Verdict: Hellenic Seaways is a company lacking pro...

Verdict: Hellenic Seaways is a company lacking professionalism, organisation and structure of any kind and above all, respect towards their clients. If you are thinking of travelling with their flying dolphins I urge you to reconsider since you might end up stranded on the island!

The Long Story Cut Short:
On September 2016 I booked online tickets for a three day city break. I had a marvelous time in Agistri, but it all went south fast when without any kind of notification Hellenic Seaways decided to cancel my return trip. The very last available return ship from the island at that!

I called them as soon as the locals told me they had heard from the nearby island Aigina that my trip was cancelled. After long arduous efforts I managed to get a hold of their customer support who very kindly informed me they had no idea the return trip was cancelled! Later, their supervisor amended the statement, arguing that the cancellation was due to... bad weather. As I was gazing out to the pond like calmness of the sea laying before me I started to suspect I was being taken for a fool.

After a ping pong game and three months later, with the precious help of the Hellenic Consumer's Ombudsman, I managed to get a full refund. In good will, they also provided me with free tickets. I decided to.leave everything behind me and use the tickets this summer of 2017 for a similar city break to Aigina.

The return trip was scheduled to leave at 18:10. Around 18:00 a representative from Hellenic Seaways started telling people who were forming lines to board the ship which had yet to arrive that the trip was cancelled due to a mechanical error (note that this had been their official statement to the Ombudsman as well a year back, makes one question the durability of their ships).

We were offered the option of a refund and a promise for tickets for a different liner that was departing at... 18:15!

We rushed and trumped over others to get in line for those prized refunds and then again to purchase new tickets for the ship I am currently on. Frustrated, sunburnt and with no seat to speak of I feel completely let down once more and pray that the travellers who had trusted their return trip to Hellenic Seaways have all been lucky enough to be notified ahead of time since that does not feel like their strong suit.

To me, the most infuriating part was the fact that the company could have easily retrieved the personal details we had provided them with during the booking and sent us an email or even a text to let us know in time that the ship would not make it.

If I were to take this a step further I would even suspect the poor travellers of Agistri (it's straight across Aigina) who would also be influenced by this cancellation might still be out there gazing at the horizon expecting the last ship that will never come...