Lots of positives but very overpriced and overcrowded! I want to start by thanking the staff who worked on the cruise, and the lovely lady who picked us up and dropped us off at our hotel! I can’t fault the staff at all - everyone was polite, friendly and couldn’t do enough for us.
There are loads of positives to this trip: the food on board provided at lunch time was really good, the islands themselves are gorgeous, the staff are wonderful (especially one man I didn’t get the name of but who went above and beyond to make sure we had a great time!), the toilets on board were clean (but busy), and drinks pours were generous when we did buy a drink.
I do think however that the trip is very, VERY overpriced for what it is. We weren’t expecting a private boat of course, but to turn up and be on a ferry with 550 people, each paying over £100, and there not be enough chairs for everyone was a little disappointing! Due to the sheer numbers of people it also meant that embarking and disembarking was a real challenge and took a very long time, wasting at least 20 minutes of each stop herding everyone off. With half the amount of people it would have been worth every penny!
Not including a drink is a little poor too - I appreciate providing drinks for all of those people would add up, but not even a cheap bottle of water per person was disappointing, particularly as it’s an over 12-hour day in the heat, so for the price it would be good if water was included. I do appreciate that it does say beverages not included, and we planned accordingly and brought our own drinks, but with the amount of money the trip would’ve made I think a water on board would’ve been a nice touch.
The boat also set off late, I think probably because of the sheer number of people getting on. This meant the we had very little time on each island, less than an hour in one case, and adding on the time it took to get on and off we ended up rushing around each island, barely enough time to wander down the beachfront to get an ice cream or a drink. I appreciate that it’s a lot of travelling, but to have less than 3 hours on the islands in total was a real shame! I’m not sure how you’d rectify that as it is a long way to go, but if you’re wanting to spend any length of time on the islands I’d recommend a two-day trip if you can do it.
I cannot express enough how great the staff on board and Teresa, our pickup contact, were! I just feel disappointed at the lack of value for money really. I think €75/€80 would have been a fairer price for what it was. The food was good, and Hydra was a particular highlight, but if the tickets had been capped at a smaller number of people or if drinks were included it would have made it a lot more of a pleasant (but still long!) day.
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