Jump to content

Last tender in Santorini


mauinoel
 Share

Recommended Posts

We'll be in Santorini on August 3 on the Norwegian Jade (celebrating my birthday and a bunch of friends and friends of friends have decided to come with), and thankfully, it looks like there will only be one other ship there on the same day, and they leave around 5pm, which makes me think that the cable car situation back down to the tender dock shouldn't be as bad as I've heard that it can be. My question is, does anyone know the last tender time? Is it usually a full hour before sailing time (10pm) or like 9:30? We're going to do our own thing that day, but I don't want to rush back to the cable car at 8pm only to wait in line with everyone else, when we'd be fine getting to the tender at 9:30pm (I don't want to cut it that close, but just in case). With sunset at 8:22pm that day, I suspect that a lot of people will be heading back later, so I'm not too worried.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Your ship should advise the last tender, however even if there is only one ship that's still a lit of people to use the cablecar. The queue was 90 minutes when we were there and we walked but I wouldn't advise this if you have bad knees! The walk down took us 30 minutes

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Agree, this is a cruise line policy issue, and they will clearly advise you in every port when all aboard is, and when appropriate, when the last tender is. Many people suggest 60 minutes as a solid personal decision, but not sure any cruise line requires it. The ship will be monitoring the conditions getting to the tender dock, and how many are back on board, so they know if they need to wait a little longer.

 

Have no experience with NCL, but the cruise lines we have cruised with have all used 30 minutes prior to sailing time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We just this week returned from our RCI cruise stop in Santorini. Our departure time was 5:00pm and the last tender was 4:15pm. Your ship will give you the exact timing for your visit. 

Allow plenty of time...the cable car line was very long and was taking well over an hour...we started the walk down the steps but ended up opting for the mules...BRUTAL....not sure that was a good decision....but very memorable. :classic_wacko:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Ashland said:

We just this week returned from our RCI cruise stop in Santorini. Our departure time was 5:00pm and the last tender was 4:15pm. Your ship will give you the exact timing for your visit. 

Allow plenty of time...the cable car line was very long and was taking well over an hour...we started the walk down the steps but ended up opting for the mules...BRUTAL....not sure that was a good decision....but very memorable. :classic_wacko:

Can I ask how many ships were in port on the day you were there.    Will be there on July 9th.   There will be a total of 3 ships in port.   Ours is the last to leave at 10:00 pm... trying to gauge how busy the cable cars will be.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, ELIZG said:

Can I ask how many ships were in port on the day you were there.    Will be there on July 9th.   There will be a total of 3 ships in port.   Ours is the last to leave at 10:00 pm... trying to gauge how busy the cable cars will be.

 

We were lucky there were only two ships in port...but it still felt crowded. Being in port that late you may not find it so.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please don't plan to use the donkeys / mules.  I've done that walk many times and I absolutely accept it can be a tough walk.  But the cruel conditions in which the equids are used will never cease whilst tourists persist in using them. For example see   https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/02/tourists-avoid-riding-donkeys-santorini-steps 

 

A portion of the cable car fare goes to the multeers so they don't suffer financially from folk using that route.  Obviously walking is free.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Just a followup. We found out that the last tender would be at 9:30 for our 10pm sail time. We knew we’d be dropped off near the cable car (a quick 5min walk) around 9pm. Unfortunately you can’t buy your tickets to go back down ahead of time. But because we were the only ship in port and cutting it close, there was no line to buy tickets. We were pretty much the only people on cable car down (we were worried they would wait to fill it but they didn’t), we got to the tender with a few minutes to spare and made it! I had done some research on local flights to catch up with the ship in Athens if we got stranded but thankfully we didn’t need to use that option. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, mauinoel said:

Just a followup. We found out that the last tender would be at 9:30 for our 10pm sail time. We knew we’d be dropped off near the cable car (a quick 5min walk) around 9pm. Unfortunately you can’t buy your tickets to go back down ahead of time. But because we were the only ship in port and cutting it close, there was no line to buy tickets. We were pretty much the only people on cable car down (we were worried they would wait to fill it but they didn’t), we got to the tender with a few minutes to spare and made it! I had done some research on local flights to catch up with the ship in Athens if we got stranded but thankfully we didn’t need to use that option. 

 

So,did you catch a great sunset?     We watched the waning sun from a bar perched on the cliff, missed the actual sunset due to timing and avoided mostly the crowds... except in the 45' line down on the cable cars 😁

 

Santorin.JPG

Santorini_Sunset_Crowds_a.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, chipmaster said:

 

So,did you catch a great sunset?     We watched the waning sun from a bar perched on the cliff, missed the actual sunset due to timing and avoided mostly the crowds... except in the 45' line down on the cable cars 😁

 

Santorin.JPG

Santorini_Sunset_Crowds_a.jpg

 

We did a boat trip so we got to watch the sunset off the back as we sailed back in. It was actually great. Only 8 people on the boat so no crowds to contend with, just a little anxiety about getting back in time. 😉

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...