CruiseNewbie2025

Great tip! I always need them for fireworks, but recently I've used them at live concerts and even the cinema - as I get older loud noise is just painful.

Update: I showed my husband photos of the cable car, to see if he thought he might be able to manage just a few minutes going downwards, maybe with his eyes shut - but he not only said no to that, he looked at some other photos of the island and decided he might not want to go at all. So it looks like I might be doing that trip solo, in which case the cable car will be fine. Thanks to everyone for the replies.

I was wondering if that was a possibility, but I couldn't see anything about being able to get back to the ship from the other port, and I wouldn't want to risk it if they don't pick up from there!

Thanks, we need to consider our options I think!

Thanks, I seem to be finding the same answer from each source - good to know about the other boat trips, but I'd definitely like to see Oia.

Thanks for the link, lots of good info - definitely saying the same thing about the boat being one-way, which as you say makes no sense 🤷

Our cruise next May includes a stop at Santorini, and we would love to see it, and preferably visit Oia, but we're not sure if we will need to use a ship excursion (obviously no details of what they are yet), or if we can manage it ourselves. The problem is we are both overweight and unfit - there's no way we can walk up the steps from the old port to the town, and even if we were allowed on the donkeys we wouldn't because it would be animal abuse (my husband is 6'5" and weighs 23 stone). So the cable car seems like the only option, which is fine with me, but my husband has a big problem with heights, had a severe panic attack on the London Eye a few years ago, and has given a flat 'No way' to that idea. I have seen that you can get a boat trip from the old port to Ammoudi, including a bus to Oia, but it appears that it then returns to Fira by bus rather than boat, leaving us with the issue of getting back down to the port. I know it's possible to walk down the steps, but it would be great to hear from anyone who's actually done it, as I've heard different reports about it being either fine, or slippery, smelly and dangerous! Otherwise we'll have to rely on whatever coach tours are offered from the ship, so if anyone has experience of those and can recommend or otherwise we'd be grateful 😊

According to WhatsInPort (I've literally just been looking at Dubrovnik!), they take Euros except for the entry to walk on the city walls, which is 'old money', but they accept cards if you pay at the office near Pile Gate.

This is genius! I'm going to start doing this in hotels too - I always worry that I'm going to leave something behind. Just please step out of the way to do so - retrieve your luggage and take it to an empty corner/spot of wall before you do the item transfer! Thanks very much, great advice!

This is always my issue with carry-on. Even for a few days, I'm going to want more in the way of moisturiser, sun cream, makeup, hair products, deodorant etc than I can fit in travel-size bottles. For anything over a week I basically take everything I use at home! I can keep clothes to a minimum when packing light, but I need my toiletries. I was hoping for our first cruise to do one without a flight so we could take more stuff, but the destinations from UK didn't suit us, so we're flying to Corfu first - 20kg of luggage each, so I can have a whole suitcase full of toiletries, and one of shared clothes 😂

Hubby and I have travelled many times, and even though I'm more adventurous than him, we both like variety, so we try and eat new things - but at some point on almost every trip we've wanted something quick, easy and familiar, and we've probably had McDonald's in over a dozen countries. I also like that they're NOT exactly the same - they can be anything from a multi-storey to a tiny takeout, some do table service, some even sell alcohol, and they all have very slight local variations to the menu. Probably the one place we don't usually go there is the US (we're in the UK), because there are so many alternatives that we haven't tried - on our last trip we went to a Wendy's for the first time 😂

I assume this only works if you're not flying? As we can't pack toiletries in carry-on for the flight, they'd have to be in checked luggage, so I'll want that in the morning before disembarking. Is this a usual thing?