Hotel Delfini, Piraeus, Greece

After my fourth or fifth stay at the Hotel Delfini, at Piraeus, I decided it was high time I wrote a review of the establishment. Since I have stayed at the hotel on each of my three visits to Athens, you might assume it is a great hotel to spend a night or three at. While I won't say it isn't a nice hotel, it is far from the best hotel in Piraeus. I'm not even sure if it is the best of the bad hotels in Piraeus. Still, for €35.00/night there are surely worse places to stay while waiting for your ship to come in―which is exactly what I was doing, waiting for a ferry to take me to the island of Ikaria.

The Delfini has 51 rooms, two elevators, and a large guest lounge which doubles as a breakfast room, and internet café. A menu in each room offers a number of snack items that are apparently available for purchase, although I never ordered anything from the menu, so I can’t say how good any of these snacks might be. Also, I don’t know if menu items are made fresh on the premises, or if they are made to order and delivered via one of the numerous cafés close to the hotel.

Here’s what the hotel itself has to say about its facilities:

Hotel DELFINI and its staff promise a pleasant and enjoyable stay. Its comfortable rooms, which are furnished with great taste, and decorated with simplicity and worm [sic] colourings, guarantee absolute relaxation and peace. No matter how tired you might be, in our hotel you will find the calmness and the quietness you need. Our rooms are equipped with all modern amenities (Satellite TV, direct external telephone line etc).

I’m not too sure about the “worm” colourings, and since the “etc” at the end of that quote leaves a lot unsaid, let me elaborate further.

FACILITIES: The rooms at the Delfini tend to be small and cramped, and they all seem to have an overpowering smell of stale cigarette smoke clinging to the walls and furnishings. From my experience, asking for a non-smoking room makes no difference. All the rooms I have had cause to stay in reek heavily of smoke, and all are supplied with ashtrays.

Room 44 beds

Looking towards balcony

Furnishings are plain and functional. A couple of low single beds with cheap springy mattresses, a bar fridge and small analogue television, a plain wooden wardrobe, a couple of small bedside cabinets, and an even smaller table and that's about it.

Analog television

Bedside cabinet and bar fridge

Oh, my room had a phone as well, but inexplicably this was located high on a wall in the bathroom. It sat fixed precariously above the toilet bowl, and to this day I don't know if it worked or not. The shower alcove in room 44 was tiny, and I had to squeeze by the washbasin to reach it.

Phone high above toilet bowl and tiny shower alcove

Happily, room 44 was air conditioned which must be very handy during the height of summer. I did turn the unit in my room on, and it seemed to be working as designed.

At least the air-con unit is new and works

As previously noted, there are two small elevators to lift guests and their luggage to the higher floors, while the Internet cafe does double duty as the breakfast room.

WIFI: The hotel offers free WiFi although the higher your room, the poorer the WiFi reception. During this stay I was in room 44, which was on the sixth floor, and while I could log into the WiFi connection the strength of the signal was very low. Actually, to be honest I should have written "when I could log into the WiFi...," because I soon realized that WiFi at the Delfini was so slow and the connection so intermittent that it was all but useless and more than enough to try the patience of Job all over again. Even moving down to the lounge/breakfast room didn't make any real difference to the strength or quality of the WiFi connection.

Entrance and free-standing wardrobe.

BREAKFAST: For five euros (approx AUD$7.50), you can help yourself to a smorgasbord Continental Breakfast that may include eggs (hard-boiled or fried but not necessarily both); bread, sliced ham, cheese, tomato and cucumber; cereal including muesli and corn flakes; jelly/jams, yoghurt, fruit (canned), and tea and coffee. And help myself I did. I figured a hearty breakfast could get me through most of the day, thereby saving me the extra expense of a midday meal.

A room with a view of the harbor

LOCATION: The one thing that keeps me coming back to the Delfini is the proximity of the hotel to the harbor, which is literally about a hundred yards away across the busy Akti Posidonos road. Also just down the road is the terminal for the main rail line that leads directly to the heart of Athens. Oh, and if you are flying in to Eleftherios Venizelou Airport, you can jump on the X96 bus, and for five euros that will bring you right in to the heart of Piraeus.

My Rating

Facilities: C+ (low pass)

WiFi: D (for Dismal)

Breakfast: A (Pass)

Delfini Hotel

7, Leocharous Street

Piraeus 185 31

Greece

Phone: +30 21 0417 3110

Fax: +30 210 4173510

E-mail: info@hotel-delfini.com

Take a Slow Boat To…

~ Ever heard the expression, Taking a slow boat to China?

Well, guess what? You can still catch a slow boat to China. Or to New York, London, Piraeus (Greece), and even Sydney, or to any number of other working ports around the world. And I’m not talking about using luxury cruise ships either. I’m talking about utilising the sea lanes of the world to reach your destination by travelling on a merchant ship.

Yes, Ripley, believe it or not, many merchant ships have paying passengers aboard who prefer taking that form of travel rather than fly, drive, or by ocean liner.

However, sailing on a merchant ship is not for everyone. Here are some issues to consider before you elect to travel via this method:

• All freighter companies have age restrictions which exclude children under 5 years of age, and most set a maximum age limit of 75-80 years.
• Few merchant ships have lifts, which means passengers must be fit and healthy enough to negotiate many flights of stairs each day.
• Merchant ships are working ships – not holidays at sea. Apart from television and movies, they may also include a small swimming pool; an exercise room with not much more than table tennis, stationary bike, and a few weights; a small library of well read books; and that’s about it.
• This form of travel is much cheaper than sailing with a cruise line, but more expensive than flying.
• Your time in a foreign port is severely restricted – sometimes as little as eight to twelve hours.
• Most merchant ships carry as few as six paying passengers and generally no more than twelve. This makes for a very small and potentially intimate group of fellow passengers.
• If you prefer the anonymity of large crowds (or the crowded decks of an 800 passenger cruise ship), freighter travel may not be for you.
• If you find it hard to relax on an quiet deck in a comfortable chair with a good book, freighter travel may not be for you.
• If you have difficulty keeping yourself amused, and active, freighter travel may not be for you.

The Benefits of Freighter Travel
Given these (and other) restrictions, why would anyone choose to travel on a working cargo ship? I’m glad you asked. Let’s look at the benefits of freighter travel.

• The informality. Passengers are not required to dress up for meals. Men can leave their ties, and ladies their cocktail dresses at home.
• Freighters do not offer any pre-planned activities like cruise ships do, and mealtimes are the only daily structure. This means…
• You have time to relax on an uncrowded deck in a comfortable deck chair with a good book.
• You can sit in quiet contemplation and watch the ocean roll by for as long as you wish.
• Freighter passengers enjoy extended contact with officers and crew.
• Most freighters are liberal with bridge visitation, and unrestricted bridge visits are not uncommon.
• With ships carrying only 2 to 12 passengers, lasting friendships are often formed between passengers and officers.

Types of Freighters
There are several types of merchant ships you might consider travelling with.

Container Ships: The most popular method of transporting goods by sea is the container ship. Container ships can be loaded and unloaded very quickly. One of the disadvantages of this, as far as passengers are concerned, is that the fast loading and unloading of containers means that time ashore is usually quite limited. The ship would rarely spend more than 24 hours in port - often less in a very efficient container terminal.

General Cargo Ships: These are ships that transport cargo that will not fit into containers, such as large machinery, sheets of metal, timber, agricultural exports etc. The slower loading and unloading of general cargo - also known as break bulk - means that general cargo ships usually spend much longer in port than container ships - making them an excellent choice for passengers who wish to spend as much time ashore as possible.

Bulk Carriers: These ships transport 'loose' cargo, such as coal, mineral ores, phosphates and grain in holds below deck. Again, like general cargo ships, bulk carriers tend to spend longer times in port loading and unloading.

Other types of merchant shipping includes 'Roll on - Roll off' ships; Mail and Supply ships; and other smaller craft.

Some helpful websites to get you started:
For answers to almost everything you need to know visit:
The excellent FAQ at Freighter Trips…
...and read about the origins of the phrase Slow Boat to China…