Santorini Ship Tour or Own Your Own

[stargazerm31]

Hello all,

 

We will be in Santorini in mid-May. We will be the only ship there that day. Is it better to take a ship tour (there are only two) or are there taxis or buses that can take you around? From what I am seeing it sounds like transportation is some what limited.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

John

[rebeccalouiseagain]

if you are the only ship in port that's great. Cable car zips you to the top and Thira is a nice place. Its charming. A taxi to Oia is $ 15.00 and the bus is about 2 dollars. So you don't need to make arrangements in advance. Santorini is small and you can easily do both towns in one day.

[CruiserBruce]

Read the several threads about Santorini here. You don't need to do the ship's excursion. Local transport is not in short supply. The island is very easy to DIY, particularly if you are the only ship in port.

[stargazerm31]

Thanks both for your quick reply. One note, we tender in Athinios and not Fira.

 

I did read through many of the posts on Santorini but didn't get a great feel on on easy it was to get around.

 

John

[CruiserBruce]

Athinos is usually where you tender if you are using ship's excursions. Fira is where you tender if you are not using ship's excursions. There are no facilities, transport (other than ship's excursions) or other public services at Athinos. Is your cruiseline forcing you to use ship's excursions?

[stargazerm31]

No RCCL isn't forcing us to use their tours. They just say the tours leave from Athinios. With that, I have no idea where we would tender if we were not on a ship tour. It sounds to me like you tender in between Fira and Athinios and the ship tours take you to Athinios and if you are on your own you head to Fira and the donkeys and cable car?

 

Again, it is hard for me to understand my options and costs and the availability of taxis or buses. We are used to going our on way which we have done in places like Canes to Montey Carlo and from the pier via train to Rome.

 

Thanks again to all that have answered.

 

John

[CruiserBruce]

If you are not taking ship's excursions, you tender at Fira/Thira. The ship stops at Athinos for a short time- maybe an hour, then moves to Fira. There will be a ton of tenders- they have to use local tenders, which are larger, and very numerous.

 

Here is some threads that describe things in detail.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1349946

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1348614

[4774Papa]

Hello all,

 

We will be in Santorini in mid-May. We will be the only ship there that day. Is it better to take a ship tour (there are only two) or are there taxis or buses that can take you around? From what I am seeing it sounds like transportation is some what limited.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

John

 

Santorini is my favorite port and must be maximized. We were there on the Nor. Gem in July. Arrived at 4PM. We booked the Oia and Winery tour, which took us over the entire island. It was great and well worth the price. We had family with us that did Santorini on their own and they were delayed getting off the ship because the first tenders go to those taking excursions, or suite passengers. Then they had to queue up for either the donkey ride or cable car. Some took donkey, some cable, by the time they arrived at the top, they gave up trying to go to Oia and only saw Fira.

 

Sure, there is public transport, but many people want to use it as well and you have to wait for it. Time is important there, don't waste it.

Taxis are hard to come by, so don't count on them.

 

For Santorini, it is worth paying for the excursion. Our excursion avoided going up the cable care (we went down the cable car on the way back to the ship), since we ported south of the cable car and a bus took us up the hill.

[stargazerm31]

CruiserBruce and 4774Papa, thank you so much. This is exactly the information I was hoping to get.

 

CruiserBruce I wondered how that would work and I understand now. We get in at 7am and there are 2 tours. One at 7:15 another at 8:15. I started calculating the time to load up move to Fira, prepare for tenders, get there, get up the hill wait on a bus for Oia. By the time I calculated the time to get to Oia I came to the same conclusion the 4774Papa did.

 

We are going to do the Oia and Wine tour at 7:15.

 

Thank you all. This was very, very, very helpful!

 

John

[CruiserBruce]

I am not sure how 4774Papa knows taxis are limited, as they took a tour. We did DIY, and had no problem, except the bus to Oia was jammed. But we had plenty of time to do the stuff we did.

 

Note 4774Papa was in port for an odd and limited time- starting at 4pm (sunset by 6pm)in November. Unfortunate, but that is what they had to work with.

 

Have fun. Santorini is truly beautiful. How long are you in port?

[4774Papa]

I am not sure how 4774Papa knows taxis are limited, as they took a tour. We did DIY, and had no problem, except the bus to Oia was jammed. But we had plenty of time to do the stuff we did.

 

Note 4774Papa was in port for an odd and limited time- starting at 4pm (sunset by 6pm)in November. Unfortunate, but that is what they had to work with.

 

Have fun. Santorini is truly beautiful. How long are you in port?

My Daughter and her family as well as my Son and his friend were in Fira for hours and could not get a taxi. I have read on cc that there are only 24(I think) taxis on the island.

[Azulann]

We will be doing Santorini on our own in Sept. We are the first ship to tender at 7:00am. I found this great web site: www.santorini-islandguide.com We are planning our day with the information we found there. :)

[stargazerm31]

Let's play a time line game to see if I get this by doing it on my own. Our ship is scheduled to arrive at 7 am and there are two ship tours. One at 7:15 the other at 8:15am.

 

6:45am - Ship arrives at Athinios port.

7:00am - Tenders arrive for first tour and leaves.

7:30am - Second Tender arrives for the second tour and leaves.

Maybe they bring a tender with supplies since this is the big port to the ship.

8:00am - Splendour leaves Athinios.

8:15am - Splendour arrives at Fira.

8:30am - Splendour ready for departures.

8:40am - First group goes (which would be me being Diamond).

9:00am - Reach dock at Fira.

9:15am - Start up to top via cable car.

9:30am - In Fira.

9:45am - At bus stop.

10:00am - with luck, board bus to Oia. (Could be as late as 11am since this is mid season)

10:30am - Arrive in Oia (with luck). (Could be as late as 11:30am since this is mid season)

 

Does this sound like a realistic timeline just to get to Oia on my own?

 

John

[CruiserBruce]

We arrived at Fira about 8:30. Were on the first tender. We were in Oia before 10:30.

 

Once at the site to start tendering to Athinos, there will be a steady flow of tenders. You ship may even open two doors/docks on the side for tendering. It goes very fast.

[Erebus]

My wife & I did the tour alone. Based on the research I did before the trip and the comments by the crew of our ship we headed straight to Oia by taxi to beat the tourist crowds. After lunch we headed back to Thira to walk around & shop.

 

I did want to visit the Minoan ruins on the islands but they were still closed at the time, but the recommended way to see the ruins is by a tour.

 

I know there are plenty of activities, but if you plan on taking it easy and try to enjoy the wonderful scenery than doing it by yourself it probably the best bet.

 

Missing Santorini for a ship tour would be a big mistake in my opinion since I found it to one of best places I have ever visited in world.

[ILoveScotland]

I've been to Santorini twice. First time DH stayed on the ship as he was not well, and second time friend didn't want to venture beyond Fira/Thira. So, I went out alone.

 

First time I took the cable car up and down. Second time I rode the donkey up (quite an experience) and cable car down.

 

Both times I took the bus to Oia and a taxi back. Oia is picture postcard beautiful, and I enjoyed taking my time to wander around, have lunch overlooking the caldera and do a bit (a very little bit) of shopping. I returned to Fira for a brief visit there, too.

 

I loved the bus because it was cheap (have dollar bills with you), and because well, because I just enjoy such things.