MGenny

The cruise is part of a larger religious group pilgrimage including the cruise and also some on land. We already have a private group tour set for Ephesus and Patmos since those sites are holy sites. We are on our own with the other stops. I agree that if the purpose of the trip were pure relaxation, we would have scheduled a longer cruise. Basically, Santorini and Crete are bonus stops, so, we will just see what we see what happens. Even just to be on the island and see it for a an hour or two to get a taste is all we are expecting, but we also want to maximize the time we do have. We can come back on a different trip to spend more time.

Plus, sunset is 7 pm. If we try to walk down the donkey hill after dark we could get into a real mess 🙂

Yes. Unfortunately four ships. The other three arrive at 8 am, and ours is the only one that arrives later, at 4:30 pm with 1300 passangers. So, I figure there won’t be too many people for the cable cars on the way UP to Fira. By the time we would want to go back down around 7-8 pm, the only two ships left will be ours and another one with 1700 passengers. However, that other one will have docked at 8 am, so hopefully some of their people will have already gone back to the ship for dinner. What do you think?

Thank you. May I ask, how long did that whole process take? We will only have four hours in port. We can probably get off the boat about 8 am, and it departs again at Noon. If we used the same service that you did, and met our driver at 8:30, could we get all of that in and be back by Noon? Or, if we skipped the city sights at the end, could we at least just go see the palace and come right back? Did the driver just wait for you while you toured the palace on your own? Thanks again! I appreciate your help!

Hello. This will be our first time in Greece. We have a Celestyal Discovery cruise with very short port times. (I know, not ideal, but we will make the best of it.) two questions if you all have advice: 1. at Heraklion, Crete. We cannot take the ship’s planned excursion because that is Sunday and we have to go to Mass first. How much time would it take to catch a taxi from the dock, go tour the Minoan ruins / Knossos palace ourselves, and get back to the ship? Wondering if this is doable on our own without being rushed. Willing to spend money on taxi instead of bus if it’s more reliable. 2. Santorini. Boat docs at 1630 and leaves at 2100. Extremely short! I figure we can’t see both Fira and Oia in this time frame. Which would be better? Option One: Take the cable car up to Fira, explore on our own, and make sure we get in line for the Cable car back down with ample time? OR Option Two: book the ship’s excursion to Oia town, as it says there will be plenty of time to explore Oia on foot? Thanks everyone!