From the very beginning, this was a shore excursion to forget! My wife and I booked this tour, advertised as a small group visit to a winery, a monastery, followed by a short walking tour of Old Town Corfu. The tour was to begin at 0930 departing from the cruise terminal. We arrived at 0915 - and waited for a "Travelco" representative. At 0950, I asked a kindly lady at the information to call the company. Travelco responded that tour would begin at 1030. Shortly after 1000, our tour guide arrived. She explained that Travelco had changed the time of the tour to accommodate another cruise ship that was arriving at 0930. Travelco had only 4 people (including my spouse and I) for the advertised tour. Travelco also had a handful of people who purchased tickets for two different Corfu tours. The company decided to combine the 3 differently advertised tours on one bus. Once boarded, we waited another 30 minutes for 2 people who didn't show up. We finally leave the port at 1105. This was not going to be good.
The guide announced a few minutes later that we would not visit the winery - too much traffic. We would have a "wine tasting" at a restaurant.
We arrived at the monastery, and our guide never conveyed to the passengers that she would conduct a short tour. People straggled off the bus up a hill, where we fortunately ran into our guide - who wondered where everyone else was! We we given 25 minutes for the visit, but some passengers were late.
We departed the monastery for the restaurant "wine tasting" On the way to the restaurant, a few passengers expressed concern that we could complete the tour - their ship was leaving two hours before our ship. It was ridiculous to combine 3 tours from two different ships, leaving port at different times!
The "wine tasting consisted of choosing between white wine and "Grappa. Enough said.
On the return trip to Corfu, I inquired about the walking tour. The guide responded by telling us we would do a "drive by" Old Town.
It was at this point that I requested to be disembarked in Old Town. My wife and I spent about 90 minutes exploring the beautiful town, returning to ship via cab. Most others decided to do the "drive by".
I almost always arrange for private shore excursions for ourselves and traveling companions. This excursion was the only one arranged with a large crowd Mercian company. Never again!