Greek ferries

You have at least 3 different classes to choose from when you travel by ferries. These are first, second and tourist class. Most Island strollers are found on the tourist class.

The tourist class is nicknamed the "deck class", because you have to stay on deck during the travel. Luckily more and more ferries offer saloons also for this class, even with air condition. Still most people stay on deck due to practicality. Here you also find a mild breeze to cool you down and you a covered by a thin plastic ceiling to protect you from the sun. The ceiling also protects the passengers from rough sea. Under this roof the deck is filled with chairs/benches where the seating is relatively comfortable. Quite frequently this is a place for naps so try to be early on board to find yourself a good spot. It can be straining just to sit on the deck for many hours. The decks are usually quite dirty due to dust from the chimney and salt from the sea. This combination is guarantied to make spot on you clothes, shoes and luggage’s. A good advice is therefore to use clothes that you can you don’t mind become dirty or use clothes that already have some stains on them. Bring a cheap strand mattress that you can sit on or put your baggage on.

The toilettes on board are worth a page on their own but I will boil it down to the most important advises. First of all bring always your own toilette paper. After a while, the ferries always run short of it. At departure time in Athens, the ferry toilettes are usually nice and clean but this changes fast especially if the sea is a little rough….

Sometimes the crew closes the doors if its bad enough. This you can experience on trips back to Athens after many hours at sea and poor cleaning. So eat and drink conservatively but remember to be careful with dehydration. Due to the breeze you don’t feel the sweat as usual in hot weather, but you are loosing lots of body water. If you need to visit the toilette, try to do so during the early part of the journey.

Since 1995, most shipping companies have taken the issue of toilets quite seriously. The standard, especially the cleaning, is becoming better. During summer 1998, we even noticed that on certain ferries, the toilettes were cleaned once every hour. Therefore, the situation described in the first part of this chapter is fortunately not as common anymore.

Here I would like to add a new short paragraph, spring 2001. After the tragic ferry-accident last summer, it seems like most of the shipping companies have become more serious. On most ferries, all life vests have been renewed. The oldest ferries are taken out of service. The standard in general is becoming better and better, also when it comes to cleaning onboard. I can probably remove most of what is written about the ferries in the above paragraph, but would like to leave it for now as a memory of how it used to be (and may still be on some ferries).

As already said, eat and drink conservatively but remember the trips can be very long (from Athens; 5,5 hrs to Paros, 9-10 hrs to Santorini and 18-24 hrs to Rhodos). You can buy water, mineral water, beer, sandwiches, crackers and ice cream on board but it’s relatively expensive.

On board the ferries you can find many nice places to relax and take a sunbath. But remember to use a high sun screen factor, because due to the calm breeze you don’t feel the sun as you do on the beach.

As you probably already have figured out, the ferry trip can be straining but also exciting. You learn to know people and share your experiences with them. I myself have found new friends on these trips. Specially the night trips can produce memories that lasts for a very long time

Ferries are nice sleeping places if you are lucky to have plenty of space and a good bench. Here sleep to right Inge and Anne Grete and to left Ragnhild and Karoline.

The spring of 97 I received an e-mail from Tone in Sandnes (Norway) from where I pasted the following words:

This information is new to us. We have never tried a cabin believing it is very expensive. When travelling to Greece in the summer 97 we wanted to check the information Tone had given us. First of all the we found the time tables at the Airport close to the exit far left in the East Terminal. Here we found out that the first ferry for Naxos (our destination) was named "Super Naias" with departure time at 07:30 am (there was no bad tempered lady at the ticket office since the office was closed when we arrived at 04:30 am). Just outside the ticket office bus number 019 with departure time 05:00 am was waiting to take us straight to Piraeus. We went to the first travel agency we could find, and correct enough, the ferry was leaving at 07:30 am for Naxos. Tourist class tickets are priced at 4550 drachmas for adults and 2550 for children. Ticket price for the cheapest 4-bed indoor cabin w/shower and toilette was not more than 5300 drachmas pr bed. We right away decided to pay for one of these cabins. We paid for 4 beds and were allowed to occupy the cabin with 3 adults and 2 children. At 06:30 we had settled and fell immediately to sleep partly due to a long very long day in London the day before and partly due to a sleepless night at the plane. We slept for 6 hours and did not wake up until the ferry stopped at Paros, about 50 minutes from Naxos.

This catamaran (really huge one, has a car deck large enough for trucks) is on schedule between Piraeus and Paros/Naxos. We tried the connection between Paros - Naxos and Paros - Athens. On board, you get your own designated seat, similar to air flights. Travel distance to Athens was 3 hours.

Often it is not only the ferry trip itself that can be tiring , standing in line to buy the tickets can be a test of patience. Specially if its in the middle of the day, hot and the ferry is late (they seems to improve year by year).

On most islands some long shelters have been built to protect against the sun, but these are crowded with full madness appearing when the gates are opened. Then the word chaos can be used with people running in most directions, cars getting loaded on and off the ferry, even goats can be seen and the ship's crew shouting and blowing whistles. Despite the apparent mess, it seems to be quite effective because in a very short time the ferry leaves its port and is heading for it next destination. How the safety factors are dealt with I will not comment on. As already said, it all seems a little chaotic ( maybe because I am Norwegian living in a country with lot of land and a small population....) and this also apply to the life inside the boat. Here you have to use narrow and steep stairs to get to the sun deck. On your way up, everyone is stopped for a ticket control. Then it is important that you carry a backpack and have your hands free.

To many people the ferry trip itself can be stressful but try to relax. Bring something to read, also a walk/ disc man, talk to the other passengers, share good and bad memories and experiences and be sure to get food and drink.

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Thanks to Kjell Inge Gjesdal, Oslo for his translation into English!
Thanks to Grete Myklebust for the translation of the updating !
� Jan Bergtun, 1. January 1999	Updated, 09.24.2011
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