This September 27, our trip plans are to travel from Paros to Athens. We had planned to go by air, however, this week when I went to book only to find there are no seats available. I guess I am a little surprised as I understood this to be a slower time of the season so thought 2 months ahead would be ample. I have now started to search out the options for ferry travel and have a few questions that I am sure people here will have some advice on.

The ferry bookings seem to offer a lot of classes. How/where does one find a description of these?

How far ahead should a person be booking ferry tickets? Are the schedules we see now, subject to change?

Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Thanks
Larry

The ferry is a much superior experience to flying - in terms of comfort, sights, enjoyment.
In my experience, 1st class was not expensive (less expensive than flying) and even offers one a private berth, but one has to ask for the latter.
I remember the ferry stopping at Mykononos and other islands before arriving at Piraeus. Takes a good part of the day - but consider it a one-day cruise.
All the stops are thrilling - the beauty of all the ports, the fluid chaos, the inherent excitement.

I used to book only a few days in advance, once I get to Athens, and that was in peak summer season. Others with more recent experience may want to comment on this.

The timetable, once I was able to find it, was reliable.

However, once we ran smack into the infamous meltemi wind, and even the sailors were sick. The big ferry was not exactly buffeted around, but there were some moments of balance upset issues...

Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned it. Worries about the weather are so futile. Weather happens. Besides, the meltemi is an August thing. Warren Beatty once said: jealousy is the seasickness of emotions; you think you're going to die, and others think it's funny.

There is an invaluable book called Greek Island hopping 17th by thomas cook publishing 2007, which gives up to date ferry timetables(with an option to access their website for updates)and it has lots of really valuable info about each port,inc the must see sights. www.greekislandhopping.com Obviously you need the 2007 version but it is widely available,from Amazon for example. Hope this helps.

We have taken a TON of ferries in the last few months, so you would think I would be an expert by now, but they are still a bit of a mystery.

We have not booked anything ahead more than a day and have had no problems what so ever in getting tickets.

I agree with Americana in Parigi, ferries are the way to go in Greece and will enrich your experience.We prefer the big ferries (and not the fast Cats which do not do so well over choppy seas and are more like airplanes and one can not get up and out into the fresh air).

Here is a good site for looking at Ferries:

http://www.openseas.gr/OPENSEAS/index_en.vm

A private cabin DOES make the ferry experience much nicer. Avoid the GA ferries if you can as they tend to be old. I think the Blue ferries go that route and are nice.

I think the schedules are alway subject to change and we have not taken one ferry that left on time.

We are traveling in peak season and not having any problem. I am not sure what it will be like in September but should be great time to be here.

Thank you for the replies. As it turns out, about 3 days after my initial posting, Olympic airlines all of a sudden showed availability that day so I have gone ahead and booked.

I will take a lot of the advice here to heart as we arrange a ferry for another leg of our trip (Santorini to Paros). We will get some of the enjoyment of the ferry/ocean views, as well, as we are planning to take the day tour from Paros to Delos and Mykonos (ship Alexander ??).

Thanks again.
Larry