Cruising around Greece is booming like never before
Things are hotting up in one of the world’s classic cruise destinations, with the number of cruise-passenger arrivals in Greece expected to reach 5.61 million this year, and 5.8 million in 2025.
Cruise visitors to Greece’s largest port Piraeus in Athens soared to 1.5 million in 2023, according to the Piraeus Port Authority. Ships arrivals are expected to climb to 1042 this year, up over a third from last year. The great majority will be homeported or based in Piraeus for the season.
Athens’ famed Acropolis.Credit: Greek National Tourism Organization
The boom is easy to understand. Greece is a culture-dense and scintillatingly beautiful destination with an indented coast and islands made for cruising. Ships sail into volcanic calderas, fortified medieval harbours and windmill-decked islands where visitors are presented with a storybook of Greek ruins, Byzantine chapels, Ottoman mansions and Venetian forts.
Until recently, though, Greece had issues with ageing port facilities, and lagged behind in developing new port destinations. Turkey seized the initiative in wooing cruise passengers, particularly with the opening of swanky Galataport cruise terminal in Istanbul in 2021.
But Greece has picked up fresh wind. It has expanded and improved cruise facilities at Piraeus, and in November 2023 officially opened a brand-new cruise terminal in northern city Thessaloniki which can handle 6000 passengers at a time. Another new terminal is projected for Souda.
Greece’s busiest cruise ports are Souda and Agios Nikolaos (both in Crete) and the islands of Santorini, Mykonos and Rhodes. With overcrowding on Greece’s tourism agenda, large cruise ships have been criticised for unloading thousands of passengers into these small destinations.
Cretan coast blues, near Chania.Credit: Greek National Tourism Organization
Yet a meeting of Greek government ministers in January said cruising, and the further development of Piraeus as a significant homeport, would remain a priority in a nation that relies on tourism dollars.
Greece thinks the solution is to improve port infrastructure and operations, and dilute overcrowding by promoting new destinations such as Thessaloniki, as well as extending the cruise season, which now runs between May and October and even into shoulder seasons beyond.
My advice for a Greek cruise would be to pick a small-ship company such as Azamara, Ponant, SeaDream, Windstar or Greek-owned Variety or Celestyal Cruises. If you want to island-hop like the sailors of old, Star Clippers has Cyclades cruises aboard a tall ship with four masts and 16 sails.
A Greece-intensive cruise rather than wider eastern Mediterranean journey takes you to big-name destinations but less crowded, very rewarding smaller ones too such as Naxos, Patmos, Hydra or under-the-radar Lesvos and Limnos. Seabourn has comprehensive 14-day Aegean sailings that take in destinations such as Skiathos, Spetses and (on the mainland) Kavala.
Azamara off Mykonos, Greece.
Only small ships can disembark or tender passengers in less-frequented destinations. Landscapes and cultural influences vary between islands, and you can unpeel layers of history and charm amid some of the Mediterranean’s most spectacular scenery.
EVERYONE ASKS
Are cruise ships accessible for people with a disability?
Many cruise ships are increasingly wheelchair accessible and, given you don’t have to constantly change hotel rooms every night, can provide a relatively easy way to travel.
Older and expedition cruise ships are less likely to be accessibility compliant, and parts of every ship will be inaccessible to wheelchairs. However, new ships are increasingly all-ability friendly, and nearly all have accessible cabins.
Check the accessibility page of cruise line websites; some have a dedicated information phone number.
You’re best off on large ships from companies such as Celebrity, Disney, Holland America, Norwegian, Princess and Royal Caribbean.
Those lines also have systems for the visually impaired. Holland America and Princess cater to the hearing impaired with text telephones and cabins fitted with visual or vibrating alarms and doorbells.
Cruise lines do not supply wheelchairs, so inquire about the dimensions of corridors, doorways and accessible shower areas. Avoid cruises with many tender ports, as tenders either can’t accommodate wheelchairs, or might not do so owing to sea conditions.
Cruise lines have little control over conditions on shore, although Celebrity Cruises has a strong emphasis on wheelchair-accessible excursions and coaches. Consider booking an independent tour with a specialist local company, or a wheelchair-adapted taxi.
STATISTIC
1.38
Cost in US billion dollars of Celebrity Cruises’ newest and largest ship, Celebrity Ascent, which set sail in December 2023.
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