NCL shore excursion to Oia in Santorini

[Ewoodspark]

Has anybody this year taken the official NCL shore excursion to Oia when sailing on the Norwegian Jade to Santorini.? The tour is for 3 hours costing $59 and goes from Athinios. I am trying to find if there is any stop at Firostefami, being the location of the "famous" blue domed church

[umpy10]

Don't waste your time or money, we were in Santorini last year on the Jade and we took the "speedboat" to Oia for 20 euros each. Got there in about 15 mins., no waiting in line to go up the Cable Car, or Donkey Ride.

A bus awaited us to take you up to Oia and dropped you off at the bus stop that will take you back to Fira ( included with the 20 Euros). Once in Oia, the walk to view that Blue Dome is about a 20 min. walk. To be honest with you, there are about a dozen "Blue Domes" along the way so take your pick.

We were told that we had about 3 hours for sightseeing before we had to be back where we got dropped off to catch the bus to Fira. Found that to be more than enough time.

You can eat in Oia if you want, but remember that you will be paying more to eat with a view and if you have the same port times as we did, 1:30-10:00 pm you'll have to take a cab back to Fira as the bus provided will have done for the night.

We ate in Fira (Mousaka , Chicken Souvlaki) with Fantastic views for far less than if we had eaten in Oia. We were there Aug.3- 10 and there was maybe a 10 min. wait for the cable car ride down. Onboard around 7-7:30 to watch the sunset, we could have stayed in Fira to watch but then it would have been a zoo trying to get back down in time before the Jade left.

 

Enjoy you cruise.

 

cheers...the Ump...:D

[California Traveler]

Don't waste your time or money, we were in Santorini last year on the Jade and we took the "speedboat" to Oia for 20 euros each. Got there in about 15 mins., no waiting in line to go up the Cable Car, or Donkey Ride.

A bus awaited us to take you up to Oia and dropped you off at the bus stop that will take you back to Fira ( included with the 20 Euros). Once in Oia, the walk to view that Blue Dome is about a 20 min. walk. To be honest with you, there are about a dozen "Blue Domes" along the way so take your pick.

We were told that we had about 3 hours for sightseeing before we had to be back where we got dropped off to catch the bus to Fira. Found that to be more than enough time.

You can eat in Oia if you want, but remember that you will be paying more to eat with a view and if you have the same port times as we did, 1:30-10:00 pm you'll have to take a cab back to Fira as the bus provided will have done for the night.

We ate in Fira (Mousaka , Chicken Souvlaki) with Fantastic views for far less than if we had eaten in Oia. We were there Aug.3- 10 and there was maybe a 10 min. wait for the cable car ride down. Onboard around 7-7:30 to watch the sunset, we could have stayed in Fira to watch but then it would have been a zoo trying to get back down in time before the Jade left.

 

Enjoy you cruise.

 

cheers...the Ump...:D

 

Where do you catch the speedboat?

 

CT

[Ewoodspark]

Thanks Umpy for the information. I am aware of the boat to the port of Oia that is currently operated by the Boatmen of Santorini, after a few other operators have tried.

To California Traveler, the boats to Oia are found as soon you get off the ship at the port of Fira. The cost is now €25.

[Ewoodspark]

Don't waste your time or money, we were in Santorini last year on the Jade and we took the "speedboat" to Oia for 20 euros each.

 

I appreciate your comments about the boat to Oia, but there have been many negative views on this service this year, hence the request to anybody who had been on the NCL excursion to the port of Athinios and then the bus to Oia. Looks like I will have to ask NCL direct to see if the trip stops at Firostefami for a photo.

[HokiePoq]

Our excursion was in 2010, off the Gem, but here goes. A bus picked us up at the port and took us there. We had ample time to explore, shop, and take pictures which included a view of the famous church. There was no separate stop but plenty of viewpoints.

Upon return we received a ticket to the cable car. By then it was dark and time to return to the ship. A great day for us.

[4774Papa]

umpy10's advise might be good if saving money is your primary goal. However, in my opinion, Santorini is a very special place and you should maximize your time there.

 

We took the NCL tour that went to the winery and were the first to leave the ship, docking at the port of Athinios, were we caught a bus taking us up the escarpment to the winery. Also, our tour traversed almost all of the island, going up the east side of the island to Oia, where we spent some time, then reboarding our bus to end at Fira, where we were given tickets to go down the cable car.

 

I think the blue dome you are talking about is just north of Fira. You will see many, many such churches. Santorini is great.

 

By the way, we were cruising with others in my family that waited for their tender boat for a considerable time, then after waiting in line, finally made it up to Fira, but could not find a taxi, the buses were loaded with long lines, never made it to Oia.

 

Perhaps the speedboat works, but sometime a ship's tour is a good idea.

[welove2cruise*]

We will be on this cruise next month. One thing to check is the number of ships that will be in port with you. There is a website cruisett that provides this information. If there is a large number of ships you are safest doing the ship excursion regardless. I have read the buses get full and taxi's are not easy to find.

 

I also am still deciding between the ship excursion and the speed boat even though we should be the only ship in port that day. I had read that the ship excursion leaves earliest as you are tendered to a different spot where the buses pick you up directly. This sounds nice as it would be good to get to the famed church before the rest of the crowds although I am concerned that maybe the length of time in Oia is not long enough. I also found a good walking map to get to the church in Oia. It is from Tom's port guides online and the link is found here http://www.tomsportguides.com/Santorini-07-22-2013.pdf

 

I would love to hear as well from anyone who personally did this tour to find out if they did get there before the other passengers by taking the NCL excursion. The time listed on the website is 2:30 PM which would be an hour after docking, so that would not be a help at all.

[littlelulu01]

I can't find the review but there is a very good one of the jade posted on this forum a couple years ago and the guy reviews this excursion in depth. According to him it was worth the extra $ not to fight the crowds and the bus arrived in Oia before the masses. The ticket for the tram back to ship you are still in the same mass line so if able sounds like many just walk down vs. use the tram and fight the line. Sounds worth it to me to at least get part of the day relatively crowd free for an extra $26 usd pp, over cost of speed boat which has some bad reviews, but I am planning too so have no first hand knowledge.

Edited August 23, 2014 by littlelulu01

[Ewoodspark]

I also found a good walking map to get to the church in Oia.

 

Thanks for the information. The "famous" blue domed church I referred to is the Agios Theodori church in Firostefani, which is about 1 km outside Fira

[welove2cruise*]

Thanks for the information. The "famous" blue domed church I referred to is the Agios Theodori church in Firostefani, which is about 1 km outside Fira

 

Interesting! I hadn't heard there was another church like that but just did a google search for images of that church as well as images of the blue domed church in Oia and they look very much the same. I just wish I knew if the NCL excursion arrived before the other passengers as that would seal the deal for me going with them.

[Ewoodspark]

I just wish I knew if the NCL excursion arrived before the other passengers as that would seal the deal for me going with them.

 

Bearing in mind that the tenders for passengers going to Oia on the NCL shore excursion go to the port of Athinios and the buses go direct from there to Oia, I would suspect that passengers on that trip would arrive in Oia before others have tendered to the port of Fira and then either got the boat or made their own way after getting into Fira by the cable car. That would only be for the 3 hour $59 direct trip and not the 4 hour $69 trip that includes a visit first to the winery. If you do the trip, please let me know after

[MeHeartCruising]

Be reminded that any excursions that includes more than one stop may actually reverse the order in which the stops are made compared to what is written in the excursion description. It is not at all uncommon as they do this to spread out the crowds between the sites. On my Santorini excursions we did not do the winery stop first. We did it on the way back to Fira. Others on our ship did it the other way around. A rule of thumb is that you will get to see all the destinations you pay for, but the tour guides will decide the order of them based on things going on the day of the trip.

Edited August 24, 2014 by MeHeartCruising