Solstice at Santorini!

[samka]

We will be sailing July 6 and are in CC class. Do we have priority tendering? Do we still have to get there so early?

[kelmac]

Make sure you spend some evening hours in Santorini!

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoy!

Kel:)

[2theship]

We will be sailing on 9/18

I am also wondering --do you need to line up for tender tix if you are on a ship's excursion? My understanding was that you have a special tender & then get a bus.. & return on your own by the cable car....

 

we have an early tour to Oia (along with many other folks, I imagine) & then want to have some time in the port before going back down to the ship...

 

generally, pls post on how it is in all the ports getting on & off such a large ship! Century was much smaller ; & so easy on & off in th eports,,,

 

Yes, that's exactly the situation. We did this last fall on the Galaxy. The tours use different tenders, since they go to a different dock. And no waiting for the cable car, since the tour buses are right at the dock. Can't speak to your last question, though, since we were on a much smaller ship.

[Gerrym]

make sure you spend some evening hours in santorini!

 

 

 

 

 

enjoy!

Kel:)

 

 

 

wow!

[jojop]

Hi Folks,

 

To answer some questions... if you've booked through a tour, you will tender off separately from guests going to the island independently. I believe there were two tender locations. One for tours and one for the rest. There didn't seem to be any priority tendering except for those booked on tours. All others were bunched into one group and and started lining up for tender tickets around 8:30AM near Celebrity Central regardless if you are in CC class or not (we're booked in AQ and was in line with a some folks who were Elite and in CC).

 

Leaving Santorini, the line was too long for us and it was very cold. We had dinner in Fira that ended around 8:00PM. Last tender is at 9:30. It seemed to wrap around a couple of blocks. The cars fit 6 and I think there are 6 cars per trip. It was so cold we decided to walk down the trail to keep us warm. Not a fun experience (don't wear open toed shoes!). So not sure how long the wait was from the end of the line but we made it down the hill in about 30min.

 

Hope this info helps!

 

Joe

[tom_uk]

To add to jojop's comments: even if you're on an excursion and therefore get tendered into Athinios port at the beginning, your excursion will end at Fira and you'll have to come down with all the other people. You should be given a cablecar ticket as part of the excursion price, but you'll still have to queue.

[Domina X]

KELMAC,

 

Your picture of Santorini in the evening is breathtaking !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Could really get used to living there. Thanks for sharing such an awesome picture.:)

[agreene]

Thanks for all the info. I leave for this cruise next week!

[Honeymoon sailors]

Thanks Tom, that'll be me in 3 weeks time!!!

 

 

Gerry

 

Me too. I'll see you Gerry. I'll be on the May 25th sailing

[safari njema]

Make sure you spend some evening hours in Santorini!

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoy!

Kel:)

 

Gorgeous. Is this Οία?

[hcat]

Thanks for the info & the amazing photos!

[kelmac]

Gorgeous. Is this Οία?

 

Not my photo -- just "snagged" it off the internet, and yes it is Oia.

You really can't take a bad photo in Santorini!

 

Check this out:

 

 

Enjoy!

Kel:)

[odessa1]

You said this is your favorite port .... we're sailing on the Sostice in September and haven't yet decided whether or not to book a shore excursion in Santorini. If we decide to do the island on our own, what are your "must do's"?? Would also welcome other tips or advice, as well as any suggestions on Mykonos.

[odessa1]

Thanks Tom,

 

Favorite ship in my favorite port! Great stuff!:)

 

Kel

 

 

You said this is your favorite port .... we're sailing on the Sostice in September and haven't yet decided whether or not to book a shore excursion in Santorini. If we decide to do the island on our own, what are your "must do's"?? Would also welcome other tips or advice, as well as any suggestions on Mykonos.

[RicardoC]

Not my photo -- just "snagged" it off the internet, and yes it is Oia.

You really can't take a bad photo in Santorini!

 

Check this out:

 

 

Enjoy!

Kel

 

I agree! AWESOME PICTURE!

 

You said this is your favorite port .... we're sailing on the Sostice in September and haven't yet decided whether or not to book a shore excursion in Santorini. If we decide to do the island on our own, what are your "must do's"?? Would also welcome other tips or advice, as well as any suggestions on Mykonos.

 

We were in Santorini last July with Brilliance OTS....our favorite port!

We never get the ship's excursions so we got the tickets to Tender 3 and decided to see what we would do outside the ship as always...lines for the cable car were long to go up and even longer to go down since there were 4 ships that day including the Brilliance and Navigator OTS:eek: The ride was worth thou lots of great pics to take but very bad for those afraid of heights :p

 

We rented a car for a good price(don't remember the price) that was more than worth...since its an island it is VERY easy to get around....only one road to go to Oia from "downtown" and that was what we did....in about 15, 20 minutes we were in the awesome village of Oia whioch has great cafes, stores, impressive views, and some hotels I wish I will stay for a couple days just to escape from the world :cool: Then we went to the other extreme of the island passing by "downtown" to a place called "SantoWine" which had santorini wine(of course) to degustation....not that good but just the view paied the stop there....actually we did not know what was it...just stoped because of the view :p....talking about the Solstice you have Cellar Masters but still should visit to see the amazing view....I loved Santorini...it is the most different place we've been to and just seems to be another world....you'll just understand when you go there....ENJOY :)

[RicardoC]

I had to do it...It was stronger than me....hahahaha....here you go some pictures from Santorini

 

View from our balcony

 

View from SantoWine

 

Also SantoWine

 

Cafe at Oia....we had an awesome baklava(greek pie) and sparkling water to refresh while we watched the background...WHAT A HARD LIFE....

 

Oia

 

View from Oia

[sakuraoblisarut]

[sakuraoblisarut]

Amazing pictures! WOW WOW WOW. Thanks for the tips about the wait for launches to the Island. I am going on May 25 on Celebrity Solstice too. Is it the same situation at Mykono? Any recommendation of joining anything? Like a local tour or ship's one or on my own? Thanks!

[RicardoC]

 

Amazing pictures! WOW WOW WOW. Thanks for the tips about the wait for launches to the Island. I am going on May 25 on Celebrity Solstice too. Is it the same situation at Mykono? Any recommendation of joining anything? Like a local tour or ship's one or on my own? Thanks!

 

 

Unfortunately the seas in Mykonos were too rough for us to tender which meant another sea day and an overnight in Kusadasi instead of just a day(we arrived in Turkey at 10pm instead of in the morning)...so cannot help with Mykonos...I'm sorry :o:(

[tom_uk]

There's lots of information about Mykonos over on the 'Mediterranean - Eastern & Western' forum (under 'Europe'). Briefly, however, this is how it works:

 

The ship can either dock or tender. If it docks, it does so at a new port (Tourlas) a couple of kilometers out of Mykonos town. The cruise line will run shuttle buses into town. In the case of Celebrity, these might be pretty expensive - $5 or $6 for a return 2-kilometer journey? Theoretically you could walk it, but it's along a narrow (in places) road with no pedestrian pavement (sidewalk).

 

If the ship doesn't dock then it will anchor off Mykonos town and you'll tender into the old harbour. However, as RicardoC mentions, sometime the Meltemi wind blows and this can affect tendering, so the call is missed.

 

I believe Solstice is showing Mykonos as a docked port this year (i.e. it will berth at Tourlas) so the wind shouldn't be an issue. Here's a link to good map (or at least a site with a good map) of Mykonos. Tourlas port is off the right-hand side of the map, and the shuttle buses drop passengers at the old pier shown on the r/h side.

[FiggyWig]

There's lots of information about Mykonos over on the 'Mediterranean - Eastern & Western' forum (under 'Europe'). Briefly, however, this is how it works:

 

The ship can either dock or tender. If it docks, it does so at a new port (Tourlas) a couple of kilometers out of Mykonos town. The cruise line will run shuttle buses into town. In the case of Celebrity, these might be pretty expensive - $5 or $6 for a return 2-kilometer journey? Theoretically you could walk it, but it's along a narrow (in places) road with no pedestrian pavement (sidewalk).

 

If the ship doesn't dock then it will anchor off Mykonos town and you'll tender into the old harbour. However, as RicardoC mentions, sometime the Meltemi wind blows and this can affect tendering, so the call is missed.

 

I believe Solstice is showing Mykonos as a docked port this year (i.e. it will berth at Tourlas) so the wind shouldn't be an issue. Here's a link to good map (or at least a site with a good map) of Mykonos. Tourlas port is off the right-hand side of the map, and the shuttle buses drop passengers at the old pier shown on the r/h side.

 

If as you suggest we tender into this new port are there not likely to be taxis around to take you to Mykonos Town or where ever thus possibly saving on Celebrity's pricey shuttle bus ?

[tom_uk]

If as you suggest we tender into this new port are there not likely to be taxis around to take you to Mykonos Town or where ever thus possibly saving on Celebrity's pricey shuttle bus ?

 

My understanding is that tendering isn't done into the new port but into the old harbour, i.e. right into Mykonos town. But I've never tendered at Mykonos, the twice we've been there we docked.

 

Taxis: there aren't many taxis on Mykonos - it's a very small island (about 10 miles east to west, 7 or 8 miles north to south). It's perfectly possible there might be one or two at Tourlas (or indeed in Mykonos Town) but not many.

[martodd]

You said this is your favorite port .... we're sailing on the Sostice in September and haven't yet decided whether or not to book a shore excursion in Santorini. If we decide to do the island on our own, what are your "must do's"?? Would also welcome other tips or advice, as well as any suggestions on Mykonos.

 

We took a private tour in Santorini last year and it was WONDERFUL. It was with ocean wave tours in Santorini ( oceanwavetours.com )

We had the owners wife and it was 350 euros for all 5 of us for a full day.

She met us at the cable car and drove us to Oia, we walked around there for a while, then went for a drive and to a winery. She left us while we did a tasting and enjoyed the view and atmosphere.

From there we drove around the island more and she filled us in on the way of life in Santorini.

We then went to a lookout spot (it looks just like the volcano view in the Santorini cam) for pictures.

From there we requested the beach and lunch so our children could swim. She offered to join us to eat at a little place along the beach so she could help us order as it was a local place and all written in Greek. We had the best meal ever and walked across the street to the beach and the kids got to swim. She then dropped us back off at Thira for the cable car back.

It was so worth it and we really feel like we saw so much of the island and enjoyed every minute of it.

[eurosteve]

Just back from 25 May cruise. We docked in Mykonos and we tendered in Santorini.

 

I was surprised to see how fast we got off the ship in Santorini. We lined up in the morning at 8 am to get tender tickets and got number "0" I was ready to get off around 2:15 pm, thinking it would take some time for the prefered folks to get off etc. Much to my surprise, they called our number around 1:40! My wife was not happy, since I showed up around 1:50 pm and she was waiting for me. There was no line to get off the ship at that time. We just jumped on a tender and off we went. There was a short wait at the cable car - maybe 10 minutes.

 

So Celebrity and the port of Santorini (since we used their tenders) have their act together. Very easy and fast tendering process.