Booked Athens Walking Tour. Took bus 843 from port entrance to Metro. Due to construction had to take bus, last half of trip into Athens. No problems. Met tour guide and walked through Plaka and up to top of Acropolis, a sight every tourist should see, and would not have missed it. But...a very hard climb for a overweight, out of shape, 63 year old with a artificial knee. Had planned on lunch in the Plaka, but after climb down decided to taxi back to ship. Bargained with Athens taxi driver, settled on 35 Euros back to ship. At port I gave driver two Twenties...Quick as a flash, the two twenties go behind front seat, and up comes a twenty and a five. He says common mistake fives look like twenties...I say BS, my wife says don't argue, so I give him another ten...35 euro ride cost 50. As far as I know, the only rip off of trip....And I knew about all the warnings about Athens Taxi drivers... Read Less

Piraus for Athens. It was a Greek National Day so a public holiday. Athens was very quiet. We looked at various sites and the went to the Acropolis-our guide was very dour but very enthusiastic but rather boring about ancient Greece.However been there now,done that,not impressed. Walked into Paxos nice shops and cafes. Again, next time would do own thing . Read Less

Athens in the sunshine is great...not so good in a monsoon! Be sure to get to the Acropolis first and beat the bus tours....I would suggest getting 4 people in a taxi for 20 euros.. well worth it! Athens traffic is always horrendous.... Go down to the Agora after the Acropolis, it is included in the admission price (12 euros) check out the temple there, it is very pretty. Go shopping and eating in the Plaka area, it's very pleasant esp when the streets don;t turn into rivers! Read Less

I would recommend the Acropolis tour to anyone! It was a long drive (not a walkable distance) to get from the port to anywhere you would want to visit and the tour guides did a good job talking about the various sites and city history along the way. The Acropolis was amazing! Had some free time after for lunch or shopping then back to the ship. Read Less

4th day Athens - this was whatI had been looking forward to and it met expectations. We again did our own thing (which they don't really give you much info on) and walked to the train station and for 1 euro bought a ticket to the Acropolis stop (tip when buying your ticket from the machines you need to select the ticket type first then put your money in - we tried about 5 machines til we figures this out. We only had 6 hours in Athens and this was just about right. Read Less

Two years ago, we rented an apartment in Athens and explored at depth. Then we hired, Takis,a local guide to take us to Delphi, An unbelievable tour. So now, we met Takis again and went to the Canal of Corinth, the old city of Corinth, to the seaside Napflo where we enjoyed wonderful Greek food. Along the way, Takis ,stopped at a local farm where we were offered an option of white, rose or red herculean wind from wooden vats. We purchased the red 2. liters for 3. euro On the way back to Athens, the highway had collapsed from rain. A state road had collapsed, very unusual. We were fortunate to be going in the oppisite direction Read Less

Athens is a very large city! Not so large as Istanbul, but definitely sprawled out into the countryside. There really aren't many tall modern buildings here, but that only makes the view of the Acropolis that much more spectacular. The tour we took here was "Taste of Athens". It was an alright tour for what it was; it was a bus tour around some of the major attractions of the city, but the main portion of the tour took us up to the Acropolis to see the Parthenon and one of the temples to Athena. The history of the buildings on the Acropolis was fascinating to me, but beware, that had to be one of the busiest if not THE busiest attraction we visited on the trip, second probably to the Sistine Chapel. Definitely worth the trek up though! You also get admission tickets to many of the other sights such as Hadrian's library and the Temple of Olympian Zeus etc. The tour overall was fairly short, which gave us about 4 hours of free time in Athens. We had lunch at a little restaurant where I had an authentic Greek salad with a BRICK of feta, I was so happy :) Read Less

Tour was arranged by fellow CC member. Guide was George, again very enthusiastic about his city. 55 Euros per person, plus lunch.Took us to see the Sunday AM changing of the Greek National guard (150 men plus a marching band) Very impressive.Saw major sites of Athens, the new Archaeological museum was great, as was the Olympic Stadium, Parthenon and Acropolis.Lunch was another a feast, we celebrated Paula's birthday again, this time with a "Happy Birtday" cake.(Yes, that was the spelling!) Port 7-Katakolon(Olympia) Greece-No need for transport, easy to walk from the dock to the small town of Katakolon, take a right, walk maybe 1/2 mile to the end of the town, where there's a train station. Get on the train, the conductor will come through and collect the money from you, I think it was less than 5 Euros per person round trip.45 min train ride each way, 3 trains a day, so plan carefully, we took the 8:30 AM train there and the 12:30 PM train back. Stay on train to the end of the line, which is Olympia. Get off train, cross over on walkway (there are signs)to go to the museum and ancient site, entrance was about 12 Euros per person.Ancient site is in more ruins than Pompeii or Ephesus, so you have to visualize. Port 8- Corfu- Day started off with thunderstorms and high winds, ship had hard time docking.Cleared up around 11 AM so took shuttle into old Corfu town, walked around. Somewhat underwhelmed, back on ship by 2 PM. Port 9-Dubrovnik, Croatia-What a beautiful city! Great weather. Very clean, stunning setting along the Adriatic Coast. Took Princess shuttle from port to town. Entrance fee to walk around the city walls, was definitely worth it for the views, took our time. Walked around shops, had lunch. Weather took a turn for the worse, so we took the shuttle back to the ship. Port 10- Last stop Venice. Clear skies as we sailed into port, don't miss it.Docked at noon, but cruise included nite on ship before next AM departure. Princess delivers a vaporetto pass for $15 to your cabin good for the first day only. We were there for 2 days, so returned pass for credit on our account. Walked from dock to transport hub, bought 36 hour vaporetto pass, took vaporetto to Murano, watched brief glass blowing demo, bought some small pieces, walked around Venice, back on ship for dinner. Departure day- Cool and rainy. Taxi from ship to Piazzale Roma, the main transport hub, left luggage for 4 Euro per bag. Met Diana from Venice with a Guide,(65 Euros per hour for up to 8 people) fellow CC'members and my nephew, who is studying in Torino, for a 2 hour walking tour of Venice in the rain. St. Mark's was slightly flooded, so the walkways were up.Walked and shopped, had a hot and filling lunch. Picked up our bags at Piazzale Roma. Took #5 bus to airport, cost included in vaporetto pass. I had asked bus driver to drop us off at our hotel,Courtyard by Marriott, right before airport stop, but he kept going so we caught the hotel shuttle back to the hotel. Marriott was clean, modern, with a free shuttle to the airport for our 6:20 AM flight home. We had a fabulous trip, experienced some of the greatest ancient and modern sites of the Western world, and made some great new friends on the ship. I can't wait to do it again. Australia-New Zealand in 2011!!! Read Less

Despite the Parthenon being enfolded in scaffolding, this is still one of the most wonderful cities in the world. And the new Archeological Museum (1 euro) is the bargain of the century. Read Less

Unfortunately, we were in Athens on Monday, and the new Acropolis Museum is closed on Monday. So, walked around the Plaka, which is mostly gift shops and taverns, but does have some interesting ruins. Had been here before, so we didn't climb to the Acropolis again, but the sight is always striking. Trip from Pireas into Athens is a pain, no matter how you do it. Took a cab for 20 euros each way. Cabbies always ask for more, but 20 euros should be maximum. Read Less

We wanted to go directly to the Jewish museum in Athens and our taxi driver unfortunately dropped us off at the wrong museum. We had to work to figure out the public transportation system but we did, and got to the museum. The Acropolis is amazing and the view of Athens was incredible. The Plaka was interesting to wonder. We did find a little shop with beautiful hand made table cloths. We bought one and will always think of Athens when we use it. Read Less

There is a metro from Piraeus to the Acropolis and other parts of Athens. Solstice only tell you about the bus and expensive taxis. Read Less

Very near city - walkable distance from the pier Read Less

Historical ruins that one should see at least once in a lifetime. Remember your walking shoes. Read Less

Beautiful port! Yachts galore! The views from the ship were spectacular. During our visit Dec 2009, civil unrest and demonstrations were by the port - we had to walk a long distance when we came back from the excursion due to closed streets. We have been to Athens before (Parthenon, etc...) Decided to visit the Corinth Canal and City with the ship shore excursions. Wonderful visit! Highly recommend the location to see! Read Less

Port of Piraeus is full of aggressive cabbies and loose dogs. We walked from the port a few blocks and took a city bus into Athens. a bit longer than the train, but scenic and we got off at Syntagma Square. Hop on buses are there. Walking to many sites is good from there. We took a bus to the Acropolis and loved our self guided walk, but guides are available there, too. We then walked down to Temple of Zeus. While waiting for a bus, 2 nicely dressed young men walked up and stood on each side of us. We quickly stepped back to observe them. They then walked away. We think they were attempting to steal from us. Athens is dirty,crowded, and intimidating, but to see the iconic ruins was worthwhile. Read Less

We took the bus then the train from the Piraeus to get to the Acropolis . We spent around two hours around the Parthenon and the other temples (Zeus and Dionysus)close to the area. We walked in the Plaka and came back by train to the ship. Departure was at 14h00. We would have stayed much longer in Athens. Read Less

Again, this tour was arranged by recommendations from the internet and turned out fantasic. Our guide took us to as many important sights as we had time to visit. We did the Acropolis, Prime Minister's house and the changing of the guards, Temple of Olympian Zesus, National Archaeological Museum, Tower of Winds, Athens Olympic Sport Complex. We had a wonderful lunch and some time to shop at Plaka. Read Less

Personally I did not like Athens. It was a huge city with not alot to see. The Ackropolis was very hard to climb up to. I did not realize before how strenuous it was going to be. I would not go back there because of the size of the city. Read Less

We scheduled a private excursion with Athenstaxi.com. and a private guide. The Parthenon was awesome. Ate in the placa. Had a great time. Read Less

This cruise ended in Athens that we had already visited on our first cruise (Costa Victoria). We used the time available to tour the city on the small touristic train and see parts of Athens that we would never have seen otherwise. This tour is quite inexpensive and lasts for 2 hours . Afterwards,we went to the Acropolis Museum,which is fairly new,very modern ,HUGE and a must if someone wants to understand the magnificence of the Parthenon. We could have spent 3 hours in there if hunger had not caught us ! We found a local restaurant very popular with the locals and surprise,we met Canadians coming from the same province and knowing some friends of ours. The following morning we took the Metro ($8) for the Athens Airport for our next cruise Read Less

Acropolis is terrif. New Parthenon Museum is an absolute must see. From Acropolis, walk down to Plaka and have a great lunch. Athens was a great surprise. Had heard some not great things but found it marvelous. Read Less

Athens shmathens. We opted to do Athens on our own and worked our way through the crowd of eager taxi drivers at the port where we found another couple from the ship willing to share a taxi to the Acropolis. The cost on the sign in the port for this is 12 to 15 Euros. The price we paid for 4 people was 20 Euros. The driver was nice, but did not speak much English. The Parthenon is impressive considering it was built thousands of years ago, but it was under a lot of construction and surrounded by scafolding. We were able to get a fantastic picture though where the construction is hidden. Don't be surprised to find friendly stray dogs on the Acropolis. The view of Athens from the Acropolis is fantastic and gives one an idea on the scale of the city - it is huge and smoggy. From the Acropolis we walked towards the Plaka and Syntagma Square. By this point on the cruise, we were sort of shopped out. We walked all around the Plaka and took the Metro back to Piraeus. There are two sections to the port, A and B, we were docked at B and the metro is it at A. After a bit of a walk we found the shuttle bus stop to take us to B. A most impressive part of this stop was the skill exerted by the captain or pilot of the ship in backing the huge Solstice out of the port. As a lifelong boater, I was impressed. Read Less

We ended up in Athens and caught our bus to the airport. But arriving so early allowed us to do a quick tour of Athens and some of its Historical Sites. Definitely a city to revisit in the future. Read Less

Except for the garbage collectors being on strike, this was a marvelous visit for not having been there before. Take the cruise-sponsored tour. Read Less