12 Things you Must Know Before Taking a Greek Islands Cruise!

If you’re planning to cruise to the Greek Islands, it’s important to know that this region is completely different to so many others that you can cruise to. The very fact that these ports of call are islands makes them fantastic options to visit by cruise ship, with the alternatives often being crowded ferries and over-priced hotels.

I’ve now taken multiple cruises to the Greek Islands, and I’ve learned over time that there are some things that I really wish I’d known before taking my first cruise here. In this post, I’m going to tell you about 12 of these things - that’s 12 things that I wish I’d known before cruising to the Greek Islands. Not only would knowing some of these things have saved me money, but they’d also have made my trip so much easier!

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Okay, lets get started on the first of the 12 things I wish I’d known before cruising to the Greek Islands…

1. It’s SO IMPORTANT to Book the Correct Greek Islands Cruise!

There are multiple options that you have available to you if you’re looking to visit the Greek Islands by cruise ship, and it’s important that you choose the one that’s going to best-suit you and your needs. First, there are cruises that will take you to only Greek Islands - these won’t call anywhere else. They’re good if you want island-intensive cruising, but are often not ideal if you want to explore further afield…

Next, there are cruises that will take you to one of the most famous Greek Islands, but then the cruise itinerary will focus elsewhere. This is where you’ll see a port of call like Santorini featured in the advertising for a particular cruise, but you’ll then realise that the cruise actually leaves the Greek Islands region right after calling here.

Finally, there are cruises that will visit multiple islands, and also combine your cruise with other places, too. I recently took a cruise that visited both Santorini and Mykonos, before heading to Turkey to visit the port of Kusadasi. Personally, this is probably my favourite type of Greek Islands cruise, as it gives you your dose of the islands but also offers you the variety of visiting some very ‘different’ places, too.

Choosing the right cruise is so important to ensure you don’t leave disappointed. For example, if you’re hoping to get a real feel for this region, you’re probably not going to do that by visiting a hugely tourist-focussed island for a few hours, and then heading off elsewhere. At the other end of the argument, if you want a cruise that offers lots of variety, you’ll likely get itchy feet on a Greek Islands-only itinerary! It’s a very individual consideration - focus on what you want to get out of your cruise, and choose the best fit!

It’s vital to ensure you’re booking the best type of cruise to suit your needs and wants!

2. When ‘in Port’, aim to Disembark Your Cruise Ship as Early as Possible!

Before you jump to any assumptions on this one, I’ll explain that I have three key reasons for offering this advice. Let me explain…

First, let’s talk about the topic of heat. These islands are in a part of the world that can get VERY warm, especially during the peak Summer season, which typically runs from around May to September. The last thing you need is to be exploring during the point of the day when the sun’s at its’ hottest - that’s when you want to be relaxing somewhere with an ice-filled Spritz in hand overlooking the coastline and enjoying the views that these islands are famous for, right?

Aim to wake up early when you’re visiting the Greek Islands by cruise ship in order to get a large chunk of your exploring done in the morning, prior to the heat of the day really building up.

It’s not just heat that you need to be aware of - the topic of crowds is also VERY relevant to the Greek Islands. Most of the ports that you’re going to visit with mainstream cruise lines are popular with both land tourists and ocean-going tourists, which can put a lot of pressure and strain on some areas. You’re going to stand a higher chance of not being ‘caught up’ in the crowds if you disembark your cruise ship earlier in the day. We’ll come back to avoiding the crowds a little later in this post…

Some parts of the islands, like the narrow streets of Oia on Santorini, don’t handle crowds well.

The third reason why you should aim to leave your ship early in the day is to appreciate how the island you’re visiting changes as the day goes on. For me, I’m always amazed at how the light changes throughout the day - I absolutely love to visit Fira (the town local to the cruise port in Santorini) in the morning, and then return in the evening - it’s often amazing how the whole town changes later in the day! If you’re anything like me, you’ll want to keep your camera to hand - you’ll notice the difference when you return home and start looking through your photos!

Even if you don’t want to leave your cruise ship early, you should aim to get up on the decks nice and early to see the light sweep over the island. Places like Santorini are interesting as they’re so elevated - you can be out on deck to watch the sun coming over the top of the cliff-faces, which is a pretty surreal feeling!

On my most recent cruise, I watched the sun rise over the cliff faces of Fira, Santorini.

3. Find Out if You’re Visiting any ‘Tender Ports’ ASAP!

If you’re new to cruising, then there are two types of cruise port. The first is where the port has a physical dock that a cruise ship is able to dock at. In this example, the ship will arrive at the port, set up their gangway, and then the passengers onboard will simply be able to walk ashore.

The other type of port is called a ‘tender port’, and its a little more complicated. This is where a cruise ship isn’t able to dock, and is therefore required to use smaller boats to essentially ferry passengers ashore. Tender ports exist for so many different reasons, but the most obvious reason in the case of the Greek Islands is that these islands are generally not capable of supporting large docks. Not all of the Greek Islands will be tender ports, but the obvious example is Santorini….

If you’re going to be calling at a ‘tender port’, find out your cruise line’s approach to the tender operation. If you need to book tickets for a tender boat in advance, set a reminder on your phone to do so as soon as they become available. Failure to do this could result in lengthy delays for you when trying to disembark the ship to explore the port!

Don’t worry - tendering from a cruise ship is straight forward, but doing some research before you arrive that day can help your day go much smoother!

Cruise ships off the coast of Santorini. Can you see the small boats that are being used as passenger ferries by each of the ships?

4. Plan to Avoid the Crowds!

Don’t worry - I’ve previously mentioned crowds so I’m not going to dwell on this point here. It’s really important that you try to avoid the crowds as best as you can when visiting some of the more popular Greek Islands. As you can see in the above image, some of these islands will allow multiple cruise ships to visit each day, which therefore brings thousands of tourists to the island all looking for the perfect selfie…

My general advice? If you’re hoping to explore independently, look at the excursions being offered by your cruise line. Where do they start and finish? Once you understand this, you can start to predict where some of the crowds from your ship will be - could you plan to do the opposite?

On each of my Santorini visits, I’ve completed the hike that goes between the towns of Fira and Oia. It’s my favourite thing to do on the island, and it allows me to see the place with so few tourists around. If you’d like to learn more about the hike, just click into my video from the first time I completed it - linked below!

5. Don’t Always Book Cruise Line Excursions - Consider Third-Party Operators!

When you cruise, you have the option to explore independently, or to book a shore excursion through your cruise line. The latter will mean that the cruise line’s tour operators will take you to see the sights of the port/wider area, and then guarantee that you’ll be returned to the ship at a certain time. Exploring independently means that you’re able to disembark at your leisure, and you’ll need to be back in time for ‘all aboard’ later that day.

When people start cruising, they often assume that cruise line excursions are the best way to see a port of call. Sure, they’re probably the easiest way, but you’ll likely pay a lot of money for the luxury of them taking you from the ship and returning you later in the day. Instead, I often use a third-party tour provider, which allows me to have very similar experiences to the ones being offered by the cruise lines, but at a fraction of the cost.

The provider that I’ve used in many ports of call is called ‘Viator’. All you need to do is pop your location and visit dates into their search bar, and you’ll be able to see a full list of what’s available to you while you’re in town. If you’d like to have a look for your future cruises, I’d really appreciate you clicking through to their site from my website. That way, you’ll never pay anything extra but I’ll earn a (very small) commission on your referral. To go to Viator’s site now, just click here or click the image below!

Viator is a great third-party provider of shore experiences. Click the image above to go to their website now!

6. Book Third-Party Tours BEFORE You Arrive in Port!

This one feels a little obvious, but I’m always amazed by the number of people who decide not to book their third-party tours before arrival, as they assume that they’ll get a much better deal when they arrive. Instead, they often find that they’re either charged extra as they’re fighting higher demand, or they’re unable to book onto the tours that they had hoped for as they’ve already sold out.

In my experience, it’s incredibly rare that tours will be discounted on any day that a cruise ship is in port. If you want to save money, then opt to reach your destination by public transport or on foot - don’t plan to secure a guide or a tour at a discounted rate when there’s a cruise ship full of tourists in town…!

7. When Leaving Your Cruise Ship, Ensure You’ve Packed EVERYTHING You’ll Need for the Day!

Okay, this one applies to every cruise you’re ever going to take - not just those visiting the Greek Islands. Cruise ports are generally very touristy places (go figure!), and as a result you’ll find that any items that a tourist will need to buy will likely be inflated in price.

Think about things like bottles of water, baseball caps, SPF sun protection, after sun, and just about everything else inbetween. If you’re likely to need something while you’re ashore, you really should plan to pack it into your day bag to take off of the ship with you.

I always recommend taking a backpack on your cruise with you - that way, you can carry what you need while keeping both hands free. This also makes it really quick and easy to pass through security at each port when you’re returning to the ship.

Remember… If you’re likely to need it ashore, take it in your backpack!

A backpack is such an important item when you cruise - it makes packing for your day ashore super easy, and is much better than most other types of bag!

8. Plan to Watch Your Cruise Ship Arriving into Port in the Morning, and also Leaving the Port in the Evening!

Some cruise ports aren’t worth writing home about - you really need to leave the ship and head into the city to appreciate the beauty of the place. The Greek Islands are, in my experience, not like this at all.

If you’re planning to visit any of the Greek Islands, I’d very strongly recommend that you set your alarm clock nice and early to head out onto the open decks (or onto your balcony, if you’re lucky enough to have one of them for your cruise) to watch the ship arriving. That way, you get to see the whole island wake up and come to life first-hand.

At the end of your day ashore, why not go and get ready for your evening meal onboard, but head out to the open decks with your favourite drink as the ship sets sail? That way, you get to watch the island disappear into the distance, as you reflect on the day that you’ve had.

Millions of people pay a small fortune to visit the Greek Islands on land holidays each year, and none of these people will get to experience this view. Get out on deck, and you might just see something that you’ll remember forever!

Watching your cruise ship leave the port will offer you a vantage point of the island that so few people will ever be able to see - enjoy it!

9. Understand Local Costs, and Always Check Menus BEFORE You Sit Down to Eat…

We’ve all heard the horror stories… Someone fancies a coffee on a Greek Island, they spot a lovely looking cafe with a view, and they sit down. What happens next is the frightening part - they enjoy their coffee, while soaking in the view, and are then met with an eye-watering bill at the end. Had that person checked the menu for pricing prior to sitting down, they would’ve been able to vote with their feet, but instead they’re trapped and will have to surrender their bank card to settle the bill.

This is such a simple one, but it’s so important in a region like the Greek Islands. Not all of these islands have the tendency to price inflate, but it’s good practice to double-check before you sit down anywhere. Put it this way - no restaurant or cafe owner will be offended when you ask to look at a menu, but they almost certainly will be when you argue about the prices after you’ve eaten there…

My basic ‘rule of thumb’ is that most restaurants and cafes on the Greek Islands will factor in, to a degree, a good view. If the venue you’re considering dining in has a show-stopper view, then you’re probably going to expect to be upcharged for this, versus somewhere a street or two behind. I don’t have a huge issue with this, but it’s crucial to keep this in mind to avoid any embarrassing (and expensive!) mistakes.

Found a restaurant or a cafe with a view? It’s always a good idea to check the prices before you relax…!

10. Check the Cruise Ship Schedules!

Are you hoping to experience the Greek Islands without thousands of cruise ship tourists joining you? Perhaps you’re considering booking a smaller ship in order to escape the crowds? Well, it’s great to cruise on a smaller ship to avoid onboard crowds, but failing to check the cruise schedules online could mean that your smaller ship arrives beside multiple larger ones in port, which means that you’ll be sharing that place with LOTS of other people.

It’s so easy to check provisional schedules online. Simply type your port of call into any search engine (I use Google) followed by the words ‘cruise ship schedule’. For example, if you’re looking to find out which cruise ships will be in Mykonos on the day of your visit, just search for ‘Mykonos cruise ship schedule’, and the search results should return what you’re looking for.

This advice also applies to things like embarkation ports - it can be really useful to understand how many ships will also be docked alongside yours when you join a ship, particularly if you’re hoping to use public transport or taxis to reach your ship. More ships being docked will inflate the demand, and so you’ll probably want to head to the port nice and early.

11. Think about WHEN you Want to Cruise the Greek Islands.

This one’s an interesting one, and it will depend largely on the type of experience you want to get from your cruise. Cruising during the Summer season, or the peak season, will usually offer you warm to hot islands bustling with tourists. There will be lots of cruise ships servicing the area over this part of the year, which can often result in lower average fares as there’s much greater levels of competition. The peak season for Greek Island cruising is typically between May and September, which coincides with the European Summer season.

Cruising off-peak, or throughout the rest of the year, can offer you a very different experience. The islands are much more likely to be quieter over the off-peak months, and temperatures should be a lot cooler. Some tourist-centric business may close over the quietest months of the year on some of the islands, but this is most likely to be things like hotels and accommodation providers. Restaurants and bars etc should remain open for the most part.

If you’re hoping to cruise during the off-peak season, you might need to look for alternative cruise lines to the large mainstream lines that you’ll see there over Summer. Look for the more ‘local’ cruise lines, like Celestyal Cruises, who offer Greek Island cruises year-round.

Lots of the mainstream cruise lines will only cruise here over the Summer months, so you might need to explore other options over the quieter periods of the year.

12. Be Realistic about What You Want to See and Do While Ashore.

I say this relatively often when speaking to people about cruising in Europe. Don’t get too excited when you start planning your day ashore by committing to every tourist attraction that the place has got to offer - you’re likely not going to have enough time to see it all.

Instead, why not choose some attractions and sights that you’d really like to see, alongside some time to relax in the sunshine? One of the biggest benefits to cruising a region like the Greek Islands is that you can use the experience as a ‘trial’ of each port of call. If you like it, why not return on a land holiday, which will allow you to see the place in more detail?

If you’re unsure how to start planning your ideal day ashore, I’d really recommend you start with some YouTube searching. Why not head to Youtube and search for Vlogs from creators who have visited your future ports of call? That way, you’ll start to get a feel for what is (and isn’t) realistic.

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Happy Cruising!