Santorini

[al kabel]

When tendering in Santorini I have been told that unless you have a ships excursion booked you will be tendered to the Old Pier. I need to meet a private tour at the New Pier, will RC allow me to be tendered to the New Pier?

[yogimax]

Why not call RCCL directly and ask?

[T.O.cruisers]

I don't recall that there are different piers. Once you get off the tender, you have a choice of taking the cable car or walk or ride a donkey up the steps. I think you can also take a bus up to Oia. But you will have to know where you are meeting your driver. Enjoy Santorini. We rented a car and drove all around the island. It is spectacular.

[al kabel]

I need to be at the New Pier to meet my tour, but it appears that RC will not let you tender to the New Pier unless you have booked a ships tour, which I have not. I want to avoid the donkey, walking or cable car to the top - I would just like to meet my tour and go from there. Too hard to get answers from RC.

[Langley Cruisers]

There is a Greece Port of Call board here and I have seen mention of a ferry between the two piers. What does your tour operator say? Have you contacted them? Obviously everyone on your tour is in the same situation. Are you active on your Roll Call? Maybe others are doing the same tour?

[steveru621]

First RCI doesn't run Santorini the tenders. I'm not sure if it's government or private, never asked.

 

Yes we took a ship's excursion and they took us to the new pier to meet the buses. There is no where to meet a bus at the cable car pier, and as you are probably aware it's a long way to the new pier from there.

 

But in fact I really can't answer your question. We were told in the morning to go to theater, and then RCI escorted us to the special tender for the new pier. I will tell you no one checked our excursion tickets after we left the theater, wink, wink.

 

I don't see why they would refuse you unless it's a space issue. I'm sure you want to know ahead of time. You could just follow a tour from the theater to the new pier tender? Since RCI doesn't actually run the tenders how can they stop you?

[steveru621]

One other thing. You can not avoid the cable cars. You must use the old pier to get back to the ship.

[Langley Cruisers]

Yes we took a ship's excursion and they took us to the new pier to meet the buses.... I will tell you no one checked our excursion tickets after we left the theater, wink, wink.

 

We also took a ship's tour and they gave us each a sticker to wear on our shirt. This identified us as being on a ship's excursion. I think to suggest someone "stow away" on a ship's tour is really bad advice.

 

I don't see why they would refuse you unless it's a space issue.

 

Because then many hundreds of passengers would want to do the same thing. We started at the port of Athinios solely to get to Oia in an expedient manner. Why would someone want to go up and down the stairs/cable car/donkeys twice in one day?

 

You can not avoid the cable cars. You must use the old pier to get back to the ship.

 

Sure you can. We did. The wait was an hour long in the hot sun so we walked down the stairs. The donkeys were available as well but that's not my thing.

[steveru621]

We also took a ship's tour and they gave us each a sticker to wear on our shirt. This identified us as being on a ship's excursion. I think to suggest someone "stow away" on a ship's tour is really bad advice.

 

 

Because then many hundreds of passengers would want to do the same thing. We started at the port of Athinios solely to get to Oia in an expedient manner. Why would someone want to go up and down the stairs/cable car/donkeys twice in one day?

 

 

Sure you can. We did. The wait was an hour long in the hot sun so we walked down the stairs. The donkeys were available as well but that's not my thing.

 

Karen I think you are over stating just a little. The new pier is much farther away from Oia. You wouldn't go there unless you are specifically meeting someone, there is no taxi stand. As far as being faster, our friends had virtually no wait when they took the cable cars up from the old pier. As I said, RCI doesn't operate the tenders in Santorini. Doesn't look to me how you get to the island is significant. It's still a tender ride that RCI has to pay for.

 

Plus those excursion number dots always fall off in the race to follow your numbered lollipop! I put mine on my shirt with a coat over it.

 

When I stated you couldn't avoid the cable cars, you know what I meant. You couldn't avoid the old pier. How you get there is up to you. I agree, going down there was a very long line in the hot sun. That must have been quite a hike down those stairs!

 

If there are hundreds of passengers that wish to go to the new pier I would think that RCI would need to find a way to accomodate those passengers. It may be the island doesn't want a lot of buses waiting near that very congested square, and encourages tour operators to use the new pier.

 

Sorry, but I'm just a rule busting rebel. :)

[John&LaLa]

We also took a ship's tour and they gave us each a sticker to wear on our shirt. This identified us as being on a ship's excursion. I think to suggest someone "stow away" on a ship's tour is really bad advice.

 

 

 

Because then many hundreds of passengers would want to do the same thing. We started at the port of Athinios solely to get to Oia in an expedient manner. Why would someone want to go up and down the stairs/cable car/donkeys twice in one day?

 

 

 

Sure you can. We did. The wait was an hour long in the hot sun so we walked down the stairs. The donkeys were available as well but that's not my thing.

 

We took cable car. Did you have to avoid a lot of donkey poop on the path down. :what:

[Saab4444]

The tender boats with tour guests go to the ferry port about 5 miles south of Fira. Tour buses can go there directly so no cable cars are required. Oia is north of Fira, so this is the oposite direction. Tenders for independent guests go to Fira and the cable car or donkey track.

 

To answer the question: you can of course go with the tender boats for tour guests. No one is checking tickets on RCL side (or you just explain your issue and) and the greek tender operators are paid for the day by RCL and do not care about individual tickets.

[djandnic]

When tendering in Santorini I have been told that unless you have a ships excursion booked you will be tendered to the Old Pier. I need to meet a private tour at the New Pier, will RC allow me to be tendered to the New Pier?

 

When we were there last October, there was only one stopping area for the tenders. No one asked us if we had an excursion through the ship or not when we got on the tender, so unless things changed, the tenders only went to one drop off / pick up point.

 

I can't even remember another area that a tender could stop, it was a very limited area where they dropped you off and picked you up. I think you may have gotten some wrong information.

[John&LaLa]

When we were there last October, there was only one stopping area for the tenders. No one asked us if we had an excursion through the ship or not when we got on the tender, so unless things changed, the tenders only went to one drop off / pick up point.

 

I can't even remember another area that a tender could stop, it was a very limited area where they dropped you off and picked you up. I think you may have gotten some wrong information.

 

Probably because those with tours through the ship were being escorted to dedicated tenders that took them to the pier that has bus access

[djandnic]

Probably because those with tours through the ship were being escorted to dedicated tenders that took them to the pier that has bus access

 

It seemed like everyone was dropped off at the same spot and those with excursion walked through town to an area where there were lots of buses. But I couldn't say for sure if everyone had excursions through private parties or through the ship, so I guess it could have all been private excursions. I know ours was a private excursion.

[2CatsInFlorida]

The ferries are operated by Santorini so you can take them to the new port. But, RCI excursion guests get priority getting off the cruise ship.

Edited August 19, 2015 by 2CatsInFlorida

[Saab4444]

Probably because those with tours through the ship were being escorted to dedicated tenders that took them to the pier that has bus access

 

 

At peak times tenders from the front go with tour guests who usually meet in the theater and tenders from midship go with individual guests and tender tickets. Trust me Santorini tours with big busses organized by the cruise line go from the ferry port. Some cruise ships even stop first close to the ferry port, dropp of tour guests and continue after about 20 minutes to the final anchor position at Fira.

[John&LaLa]

At peak times tenders from the front go with tour guests who usually meet in the theater and tenders from midship go with individual guests and tender tickets. Trust me Santorini tours with big busses organized by the cruise line go from the ferry port. Some cruise ships even stop first close to the ferry port, dropp of tour guests and continue after about 20 minutes to the final anchor position at Fira.

 

They used to do that in Cozumel years ago. There was always a stop in Playa del Carmen to let off the Tulum tours. Then we would go to Cozumel

[mil76]

At peak times tenders from the front go with tour guests who usually meet in the theater and tenders from midship go with individual guests and tender tickets. Trust me Santorini tours with big busses organized by the cruise line go from the ferry port. Some cruise ships even stop first close to the ferry port, dropp of tour guests and continue after about 20 minutes to the final anchor position at Fira.

 

This happened on our X cruise. When they mentioned they were making the first stop they explicitly said it was only for people taking excursions through the ship.

 

For the Fira port, if someone really wanted to avoid the cable cars and donkeys, they could take the ferry from the Fira dock to Oia that includes bus transport back to Fira, then take the stairs down from Fira to the dock. We did this, but instead of taking the stairs down we rode donkeys, but it didn't look like it would be a big deal walking down the stairs.

 

In any case if you want to do the donkeys make sure you only take them DOWN on your way back to the ship. This way you can hop in the shower as soon as you get back on the ship. Taking them up to Fira will mean you'll smell like a donkey for the day.

[EGG]

This happened on our X cruise. When they mentioned they were making the first stop they explicitly said it was only for people taking excursions through the ship.

 

For the Fira port, if someone really wanted to avoid the cable cars and donkeys, they could take the ferry from the Fira dock to Oia that includes bus transport back to Fira, then take the stairs down from Fira to the dock. We did this, but instead of taking the stairs down we rode donkeys, but it didn't look like it would be a big deal walking down the stairs.

 

In any case if you want to do the donkeys make sure you only take them DOWN on your way back to the ship. This way you can hop in the shower as soon as you get back on the ship. Taking them up to Fira will mean you'll smell like a donkey for the day.

 

Every time I think of Santorini I think of our walk down the donkey path. It took the better part of a half hour. The road is steep with a lot of switchbacks. Several times we had to wait while a donkey made up its mind to move. I could not get our clothes into the sink fast enough and take a shower. We both smelled like donkeys. I would do it again but only on the way down, a one of a kind experience.

[Pencruise]

Every time I think of Santorini I think of our walk down the donkey path. It took the better part of a half hour. The road is steep with a lot of switchbacks. Several times we had to wait while a donkey made up its mind to move. I could not get our clothes into the sink fast enough and take a shower. We both smelled like donkeys. I would do it again but only on the way down, a one of a kind experience.

 

On Splendour right now - Just did it yesterday - exhausting and very slippery in blazing hot sunshine, very smelly too, but figured we needed the exercise !!!