Greece Wrap Up July 2019

BluesTraveler

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jul 23, 2015
We are sitting in the airport trying to get home after our ABD Greece trip, and I thought I would quickly post some thoughts while it is all still fresh in my mind. I won't do a full report. We traveled as a group of 6 - my parents, DH and me, and our boys ages 11 and 14.

This was a really, really good trip. We struggled with the decision of whether to do Greece through ABD or Nat Geo's family trip (which will no longer run after this summer). We liked Nat Geo's group size of 25, but liked the ABD itinerary better. I think we made the right choice. I thought the itinerary was very good (and I think it is a shame they are removing the Delphi day, because that was a highlight for us).

Our guides, Mark Chris and Mary, were outstanding. They really went above and beyond to take care of the group and to interact with the kids even during On Your Own time. My boys really enjoyed them. Mary's wealth of knowledge was unbelievable and she's such a good story teller. Mark Chris was super high energy and enthusiastic.

It's a very, very active itinerary, which we liked. A good balance of history/education and activity. This is one of the longer trips (9 nights) and we really felt like we saw quite a bit of Greece.

A few notes that are purely matters of personal preference, so take away what you will:

- A number of folks in our group were not into and/or not prepared for some of the more strenuous activities/hikes/walks. I think Disney actually under-sells how active this trip actually is (as opposed to some trips where they over-sell it, describing things that are nature walks as "hikes"). Disney provides so much "puffery" (I can't think of a better word) in its daily descriptions that you don't actually know what to be prepared for each day. This was not really an issue for us, as my family pretty much lives in athletic clothes and so we were prepared for every day. But sometimes folks would show up in a sundress and sandals for a day that really needed shorts and tennis shoes, and then I think were caught off guard. My advice to future adventurers is to plan for active and comfortable clothes every day. My advice to Disney is to be more real in the itinerary descriptions.

- This itinerary has more on your own meals than any other we've done. I thought that would be a drawback, but it ended up being really good. Every on your own meal was in a place where it was very easy to grab food, ranging from street food to fancy, and it was nice to have those opportunities to visit with just our family and choose a quick meal when our kids were tiring of the long group meals.

- Group size was 38. Unlike Iceland, it did not negatively impact things like meals, activities or bathrooms. Everything went smoothly logistics wise. However, we have decided we just don't want a group that big. We didn't get to know everyone - didn't even learn everyone's names since the list of names are not being provided! - and with a group that big it's hard for guides to really provide a personal touch. So for us, we have decided to take a break from ABD based just on this, but I know for many people group size is not an issue.

- Air conditioning was plentiful and powerful! I was prepared to be hot at night, but all of our rooms cooled off so much that I was actually chilly. The Athens hotel, which was new this year, was very, very nice. Santorini hotel rooms were the least comfortable in terms of rooms size and bedding, but they were still fine and you're only there 2 nights. Crete hotel is outstanding.

- Food was good. There were a few meals that were just OK as always happens, but on the whole we really enjoyed the food.

That's all I can think of. Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions.
 
Thank you so much! I've been eyeing the Greece ABD for years but haven't been sold. Unlike so many of y'all I like a muuuch slllooower pace when I'm on vacation this might not be the right trip for me.
 
Thanks for your report. Greece is still up there as one of my favorite ABDs. It really does have a nice mix of activities.

I just don't get people complaining about the bus time to get to such wonderful places (like Delphi). If you only go places nearby, what do you need a tour for? I think them losing Delphi is a really sad thing. I don't like all the internal flights on the China trip, but I would never complain about it to ABD, because the alternative is missing so many incredible sites or expanding it to a 3 week trip... Or the bus ride home on the last full day of the Iceland trip, because the alternative is no glacial river rafting. And that was an AMAZING activity! Sigh.

Sayhello
 
I have a couple more comments on this one -

- Credit cards are now taken just about everywhere. I know when @CaliforniaGirl09 went a few years ago that was not the case. We were able to use our credit cards even at little gyro stands on the street, so I was happy about that. We needed very little cash, other than tipping the guides (we tipped Mary, the Greek guide, in Euros rather than dollars).

- As we were talking about this trip at dinner last night, my family commented that as our 4th ABD, there were parts of it that felt a little formulaic. For some that may contribute to a feeling of familiarity trip to trip, for us we thought it felt a little stale (things like the bus ride games).

- There were a nice number of small surprises here and there throughout the week.

- Bathrooms can be a little squirrely although the guides did their best to get us to the cleanest ones. Always carry a pack of tissues with you, as frequently there was no available paper. We did have some squatty-potties every now and then (i.e., no seat on the toilet).

- The post-trip survey was much briefer than ones we've gotten in the past. Has anyone else noticed that? In the past we had the opportunity to provide more written comments at the end of the survey. Also in the past there has been a portion of the survey for my kids to fill out. Does not really matter, except that I was expecting that "additional feedback" block I've had before, and so I didn't include some details at the beginning of the survey I would have (and the survey would not allow me to go 'back'). That said, my only real complaint was group size, and I don't think that's a priority for ABD because they are clearly having no problem filling the big group trips.
 





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