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. 

1 hour ago, sheshe01 said:

Looking at the port schedule for our Santorini day it looks like it could be up to 15K. There is an P&O Azura listed with no port times?? Even without that ship we would still be 11-12K. Doing a tour from our cruise line so the getting off will not be too bad but enjoying the day and getting back to the ship probably unpleasant

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.

On 6/15/2024 at 1:19 PM, marazul said:

Here is an interesting article on overcrowding and limiting cruise ships.

https://www.businessinsider.com/greece-restricting-cruise-ship-santorini-mykonos-tourist-compaints-2024-6p

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.

2 minutes ago, chinita415 said:

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

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

24 minutes ago, AlaskaGoer said:

Epic and in a week.

 

There was a 2pm ship that is no longer listed. 

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

2 hours ago, AlaskaGoer said:

Interesting enough, I checked cruise mapper to see if there were any changes to the amount of ships docking.

 

For our day it's now 1 less. 

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.

Read about landslides mitigations from another social media platform. This makes sense why they are now actually trying to limit numbers. Still crossing my fingers and toes we get to go.

So just like Alaska last summer we are affected by local landslides. What are the chances?

https://neoskosmos.com/en/2024/05/27/news/greece/controlled-access-measures-enforced-on-santorini-and-therasia-to-prevent-landslide-risks-throughout-the-tourist-season/

RavenCruiser - I was supposed to be on your sailing. I am learning about that excursion you took which is bus and tender both ways. That is the all day 8 hours Best Of Santorini one correct? 
 

edinburgher - I knew full well it would be crowded when I rescheduled to August with Olympics. My mom and I have been to Paris a number of times already and we won’t stay in the city because it is stupid expensive. We are staying near Disneyland and will take RER in for a day to show the kids the city. If we do get to go to Santorini, we will likely do a photo shoot at Imerovigli which should be less crowded than Oia or Fira.

2 hours ago, edinburgher said:

Lesson #1 when booking a cruise.

 

Never ever book a cruise for one specific port of call as there are too many reasons why a call could be cancelled right up until the last minute.

Of course I know this but it is disappointing nevertheless. Over spring break last month I was on a cruise to nowhere from Galveston on Disney. The harbor was closed at Progreso and we could see it and the captain hung around and really tried. But weather didn’t cooperate. Luckily for me we had no grand plans but I felt bad for people who booked that sailing to go to Chichen Itza.
 

Changes due to unforeseen things like weather or mechanical issues are less aggravating than cruise lines overbooking. Serious question- do they really not coordinate with each other and do the port authorities have no control like the cruise lines can’t book that port unless approved by port authorities? Is it different because it is a tender port?

14 minutes ago, erby2283 said:

We are slated to stop on September 11th and there are 6 ships in port with an estimated 8,199 projected passengers. We are the 5th ship to arrive that morning and the 2nd ship to leave. 🫢  We've already booked a ship excursion to avoid the cable car up and just plan to head back extremely early to try and avoid the lines at the cable car.  But we also plan to know it will be a cluster f - so just trying to keep that in mind so we know what we're getting into. 

That is a reasonable number for 5 ships. Yes go in with low expectations and be surprised if it all goes well.

1 hour ago, mapleleaves said:

But the boat is only a one-way transfer to Amoudi Bay (below Oia).  You still have to get to Fira and ride the cable car down to the pier. The queues going down can be as bad as the queue going up.

Last summer someone posted about a separate boat company at Amoudi Bay (at the bottom of the staircase) that was taking people back to the tender dock. 

It would be great if someone could report back on whether it's currently operating.  That would be a game changer.

Yea I have read only one way from tender port to Ammoudi Bay. It would be one method to reduce queue times at Fira and also for those with anxiety about the cable car heights. I am currently booked on a cruise excursion for one way tender port to Ammoudi Bay and then buses to Oia and Fira and cable car down. Would be good to have option to go down and back via boat as well.

6 hours ago, VMax1700 said:

They made it public quite a few years ago.  Why do they need to make a public statement about enforcing their own rules?  It is our responsibility, as travellers, to find out the local rules and regulations before we plan to visit.

As you can see from my signature I am not a naive cruiser nor a naiver traveler. There is just too much information to gather. Why am I being lectured on for asking? And most definitely the cruise lines have to be more responsible about booking ports they can’t deliver. But I suppose this is the same as airlines routining overbooking flights.

Thank you Shella73 for sharing . Are you on NCL Viva? Thought I saw it on the August schedule. Seems like cruise lines are doing this voluntarily then? 
 

I am booking independent photo shoot in Santorini so will let vendor know we might get canceled and have good cancellation policy. 

So far people on MSC through the first week of July are finding out about cancellations.  Not all sailings but those with over 10k pax scheduled. It is unclear if MSC is voluntarily rescheduling vs there is some background negotiations we are not privy to. The emails to MSC guests just mentioned cancellation due to “port congestion.” Apparently this happened last summer too.

Whatever government entities came up with the 8000 pax per day limits and are actually enforcing it need to make a public statement. Or MSC needs to let customers know they made the decision voluntarily. It is just aggravating having to wait. Like I said last summer it was a little bit of a wait with lots of rumors for Alaska but at least they made a decision for the whole season. Sounds like they are still figuring out things a month at a time.

i truly think this is the only time my mom will make it to Greece. Won’t be and of the world if we miss Santorini but it will nevertheless be disappointing. We have Mykonos still but also apparently some cancellations there last year too.

I understand this is totally a first world privilege problem.

MSC is letting people change to other sailings within 2 weeks so those affected can pick another week with few ships. We don’t have that flexibility.

We were supposed to be on the cruise last week but had to reschedule due to work. Not only are we in Paris during Olympics but now this. My mom is 78 so who knows when she will have the opportunity. If we do make it to Santorini, I will try to book a private photo shoot with transfer from top of cable car. 
 

I am making an educated guess we might make is as some of the June and July dates still have 9000-10000 after cancellation of MSC Davina that I know about. Our date has 11k. But maybe MSC is the loser and we will get bumped instead of Princess and Royal with more clout. Our ship arrives first at 8A then Sun Princess at 9a. Royal arrives at 1p. Hopefully we can take advantage of this by getting off an early tender.

I will just keep updating here. This is the official port website:

https://www.santoriniports.gov.gr/en/cruise

Someone from the MSC Davina June 28th sailing just mentioned they were canceled. They were supposed to be there July 2nd. Even without Davina there are still 9000 people. 

I am not so confident I will get to go. Will it be MSC, Princess, or RCL that has to cancel on my date? Those are the mega ships on my August 13th date.