Santorini

[Qld13]

Hi

 

Have been reading about getting up and down from Fira. Cable car is very busy and steps can be dangerous. Do Seabourn provide a shuttle bus up and down for guests not going on tours??

Edited June 30, 2019 by Qld13

[SKP946]

Ah, No shuttle bus.

Santorini is up on the top of a cliff of a water filled  caldera (volcanic crater) the ships are down in the water filled crater, the town is up top, hence the cable car.

Depending on how many cruise ships are in that day, you may have to wait, but the line moves very quickly.

DO NOT take the donkeys, not only is it cruel, but I know people who have been injured by being pushed into the walls (broken ankles)

Edited June 30, 2019 by SKP946

[SKP946]

Qld13. What cruise are you on (ship and date) ? 

I’ll check what ships are due at Santorini that day

[Qld13]

51 minutes ago, SKP946 said:

Qld13. What cruise are you on (ship and date) ? 

I’ll check what ships are due at Santorini that day

Hi

 

Odyssey on 16 July

[SKP946]

59 minutes ago, Qld13 said:

Hi

 

Odyssey on 16 July

Hmm, not looking good, ***** https://*****/cruises-seabourn-odyssey who I usually use for this info are not showing anything before July 20. (Edit: CC blocked my link to sea scanner !🙄)

However the Santorini port schedule shows 4 ships (including Odyssey) in that day with a total pax capacity of over 10,000 !

The cable car rate per hour is 600 (one way) so you might be better to take the Seabourn excursion at US$49 that takes you to the ferry port further around the crater, then buses you back to the town.

Even perhaps a different excursion altogether as Thira is going to be packed.

(or just stay onboard Odyssey, and enjoy the ship there was a discussion earlier on this board relating to the overcrowding on Santori)

Edited June 30, 2019 by SKP946

[Tillylovesseabourn]

My advice is get up early and be off the ship asap. Rule of thumb is that the crowds take longer to arrive on the larger ships and Odyssey does get docked generally closer to the cable cars etc. We have only encountered crowds going in the opposite direction to us when we got up and returned to the ship at lunch time.

[wesport]

We did a Seabourn tour in the am which picked us up at the port a dropped us off in Fira. Then later in the day, we took the cable car down when the crowds were starting to thin out. Oia was extremely crowded though. We were there on the Odyssey in the middle of July last year. 

[wesport]

[Qld13]

Great thanks for replies and suggestions

[ab21au]

When we were there, there was only one larger ship in port but it was extremely crowded and very hot. With about 5,000 in port we had no problem on the cable car. As Tilley... said, the Odyssey arrived slightly earlier and got off the ship before those on the larger ship could. 

 

I have read on another site where you can get a boat at Thira to Oia to avoid the cable car. Others may know of this option. 

[ab21au]

Nice photos SKP and Wesport. 

[SKP946]

26 minutes ago, ab21au said:

. 

I have read on another site where you can get a boat at Thira to Oia to avoid the cable car. Others may know of this option. 

 

ab21au, Seabourn offer this as an alternative for $49. But it involves a much longer tender ride (green line) then a bus journey up an extremely winding road up the side of the crater and then quite a journey back to Thira, probably quicker to join the queue at the cable car.

We’ve been there 3 times now and have never had to wait for long, although we go on the early tenders

[SKP946]

This is the Google Satellite photo of the port of Athinios showing the winding road up the side of the crater.

Not for the faint hearted or those that suffer from motion sickness🤢

 

 

[Bobal]

5 hours ago, ab21au said:

I have read on another site where you can get a boat at Thira to Oia to avoid the cable car. Others may know of this option. 

 

There is a company right on the dock where the tenders drop you which runs a boat service to Oia. It's the easiest way to get there and doesn't involve having to get to the top of the cliff at Fira. The boat takes you around the coast to the bottom of the cliff at Oia, minibuses then take you to the top and then buses will return you to Fira at set times during the day. For 15 euros it's the simplest and most economical way to get to Oia. We've used the service several times without any issues.  http://www.aegeantravellersantorini.com/transfer-to-oia-by-speedboat-private-bus-back-to-fira/

 

The boats run regularly throughout the day but will not run at times when there are only a few small ships remaining. For instance we were on Encore a couple of weeks ago and decided to leave the ship at around 1 o'clock since there was a large MSC ship in port which was due to leave at 3. The boats had only been running in the morning when the large ship was in port so we were unable to travel to Oia that way. When we left the tender we walked straight onto the cable car but when we got to the top there were hundreds of people trying to get back down to the MSC ship.

 

To the OP - take a look at the timings when the other ships are in port and Tilly is correct that you will benefit from getting off the ship as early as possible, although a large ship arrives an hour before you there are another 2 large ships arriving an hour later, when it will be chaos trying to get to the top. Note also that 2 of the large ships leave within half an hour of Odyssey so I would aim to get back down well in advance of departure time.

[Hlitner]

We would disagree with one of the other posts about the "cable car line moving very quickly."  As others have said, the tough issue is getting down (to the tender area) via the cable car.  That is further dependent on the number (and size) of ships that particular day.  The reality is that they can only move a maximum of 600 persons per hour (in one direction) which becomes a real problem if you are competing with another large ship on a similar schedule.   Getting up (if you choose to take the cable car up to Fira) is less of a problem because the size of the lines is metered by the frequency of tender arrivals.  On our many visits we have never waited more then 20 minutes to get a cable car up...but have seen down lines of about 2 hours!  The ships are cognizant of the problem and will often need to extend their visit until all the passengers can get down to the tender pier.

 

Hank