece and Turkey
6:25
cruises and there's another cruise line
6:27
called variety which are much smaller
6:29
ships and they'll do much more going
6:31
around just the Greek islands as I've
6:33
spoken about earlier my next step is
6:35
around what to do once you get to the
6:36
islands the simplest thing to do of
6:38
course is to do excursions with
6:39
or cruise line the advantage of that is
6:41
that cruise lines always guarantee if
6:44
their own excursions are delayed the
6:46
ship will wait for you the second thing
6:48
you do is go through independent
6:50
providers which will offer very similar
6:51
toss often for a lower cost the other
6:54
thing which I like to do is self touring
6:56
you'll find many Cruise Lines will offer
6:57
lots of resources hope example on the
7:00
Azamara cruise there is on they gave us
7:01
talks they give us port guides and also
7:04
someone from the tourist board would
7:06
come on board the ship when it docked
7:07
and provide maps and other advice most
7:11
of the islands that you call on will
7:12
have either a hop-on hop-off bus tour
7:14
which will normally leave from the port
7:16
or some of them will also have for
7:18
example in Santorini there was a boat
7:20
service and that will shuttle you to
7:22
other parts of the island certainly when
7:25
you get off and all of the islands
7:26
you'll find other taxis or providers
7:28
they are ready to provide independent
7:30
touring so my next tip is around things
7:33
to watch out for and be aware of four
7:35
things I really want to draw to your
7:36
attention
7:37
first of all bear in mind it can get
7:39
really really hot so if you're going in
7:40
the peak times of July and August
7:43
especially Baramati will get very very
7:45
hot and sticky so make sure that you
7:47
come prepared for that make sure you've
7:48
got sunscreen hats and lots of water the
7:52
second thing is be ready for crowds in
7:55
the peak season it's manically busy but
7:57
even in the offseason places can be very
7:59
busy so one of things I recommend you do
8:01
is if you want to go to the big famous
8:02
sites whether it's olimpio or personal
8:04
Colossus is try and plan your day to get
8:06
there really early so you miss that kind
8:08
of peak around midday time the third
8:10
thing is be ready to use tenders so many
8:13
of the ships will have to dock not on
8:15
land that have to dock out in the
8:17
harbour and use the tender boats very
8:19
much you'd like to have a lot of
8:20
tendering so one of the advantages again
8:22
of booking a cruise line excursion is
8:24
often they'll give you priority on the
8:26
tenders the fourth thing to bear in mind
8:28
is of course you're in Greece and Greek
8:31
is going to be spoken everywhere but
8:32
you'll find all of the destinations you
8:33
go to in the islands they are used to
8:36
speaking English so actually do pack
8:38
well obviously you've got your euros Sun
8:40
Hat and ready for the heat pheromone you
8:43
need to make sure that you've taken into
8:44
account the dress code of your
8:46
particular Cruise Line two other really
8:48
important things love the archeological
8:50
sites that you visit have
8:52
even and rough surfaces so make sure
8:55
that you've got the right sort of
8:56
footwear so good comfortable solid
8:58
footwear and also if you are planning to
8:59
go to some of the religious sites there
9:01
for example you might want to go into
9:02
some of the churches they are going to
9:04
be Greek Orthodox or fairly conservative
9:06
so you have to make sure the things like
9:07
your shoulders are covered and things
9:09
like your knees except are covered so
9:11
what is the best and easiest way to book
9:13
a Greek island cruise there's three key
9:16
ways you can do it the first which is by
9:18
far the simplest and easiest is to buy a
9:20
package so for example on my cruise I
9:23
went with a company called titan travel
9:25
and they did a package which included
9:28
some pre stay at the lakes in Italy a
9:32
transfer to Venice we they were on the
9:34
cruise at the end of the cruise who have
9:35
met and had some touring around Athens
9:37
they also included a door-to-door
9:39
service so they picked me up at home
9:41
took me to the airport once we got back
9:43
from our trip we were then had a
9:46
transfer back home the second thing you
9:48
could do if you want a more tailored
9:49
package is obviously talk to a cruise
9:51
agent and they could then put together a
9:53
package which may include some pre and
9:55
post days the third of course is you can
9:57
just go directly to the cruise lines and
9:58
just book the cruise certainly the
10:00
simplest easiest way is buying a package
10:02
of cruise in Greece and the Greek
10:04
islands it's magnificent there's lots of
10:06
different ways that you can cruise it I
10:08
personally really like the Adriatic
10:10
combination where you sign in Venice or
10:12
Athens because it gives you a chance to
10:14
see the Greek islands plus some of those
10:16
magnificent places like a Couture and
10:18
Dubrovnik
10:20
I also like going in a smaller ship so
10:23
it makes sure this gets me to lots of
10:24
those iconic and really important places
10:26
and not just the big regular places and
10:29
you'll find you have a much more varied
10:31
cruising experience there are lots of
10:33
things to do with your beach lover
10:35
history lover somebody like shopping
10:37
you're gonna find lots of things to do
10:39
and it really is magnificent I hope you
10:42
found that helpful if you did I'd love
10:43
it if you watched many more of my tips
10:45
for travellers videos to help you make
10:47
much more of your travel time and money
10:51
[Music]
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[Applause]
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