# With Grimaldi to Cyprus



## Guest (Apr 3, 2013)

I promised to writecabout our experience with Grimaldi for transport to Cyprus with car.

Well I will start now and we see when we are in Limassol

We were supposed to go from Salerno, Italy tomorrow but when we came to the hotel tonight we were informed that ship is delayed until Sunday. Well it could have started better but we have to stay here in hotel. And that is really nice. 150 m from the sea, at least the same as surrounds Cyprus. Fantastic weather and hotel. 

next episode to follow. Hope to see you all soon

Anders


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## Tanager (Mar 14, 2009)

Vegaanders said:


> I promised to writecabout our experience with Grimaldi for transport to Cyprus with car.
> 
> Well I will start now and we see when we are in Limassol
> 
> ...


Well, these ships are always late. The one that took our stuff (not car) just household goods was delayed appr. a month. Hopefully you don't have to stay in Italy so long  I'm just joking.
Have a safe trip, enjoy Italy


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## Guest (Apr 3, 2013)

Tanager said:


> Well, these ships are always late. The one that took our stuff (not car) just household goods was delayed appr. a month. Hopefully you don't have to stay in Italy so long  I'm just joking.
> Have a safe trip, enjoy Italy


No we have got new time on Sunday. They have had bad weather so needed to slow down. Not good if 4500 new cars tuble around on deck

We will enjoy the peace

Anders


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## Mycroft (Sep 9, 2009)

Our trip from Southampton was three days late due to delays in loading and weather as well. Have a good trip and enjoy the rest at sea.
Kind regards


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## Tanager (Mar 14, 2009)

Vegaanders said:


> No we have got new time on Sunday. They have had bad weather so needed to slow down. Not good if 4500 new cars tuble around on deck
> 
> We will enjoy the peace
> 
> Anders


Just relax and enjoy the sun when you get here you have to do a bit of unpacking So you'll be busy.


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## Guest (Apr 4, 2013)

Tanager said:


> Just relax and enjoy the sun when you get here you have to do a bit of unpacking So you'll be busy.


We have already 2 m³ waiting in Limassol and car is packed over the roof so yes, occupation is secured for a while. :confused2::confused2:

Anders


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## buster12 (Oct 9, 2012)

Vegaanders said:


> We have already 2 m³ waiting in Limassol and car is packed over the roof so yes, occupation is secured for a while. :confused2::confused2:
> 
> Anders


Hello Anders,

Hope your delay is not too long! We fly out tomorrow with a mix of excitement and trepidation, but things seem to be reasonably normal now according to friends over there already. Ship with our container sailed yesterday and should arrive 27th April I hope. :clap2::clap2:

Looking forward to the sun - weather is foul here in England.

Let me know when you are arriving and we will get together for that cold beer! 

Good luck,

David


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## Guest (Apr 16, 2013)

Finally arrived yesterday evening. Now in cafe to download all emails. Trip took 13 days from Germany to Limassol. Report tomorrow

FINALLY HERE!

Anders & Yuliya


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## Geraldine (Jan 3, 2009)

Vegaanders said:


> Finally arrived yesterday evening. Now in cafe to download all emails. Trip took 13 days from Germany to Limassol. Report tomorrow
> 
> FINALLY HERE!
> 
> Anders & Yuliya


:welcome:

Err ! did you bring last nights thunder storm ?.


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## Guest (Apr 16, 2013)

Geraldine said:


> :welcome:
> 
> Err ! did you bring last nights thunder storm ?.


No No

It welcomed us to the first stop in Paphos

Anders


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## Tanager (Mar 14, 2009)

Welcome to Paphos Anders! It was a long trip but you're finally here


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

Welcome to Cyprus Anders and Yuliya
It was very nice meeting you both today.


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## Guest (Apr 17, 2013)

First problem occured today...

We have ofc a left hand drive car. T be sure it was no problem I got a quote from GAN before we left. But today they say they don't insure left hand drives and have never intended to even if my written quote say so. Bandits...

Anyone know if there is another company that insure left hand drives. It is very strange as it is not a problem to register it in Cyprus.

Anders


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

Oops


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## Guest (Apr 17, 2013)

Veronica said:


> Oops


Thats Cyprus. Makes everything a gamble. Have got an answer from a company AIG that say they insure it

Anders


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## Guest (Apr 18, 2013)

Vegaanders said:


> Thats Cyprus. Makes everything a gamble. Have got an answer from a company AIG that say they insure it
> 
> Anders


Insurance problem solved! Atlantic insured without a problem. Nice people also.

Lesson learned. Dont trust anything, even if you have it in writing

Anders


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## Guest (Apr 18, 2013)

Vegaanders said:


> I promised to writecabout our experience with Grimaldi for transport to Cyprus with car.
> 
> Well I will start now and we see when we are in Limassol
> 
> ...


Here comes a short resume from the trip

First of all it is important to understand that the Grimaldi ships that comes to Limassol are RoRo cargoships transporting cars and they are not bound by any time table. So if you want to use this means of transportation you have to give it time. The ship can be 5 days delayed from start and the trip can take 5 days more then scheduled, it all depends on weather and loading conditions.
Another important thing is that anyone that get seasick easy, should avoid this kind of ship. Its a cargoship, not a passenger ferry build to not roll. They say that the worst part is over Bay of Biscayne , so UK to Salerno is most affected.

We called the port master in Salerno the day before we were supposed to embark just to find out that the ship were 3 days late. As we were already in Salerno we had to prolong our stay at the hotel for 3 more nights. 190 Euro added to the trip cost.

The day before the new traveldate we called again and now we were told to be in place 17.00 in the port. We were their early because we had to check out the hotel at 11.00. We had to stay outside the port on a parking because the customs did not let us into the place before the ship arrived. 15.30
We were allowed in and 30 minutes later we were already on the ship. Our two bags on the roof rails must be taken off before they parked the car, but a fantastic helppful crew carried them to the cabin. We had access to the car during the whole trip and if we needed something the crew has always followed us so you dont get lost. With about 2500 cars and a lot of other machines on 9 floors its easy to not find your way back.

The crew were Italian and Korean, and I was amazed how few of them that spoke any English.

Our cabin was a chapter of its own. We had booked the cheapest one, inside without windows. We had 10 green plants with us so we planned to put them outside to get light every day. But when we arrived we were shown the best cabin, with 2 windows and a separate bedroom. Perhaps this was because we were the only passengers on the trip.

We left Salerno about 22.30 on Sunday and arrived in Pireus 48 hours later. The first 24 hours were not very calm.

We left Pireus 07.00 Wednesday morning. Supposed to be in Izmir about midnight. And we were.
In the evening the crew also informed us that we will go to Ashdod in Israel before going to Limassol. Meaning that the trip now is to be 8-9 days instead of scheduled 6. We should arrive to Israel in about 48 hours. Seems my birthday will be spent onbord instead of a nice Cyprus restaurant. Well, well, nothing to do...

In about 13 hours we should be in Ashod, Israel and we will stay for a while because most of the cars will be unloaded here. Today our contact officer told us that we will be in Limassol the 15:th before lunch so our planned birthday party will have to be on Sunday instead. I decided that I want to thank for all the help by the crew, and have asked the cook to make some nice cake that will be enough for everyone. Everyone we have met have been extremely helpful and nice and we want to give something back. But it will not be ANYTHING close to pasta, that is served 2 times every day and now is getting stuck in mouth. I just cant understand how the crew can enjoy it every day for the 4 months they are on bord. But that is the Italian culture I think

Weather the last 2 days have been very warm, seems that it is preparing us for Cyprus...

Arrived 09.00 to Ashdod, Israel. Just to find out that we have to wait until 16.00 to be able to dock and unload. There vanished our coming to Limassol the 15:th. It will probably now be very early the 16:th. But that is also ok, because then we save 200 euro in customs fee:s. For some reason the customs charge you 200 euro extra if you come after 12:00 or on weekends. Strange but true...

You can now feel and see that we are coming south. For a while a group of dolphins played along the ship. Nice..

Unloading in Ashdod will take time. Started at midnight on Saturday and will go on about 24 hours. During this time you have the oppurtunity to get a special pass and visit f.ex Jerusalem that is close. But they want to rob my wife for 80 USD for a 12-hour Visa so no thanks.

We will be in Limassol today around 13.00. Only 5 days late from schedule. Good we did not book our short term apartment with an agency. Then we have probably ended up paying for 1 week extra.

We arrived to Limassol on schedule. After visiting the immigration office the Grimaldi agent took care of the car clearance. It took about 30 min. Even if we only got reciepts tor 109 euro he stated that we had to pay customs overtime etc. In all it costed 300 euro to clear the car and get the C104 form. Now we have 3 months to register the car or we need to prolong the C104.

We have in 13 days gone from -5 C in Germany, through a suuny and warm Europe, visited Turkey and Israel. And now in Paphos we are greeted with thunder, lightning and rain. Hope its not symptomatic...

So in short:

1. Going with Grimaldi is very ok if you have time and have no schedule to follow.
2. Cabins are nice and clean. On our ship A/C did not work.
3. Crew is fantastic but speak bad english.
4. Food is plenty but can be boring
5. No entertainment exept Italian TV and a small Gym.
Grimaldi has 5 different ships on this route so how it is on the ship can of course vary


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## Geraldine (Jan 3, 2009)

Anders, very interesting reading, thanks.

Now you can both relax.


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## nlawlor (May 3, 2013)

Hi,

I just found your post whilst trying desperately to get some information about doing this route (without much success!) Thank you very much for all the detail! Would you mind if I asked what (very roughly) the entire journey came to cost wise? Thanks in advance!

Nina


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## Guest (May 4, 2013)

nlawlor said:


> Hi,
> 
> I just found your post whilst trying desperately to get some information about doing this route (without much success!) Thank you very much for all the detail! Would you mind if I asked what (very roughly) the entire journey came to cost wise? Thanks in advance!
> 
> Nina


Hi!

The tickets for 1 car and 2 persons were about 1100 euro from Salerno, Italy. It included everything, all food also.

here is a link to the pages

Grimaldi Group

Euromed is the line that goes to Limassol



Anders


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