Travelling the Greek Islands by Ferries - A review of Golden Star and Blue Star ferries

Perhaps the most convenient way to travel between the islands of Greece is by the ferries.  It is a popular mode of transport for both locals and tourists alike. During our 8 days vacation in Greece, we used ferries from two companies for our island hop, the Blue Star Ferries and the Golden Star Ferries.

In this post, I will provide an account of our experience which might seem long but really just read it so you will be prepared for your own ferry trip.

Blue Star Ferries

From Athens (Piraeus) To Mykonos...

Departure time: 7.30 a.m.
Duration: 5 hours

We set sail aboard a huge ferry, the Blue Star Paros. I had booked the tickets almost a month in advance and it cost 41.50€ per pax. A little pricey I know but this is for the airplane type seat which is an optional add-on at 5€. There wasn't any early bird discounts at the time of booking.

Is seat booking necessary?

Will seats become unavailable during peak season if booking is done too last minute? I honestly don't think so for Blue Star ferries as they usually have huge capacity. If you are looking at the smaller ferries like the champion jets then seats could potentially run out.

So is it worth it to get the seat add-on? Well, I will give my opinion of that with proper justification. Read on...

Purchasing ticket online

After I purchased the tickets online, the system didn't provide me with a soft copy of the tickets nor do they use the e-ticket system. The tickets would have to be printed at one of the ticketing offices near the docks. Obviously, not the most ideal situation and made worse because we were late to the docks ourselves the day we were to set sail.

To make matters worse, the staff couldn’t locate our booking reservation! It was a good thing I printed out the payment confirmation page. Make sure you do that yourself, especially since they don't email you the tickets!!

The staff proceeded to randomly printing two tickets for us and urging us to run all the way to the ferry docking point. I mean, we were running late for the boarding so braced ourselves before running all the way to the dock with our huge luggage, heaving and panting, only to realise we had to join a long-ass queue for boarding. Either all these people were late like us or the ship itself started the boarding late. I am more convinced it was the latter.

Boarding

Once we got our tickets verified, we could choose to leave our luggage at the luggage storage site or take it up with us. We chose to take it up with us. The reason was simple. I had researched and read countless reviews. Sometimes random luggage goes missing or get stolen. We didn't want to take that chance. I will elaborate more on this when speaking about Golden Star Ferries.

As we were searching for our seats at the seating berth area, we realised we were given seats that were apart. Not wanting to sit apart (after all that was the whole reason why I had booked the tickets in advanced in the first place), I went to the customer service counter for help.

And then the seat hassle begins...

I was told to wait until the ship had set sail before they can help me. Ok fine, I understood - they probably won't know which seats were free until ALL the passengers boarded, which should be soon since the boarding time had long passed and the setting off time was fast approaching.

Except that it wasn't. It took almost an hour and a half before the ferry was on its way! Honestly it was the most frustrating wait I had ever had to endure!

Part of the frustration was because we had actually paid extra for the airplane-type seats and we had booked them way in advance, yet we had to sit in the common area (for which we didn’t have to pay extra for in the first place).

To make matters worse, when the staff finally found time to help with our request, the seats they allocated to us were already occupied by a sleeping man and his baggage!

Approaching the sleeping man, I asked if he had booked those seats and he replied "No" nonchalantly to my stupefied face. 

Apparently, this is a very common occurrence - people who don't pay for the airplane-type seats but occupy them anyway. OR people who bought the airplane-type seats but who are sitting on your seats and not their own. For this group of people, if you do ask them to move, they will just point out that someone else is occupying their seats. 

Overall, it's just so much easier to save all these trouble and find a couple of unoccupied seats for yourselves. Which made me question if it was really even necessary to buy the airplane type seats in the first place... 

As to the question of seat upgrade...

So should you upgrade your seat? If you ask me, it's NOT WORTH IT at all.

Food? Can be purchased aboard. Nothing spectacular to talk about, just edible.

In the end, the ferry was close to three hours late in getting us to Mykonos but then again, this isn't an uncommon state of affairs.

Golden Star Ferries

From Mykonos To Santorini...

Departure time: 10 a.m.
Duration: 4 hours

The Golden Star Ferry, Super Runner, is a smaller vessel compared to the Blue Star Paros. I had booked this ferry online as well but this was only done a few days in advanced. The price stood at 51€ per pax. Again, really pricey and no early bird discounts. I had been checking since a month before.

This Golden Star ferry didn't bother pretending it was concerned about a trifling thing like punctuality (unlike the Blue Star Paros, where at least there was some small show of the concept). Right from the onset, it was late. No signs of it at the docks during boarding time. I can't remember now how long we had waited for it to arrive, probably 45 minutes...

Boarding

Boarding was simple enough since it used the e-ticket system. One can just go right ahead to the docking bay and board. It makes so much more sense to buy the tickets online for Golden Star, unlike Blue Star where you might as well buy at the ticketing office.

Luggage Storage

We left our luggage at the luggage storage area and honestly throughout the entire journey, my mind was troubled if our belongings were going to be safe. There was hardly any security for the luggage at all! 

No one bothered with tags to make sure you take only your own belonging when disembarking. Plus the ferry had to made three other stops before Santorini. In those stops, anyone could have disembarked with your luggage but I guess that is not a major concern of the company.

If you are really concerned, make sure you bring your luggage with you to your seating area.

Again with the seats...

Here, we encountered a similar problem. People on our seats! Like I said, very common issue. This time we didn't bother asking anything. Just went to two unoccupied seats and plonked ourselves onto them.

The funny thing was that we were pretty sure that the people whose seats we were occupying were staring daggers at us at some point. Perhaps they got used to travelling by Greek ferries because they never bothered chasing us off.

And the journey ends

The trip continued uneventfully except for me praying for the safety of our luggage every time we reached a port of call.

The most surprising thing was that we reached Santorini on time. I guess the name of the ferry really fits.

So that's it. My experience of travelling by ferry in Greece. I guess just expect the worse and it should be fine. Nothing major will happen unless you are the few unlucky ones whose luggage gets stolen.

Some closing words

Always expect the ferries to be late. If you have a flight or appointment afterwards, give lots of leeway for delays because delays are common enough.

It is possible to travel to the islands by airplane. After all there are airports on a lot of the islands, like Mykonos and Santorini.

Oh and don't pay extra for a supposedly faster ferry that will get you to an island in half the time. *cough*  *champion jet*. All ferries take similar time to reach!

Hope you enjoy your Greece adventures! I certainly enjoyed mine!

**Did you have a similar encounter when you took the Greek ferry? Or any pressing questions if you are going on a trip soon? Do write me!