Has anyone taken an NCL excursion in Santorini ?

[barb67]

I agree with post #2 in this thread regarding the stairs. We walked down them a few years ago and it was a very unpleasant experience. The steps are smelly, dirty and slippery and the donkeys are overloaded with building materials if they are not carrying tourists. There have been accidents and certainly one fatality (an American tourist I think) in the last few years. The donkeys are not well looked after, google Santorini donkeys. IMHO Santorini is somewhere that has suffered hugely from mass tourism and unless I joined a tour that avoided Fira altogether, I would stay on board and enjoy the views from the ship.

 

 

 

 

[MedCruise_2022]

6 minutes ago, mapleleaves said:

I don't particularly care for LIVE CRUISE REPORTs;  too many photos of their luggage, their uber ride to the airport, every drink, every appetizer, etc etc,  plus all the comments from readers.  However, I will glance thru them for info on a new-to-me port. 

 

So ....the attached report was done just last month. Not good news for you I'm afraid. 😟

The Pearl and Epic were both departing at 10pm, they got in the cable car line at 7:30 after the tour bus dropped them off. They did the NCL Opa tour.  HUNDREDS of people in line and they "heard" it was a 2 hr wait.  After waiting an hr, they decided to walk down the stairs. Last tender is 9pm.

They made it, and the ship left on time so everyone must have made it to the ship.

Read the whole story. Excellent photos of the walk. 

 

TxTeach79's Pearl European Adventure LIVE - 6/24 - Page 108 - Norwegian Cruise Line - Cruise Critic Community

 

Again, thank you very much!

Santorini, I suppose is the port which needs so much planning/overthinking among the ports during our port-intensive cruise (Koper, Split, Kotor, Dubrovnik, Corfu, Santorini, Kusadasi, Istanbul, and Mykonos- which we pre-booked NCL excursions except in Kotor, and Mykonos).

You are very helpful! Thank you!
 

[barb67]

12 minutes ago, barb67 said:

I agree with post #2 in this thread regarding the stairs. We walked down them a few years ago and it was a very unpleasant experience. The steps are smelly, dirty and slippery and the donkeys are overloaded with building materials if they are not carrying tourists. There have been accidents and certainly one fatality (an American tourist I think) in the last few years. The donkeys are not well looked after, google Santorini donkeys. IMHO Santorini is somewhere that has suffered hugely from mass tourism and unless I joined a tour that avoided Fira altogether, I would stay on board and enjoy the views from the ship.

 

 

 

 

I think the tourist was a German lady actually.

[room with a view]

We were on a NCL excursion ...then  some free time .We were given a ticket for the cable car ...we waited nearly 2 hours .

 

The street to the cable car was lined with shops with no chance of looking in them ...a long line shuffled past on the right (us) and another shuffled down on the left .

 

Cannot remember exactly what time the ship was leaving but it certainly wasn't 9.00 pm (we wish it had been ) as we were worried we would miss the ship's departure . 

[ilovesalchows]

On 7/14/2024 at 2:45 PM, MedCruise_2022 said:

Santorini is one of our ports during our Eastern Mediterranean Cruise on Dawn this October (from Trieste to Athens/Oct 17-27, 2024).

We booked the Santorini shore excursion:  Let's Take a Selfie (4.5 hours, starts at 2:30 pm)- which begins in Oia, then visits an ocean-front restaurant, then goes to Fira (for more selfies, I suppose 😅).

Has anyone taken this shore excursion? What was your experience-especially the logistics of going back to the ship?

Thanks!

We did this last summer, although we left the ship at 7am.  We were the first ones off the ship, and hit Oia when it was completely empty.  By the time we left Oia the streets were just starting to fill.  We made it back to the cable car before noon and maybe waited 25 minutes?  We went to an amazing restaurant down by the water before boarding the tender back.  

[dock]

@itsnotjustme, did the beach excursion include loungers? Thank you. 

[itsnotjustme]

Yes.  And we were across the street from a small restaurant and bar that had a rest room!

 

We were in early September, so the start of shoulder season.  I don't know if that made a difference in the loungers.

[itsnotjustme]

The beach was on the southeast coast.

[arabrab]

On 7/14/2024 at 9:19 PM, zqvol said:

Coming down the path is really easy. The “steps” are wide and easy to navigate. You just have to be careful to avoid stepping in a mess. The views over the side, especially at the top are beautiful. 
 

I have ridden the donkeys (the are really large mules) up and that is a much better option than waiting on the cable cars. 

Back when we went, the donkey tickets were roundtrip. We noted that many fewer people were electing to ride the donkeys down than riding them up. We took the funicular.

[KeithJenner]

On 7/15/2024 at 9:26 PM, barb67 said:

I think the tourist was a German lady actually.

It was.

 

Happened about a couple of weeks after we walked down (the only time we ever did) and were commenting at the time that someone could easily get killed.

[dock]

Hi all, our ship departs departs at 11pm.

Other ships leave at 6 , 8 and 9pm.

What would you consider  an optimum time to head back to the cable car. 
 

I realize it’s unpredictable. We’re taking a ships tour to the beach to eliminate having to use the cable car to Fira. 

 

My preference to is stay onboard with 11000 people in port that day, but DH wants to do one last visit as I doubt we would choose  to visit again. This is our third time here. ( 2 cruise stops and 1 land trip).
 

I thought around 6pm. 
Thank you. 
 

[dilbertsdaddy]

I rode the donkey up...never again

[barb67]

I just think it is cruel and unnecessary suffering for the animals. The donkey owners should know better.

[zqvol]

1 hour ago, barb67 said:

I just think it is cruel and unnecessary suffering for the animals. The donkey owners should know better.

They aren’t donkeys. They are pack mules and are bred to carry heavy loads. They have done it all over the world for thousands of years. 

[itsnotjustme]

12 hours ago, dock said:

Hi all, our ship departs departs at 11pm.

Other ships leave at 6 , 8 and 9pm.

What would you consider  an optimum time to head back to the cable car. 

That depends.  What time do you get in, and how much time do you want to spend ashore?  And if your ship departs at 11 PM, the last tender may be an hours or so earlier. 

 

Looking only at departure times, and assuming your last tender is at 10PM, my lean would be 7:30 to 8:00 PM.  Most of the crowd for the 9 PM departure should be through (assuming they also have a last tender an hour earlier) and it leaves you 2+ hours to get through the line and down.

[missyhr3x]

Hi there - I just came off the Getaway- 10 day -Greece and Turkey.  In Santorini we took a private excursion in the morning, ship is there late. I normally stick to NCL excursions. We hired a boat run by a local fisherman and he took us out for 5 hours. He fished for us and then parked in a beautiful cove and we went swimming while he and his co- captain made us the most delicious lunch on their grill. This was my favorite excursion. If you want more details I have his card and I’m happy to share. Has amazing reviews on TripAdvisor and came to pick us up in Fira ( where the ship tenders) 

[terry&mike]

2 hours ago, missyhr3x said:

Hi there - I just came off the Getaway- 10 day -Greece and Turkey.  In Santorini we took a private excursion in the morning, ship is there late. I normally stick to NCL excursions. We hired a boat run by a local fisherman and he took us out for 5 hours. He fished for us and then parked in a beautiful cove and we went swimming while he and his co- captain made us the most delicious lunch on their grill. This was my favorite excursion. If you want more details I have his card and I’m happy to share. Has amazing reviews on TripAdvisor and came to pick us up in Fira ( where the ship tenders) 

Yes please. 

[missyhr3x]