Santorini Shore Excursion Time - September 2023

[aeb9]

I'll be in Santorini on Sept 18, 2023 with RC. We're the first ship to arrive at the port at 7am, followed by a Virgin ship at 9am. 

 

We've decided to book a shore excursion through Viator and the options are either 9am or 11am. If we are one of the first tenders off of the ship, do you think we'll make the 9am slot? 

 

I've read all about the cable car line ups, but our plan is to get off the ship ASAP. 

[Postcards]

Do you have priority boarding etc??

[aeb9]

No we don't have priority boarding. 

 

This is our first time sailing with RC, I've read that you can line up for tender tickets ahead of time. We're planning to line up extra early! 

[CruiserBruce]

Can't recommend Viator...many negative experiences here. They are a broker, they don't provide the service. Yes, their prices are good, but if you have an issue, it can be very difficult to reach someone. I speak from experience.

 

The common recommendation here is to find a local, recommended vendor, and book direct.

[aeb9]

3 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

Can't recommend Viator...many negative experiences here. They are a broker, they don't provide the service. Yes, their prices are good, but if you have an issue, it can be very difficult to reach someone. I speak from experience.

 

The common recommendation here is to find a local, recommended vendor, and book direct.

@CruiserBruce Okay thanks for the tip! 
 

Any recommendations for Santorini? 

[CruiserBruce]

5 minutes ago, aeb9 said:

@CruiserBruce Okay thanks for the tip! 
 

Any recommendations for Santorini? 

No, we DIY-ed when we were there. But look around the board.

[mapleleaves]

19 hours ago, aeb9 said:

I'll be in Santorini on Sept 18, 2023 with RC. We're the first ship to arrive at the port at 7am, followed by a Virgin ship at 9am. 

 

We've decided to book a shore excursion through Viator and the options are either 9am or 11am. If we are one of the first tenders off of the ship, do you think we'll make the 9am slot? 

 

I've read all about the cable car line ups, but our plan is to get off the ship ASAP. 

 

You may PLAN to be off the ship ASAP, but you have no control over it unless you have a ship's excursion or priority status.

 

I was on NCL late Sept.  Tender tickets were distributed the previous day, starting at 8am.  We got in line for a tender ticket at 7am,  with maybe 75 people ahead of us, and got tender #3.  Keep in mind that we arrived in Santorini at 1:30pm and the only other ship had arrived at 7am.  So you'd think we'd be ok. NOPE, we stood in line for 2 hrs. Reached Fira at 4pm.   

 

Not saying that will happen to you, but it happened to us. Good luck !

 

 

[budmeister]

Do you think people who booked ship excursions got off sooner?

 

 

[budmeister]

3 hours ago, mapleleaves said:

 

You may PLAN to be off the ship ASAP, but you have no control over it unless you have a ship's excursion or priority status.

 

I was on NCL late Sept.  Tender tickets were distributed the previous day, starting at 8am.  We got in line for a tender ticket at 7am,  with maybe 75 people ahead of us, and got tender #3.  Keep in mind that we arrived in Santorini at 1:30pm and the only other ship had arrived at 7am.  So you'd think we'd be ok. NOPE, we stood in line for 2 hrs. Reached Fira at 4pm.   

 

Not saying that will happen to you, but it happened to us. Good luck !

 

 

 

Thank you for sharing how the timing worked! Very Useful information!

Edited July 15, 2023 by budmeister

[budmeister]

23 hours ago, aeb9 said:

I'll be in Santorini on Sept 18, 2023 with RC. We're the first ship to arrive at the port at 7am, followed by a Virgin ship at 9am. 

 

We've decided to book a shore excursion through Viator and the options are either 9am or 11am. If we are one of the first tenders off of the ship, do you think we'll make the 9am slot? 

 

I've read all about the cable car line ups, but our plan is to get off the ship ASAP. 

Hi,

 

After extensive research on these  boards, I decided to cancel a private excursion that required I be in Oia by 9:15, or in Athinios port by 8:45. 

 

I booked a ship excursion so I could tendered to Athinios port, avoiding the cable car wait and a private 9:15  pick-up there for a 10:00 excursion. My ship also arrives in Sept.at 7:00. I am in the week before you.

 

As was recommended to me, there are some boating excursions that leave from the port at Fira, also avoiding the cable car line, and they tend to start more like10-11, clearly knowing that is what time people are more likely to get there. 

[CruiserBruce]

20 minutes ago, budmeister said:

Do you think people who booked ship excursions got off sooner?

 

 

Typically yes, as they tender to the different port at Santorini. That being said, not all excursions start at approximately the same time. Many cruise lines offer a number of tours with staggered departure times. So, if your ship arrives at 8am, most likely the longer tours (say 6-8 hours) will typically depart first. short tours (2-4) hours may not depart until later, or even have different sections that might leave at two or more different times during the visit.

[budmeister]

Thanks! My excursion is a 7:30 am, I believe first timing as ship arrives at 7 am.

[budmeister]

3 hours ago, mapleleaves said:

 

You may PLAN to be off the ship ASAP, but you have no control over it unless you have a ship's excursion or priority status.

 

I was on NCL late Sept.  Tender tickets were distributed the previous day, starting at 8am.  We got in line for a tender ticket at 7am,  with maybe 75 people ahead of us, and got tender #3.  Keep in mind that we arrived in Santorini at 1:30pm and the only other ship had arrived at 7am.  So you'd think we'd be ok. NOPE, we stood in line for 2 hrs. Reached Fira at 4pm.   

 

Not saying that will happen to you, but it happened to us. Good luck !

 

 

Is that 4:30 in Fira  timing for the start of the cable car line, or when you got off at the top? 

[mapleleaves]

1 hour ago, budmeister said:

Is that 4:30 in Fira  timing for the start of the cable car line, or when you got off at the top? 

 

Our ship's scheduled arrival time was 1:30pm.  We were off the ship shortly after that. The tender ride was longer than I expected, maybe 15-20 minutes b so 2pm-ish when we disembarked. Immediately got in the cable car line. Got to Fira at 4pm.  

 

2 hours ago, budmeister said:

Do you think people who booked ship excursions got off sooner?

 

 

I assume so.  We noticed 2 tender boats in the distance that were going in a different direction to us.

 

IIRC, Santorini is a port where NCL can't use it's own tenders. They must use Santorini staff and boats.  All part of the game I suppose.  The same game that requires 99% of cruise pax to return via the cable car.  

Edited July 15, 2023 by mapleleaves