Santorini capacity

[TMaine]

Just curious if anyone has been to Santorini when a total of 7 ships are in? We have been twice, once was just our ship and once with two small ships.  It was really busy with one large and two small ships, I can't imagine what 7 is going to be like! 

[Miaminice]

Mad! 🤷🏻

[Loracpin2]

20 minutes ago, TMaine said:

Just curious if anyone has been to Santorini when a total of 7 ships are in? We have been twice, once was just our ship and once with two small ships.  It was really busy with one large and two small ships, I can't imagine what 7 is going to be like! 

I can't imagine how they will be handle the amount of tender boats going back and forth. 

[Azulann]

I was there many years ago on Celebrity Equinox. We were first ship in caldera. After lunch we saw  five ship  anchored. It was a long line to the  the lift, so we walked down the donkey path , it was 97 F in July.

Second time we were on the Celebrity Constellation. We decided to have a day on board and never got off the ship. It was lovely day. 

[Essiesmom]

It’s not the tenders, it’s the lines for the cable cars at the end of the day.  EM

[wineoclock]

We’ve been to Santorini on ship & land based. When we knew ships would be in port we didn’t move from our hotel. I don’t think the island can take the amount of people the ships bring  in 

[TMaine]

If each ship expected to be there is at capacity, it would be over 14,000!

[Over from NZ]

That's just crazy. How do you find out how many ships will be in port for a particular day? 

[edinburgher]

Happy to be corrected, but I THINK  I remember reading in "cruise news" a few years ago that local Authorities decided to restrict cruise visitor numbers to something like 6 or 8 thousand a day due to "over tourism", so it isn't maybe the number of ships in any one day, but the number of passengers.onboard.

 

I also THINK i remember that, in addition,  there were plans to  stagger arrival and departure times to help ease cable car lines, with some ships arriving early morning and leaving mid or late afternoon, and others arriving mid or late afternoon and not sailing until late evening.

 

As I said, happy to be corrected  if others know differently.

Edited September 6, 2022 by edinburgher

[CruiserBruce]

I would be curious as to the source of number of ships. Most of the commonly used port websites aren't known for their accuracy. Plus, we need to know the hours the ships are going to be in port.

[cruisemom42]

I'm in a similar situation in October. Luckily, I've been to Santorini twice before. I think this is going to be a lovely day to stay onboard the ship.

[edinburgher]

commonly used port websites aren't known for their accuracy

 

The official port websites are usually the best place to start, but depending on the port, some of the "commonly used websites" link directly through to official port websites when you click for" cruise calendars"or"schedule" 

 

I/we usually check 2 or 3 websites to get a clearer idea of ships and pax numbers, but only if it is really essential to know..

[Homosassa]

18 hours ago, TMaine said:

Just curious if anyone has been to Santorini when a total of 7 ships are in? We have been twice, once was just our ship and once with two small ships.  It was really busy with one large and two small ships, I can't imagine what 7 is going to be like! 

I have been there with that many ships in port.

 

Have you ever seen the woodcut of Dante's Circles of Hell with the condemned souls shoulder to shoulder as they funnel down to the bottom?

 

That is exactly what the narrow passageways in Oia and the line for the cable car will be like.

 

If I am ever on another ship that ports in Santorini, I will stay on the ship.

[John Bull]

To put the number of cruisers into context, there are about 60,000 tourist beds on Santorini, so more cruisers than usual doesn't have a dramatic impact on what is in any case a busy tourist island. 

 

All cruise ships have to tender to a pier at the foot of the cliffs under Fira, and this is where cruise passengers can find themselves in a log-jam. You need to get up the cliff using the cablecar, or a steep zig-zag path up the cliff either on a donkey (actually they're mules) or (serious hikers only) on foot. An alternative is by ferry to Oia - but currently it doesn't run the other way round (Oia to tender pier) ,  

 

See the sticky "Find it here Santorini, Fira and Oia" at the top of this Greece forum, but a couple of  important points....................

 

1. Ship-sponsored excursions are tendered separately,   further down the coast to the small ferry harbour of Athinios, where a road goes down to the harbour. These are additional tenders, they don't seriously hinder the tenders used by the rest.

But those ship-sponsored tours end with "free time" at Fira, and those excursioners (plus those who took the boat to Oia) add to the congestion for going back down from Fira to the tender pier.  Pre-pandemic,  Celebrity experimented with also returning their excursioners from Athinios but I don't know whether they've continued or whether any other cruise lines have followed suit. Any input from recent visitors? It would make ship's excursions much more popular, and ease the crush for everyone else.

The cablecar is frequently over-subscribed, and lines of up to two hours are not unheard-of.

Instead of the cablecar,  those of reasonable fitness should walk down the zig-zag path (so very very much easier than walking up)

This video was clearly shop in the middle of the afternoon, later in the day you're unlikely to encounter donkeys.

The walk down takes about 25 minutes.

 

2. During the course of a day there may well be as many as seven cruise ships. But cruise lines do their best to avoid congestion by staggering their arrival times. A ship in Santorini from 8am to 2pm wont affect access congestion for one there from noon til 5 or one there from 3pm to 9pm. 

Third-party "What' in port" websites don't tend to quote hours-in-port, and are in any case notoriously inaccurate. 

 

JB 🙂

 

[mickey89]

Try. www.cruisetimetables.com   they are usually very accurate and give arrival and departure times.

Edited September 6, 2022 by mickey89

[wineoclock]

The sunset in Oia is spectacular. If any of you can try to see it. People start hanging around usually at least 30 minutes before to get a good view. I think it’s something like 5th best sunset in the world. 

[Hlitner]

We have often posted that the cable car can only move about 600 souls (in one direction) per hour.  If you happen to be on a ship with 3000+, and most are trying to get to the tender port at about the same time…..well, do the math.  As JB posted, there is an attempt to stagger ship departures.  But departures our routinely delayed because of congestion at the upper cable car station.

 

Hank

[marazul]

The only way to avoid this hassle is to fly to Santorini for a couple of days before or after the cruise and skip any cruise that goes to Santorini. 

[Over from NZ]

10 hours ago, Hlitner said:

We have often posted that the cable car can only move about 600 souls (in one direction) per hour.  If you happen to be on a ship with 3000+, and most are trying to get to the tender port at about the same time…..well, do the math.  As JB posted, there is an attempt to stagger ship departures.  But departures our routinely delayed because of congestion at the upper cable car station.

 

Hank

Thanks for that. Hadn't thought about that. Last time we were there, luckily we were the only ship there. Just looked up for next time.. and there's 4 in that day! We'd planned on spending as much time ashore as possible.. really dragging it out. So I think we'll make plans to walk down the hill instead of the cable-car.. allow time for that and be on the safe side. 

[paulh84]

We visited on Sept 8 and it was a mess. Reflection, Constellation, Odyssey of the Seas, MSC Musica, Costa Magica, Costa Pacifica and Celestyal Olympia were all there. There is no way there is a limit of 6-8,000 cruise passengers a day. Walking around Oia and Fira was shoulder to shoulder shoving and pushing your way through.  We would not visit by ship again. It ruins the experience. I would look at a private boat of some sort or maybe do one of the half day catamaran cruises that makes a few stops around the island. 

[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, paulh84 said:

We visited on Sept 8 and it was a mess. Reflection, Constellation, Odyssey of the Seas, MSC Musica, Costa Magica, Costa Pacifica and Celestyal Olympia were all there. There is no way there is a limit of 6-8,000 cruise passengers a day. Walking around Oia and Fira was shoulder to shoulder shoving and pushing your way through.  We would not visit by ship again. It ruins the experience. I would look at a private boat of some sort or maybe do one of the half day catamaran cruises that makes a few stops around the island. 

We have been there, via ship, on good days and bad day.  But the best way to visit Santorini is to simply fly there or take a ferry, and spend several days on the island in a decent hotel.  It is expensive, but also a beautiful place  When you stay the island you take advantage of the evening when most/all the ships are gone.  The island starts to change in late afternoon (as cruisers depart) with the streets a lot less crowded.

 

I do not understand what happened on Sept 8, as the island authorities have indicated they would limit daily cruise ship passengers.  Even 6000 passengers would require about 10 hours just to get down via the cable car (which only moves about 600 persons per hour in one direction).   Oia is a delightful town when not packed with cruisers.  There are some amazing small hotels (with views) in Oia although one can pay over 1000 Euros per night for the best.

 

Hank

[cruisemom42]

8 hours ago, Hlitner said:

I do not understand what happened on Sept 8, as the island authorities have indicated they would limit daily cruise ship passengers. 

 

I don't think, post-COVID, that Santorini is applying these limits. I have a port stop there on Oct 6 and according to various port calendars there are up to 10,000 cruise ship passengers there on this day -- 2 Celebrity ships, one Carnival ship and a 1,600+ passenger Celestyal ship....

 

 

[Hlitner]

14 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

I don't think, post-COVID, that Santorini is applying these limits. I have a port stop there on Oct 6 and according to various port calendars there are up to 10,000 cruise ship passengers there on this day -- 2 Celebrity ships, one Carnival ship and a 1,600+ passenger Celestyal ship....

 

 

Oh my!  

 

Hank

[paulh84]

On 9/18/2022 at 8:49 AM, Hlitner said:

We have been there, via ship, on good days and bad day.  But the best way to visit Santorini is to simply fly there or take a ferry, and spend several days on the island in a decent hotel.  It is expensive, but also a beautiful place  When you stay the island you take advantage of the evening when most/all the ships are gone.  The island starts to change in late afternoon (as cruisers depart) with the streets a lot less crowded.

 

I do not understand what happened on Sept 8, as the island authorities have indicated they would limit daily cruise ship passengers.  Even 6000 passengers would require about 10 hours just to get down via the cable car (which only moves about 600 persons per hour in one direction).   Oia is a delightful town when not packed with cruisers.  There are some amazing small hotels (with views) in Oia although one can pay over 1000 Euros per night for the best.

 

Hank

 

My first visit for 4 days about 10 years ago. I think there were 2-3 ships during that time. They are going to have to enforce some sort of capacity control because the island just cannot handle the crowds. It was really pretty disappointing. Even with our 9:30pm all aboard time, many people on our ship had to leave far before sunset because of the long cable car lines.

[Crazy planning mom]

Scheduled to be next month on the Jade (2,500 passengers) Only other ship scheduled that day is the Rhapsody which can accommodate 2,000 passengers.  However, they leave within 2 hours of each other.