watsonbeau Posted July 15 Author #51 Share Posted July 15 On 7/11/2024 at 7:10 PM, Jack E Dawson said: watsonbeau, I happened to stumble on to this topic and was wondering how your visit to Santorini went. We will be there on May 21st of 2025. Any advice or thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Jack As it turns out I never got there - sadly had to cancel the day before flying out due to illness. However I will get there at some point as booked on Queen Anne in 2026 and it’s one of the ports. So will be reading all the experiences on here. Thank you for asking Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare NE John Posted July 15 #52 Share Posted July 15 31 minutes ago, watsonbeau said: As it turns out I never got there - sadly had to cancel the day before flying out due to illness. However I will get there at some point as booked on Queen Anne in 2026 and it’s one of the ports. So will be reading all the experiences on here. Thank you for asking Hopefully local Santorini officials will limit the # of ships per day by the time of your visit. Also look into taking an excursion or any step you can take to avoid the cable car, donkeys, and walking up/down the donkey transited hill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare reeves35 Posted July 15 #53 Share Posted July 15 On 7/12/2024 at 4:10 AM, Jack E Dawson said: watsonbeau, I happened to stumble on to this topic and was wondering how your visit to Santorini went. We will be there on May 21st of 2025. Any advice or thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Jack We are on the same cruise as you and have the same concerns about the overcrowding on Santorini. At this stage, it appears that Cunard have not released details of their own excursions so we will wait to see what they have available. Ideally, we would take one of their excursions where you bus from the alternative port and then we will walk back down to the ship on the path. Given we will be sharing Santorini with 5 other ships (VoyagerOTS, Wind Spirit, Celestyal Journey Costa Delizioza, MSC Lirica) on the day, queuing for the cable car is not an attractive option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare *Miss G* Posted July 15 #54 Share Posted July 15 Okay… still want to walk the steps?… I saw an elderly man slip and fall as we were going down the funicular. Please be careful if you choose to do this. P.S. The donkeys cost four times the price of the funicular and take 35 minutes longer than the 3 minutes on the cable car. We lined up at 2:00pm but I would suggest lining up earlier if you can’t tolerate standing for a long time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Germancruiser Posted July 16 #55 Share Posted July 16 (edited) Oh the early days of cruising- how one can miss them. Santorin is georgous- always has been. My first visit was back in 1983- as a 14 year old. In them days there was no cable car- it was either walk or the a donkey. So we all took the donkey- only one ship in port- with less than 500 pax. Been there many times since then. Used the cable car- the donkey- walked the path down- NOT UP. If you are in port with so many other pax just book a tour- as many already said. Masstourism has arrived on the seven seas long since- and took out the lure of cruising a good deal- for me anyway. For me- I prefer and enjoy a nice long Transatlantic or cruising those destinations out of the season. Had that on board Infinity this March- not too hot. Always the only ship in port. I avoid ships over 3000 passengers. A nightmare of the first order is arriving in- I know that is off topic- let´s say Nassau- lined up with 6 other ships - all in all around 30 000 visitors- lol. Edited July 16 by Germancruiser 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Megabear2 Posted July 16 #56 Share Posted July 16 This is in no way accusing anyone and no offence intended but please consider seriously the donkeys well being and health before choosing to ride on one of these lovely creatures. Animal charities worldwide have highlighted the lives they are forced to endure despite regulations and attempts to help them live better lives. Unfortunately many of the owners ignore the rules on health, my husband had an argument with a donkey owner when being encouraged to ride down as the animal clearly had sores and was bleeding where the girth of the saddle was rubbing into him. His reward was to be sworn and spat at. Incidentally there are also donkeys on the steps in Oia. The kindest thing to do as a visitor to places where donkeys and horses are used as tourist transport is to not use them. 9 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TowandaUK Posted July 16 #57 Share Posted July 16 2 hours ago, Megabear2 said: This is in no way accusing anyone and no offence intended but please consider seriously the donkeys well being and health before choosing to ride on one of these lovely creatures. Animal charities worldwide have highlighted the lives they are forced to endure despite regulations and attempts to help them live better lives. Unfortunately many of the owners ignore the rules on health, my husband had an argument with a donkey owner when being encouraged to ride down as the animal clearly had sores and was bleeding where the girth of the saddle was rubbing into him. His reward was to be sworn and spat at. Incidentally there are also donkeys on the steps in Oia. The kindest thing to do as a visitor to places where donkeys and horses are used as tourist transport is to not use them. Thanks for this. Totally agree. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare NE John Posted July 16 #58 Share Posted July 16 3 hours ago, Megabear2 said: This is in no way accusing anyone and no offence intended but please consider seriously the donkeys well being and health before choosing to ride on one of these lovely creatures. Animal charities worldwide have highlighted the lives they are forced to endure despite regulations and attempts to help them live better lives. Unfortunately many of the owners ignore the rules on health, my husband had an argument with a donkey owner when being encouraged to ride down as the animal clearly had sores and was bleeding where the girth of the saddle was rubbing into him. His reward was to be sworn and spat at. Incidentally there are also donkeys on the steps in Oia. The kindest thing to do as a visitor to places where donkeys and horses are used as tourist transport is to not use them. Cunard made an announcement before going ashore in Santorini to not use the donkeys because of their ill-treatment. I thought that was a classy announcement by Cunard. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare *Miss G* Posted July 16 #59 Share Posted July 16 16 minutes ago, NE John said: Cunard made an announcement before going ashore in Santorini to not use the donkeys because of their ill-treatment. I thought that was a classy announcement by Cunard. HAL does the same. I can’t even imagine sitting on one of those poor donkeys, let alone paying someone to do it. Thankfully, I only saw two donkeys in use this time. Far less than I saw on previous visits, so all the warnings are working. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Host Hattie Posted July 16 #60 Share Posted July 16 On 9/19/2023 at 6:53 PM, Bell Boy said: Yes you are correct. The tour is several hours including lunch etc, however, It also includes a ticket TO BY PASS lines to return down 😉 This was the attraction for me. How was this excursion ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lincslady Posted July 16 #61 Share Posted July 16 If you have never been, it would be a shame to miss going ashore in Santorini. Two points worth considering - how many other ships are in that day, if several large ones it will be awful getting on the cablecar in the morning, but many passengers insist on doing just that and going back down for lunch on board. Going ashore after about 2 p.m. - which is what ship's staff tend to do - is normally a lot less crowded, and should give you time to have a good look round assuming you don't sail too early. And, yes, please do not use the donkeys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bell Boy Posted July 16 #62 Share Posted July 16 1 hour ago, Host Hattie said: How was this excursion ? Ah! yes, it turned out much better than I thought 👍 There was indeed an 'official' Cunard employee from the ship ( in the vicinity of the cable car) calling forward any remaining Cunard guests ( this was approx One hour 45 mins before final embarkation of our ship) I understand ( we heard later) due to there being five ships in port ( 4 + QV) the latest times for embarkation and the departure of the ship are all staggered - On the particular day of our visit there appeared to be a very good procedure in place (up in the vicinity of the cable car) with various representatives/ crew members from the visiting cruise ships looking out for their respective guests. I expect this could be a sensible procedure now in place , regardless if one is on an organised ships excursion or not . ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Host Hattie Posted July 16 #63 Share Posted July 16 Thank you, that sounds a bit more positive than some of the horror stories I've read. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lincslady Posted July 16 #64 Share Posted July 16 Assuming Bell Boy has the right information, my experience of several years ago would no longer happen; what a good idea. It was hell when we tried to go back with a huge crowd of Italian passengers from a Costa ship - no idea of waiting your turn. Nearly ended in fights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exlondoner Posted July 16 #65 Share Posted July 16 7 minutes ago, lincslady said: Assuming Bell Boy has the right information, my experience of several years ago would no longer happen; what a good idea. It was hell when we tried to go back with a huge crowd of Italian passengers from a Costa ship - no idea of waiting your turn. Nearly ended in fights. Now if you had happened to have a small baby with you, it might have been quite different. 😀 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare WantedOnVoyage Posted July 16 #66 Share Posted July 16 No thanks.... I'll keep my fond memories of Santorini visits aboard UGANDA in 1981 and CANBERRA in 1995. We've been more than content to stay aboard the last two visits in QUEEN VICTORIA... the last one in May, the call was preceded by a letter warning of the impending horrors ashore but it looked less mobbed than the preceding September. Either way... no thanks. Might visit to supervise the airlift of the poor donkeys to the Donkey Sanctuary in Sidmouth, though... they've doubtless had enough of cruise invasion tourism than any human. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare D&N Posted July 16 #67 Share Posted July 16 As with most places in the world, if I decide that I'd like to see it in detail I'll watch a few YT videos. There's only one region I want to experience and we live there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Germancruiser Posted July 17 #68 Share Posted July 17 Oh I know how useless does discussion with the donkey guys are- I had the same, when I refused to use the donkeys after I saw how bad those poor things have been treated by their owners. I used them twice- but would never do so again. Those owners have no respect for their animals. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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