chinita415

https://greekreporter.com/2024/08/22/santorini-overtourism-control/

Sorry earlier photo file too large. All that effort for photos like this. Santorini August 2024 Santorini was Tue August 13. 3 big ships with 13k pax - MSC Divina which I am on, Sun Princess, and RCL Odyssey OTS. It was a literal hot mess. They extended our port time from 8a to 6p to 9p. Sun Princess with similar times and Odyssey arrived at 1p. Letter night before said eat breakfast on board then head out and come back late. Also that tenders might sometimes have to pause due to crowding. i had 10am photo shoot which I had little hopes of making but the vendor thought I did. Tender tickets distribution listed at 7am and when I got there at 6.45 there was a huge line. Should have gotten there at 6.30. Got tickets for 9.30a meeting in theatre. They did run early so they let people go before 9.30. First tender off at 8.30a. By the time we go to Old Port, huge line for cable cars. We waited an hour. I knew we wouldn’t make our photo shoot as soon as I got our tender tickets. Luckily they were able to reschedule us to 11.30am which was perfect. After an hour wait for cable car and then getting a taxi van , we made it to Imerovigli at exactly 11.30am. We went back to Fira around 1p and had lunch there. Got in line for cable car at 2.30p and it took maybe 40 mins. Another 20-30 mins for tender back to ship. MSC had staff spraying people with water and had umbrellas for people to use while waiting for tender. We were all hot and soaked with sweat by the time we got back to ship. This is the cheapest way to visit Santorini but my husband said we paid with suffering 😅. Will likely not come back on cruise ship but maybe land based next time. We saw many water taxis going to Athinios but none came back the other way. I asked at least 4 stalls while waiting in line. Glad we went as it was my mom’s bucket list and why she came on this trip. But what a hassle and I hope they really keep it under 8000 for all days next season. We talked to people from the other ships and sentiments were that this was not a good experience but glad we did it once. I am glad our photographer was able to reschedule and I hope the professional photos turn out good. 😊 I brought an ultra lightweight backpacking chair which was genius. No stroller and back carried both kids 3 and 6 alternately in a toddler carrier.

All the efforts for these photos. Worth it for a one time experience.

Try to get an excursion that skips the cable car all together. There is at least one like that per cruise line I think.

Still on board heading to Naples. Santorini was yesterday Tue August 13. 3 big ships with 13k pax - MSC Divina which I am on, Sun Princess, and RCL Odyssey OTS. It was a literal hot mess. They extended our port time from 8a to 6p to 9p. Sun Princess with similar times and Odyssey arrived at 1p. Letter night before said eat breakfast on board then head out and come back late. Also that tenders might sometimes have to pause due to crowding. i had 10am photo shoot which I had little hopes of making but the vendor thought I did. Tender tickets distribution listed at 7am and when I got there at 6.45 there was a huge line. Should have gotten there at 6.30. Got tickets for 9.30a meeting in theatre. They did run early so they let people go before 9.30. First tender off at 8.30a. By the time we go to Old Port, huge line for cable cars. We waited an hour. I knew we wouldn’t make our photo shoot as soon as I got our tender tickets. Luckily they were able to reschedule us to 11.30am which was perfect. After an hour wait for cable car and then getting a taxi van , we made it to Imerovigli at exactly 11.30am. We went back to Fira around 1p and had lunch there. Got in line for cable car at 2.30p and it took maybe 40 mins. Another 20-30 mins for tender back to ship. MSC had staff spraying people with water and had umbrellas for people to use while waiting for tender. We were all hot and soaked with sweat by the time we got back to ship. This is the cheapest way to visit Santorini but my husband said we paid with suffering 😅. Will likely not come back on cruise ship but maybe land based next time. We saw many water taxis going to Athinios but none came back the other way. I asked at least 4 stalls while waiting in line. Glad we went as it was my mom’s bucket list and why she came on this trip. But what a hassle and I hope they really keep it under 8000 for all days next season. We talked to people from the other ships and sentiments were that this was not a good experience but glad we did it once. I am glad our photographer was able to reschedule and I hope they turn out good. 😊

Don’t know more details but this past Tuesday July 30, there were fights in lines I think at the tender port in the afternoon. 13k pax day with 4 big ships. MSC Divina gave guests $100 or maybe €100 onboard credit due to the fiasco. We will be there soon and it’s 11k. Wish me luck and patience. My goal is to get in the cable car queue by 1p.

We are 20 days out and Santorini is still on our itinerary. We still have 3 big ships(MSC Davina, RCL Odyssey of the Sea, and Sun Princess with a few smaller ship at about 10k. We will see how it goes.

Well that is frustrating. They need to improve infrastructure if they want to spread the tourist dollars. We plan to take the cable car back early afternoon.

I think there may be a return boat service from Amoudi Bay to Old Port from reading some of the MSC Davina groups. I will report back when I come back. My current plan is to go to get tender tickets at 7a for first tenders around 9am and straight to cable car. We are first ship there. People have reported no lines if first tenders obviously. I have decided to splurge on the flying dress photo shoot and will meet driver in Fira to Imerovigli. Then lunch back at Fira and then cable car down mid afternoon with some wait.

Lol us peasant cruise passengers infringing on those who can over night there. 😅

Interesting new announcement. Still wondering about implementation. Glad they mentioned Glacier Bay. How did Venice do it? So far my cruise still has Santorini on it. With us MSC Davina, Sun Princess, Odyssey of the Sea, and small Silver Whisper bringing that to 11k pax. At least my ship is first in at 7am so I will try for earliest tender tickets (apparently I have to queue up at 6am since I don’t have status I don’t think at Silver. Going down I have to just resign to waiting. Wish me luck we don’t get cancelled and bake if we do make it there.

Never mind looks like you are there June 10th. What is the actual pax count if not 3075?

Are you there June 11th? If so it was the new Sun Princess that pulled out and made news. https://www.cruisehive.com/princess-cruises-ship-cancels-port-visits-due-to-congestion/128358

This appears to be the official port schedule so I am checking here instead of CruiseMapper etc which are aggregate sites. https://www.santoriniports.gov.gr/en/cruise

When are you scheduled to be there and on what ship? People on MSC Davina made it there this past 2 weeks. I am trying to figure out what numbers are acceptable and it seems there have been days with 10-11k allowed. So far my sailing still has Santorini but people are finding out a month ahead on MSC Davina which is calling there weekly.