Santorini Greece/Oia

[mapleleaves]

9 hours ago, We-R-Off said:

 We are visiting September 1st with 4 cruise ships in port.  Can we get back to the ship tender without cable car if we do Oia on our own? 

I'm looking for an alternative idea for the day, ideally independent travel without Oia & possibly less crowded.

We are departing at 21:00

 

IIRC Celebrity is the only cruiseline with an excursion that doesn't return via the cable car. 

 

It's not just the number of ships in port with you, but also their arrival/departure times and number of pax that will impact your return.   ie if your ship leaves at 21:00 and another leaves at 22:00, the cable car line will probably be long because 5-6000 pax are all leaving around the same time. 

[We-R-Off]

54 minutes ago, mapleleaves said:

 

IIRC Celebrity is the only cruiseline with an excursion that doesn't return via the cable car. 

 

It's not just the number of ships in port with you, but also their arrival/departure times and number of pax that will impact your return.   ie if your ship leaves at 21:00 and another leaves at 22:00, the cable car line will probably be long because 5-6000 pax are all leaving around the same time. 

Thank you for this information.  I'm thinking of taking a ships 3.5-hour trip that includes the villages of Megalochori and Pyrgos including a distillery tour at Canava estate.I haven't been there & although I've visited many distilleries in the past, I really feel that Oia will be overwhelming for us.

We will have to use the cablecar to return.  I saw a video clip of someone using the cablecar to go up & I know that the amount of stairs, would not be suitable for us.

[mapleleaves]

51 minutes ago, We-R-Off said:

 I saw a video clip of someone using the cablecar to go up & I know that the amount of stairs, would not be suitable for us.

 

Yes, there are stairs to access the cable cars, whether you're going up or down .

[We-R-Off]

1 hour ago, mapleleaves said:

 

Yes, there are stairs to access the cable cars, whether you're going up or down .

Going down isn't my husband's problem.  Are there elevators? Our friend has problems with her knees.

[mapleleaves]

21 minutes ago, We-R-Off said:

Going down isn't my husband's problem.  Are there elevators? Our friend has problems with her knees.

no.  

It would be a frightening job to monitor elevator access, given how long people stand in those lines and how short their tempers become !