Santorini

[Rustee]

Will be visiting Santorini with HAL in July and only want to spend time in Oia and Thira. The tours go via other places which reduces the time in Oia. Would like suggestions on other reliable ways to do this. Thankyou

[CruiserBruce]

Come over to the Greece board, here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=594

 

where you will see ideas on how to get around the island- bus, taxi, ferry, walking- and lots of other info.

[Rustee]

Thankyou Cruiser Bruce

[SeaWatch]

We visited Santorini last summer while on the Celebrity Shilouette. We tried to book the Oia tour but it was full. As it turned out, I am glad we did it on our own. We took the cable car to Thira and walked to the bus station. After beautiful Oia we returned by bus and had enough time for a great meal overlooking our ship from the edge.

[Kenato]

When you get off the tender you will see there is a boat that takes people to Oia, about 20mins. You are bused into town then can wander around at your leisure. Around 2:00pm if I remember correctly they provide a bus to take you to Thira where you can wander again and then take the cable car or donkey back down to the tender. This way you miss the long, long lineups for the cable car to take you up in the morning. You will see more about this on the Greece Board.

[janmcn]

We rented a car…pretty much right at the top of the cable car that takes you up…it was great…easy to drive around the island…just drove to Oia for a bit, but also went to the farther end of the island (towards the light house) and had a wonderful lunch at a "local" place with a view over the caldera. Owners spoke no English but gave us a fantastic lunch with gracious service. Easily doable.

[pv girl]

When you get off the tender you will see there is a boat that takes people to Oia, about 20mins. You are bused into town then can wander around at your leisure. Around 2:00pm if I remember correctly they provide a bus to take you to Thira where you can wander again and then take the cable car or donkey back down to the tender. This way you miss the long, long lineups for the cable car to take you up in the morning. You will see more about this on the Greece Board.

 

This is the way we did it last summer off Ruby Princess. Took the boat right from the tender pier to Oia, shopped, enjoyed the fabulous views, then took the bus to Thira, shopped there some more, had a super lunch, and then took the cable car back down to the tender pier. Good wifi at a cafe at the tender dock. We were afraid that first boat to Oia might be full, so we booked ahead online, and the cost included the boat, the bus up the hill to Oia, the bus to Thira, but not the cable car. Was reasonable, about $25 each. CC doesn't permit us to name the agency, but Google something about Boatman's Union and you will find it. Other tours included winery, swimming in thermal pools, etc. but we weren't interested in that.

 

Be prepared for crowds - there were 4 ships in port that day and it was a zoo - but lots of fun and beautiful views from the hilltops. That was the best souvenir day - olives in vacuum packs for easy transport back home, good wine to take back to the ship, jewelery, pottery, sesame flavored almonds, a dress - good thing we took tote bags with us. And it was hot, there isn't much shade on the island, take bottled water with you.

[Cruising-along]

We rented a car…pretty much right at the top of the cable car that takes you up…it was great…easy to drive around the island…just drove to Oia for a bit, but also went to the farther end of the island (towards the light house) and had a wonderful lunch at a "local" place with a view over the caldera. Owners spoke no English but gave us a fantastic lunch with gracious service. Easily doable.

 

This is what we did, and had a great afternoon. Besides being able to sight-see around the island, we made a visit to a great winery and brought a few bottles back.....something we won't be able to do after January 31st! :(

[Harry1954]

We took the cable car to Thira and walked to the bus station. After beautiful Oia we returned by bus and had enough time for a great meal overlooking our ship from the edge.

 

This is what we do each time we dock in Santorini .. the bus ride is like a tour as your traverse most of the island. Oi is wonderful and has some very nice restaurants ..

 

This is one of the few places where we found the HAL tours boring and expensive ...

 

harry

[crusinbanjo]

We rented a car…pretty much right at the top of the cable car that takes you up…it was great…easy to drive around the island…just drove to Oia for a bit, but also went to the farther end of the island (towards the light house) and had a wonderful lunch at a "local" place with a view over the caldera. Owners spoke no English but gave us a fantastic lunch with gracious service. Easily doable.

 

Mrs Banjo & I did this as well. it was a fantastic way to see the island. People were wonderful, the car was simple and we saw thing that no tour was going to ever see. We spent time in Oia then explored the rest of the island. highly recommended

[markarmel]

Catch the cable car, get a taxi for around $15 bucks for everybody, spend a couple of hours in Oia, get a taxi back and have a look around before you head back down to the tender boat.

It's a beautiful spot,we are looking forward to getting back there in July 2014 and will do the same as above.

[fionan]

I just spent a week on the island last summer. There are lots of taxis - and any restaurant can help you get one, and the buses from Oia to Fira are frequent and reliable. The lines for the cable car are loooong to return to the port near to sailaway time. The walk up the steps is tough but doable, and the walk down is obviously much easier. But be aware that there is so much dried donkey doo doo dust on the steps that if you do walk it your shoes will get coated and also your trousers up to about knee level will smell really bad (so bad that I had to put them outside my room).

 

If I only had a day, I wouldn't bother with the boat trip to the thermal spring or the new volcanic island in the middle of the crater. The thermal spring is barely warm seawater. and the new island is just a hill made of cinder with a couple of wisps of steam coming out of the ground. But Oia is beautiful, well worth the trip and it has a lovely quirky bookshop that is worth finding.

[Rustee]

Thankyou for all your suggestions.

We are in port from 07:00 to 16:00 and look as though we are the only ship in port that day so all should be good.

I would also like to know if the taxi price was a metered price or an agreed

price between driver and passengers. As this is our first HAL cruise when using a tender to disembark do passengers leave the ship on a first come first off process or do people on the ships excursions have priority.

 

Thankyou

[puppycanducruise]

If I recall correctly, passengers on an excursion get priority tendering over those without a booked excursion. Some of the people on excursions were tendered to a different site (to get buses) than the tender spot near the base of the cable cars.

When we were in Santorini there were 2 other ships there, and by the time we got ashore, the line-up for the cable cars was extremely long (estimated wait 1 hour, but who knows how accurate the estimate was). Good thing you'll be the only ship in port.

Enjoy your cruise.