Late summer trip to Greece

[starvin marvin]

Planning a 6 week trip, hopefully leaving last week in Sept to spend 4 weeks in Greece. The difficulty I have is deciding which Italian port to leave from. The choices are Venice, Ancona, Brindisi or Bari, going to Patra, and its this with which I could use some advice.

 

We've travelled a few times in Italy, but only towing a caravan or fly drive holidays, but are familiar with the roads and driving styles. Route to Italy is pretty much sorted.

 

We are either going in our 6m Hymer or a replacement 6.8m Hymer, with a dog, any advice please?

[lennyhb]

We are thinking of a similar trip next year.

Have a look at Magbaz travel blog quite a lot of info on Greece & getting there.

I think now only the Venice route offers camping on board.

[starvin marvin]

lennyhb - 2014-07-15 1:17 PM

 

We are thinking of a similar trip next year.

Have a look at Magbaz travel blog quite a lot of info on Greece & getting there.

I think now only the Venice route offers camping on board.

 

Thanks for the reply, I personally find magbaztravels a tedious read, think its a bit like asking the time and the person tells you how a clock works, simply too much information.

 

With regard to camping on board, this should not be too much of an issue for Bari and Brindisi, however I don't know the journey times for the shorter crossings. Quite fancy the drive south. Just like to hear what others have done and their advice.

 

 

[lennyhb]

starvin marvin - 2014-07-15 3:28 PM

 

lennyhb - 2014-07-15 1:17 PM

 

We are thinking of a similar trip next year.

Have a look at Magbaz travel blog quite a lot of info on Greece & getting there.

I think now only the Venice route offers camping on board.

 

Thanks for the reply, I personally find magbaztravels a tedious read, think its a bit like asking the time and the person tells you how a clock works, simply too much information.

 

Unfortunately your statement applies to most blogs but they can be useful if you can be bothered to wade through them to pick out the useful information.

[peejay]

Depends how much driving you want to do and how much you want to fork out on ferry crossings.

 

The Venice route is currently operated by Anek, a great crossing but their fuel surcharge this year on that route is €15 per person per stretch and €50 per camper per stretch so is not the most cost effective route to Greece this year.

 

Might be worth considering going from Ancona instead with either Minoan or Superfast for a more bearable cost.

Minoan also cross from Trieste on certain days as well via Ancona which is also cheaper than the Venice route.

 

Fuel surcharges for all the non Venice routes were around the €15 per person and €15 per camper per stretch last time I looked.

 

If you know your return date then its best to book your return route with the same operator if possible as you will then get a decent (around 30%) discount on the complete trip.

 

Anek and Superfast do 'camping on board' on their routes where you stay in your m/home on deck but Minoan have an 'all inclusive' option instead with an inside cabin for the price of deck passage.

 

Never used the shorter crossings from Bari/Brindis before but you need to take into account the high fuel charges in Italy for that extra drive.

 

We've been across many times with all three operators on the long routes and tend to go for the Ancona route nowadays.

 

Just keep an eye on the dreaded fuel surcharges.

 

Pete

 

 

[Brian Kirby]

Bari is nearly 300 miles further south than Ancona, and Brindisi is a further 60 miles beyond Bari. Broadly, by the time you'd be boarding in Bari, the ferry from Ancona would be near, or in, Igoumenitsa.

 

We went in 2010 with Anek. They used to offer big discounts for return fares booked early, by which they meant before Easter. Ship was fine, and the open deck was also fine, with just campers and caravans carried. The trucks were on a different level. There was a bit of a scramble to get the electric connections - or more accurately the pole used to pull them down. Venice is, of course, shorter again, and would be a wonderful place to leave/arrive, but is a longer crossing. Not quite so much of a straight-line route as Ancona, though, via Verona, Modena and Bologna.

 

Not sure if all the ferries call at Igoumenitsa en-route to Patras, but Ancona did. This adds quite a bit of time to the crossing, so if anyone runs Bari - Patras direct it may be a bit quicker. However, you are on the Ancona - Igoumentisa - Patras ferry overnight, so you travel while you sleep.

 

I assume you are heading for the Peloponnese? If heading for northern or eastern Greece Igoumenitsa would be more direct.

 

Have a look at the reviews of the ferry companies, as the standard of accommodation seems to vary from time to time, and from line to line, and some seem to lag behind others. At the time we went there were some folk quite disattisfied with Minoan, although I have the impression they may have now merged with Anek. The only area on the Anek ferry we used where I thought the standard was inadequate wes the toilet/washroom on the open deck. Very knocked about, and less than clean. No worse than some of the campsites we found, but definitely below the standard of the rest of the ship which was very good, including the restaurant.

 

Also, double check when the camping on board options end, as it is basically a summer only offer.

[Minstrel]

We did Ancona to Patras with Minoan this year,  The cabins were comfortable, food on board good. Yes, not enough hook-ups but splitters helped more people to get hook-up.  It's really only for the fridge.  I'm glad we couldn't camp on board as it's not on deck with a lovely view.  Cars lorries and campers were all on the same deck.

Though the journey was fine, it's put me right off taking a real cruise.  We felt too confined on the ship with nowhere much to walk.  Entertainment isn't our thing either.

[rubberrat]

Interesting to see comment above about Minoan. We always preferred Minoan as they were better equipped for camping on board - enough hookups etc as ANEK are dreadful.

If Minoan are getting as bad then you may as well just go for the cheapest crossing.

 

We did Venice to Patras earlier and as usual ANEK experience was grim. You don't expect a lot, just power (you are stuffed without it as can't use gas on board) and access to the toilets and showers, but there was not enough hookup and they kept locking the door to the toilets on the deck even after I dragged the purser down there quite forcibly to make him deal with it.

 

we had a refrigerated articulated lorry on one side running the automatic chiller compressor every 20 minutes and a small refrigerated 3 tonne van the other who kept coming down and running his vehicle engine every hour as his hook up didn't work and he had chilled medicines on board.

The Carbon Monoxide build up caught the throat and made eyes water and woke us from sleep twice choking!

The ANEK ships are just freight transport and the staff treat everyone as an inconvenience.