Santorini with 4 other cruise ships

[ninjacat123]

4 hours ago, erby2283 said:

 

The two that I would like, Oia Village, Winery and Thera Town and Oia & Thira both say at the end, "The tour ends at Fira, the picturesque capital of Santorini perched on the volcano's caldera. Here you will have the option to either stay in town for further exploration or climb Fira’s narrow lanes to the cable car station and descend to the pier where water shuttles will take you back to the ship."  

 

I know we definitely want those picturesque views with the blue dome and white buildings. We are there from 8am-5pm and but two ships dock before us at 7.  Thank you for sharing your experience.  Hopefully I will research enough in the next year to feel comfortable and have a set plan in place.  But should probably book something now to be safe. 

Book it now.  You can cancel later.  I booked the "Oia & Thira" one.  

[We-R-Off]

7 hours ago, mapleleaves said:

 

Your "Oia and Thira" tour sounds like the basic NCL tour I tried to book, $75.  I think the tours sell out quickly because it's well known that Santorini is a mess and a tour guarantees a visit to Oia.  Sorry to say, but having 2 ships dock ahead of you by one hour is not a good sign. I'd book a tour.

 

If you want to try DIY, I think the boat that leaves from the tender dock is a good option,. Even it sits there for an hr waiting for additional pax, you know it will eventually get you to Oia, plus you will also have a bus seat back to Thira. It was only 25 or 30E.   Good luck !

 

 

I would agree with you.  We will be there this coming Tuesday, so I will let you know the current situation. 

We're all packed ready for Sail away tomorrow.

It's the most comfortable cruise we've ever taken as we only have an hour train ride to the cruise port.  

[We-R-Off]

We had our ship tour cancelled so we took the Oia & Fira on our own. We were the first tender to get off & see Oia. It was empty. Fira was quite empty, we walked straight into the cable car without queuing. The queue to go up was quite bad. By the afternoon it was long as there were 3 ships in port. Mykonos was far worse. There were 5 ships in port, 2 were mega ships. Around 12,000 people walking around. Really too many people to enjoy this very pretty port. 

[Vineyard View]

Sounds like you were lucky with your time in Oia and Fira. I hope it was a really enjoyable time. That cable car sure sounds like the chink in the chain with so many ships. It’s sad. 
I have been reading that Mykonos is now a nightmare at times. We lucked out years ago during an October visit with no other ships there. It’s so small that I can’t imagine what that must have been like. 
‘ Thank you for reporting back. 

[We-R-Off]

I forgot to mention that it was the ship’s Oia & Fira on your own tour, hence we got off the ship on the first tender. It was certainly worth it. Mykonos was a

[Nebr.cruiser]

We booked the Oia on your own just to bypass problems getting up to Fira, even though there only seems to be our ship in port that day.  I hope it stays that way!  Thanks for letting us know that it worked well.  Nice to be on the first tender and not even have to go ashore in Fira.

 

We have been to Santorini before, but will do another tour in the afternoon (private).  How much time did you spend in Oia on the tour?  We might not go back to Fira when the tour does, but meet our other guide in Oia, or possibly Fira.  

 

 

[We-R-Off]

37 minutes ago, Nebr.cruiser said:

We booked the Oia on your own just to bypass problems getting up to Fira, even though there only seems to be our ship in port that day.  I hope it stays that way!  Thanks for letting us know that it worked well.  Nice to be on the first tender and not even have to go ashore in Fira.

 

We have been to Santorini before, but will do another tour in the afternoon (private).  How much time did you spend in Oia on the tour?  We might not go back to Fira when the tour does, but meet our other guide in Oia, or possibly Fira.  

 

 

We had 90 minutes in Oia.
There were people that got the Ship’s tender to Fira, took a local tour which included water taxi to Oia, bus from port to the town, transfer to Fira & the cable car down. It cost them €30-40. That was a really good deal. I saw them selling this tour when we returned via Fira.
The non ship tour passengers were not given tender tickets until 8:30.
We were in Oia at 9:15 just as the shops were opening. 

[erby2283]

7 hours ago, We-R-Off said:

We had our ship tour cancelled so we took the Oia & Fira on our own. We were the first tender to get off & see Oia. It was empty. Fira was quite empty, we walked straight into the cable car without queuing. The queue to go up was quite bad. By the afternoon it was long as there were 3 ships in port. Mykonos was far worse. There were 5 ships in port, 2 were mega ships. Around 12,000 people walking around. Really too many people to enjoy this very pretty port. 

Thanks for checking back in and posting. Still haven't booked anything yet at either Mykonos or Santorini.  

[We-R-Off]

20 minutes ago, erby2283 said:

Thanks for checking back in and posting. Still haven't booked anything yet at either Mykonos or Santorini.  

From what I saw you can certainly use the local tour from Fira port to Oia port as mentioned.

I don’t know how many ships will be in port when you’re in Mykonos but we were tendered there too.

The only ship that was at the port was MSC mega ship the other 4 were tendering.

we were rendered to the new port & had to get a water taxi to the old port for €4 return. 

I hope they’ll be less ships when you’re there. 

[erby2283]

3 hours ago, We-R-Off said:

From what I saw you can certainly use the local tour from Fira port to Oia port as mentioned.

I don’t know how many ships will be in port when you’re in Mykonos but we were tendered there too.

The only ship that was at the port was MSC mega ship the other 4 were tendering.

we were rendered to the new port & had to get a water taxi to the old port for €4 return. 

I hope they’ll be less ships when you’re there. 

Nope. 5 ships in both Santorini and Mykonos. 

[Vineyard View]

What time of year is your trip?  I read an article recently that Santorini in particular is pretty packed with cruise ships for a huge block of the year. Then when it truly slows down, the residents need a break so badly that a lot of shops close. It seems that these places are becoming an undesirable place to port and that is just such a shame. 

[We-R-Off]

I believe that the Tourist season begins April/May until the end of October. 

[We-R-Off]

Just now, We-R-Off said:

I believe that the Tourist season begins April/May until the end of October. 

😳🙄🤞

[ninjacat123]

6 hours ago, We-R-Off said:

😳🙄🤞

Thanks for the report!  Did you have lunch/drinks/nibbles anywhere in Mykonos and/or Santorini?  DH and I are in Mykonos Oct 21 with a small (380 passengers) ship and so I'm hoping to grab some lunch after we walk around.  Santorini is Oct 23 and we have a tour through the ship to Oia.  TIA!!

[Nebr.cruiser]

19 hours ago, We-R-Off said:

We had 90 minutes in Oia.
There were people that got the Ship’s tender to Fira, took a local tour which included water taxi to Oia, bus from port to the town, transfer to Fira & the cable car down. It cost them €30-40. That was a really good deal. I saw them selling this tour when we returned via Fira.
The non ship tour passengers were not given tender tickets until 8:30.
We were in Oia at 9:15 just as the shops were opening. 

The description of our On Your Own tour says 3 hours in Oia.  Not sure we need that much.  We do need a specialized private tour as we want to visit Kamari, since my sister lived there for awhile in the early 70's. and she'd like to see it again.  We have found a tour operator, but haven't booked yet.

[We-R-Off]

2 hours ago, Nebr.cruiser said:

The description of our On Your Own tour says 3 hours in Oia.  Not sure we need that much.  We do need a specialized private tour as we want to visit Kamari, since my sister lived there for awhile in the early 70's. and she'd like to see it again.  We have found a tour operator, but haven't booked yet.

It sounds good to visit Kamari, you definitely wouldn’t need 3 hours in Oia unless you were planning to eat in a restaurant. 90 minutes was more than enough. 

[Nebr.cruiser]

6 hours ago, We-R-Off said:

It sounds good to visit Kamari, you definitely wouldn’t need 3 hours in Oia unless you were planning to eat in a restaurant. 90 minutes was more than enough. 

I think a couple of hours would be enough too, but then I have already been there.  My husband (he was ill the day we stopped in Santorini) and my two sisters have not.  So I'm thinking allow 3 hours before our other tour.

[kleibo]

On 8/31/2023 at 3:22 AM, ninjacat123 said:

Book it now.  You can cancel later.  I booked the "Oia & Thira" one.  

Ninja.  Just did the Oia & Thira yesterday.  Going to the old port first was perfect.  We got to OIA early and we’re able to get our pics without much trouble.  Go right to the dome pics as they back up quickly.  We also had time to shop and even had a drink overlooking the caldera 

 

we did a bit of shopping when we got back to Thira but we were on the cable car by 1 with only a 20 minute wait.  Friends waited an hour at 2 and it got up to 3 hours forcing many to walk down.  And yes. We had people miss the ship.  
 

the schedule said only 2 ships would be in port and 4 were in port - it was packed 

 

there was much more uphill walking than I realized and one woman fell coming back to the busses.  We also heard a woman fell on the stairs when they couldn’t wait any longer for the cable car 

[ninjacat123]

2 hours ago, kleibo said:

Ninja.  Just did the Oia & Thira yesterday.  Going to the old port first was perfect.  We got to OIA early and we’re able to get our pics without much trouble.  Go right to the dome pics as they back up quickly.  We also had time to shop and even had a drink overlooking the caldera 

 

we did a bit of shopping when we got back to Thira but we were on the cable car by 1 with only a 20 minute wait.  Friends waited an hour at 2 and it got up to 3 hours forcing many to walk down.  And yes. We had people miss the ship.  
 

the schedule said only 2 ships would be in port and 4 were in port - it was packed 

 

there was much more uphill walking than I realized and one woman fell coming back to the busses.  We also heard a woman fell on the stairs when they couldn’t wait any longer for the cable car 

Wow!  Good to know.  Right now, I have lunch reservations at Volkan on the Rocks in Thira for 1:00 for Oct 23.  An hour wait at 2pm sounds bad.  Hmmm, rethinking my strategy...

[megs193]

4 hours ago, kleibo said:

Ninja.  Just did the Oia & Thira yesterday.  Going to the old port first was perfect.  We got to OIA early and we’re able to get our pics without much trouble.  Go right to the dome pics as they back up quickly.  We also had time to shop and even had a drink overlooking the caldera 

 

we did a bit of shopping when we got back to Thira but we were on the cable car by 1 with only a 20 minute wait.  Friends waited an hour at 2 and it got up to 3 hours forcing many to walk down.  And yes. We had people miss the ship.  
 

the schedule said only 2 ships would be in port and 4 were in port - it was packed 

 

there was much more uphill walking than I realized and one woman fell coming back to the busses.  We also heard a woman fell on the stairs when they couldn’t wait any longer for the cable car 

Where do we go for the dome pics?  We booked a ship excursion and should get there early so I want to make sure we go to the best place for pics early.

[We-R-Off]

6 hours ago, kleibo said:

Ninja.  Just did the Oia & Thira yesterday.  Going to the old port first was perfect.  We got to OIA early and we’re able to get our pics without much trouble.  Go right to the dome pics as they back up quickly.  We also had time to shop and even had a drink overlooking the caldera 

 

we did a bit of shopping when we got back to Thira but we were on the cable car by 1 with only a 20 minute wait.  Friends waited an hour at 2 and it got up to 3 hours forcing many to walk down.  And yes. We had people miss the ship.  
 

the schedule said only 2 ships would be in port and 4 were in port - it was packed 

 

there was much more uphill walking than I realized and one woman fell coming back to the busses.  We also heard a woman fell on the stairs when they couldn’t wait any longer for the cable car 

Glad that it worked out well for you. Sounds like a nightmare. When we were in Mykonos there were 5 ships in port, two of which were very big ships.it was horrendous but thankfully the queues were only for the water taxis which were frequent. 

[We-R-Off]

3 hours ago, ninjacat123 said:

Wow!  Good to know.  Right now, I have lunch reservations at Volkan on the Rocks in Thira for 1:00 for Oct 23.  An hour wait at 2pm sounds bad.  Hmmm, rethinking my strategy...

I’d definitely reconsider. According to the schedule your one of 5 ships. I suppose you could always walk down slowly. By mid afternoon it could be less crowded.

What time is sail away? 

[ninjacat123]

19 minutes ago, We-R-Off said:

I’d definitely reconsider. According to the schedule your one of 5 ships. I suppose you could always walk down slowly. By mid afternoon it could be less crowded.

What time is sail away? 

5:00pm. I don’t want to walk down🤣

[kleibo]

8 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

5:00pm. I don’t want to walk down🤣

We had 5 pm sail away but 4:15 last shuttle.   At first you only saw a few walking down but by 3pm that stairway was packed with people coming down. A total nightmare 

Edited September 26, 2023 by kleibo

[ninjacat123]

6 minutes ago, kleibo said:

We had 5 pm sail away but 4:15 last shuttle.   At first you only saw a few walking down but by 3pm that stairway was packed with people coming down. A total nightmare 

Good to know. I appreciate the info👍