Santorini shore excursion - catamaran cruise.

[Tlukec]

Hi folks, first timer here and really excited! We’re cruising with Azamara into Santorini on 21 June at 08:00 and I’m curious to know whether tour companies can/will guarantee your pickup either from where we are shuttled into port by Azamara, or can we meet them elsewhere? I’ve had a couple of knockbacks trying to book through Viator already. We’re looking to do a 4-5 hour catamaran cruise with lunch and swimming in the morning. If anyone’s had a good experience with a particular company, please let me know? Many thanks!

Edited March 3 by Tlukec
Missed word

[crystalspin]

2 hours ago, Tlukec said:

We’re cruising with Azamara into Santorini on 21 June at 08:00 and I’m curious to know whether tour companies can/will guarantee your pickup either from where we are shuttled into port by Azamara, or can we meet them elsewhere? I’ve had a couple of knockbacks trying to book through Viator already. We’re looking to do a 4-5 hour catamaran cruise with lunch and swimming in the morning. If anyone’s had a good experience with a particular company, please let me know? 

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

Azamara board:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/362-azamara/

Greek ports:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/463-greece-ports/

 

Your probably Roll Call (people on your very cruise):

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2942403-june-15-2024-azamara-journey-11nt-greece-intensive/#comment-65500496

 

Viator is a third-party that takes most or all of the tour-offerer's profit. Try to find the vendor and deal directly with them.

[John Bull]

Ships' tenders for those not on ship-sponsored tours take you to the quay below Fira, known variously as Fira Old Port, Old Port of Thira or similar. It's at the bottom of a cliff and there is no road to it, but Independently-booked boat trips from that quay are very easy & simple for those on cruise ships.

 

But boat trips from Athinios harbour (which is also the harbour used by tenders for ship-sponsored tours and inter-island ferries) or Ammoudi (the harbour for Oia) or elsewhere are very problematic.

 

For Ammoudi there is what I'll call a transfer boat (often called a speedboat or a water-taxi in posts on Cruise Critic) costing about €25 pp from Fira Old Port, but it doesn't have a timetable - it goes when it's full and you can be sat on it at the quayside for an hour or more, which makes it difficult to be sure that you'll be at Ammoudi in time for a booked boat trip. And there's no transfer boat back to Fira Old Port, so you have to take a bus or taxi from Oia to Fira, then join the line for the cablecar, or walk down the zig-zag path, to get back to the tenders at Fira Old Port.

 

For Athinios you'd have to go up to Fira (cablecar or donkey), then bus (I'll guess that there is a bus route) or taxi for five convoluted miles to Athinios harbour. And the same to get back to the ship.

Ship-sponsored tours are tendered to Athinios, where they switch to buses - a few folk have booked ship's tours in order to use the tender to Athinios where they're met by their independent tour operator or taxi, but that's an extra-ordinarily convoluted & expensive way to avoid going up in the cablecar - and most ship tours end at Fira, not Athinios

 

So both are pretty unworkable for you.

 

International agencies like Viator probably don't even know which harbour the various boat operators use, you need to check out local operators or local agencies on Santorini - if they can't or won't confirm that a boat trip goes from Fira Old Port, don't book.

One option is to start by laboriously going through google street-view photos on https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZACHUSWZBLaVxyKCA or googleimages of Fira Old Port, looking for name-boards offering boat trips

 

JB 🙂

[Tlukec]

Thank you so much for your feedback, information, and suggestions. I’ll try and go direct!

[Tlukec]

12 hours ago, crystalspin said:

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

Azamara board:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/362-azamara/

Greek ports:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/463-greece-ports/

 

Your probably Roll Call (people on your very cruise):

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2942403-june-15-2024-azamara-journey-11nt-greece-intensive/#comment-65500496

 

Viator is a third-party that takes most or all of the tour-offerer's profit. Try to find the vendor and deal directly with them.

 

9 hours ago, John Bull said:

Ships' tenders for those not on ship-sponsored tours take you to the quay below Fira, known variously as Fira Old Port, Old Port of Thira or similar. It's at the bottom of a cliff and there is no road to it, but Independently-booked boat trips from that quay are very easy & simple for those on cruise ships.

 

But boat trips from Athinios harbour (which is also the harbour used by tenders for ship-sponsored tours and inter-island ferries) or Ammoudi (the harbour for Oia) or elsewhere are very problematic.

 

For Ammoudi there is what I'll call a transfer boat (often called a speedboat or a water-taxi in posts on Cruise Critic) costing about €25 pp from Fira Old Port, but it doesn't have a timetable - it goes when it's full and you can be sat on it at the quayside for an hour or more, which makes it difficult to be sure that you'll be at Ammoudi in time for a booked boat trip. And there's no transfer boat back to Fira Old Port, so you have to take a bus or taxi from Oia to Fira, then join the line for the cablecar, or walk down the zig-zag path, to get back to the tenders at Fira Old Port.

 

For Athinios you'd have to go up to Fira (cablecar or donkey), then bus (I'll guess that there is a bus route) or taxi for five convoluted miles to Athinios harbour. And the same to get back to the ship.

Ship-sponsored tours are tendered to Athinios, where they switch to buses - a few folk have booked ship's tours in order to use the tender to Athinios where they're met by their independent tour operator or taxi, but that's an extra-ordinarily convoluted & expensive way to avoid going up in the cablecar - and most ship tours end at Fira, not Athinios

 

So both are pretty unworkable for you.

 

International agencies like Viator probably don't even know which harbour the various boat operators use, you need to check out local operators or local agencies on Santorini - if they can't or won't confirm that a boat trip goes from Fira Old Port, don't book.

One option is to start by laboriously going through google street-view photos on https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZACHUSWZBLaVxyKCA or googleimages of Fira Old Port, looking for name-boards offering boat trips

 

JB 🙂

Thanks both so much for your responses. Greatly appreciated!