Seabourn's Santorini shore excursions

[Bostonactor]

We are sailing Med. on Odyssey May 5 from istanbul to Venice. There are several Santorini shore excursions offered by Seabourn. One of them,,,,VERY expensive....is a walking tour of Oia followed by cooking class and lunch at a restaurant overlooking the caldera, then transport back to Fira. Has anyone done this? Is wonderful and is it worth it? Is it a total rip-off? Are any shore excursions recommended by those who have visited Santorini or should we not do an organized tour at all and rather just take the tender to Fira and wander on our own? I think there are buses from Fira to Oia. Also a walking path along the cliffs from Fira to Imervogli. Has anyone done this? Would love feedback from those who have prior experience on Santorini. Decisions, decisions......

Getting very excited about this.. the only other cruise we took was on the old Sea Goddess, in the Caribbean, 25 years ago. As I recall, there were no shore excursions. In most cases, we walked off the ship ....no tender... and browsed ports that were sometimes nice but not particularly interesting. I imagine this will be very different. Much larger ship and much more to see of significance. The itinerary is what drew us to this particular ship and sailing.

I have already booked Ephesus with terraced houses and my husband, the car fanatic, can't wait to take the excursion from Ravenna to San Marino, which includes a stop at the Ferrari museum........while I look at a pile of mosaics in Ravenna.

["Wandering Wino's&quo]

We are sailing Med. on Odyssey May 5 from istanbul to Venice. There are several Santorini shore excursions offered by Seabourn. One of them,,,,VERY expensive....is a walking tour of Oia followed by cooking class and lunch at a restaurant overlooking the caldera, then transport back to Fira. Has anyone done this? Is wonderful and is it worth it? Is it a total rip-off? Are any shore excursions recommended by those who have visited Santorini or should we not do an organized tour at all and rather just take the tender to Fira and wander on our own? I think there are buses from Fira to Oia. Also a walking path along the cliffs from Fira to Imervogli. Has anyone done this? Would love feedback from those who have prior experience on Santorini. Decisions, decisions......

Getting very excited about this.. the only other cruise we took was on the old Sea Goddess, in the Caribbean, 25 years ago. As I recall, there were no shore excursions. In most cases, we walked off the ship ....no tender... and browsed ports that were sometimes nice but not particularly interesting. I imagine this will be very different. Much larger ship and much more to see of significance. The itinerary is what drew us to this particular ship and sailing.

I have already booked Ephesus with terraced houses and my husband, the car fanatic, can't wait to take the excursion from Ravenna to San Marino, which includes a stop at the Ferrari museum........while I look at a pile of mosaics in Ravenna.

 

You might want to check Europe/Greece Ports on Ports of Call area here on cc. We leave on the Seabourn Legend from Istanbul to Athens April 4th. We visit Santorini on the 9th. After reading what other ccer's had to say about Santorini we decided to use a company called Santorini Private Tours, this company had received high reviews from cc members.

Have a wonderful trip.

Shirley

[Pookie2]

We did a tour of Oia with a stop at the top of the volcano for pictures this past fall. We booked it through Seabourn. It did not include a cooking class and, as I recall, was not all that expensive. Do not miss Oia. It is much more picturesque than Fira, in my opinion.

[TootyJane]

We are sailing Med. on Odyssey May 5 from istanbul to Venice. There are several Santorini shore excursions offered by Seabourn. One of them,,,,VERY expensive....is a walking tour of Oia followed by cooking class and lunch at a restaurant overlooking the caldera, then transport back to Fira. Has anyone done this? Is wonderful and is it worth it? Is it a total rip-off? . . . .

 

A couple of years ago my Mom and I were booked on the Odyssey -- probably on this very cruise! Unfortunately she developed an ulcer and the doctor told her "No traveling, especially out of the country"! She had to cancel so I went on the cruise alone. This was one of the tours I signed up for. There were probably 12-15 of us in the group. We did the walking tour in Oia and we were given plenty of time to shop!! Then we were driven to the restaurant. The restaurant was closed to the public (thus, I imagine, the high cost of the tour!!). The owners greeted us warmly and gave us a cooking demonstration of local Greek food. Several of us got to cook as well. The food was fabulous. The wine not so much. However, we all had such a wonderful time and talked about this tour for the rest of the cruise. This definitely one of the better tours I have ever done and was worth every penny!!! HTH

 

Lisa :)

[Bostonactor]

Thank you all....... TootyJane, especially, since it sounds like you have done this tour. Just today, before you responded, I cancelled the tour, and, since reading your response, I am sorry and may re-book. I just had a feeling it was something special, but was deterred by my husband, who thought it was extremely expensive for a cooking class (which we have done a few times on our walking expeditions and thought really fun) and lunch. This itinerary is full of decisions...... none of them bad.

[LittleRedJohn]

We spent a day on Santorini several years ago while on an Oceania cruise. Had a great time there. Didn't do any shore excursions. We rode the funicular up, walked around, then took a city bus over to Oia, walked around, then took the bus back. We ate and drank in a couple places and looked in various shops. Basically, we just hung out. It was good fun and didn't cost much. Fabulous views. We walked down the steps to the ship. As we were walking down, someone riding one of the horses stopped and said: "You made the right choice."

[CraftyEC]

We spent a day on Santorini several years ago while on an Oceania cruise. Had a great time there. Didn't do any shore excursions. We rode the funicular up, walked around, then took a city bus over to Oia, walked around, then took the bus back. We ate and drank in a couple places and looked in various shops. Basically, we just hung out. It was good fun and didn't cost much. Fabulous views. We walked down the steps to the ship. As we were walking down, someone riding one of the horses stopped and said: "You made the right choice."

We did just about the same thing on our Quest cruise last September. We took the funicular into Fira, pottered around in the general direction of the bus station and then took a regular bus to Oia, walked around, took a zillion photos and then got the bus back to Fira and ate lunch in a taverna.

 

A word of warning about the bus, or rather about accessing it. The buses to various destinations seem to come and go from the bus-station fairly randomly, didn't seem to follow a timetable. Also, there is no queue system (or line, for across the pond!) so when the bus does arrive it's each to their own. There was a bit of a crush getting on, but I think everone got on - not so at stops on the edge of the town, so you really should get on at the bus station, not any other stop, at least when it is busy (with cruise ships, essentially) The bus was very full in both directions, and isn't exactly luxurious, but it does what it says on the packet! We weren't worried about this, and it took us right to Oia in a few minutes. The buses run every 20 minutes or so, and they are cheap - something like E1,20. Certainly much cheaper than the tour!

 

Essentially both villages are brilliant photo opportunities, especially the famous blue domes in Oia. However, don't miss the area around (and inside, actually) the Catholic cathedral in Fira, it's very central, just a few hundred yards from the top of the funicular. There are some great places for photos there too.

 

It's possible to walk to or from Oia, along a coastal path, but that seemed a bit too energetic for me and my dodgy hip :p

 

Like all ports where you have to get a funicular or similar transport back to the ship just make sure you are back to this in plenty of time, allowing for lots of other folks wanting to do the same. However, there isn't that much to see that you will be desperate to eke out every last moment.

[Bostonactor]

Thank you CraftyEC. If you WERE to walk from Oia to Fira along the coastal path, and I realize you wouldn't, how long do you think the trail is and how much time to you think it would take? We generally walk 3 or 4 miles and might try to do it if it's not too hot.

[CraftyEC]

Apparently it's about 12 km and takes 2-3 hours to walk along the caldera 'on a good day' - whatever that might mean!

[Bostonactor]

Thank you, CraftyEC

Greater distance than I realized ......I think we'll opt for the local bus from Fira to Oia..... undoubtedly jammed but fun..... and a walk around both towns. Appreciate your response.

[CraftyEC]

Apparently Akrotiri repopened this month (April) I didn't know that, it was a pity we couldn't visit on either of our two previous visits. We're planning to try cruises in some other bits of the world for a while!