Ship tours in Santorini: Is a cable car ticket provided?

[JenP]

We are taking the Rhapsody out of Venice in August, which includes Santorini as a port of call. We were supposed to go to Santorini last year on Princess, but the ship couldn't stop due to high winds.

 

We are taking a ship-sponsored tour. I know you have to make your own way back to the ship after the tour, but does Royal provide a cable car ticket if you're on a ship tour?  Princess specified that one was included in their excursion description, but the Royal one lacks specificity.

 

Just wondering whether we'll need to build in time to buy a ticket or not.  Thanks!

Edited June 15, 2019 by JenP
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[grapau27]

1 hour ago, JenP said:

We are taking the Rhapsody out of Venice in August, which includes Santorini as a port of call. We were supposed to go to Santorini last year on Princess, but the ship couldn't stop due to high winds.

 

We are taking a ship-sponsored tour. I know you have to make your own way back to the ship after the tour, but does Royal provide a cable car ticket if you're on a ship tour?  Princess specified that one was included in their excursion description, but the Royal one lacks specificity.

 

Just wondering whether we'll need to build in time to buy a ticket or not.  Thanks!

The tickets for the cable car are only €5pp purchased at the top as well as the bottom of the cable car.

Leave yourself plenty of time as the queues are long later in the day to go back down.

[blackshirt]

Was there a couple weeks ago on Celebrity. I didn’t take a ship tour but many of the ship tours got to their meeting point by boat, not by cable car.

[wendyam76]

I’ve done several Celebrity ship’s tours there and although we are taken by tender to a different location we still had to come back down by cable car. We were given a ticket at the end of the tour. I wouldn’t be surprised if Royal was the same. Oh and last year they did trial an excursion that included a boat ride directly back to the ship to avoid the queues. 

Wendy

[Ashland]

2 hours ago, blackshirt said:

Was there a couple weeks ago on Celebrity. I didn’t take a ship tour but many of the ship tours got to their meeting point by boat, not by cable car.

I was there a couple of weeks ago too (May 26th). Luckily my tour included a boat to get to the meeting spot. That cable car line down was taking 1 1/2 hours...I rode the mule....just BRUTAL !!!!

[blackshirt]

1 hour ago, Ashland said:

I was there a couple of weeks ago too (May 26th). Luckily my tour included a boat to get to the meeting spot. That cable car line down was taking 1 1/2 hours...I rode the mule....just BRUTAL !!!!

Brutal for sure. We walked down but those mules looked even more brutal. 😊

[Ashland]

1 hour ago, blackshirt said:

Brutal for sure. We walked down but those mules looked even more brutal. 😊

We started to walk but I realized it was going to be too much. I opted for the mule, DH walked. 

It was brutal considering my mule group at one point was a runaway. The leader had gotten off to move a problem mule to the back and didn't tie his mule up...and off it took....running. It took the leader several minutes to catch up and stop us!!!!

[Bizzie07]

We did the ship's tour (Rhapsody)two years ago and were given tickets for the Cable Car.

[bobmacliberty]

14 hours ago, Ashland said:

We started to walk but I realized it was going to be too much. I opted for the mule, DH walked. 

It was brutal considering my mule group at one point was a runaway. The leader had gotten off to move a problem mule to the back and didn't tie his mule up...and off it took....running. It took the leader several minutes to catch up and stop us!!!!

 

Did you pay extra for an express trip? 😀  Must have been scary given what looks like a steep drop-off over the short wall.

[Seville2Cabo]

17 hours ago, Ashland said:

I was there a couple of weeks ago too (May 26th). Luckily my tour included a boat to get to the meeting spot. That cable car line down was taking 1 1/2 hours...I rode the mule....just BRUTAL !!!!

We were there at same time as Ashland and the tender took us to another drop tender dock and then onto a bus.  The tour ended at the top and for us, about 3:00,  the line down was less then 10 minute wait.  But there were only 2 ships in that day.  A tender ticket was included in the tour.

[Lady Chew]

We walked down last August.  Loved it!  Took a while, it was very tiring, but the line for the cable cars was way too long and we had no desire to ride the mules.  Very few people on the mules looked as though they were enjoying themselves.

[Cruising89143]

21 hours ago, Ashland said:

We started to walk but I realized it was going to be too much. I opted for the mule, DH walked. 

It was brutal considering my mule group at one point was a runaway. The leader had gotten off to move a problem mule to the back and didn't tie his mule up...and off it took....running. It took the leader several minutes to catch up and stop us!!!!

 

I had to laugh at your two posts about the mules. I’m sure that it wasn’t amusing at the time but I had a mental picture.🙂 Not sure how you stood the smell. 

 

OP on our first trip there we were on RCL’s ship tour. We were tendered to meet our bus and given a ticket for the trip back down on the tram. As stated, watch the lines....They can be long. 

[steveru621]

Last time we were there on a ships' tour the ticket for the cable car down was included.  The wait was well over an hour.

[Ashland]

3 hours ago, cruisingator2 said:

 

I had to laugh at your two posts about the mules. I’m sure that it wasn’t amusing at the time but I had a mental picture.🙂 Not sure how you stood the smell. 

 

OP on our first trip there we were on RCL’s ship tour. We were tendered to meet our bus and given a ticket for the trip back down on the tram. As stated, watch the lines....They can be long. 

Funny thing about thinking "Death by Mule" the smell was the farthest thing from my mind.

 

My runaway mule story continues to get quite a reaction from my kids and grandkids...hard for them to know me as well as they do and think of me on that mule 

[nc350]

We were there end of October 2018 and took the tour that did the two main areas of Santorini through Royal and it included a cable car ticket to get down. We went by a separate tender in a faster boat, took a coach up to the first town(I can't remember. The name) , explored, then A coach to a winery, then onto Fira and were able to explore and go back to the ship when we chose. It was awesome! 

[Ashland]

2 hours ago, nc350 said:

We were there end of October 2018 and took the tour that did the two main areas of Santorini through Royal and it included a cable car ticket to get down. We went by a separate tender in a faster boat, took a coach up to the first town(I can't remember. The name) , explored, then A coach to a winery, then onto Fira and were able to explore and go back to the ship when we chose. It was awesome! 

FYI.....It's Oia... simply pronounced...e ah....the o is silent.

[JenP]

Thanks everyone! I'm looking forward to it. (And, yes, I'll be avoiding those mules!)

Edited June 17, 2019 by JenP