Most people book Popular, and most of them are right to. The route is identical, the swim stop is identical, and the day works either way. Still, there are specific situations where the VIP upgrade earns its price, and it is worth knowing which one you are in before you book.
Quick answer
Book Popular: choose this if you want the full day at a fair price and you are relaxed about sharing deck space. This suits most travelers, most of the time.
Book VIP: choose this if you are celebrating something, you value privacy over saving money, or you want hotel transfer handled in both directions without thinking about it.
The honest summary: you are paying for space and service, not for a better itinerary. Both tickets see the same islands on the same schedule.
What is actually different
Athens Swimming Cruise sells two tickets for the same day, which makes this an unusually clean comparison. Package pages normally confuse two separate things: what you get to do, and where you get to sit while doing it. Here only the second one changes.
Popular at €75 per adult, reduced from €115, gives you the complete nine-hour experience with access to the common areas across all three decks. VIP at €149, reduced from €195, gives you the same day in a reserved part of the ship with a few additions on top.
Nobody on a Popular ticket misses out on the cruise itself. The distinction is comfort and privacy, which matters enormously to some people and barely registers for others.
What both packages include
The shared foundation is generous, and worth reading before you start comparing upgrades:
- The full nine-hour route: Agistri, the swim stop at Metopi, and Aegina
- A Mediterranean buffet prepared fresh on board by the ship’s chef
- Complimentary still water, soft drinks, filter coffee and house wine
- Live DJ and dance floor
- Sun loungers, bean bags, shaded areas and water toys across three decks
- A free one-hour guided walking tour in Aegina
- Port taxes
Cocktails, spirits and premium drinks are available to purchase from the bar on either ticket. If you want the full picture of how the day unfolds, our guide to what to expect on a day cruise walks through it hour by hour.
What VIP adds
Hotel transfer, both directions
This is the upgrade with the most practical value, and the one most people underestimate. VIP includes hotel transfer service, so the morning stops being a logistics problem and the evening stops being a taxi queue after nine hours in the sun.
Popular guests can add hotel pickup for €14 per person, which solves the morning. The return leg is where VIP quietly earns part of its difference.
Private deck space
This is the real product. VIP comes with a private sun deck with luxury loungers, a private outdoor deck with weather protection, and a private indoor lounge with sofas, armchairs and separate Wi-Fi, plus dedicated service staff.
What that buys is certainty. On a busy summer sailing, Popular guests choose from whatever is free when they board, which is usually fine and occasionally means hunting for two loungers together. VIP guests have a reserved area waiting, along with somewhere cool and quiet to retreat to in the middle of the afternoon.
Fast-lane boarding
Boarding is the only genuinely busy moment of the day. Fast-lane embarkation removes it, which matters more with children, with limited mobility, or on a morning when the marina is full.
It is a small thing on a calm day and a very welcome thing on a peak-season one.
Extras on board
VIP adds beer to the complimentary drinks, plus one signature cocktail from a selection. Anything beyond that is available to purchase, exactly as it is on a Popular ticket.
There is also Greek meze finger food with ouzo and fresh fruits, a discount at the ship’s shop, and a private bridge tour with the captain on request, which is a genuinely good twenty minutes if you have any interest in how the ship works.
When Popular is the right choice
For solo travelers, Popular is the better ticket on principle. The common decks are where you meet people, and paying to sit away from them defeats the point of the day.
For couples on an ordinary beach day rather than an occasion, the upgrade is a luxury rather than a fix. You will swim at the same stop, eat the same buffet and see the same islands.
For groups of friends, the party atmosphere lives on the main deck. Booking VIP can mean voluntarily leaving the best-natured part of the ship.
And for families watching a budget, four Popular tickets deliver the whole day for less than two VIP tickets. Spend the difference on the ship’s bar and the pistachio shops in Aegina.
When VIP earns its price
Honeymoons and anniversaries are the clearest case. A private deck turns a busy day out into something that feels arranged for the two of you, and the difference in photographs alone is noticeable.
Crowd sensitivity is the second. If a full deck in August sounds tiring rather than fun, the reserved space and the indoor lounge change the day completely.
Comfort in the heat is the third and most practical. A protected outdoor deck and an air-conditioned lounge with a sofa are worth a great deal between two island stops in July.
Finally, there is the group that simply wants the day handled. Transfers arranged, boarding skipped, a fixed spot waiting, drinks and meze brought over. If that description makes you exhale, the upgrade is doing its job.
The math on transfers
Here is where the comparison gets more interesting than the headline prices suggest.
Popular at €75 plus the €14 hotel pickup comes to €89 per person, and you still handle your own way home. VIP at €149 includes the transfer in both directions, so the true gap for anyone who wants transfers is €60 rather than €74.
That €60 is buying the return transfer, the private deck space, the private lounge, fast-lane boarding, beer, a signature cocktail, meze, the shop discount and the bridge tour. Whether that represents value depends entirely on how much you want the deck space, which is the expensive part of the list and the reason the upgrade exists.
For two people it is €120 more. That is a good dinner in Athens, or a private deck for nine hours. Neither answer is wrong.
How to decide in one question
Ask yourself whether the crowd is part of the appeal or part of the cost. If a full deck, a DJ and a hundred strangers jumping off the same slide sounds like the good version of the day, book Popular and enjoy it without a second thought. If the same picture makes you want somewhere quieter to sit, VIP is not an indulgence, it is the reason you will enjoy the day at all.
Either way, the boat leaves at 09:30 and the water at Metopi is the same temperature. Our guide on what to pack for a day cruise from Athens applies equally to both tickets, and if you are still deciding whether a day at sea belongs in your trip, start with day trips from Athens by sea.
Compare Both Packages →
