santorini and corfu tenders

[floridafolks]

Our cruise to santorini and corfu say that tenders are required. We have never been on a cruise that needed tenders. Do the cruise lines supply them at no cost?(we are on Holland America) and how long does it take to get everyone off (and on) the ship from the tenders? Does this eat up a lot of shore time? Any advice or info on tenders would be helpful.

thanks

[brewster007]

If it is the same as other ports the cruise line provides the tenders and there is no additional cost. When we tendered in to Cabo it was slow and it was 10:30AM before we were off the ship. HAL shore excursion guests are given priority to the tenders so if you are doing a private - non HAL tour make sure you get your tender tickets early. The amount of time you will have to wait will depend on the number of HAL excursion guests. Maybe someone with more experience in these ports can advise what to expect as I am also interested in knowing approximate wait times.

 

Brewster

[tooalto]

In most ports where a tender is needed on HAL ships, they use some of the larger lifeboats. In santorini, they must use local tenders. However, the boats are larger and can fit more people. We didn't have to tender in Corfu so I don't know about it.

[cruisemom42]

What HAL ship are you on? If you are on one of their smaller ships, they will probably be able to tender most folks off relatively quickly.

[nparmelee]

We also noticed that if you really want to get off the ship in earlier tenders, there is usually a way to do it, just need to go to wherever they hand out the tender tickets (usually only until a certain time of day) as early as you can and get your tender tickets. On a different line we were able to get off at one port with the tour groups. With a tender port note the time of the last tender and get back before then. Smaller ships are definitely easier here as there are less people to tender and the process goes much more quickly.

 

For some ports the tender can be a good thing, Mykonos comes to mind, the tenders dropped you off right in town as opposed to having to get into town from the ship dock.

[brewster007]

What HAL ship are you on? If you are on one of their smaller ships, they will probably be able to tender most folks off relatively quickly.

 

We are on the Noordam. According to the itinerary we are to tender in at both Corfu and Santorini.

 

Brewster

[seapenarth]

In most ports where a tender is needed on HAL ships, they use some of the larger lifeboats. In santorini, they must use local tenders. However, the boats are larger and can fit more people. We didn't have to tender in Corfu so I don't know about it.

 

In Santorini they do use local tenders.

[margbem]

The problem with Santorini is the cable car once you are off the ship. If you don't get an early tender there can be queues os 1.5 hours for the cable car at busy times. We were lucky to be in a suite on RCC's Splendour in late September and so got number 1 tender tickets. We only had to queue for about 20 minutes to get on the cable car. People on our ship said they went for tickets at 7am only to get number 4 tender and then waited so long to get up the cable car it didn't seem worth it! The other options are to walk up the steps or ride the donkeys, both of which people said were not pleasant - maybe it depends how adventurous you are! If you go on the donkeys be prepared to ruin your trousers!

 

If you book a ship's tour you will be tendered off to a different place where there is access for vehicles, so that might be the way to go.

 

Also, be brave and wait until the last minute to come back down on the cable car when there won't be a long queue. Our ship left at 5pm and we went back at 3.30pm - no queue!

 

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask. Our other ports were Dubrovnik, Kusadasi and Corfu, where we docked.

[tom_uk]

At Santorini you'll very probably be tendered to the small harbour below Fira town, from where you'll have to get the cable car up to the town. There's a lot of information on the internet about Santorini and the issues you might encounter there, suffice to say that there can be hassles getting to this stunning place.

 

The first thing you need to find out is: how many ships are calling at Santorini the same day as yours? Visit this site: http://www.cruisett.com/ports.php , scroll down the list of countries to 'Greece', then select 'Santorini Island' from the list of locations for Greece. When you get to the next screen, click on the month of your visit from the list at the top. Then find the date of your call there - you'll see the names of the ships calling there. Hopefully it'll only be one. It might be two; or three; or even more. If so, I'm afraid this is bad news....

 

The problem at Santorini is the nature of the island - it's a huge, flooded volcanic caldera, the ships anchor in the middle, and the actual destinations (Fira, Oia) are at the top of a steep, high cliff around the caldera. Hence the references to the cable car. The truth is that when there are several ships calling the cable car capacity is overwhelmed. I blogged about all this after my last visit there. You can read the post here:

http://tomtotley.wordpress.com/2007/06/29/day-8-santorini/

 

I also have a number of photos of Santorini, and of the cable cars, on another site. Unfortunately Cruise Critic prevent direct links to that other site (they used to allow them but no more....) so here's a link to a 'Picture URLs' page in my blog from which you can get to the pictures. When you get to that page, there are three entries for Santorini: Santorini 2006, Santorini 2007, and Santorini Cablecars. Have a look at all of them. They'll give you a feel for the extraordinary beauty of this place, and all some of the issues it presents. Here's the 'Pictures URLs' link: http://tomtotley.wordpress.com/resources/picture-urls-on-cruise-server/

[sidari]

Guys you will find that at Corfu you will be moored at a pier! we have spent 16 holidays there over the last 5 years and have never seen any ship and that includes Grand Princess, Zuiderdam and many others ever Tender in Corfu !

 

From the Port it is about a 15 to 20 minute walk into town for those able to do so, or just follow the main road into the Old Port.

 

There are pics on our website at www.sunshimmer.proboards85.com (simply Corfu)

[jspirit]

Do the tender boats run continuously throughout the day in Santorni while our ship is in port? How often?

Thanks !

[nparmelee]

Santorini tenders run constantly, how often might depend on how many ships are in port that day. In Santorini only local boats are used for the tenders, not the ship ones.

[SandG]

Santorini tenders run constantly, how often might depend on how many ships are in port that day. In Santorini only local boats are used for the tenders, not the ship ones.

Do you know if the same holds true in Mykonos? Are they the local boats or the ship's tenders? I ask because we are sharing this port with another ship.

 

Sue

[nparmelee]

Mykonos was ships tenders.

[SandG]

Mykonos was ships tenders.

That's a relief. Thank you.

[jms2362]

Our cruise to santorini and corfu say that tenders are required. We have never been on a cruise that needed tenders. Do the cruise lines supply them at no cost?(we are on Holland America) and how long does it take to get everyone off (and on) the ship from the tenders? Does this eat up a lot of shore time? Any advice or info on tenders would be helpful.

thanks

The ship uses it boats and also water taxis from the island. There is no charge. It is best to get off of the ship early less crowds, if no waiting you will be on shore in less that 10 minutes, usually. Get back to the dock area at least an hour before required as there will be a long line to get back onto the ship. It is a fun experience usually. If you wait too late then it can be stressful. If you are in line you won't be left, just don't wait too late!! People are getting off and on all day long.

[jms2362]

Do the tender boats run continuously throughout the day in Santorni while our ship is in port? How often?

Thanks !

They are constantly going back and forth to the ship. We had rough seas 2 yrs. ago and they stopped running tenders for a couple of hours and we left port two hours late. Don't worry they won't leave you. Our Captain came on intercom and said they had 650 people still to get off and it was 6PM we left at around 8:30PM.

[HangtownGal]

I must say the posts about all the problems in getting up to Fira make me wonder if it's even worth trying to get off the ship. There are 3, inc the Noordam, that will be in port that day. :rolleyes:

 

I found a local tour I'd really like to take - but it leaves from Fira at 9:15am and from what I'm reading it's highly unlikely we'd be able to get there by that time.

 

Just when I though I had Santorini figured out! :D

 

Carole

[susietb]

Don't be put off by all the naysayers. Get up early and see Santorini!!!

[jms2362]

I must say the posts about all the problems in getting up to Fira make me wonder if it's even worth trying to get off the ship. There are 3, inc the Noordam, that will be in port that day. :rolleyes:

 

I found a local tour I'd really like to take - but it leaves from Fira at 9:15am and from what I'm reading it's highly unlikely we'd be able to get there by that time.

 

Just when I though I had Santorini figured out! :D

 

Carole

Do not let any negative comments prevent you from going up. I went up on the cable car (funicular) maybe was in line 10 minutes. Enjoyed the ride up. Found my husband later, he decided not to walk up. We walked around and got the bus to Oia, a couple of blocks from the cable car and the buses run ON TIME. It cost around1.5 euros. It was a fun ride and saw some of the island. We wandered around, up and down the narrow streets and have some of the most wonderful pictures you could ask for. We had them blown up to 2 x 3 feet and framed and are hanging in our entry way into the house. We loved our visit to Santorini and Mykonos. We are going on this cruise because of being able to go back there. We got off of the ship early and as I said walked around and talked with locals. Loved it. We had lunch with a magnificent view of the back side of the city. Most restaurants take only cash, beware. We could have gotten lunch for $3-4 by having Gyros, but by going to the nice restaurant we spent probably around $40 US; We are planning on renting a car in Sept. and seeing the island. I am sure you will love the island as much as we do, we can hardly wait.

[jms2362]

I must say the posts about all the problems in getting up to Fira make me wonder if it's even worth trying to get off the ship. There are 3, inc the Noordam, that will be in port that day. :rolleyes:

 

I found a local tour I'd really like to take - but it leaves from Fira at 9:15am and from what I'm reading it's highly unlikely we'd be able to get there by that time.

 

Just when I though I had Santorini figured out! :D

 

Carole

Where did you find information on a local tour? We are thinking of renting a car as we have not found tours locally. Yes yoiu should have no problem of getting to Fira for the 9:15 tour. Leave the ship around 8 to 8:15 and it gives you an hour. Thinking back we probably took 20 minutes to get off of the ship and a 10 min. wait for the cable car and it takes less than 3 min. to go up.

[HangtownGal]

Where did you find information on a local tour? We are thinking of renting a car as we have not found tours locally. Yes yoiu should have no problem of getting to Fira for the 9:15 tour. Leave the ship around 8 to 8:15 and it gives you an hour. Thinking back we probably took 20 minutes to get off of the ship and a 10 min. wait for the cable car and it takes less than 3 min. to go up.

 

The tour I thought would show us the most was at http://www.kamaritours.gr/excursionsdetails.asp?actionpage=C&intpage=1 It's the one described on that page as SEE SANTORINI IN ONE DAY (BUS & BOAT TOUR) for only €40 each.

 

Just google Santorini Excursions and you'll see quite a selection.

 

Carole

[HangtownGal]

Where did you find information on a local tour? We are thinking of renting a car as we have not found tours locally. Yes yoiu should have no problem of getting to Fira for the 9:15 tour. Leave the ship around 8 to 8:15 and it gives you an hour. Thinking back we probably took 20 minutes to get off of the ship and a 10 min. wait for the cable car and it takes less than 3 min. to go up.

 

Here's another one I thought would be interesting - and not quite as ambitious.

http://www.thiratours.com/thira_tours.htm

VOLCANO TOUR A4: Take your time after breakfast, and depart late in the morning. You'll still have time to embark at Athinios for your discovery of the volcano and hot springs, continue to laid-back Thirisia and to view the sunset in Oia, then return to your lodgings. Including transportation and guide service.

A4

SEE THE VOLCANO - CALDERA AND THE FAMOUS SUNSET IN OIA

Program:

1. Athinios Port

2. Volcano

3. Hot Springs

4. Thirassia

5. Sunset in Oia

 

Departure:

Kamari: 10:30

Fira: 11:00

Perissa: 10:50

Imerovigli: 10:45

 

Return: From Oia after the sunset with our buses.

Guided tour in Greek, English, Spanish and German (on board) :: Price 35.00 euro per person

Carole