Travel Review: Tour of Italy & Greece, Athens, Santorini, Crete, Sicily, Ragusa, Taormina, Knossos Palace, Akrotiri, Cooking Class

Overall the trip was excellent and went very smoothly.  We covered a lot in 12 days between parts of Sicily, Athens, Crete and Santorini.  We planned very far in advance and I am a seasoned traveler so I had done a lot of research and had a good idea of what I was looking for in the trip. I needed to narrow down choices, especially around what islands in Greece we should visit.  It isn't always easy to work with me as a travel arranger since I am very particular. 

I thought the travel company did a good job.  I would have given a 4.5 star rating f I could because there were times when I sent email messages or left phone messages and had to follow-up once or twice because the response time was slow.  When I did get responses they were usually complete and gave me what I needed.  I think the response time was slow because I had planned so far in advance and she was dealing with people traveling in the summer months when it was really busy.  For the most part, I think we received excellent guidance given the travel request I had originally submitted.  I had put down my budget as $5000-6000 per person for two of us and the first itinerary came in at over $8000 so I did a lot of research to bring the price down to our budget and still stay in hotels that were reasonable.  It is hard in Europe to find good hotels that have 2 beds for 2 single friends traveling together.  There were a couple hotels where I wish the room would have been bigger, and had I known, I may have chosen differently or upgraded the room.   The only other feedback I will add about the travel company that wasn't really a big deal was that I had asked for a half-day catamaran trip in Crete, since that was our only free day, and she was not able to find one.  The only thing offered was more of a traditional Greek boat but I had my mind set on a catamaran.  I ended up finding it myself via Trip Advisor and booked it on my own.  We also booked our own boat ride in Taormina based on the hotel's recommendation and it was a great way to see Taormina in Sicily.  I am glad we found out about it at the hotel and was able to reserve it for the next afternoon.  Our hotel in Taormina didn't realize we had prepaid the room so we took a little time to correct the situation.  They showed us the communication on the reservation and it could have been more clear but it worked out fine.

It was a very good call to book first class tickets on the Ferry between Crete and Santorini.  It was a pleasant way to travel.  I am glad our driver told us to pick up the tickets before we boarded because I thought the print out we were provided were enough.  It was a little hard to find our pickup driver in Santorini but you just had to be patient and look around away from the ferry.

All the flight arrangements and transfers were perfect and easy.  The tours that were set up were all very good and well-timed.  It was a good mix of touring and leisure time.  I found all the history fascinating and the scenery was beautiful.  We had tour guides that matched our interests.  Getting private drivers/transfers is the way to go!