Santorini Tendering

[pthardy]

We are on the Emerald in October, our scheduled arrival in Santorini is 7 am.  Can anyone tell me what time they might start to hand out tender tickets? Thanks

[john elway]

Following,as we are on this cruise as well.

glad to see we aren’t the only Canucks on the ship!😎

[pthardy]

1 minute ago, john elway said:

Following,as we are on this cruise as well.

glad to see we aren’t the only Canucks on the ship!😎

Hi, there are a few of us.  We have booked a private excursion so am feeling anxious about this.

[hbrote]

Each time I have ported in Santorini we make sure to take a "Ship Sponsored" tour.  This guarantees you get off early and go to the top of the rim.  This has worked three times for us

[john elway]

We are doing the hike from Fira to Oia,so we’d like to get off early as well.

[amajaa]

When we tendered from Santorini those doing ships tours were tendered first to where the buses were waiting as you could get the buses down to the shore there.  Everyone else was then tendered further along to the right,  to where the cable car is. They weren’t allowed to use the ships tenders and had to use the ones from Santorini. 

 

Of course it it might be completely different for different ships/ different cruise lines.

 

Please don’t use the donkeys to go up the cliff at Santorini, they are very badly treated and the poor things struggle with the weight of some people. If you google Donkey cruelty Santorini you get a whole host of articles come up, or at least you do in the UK. People that walk up say it is really slippery and smelly. 

 

 

Edited September 15, 2019 by amajaa

[flamomo]

I'd guess it might be 8 or so, once the early Princess excursion folks get off.

I have always done excursions so was not concerned about what time I could get off if just going ashore instead.

[amajaa]

35 minutes ago, amajaa said:

When we tendered from Santorini those doing ships tours were tendered first to where the buses were waiting as you could get the buses down to the shore there.  Everyone else was then tendered further along to the right,  to where the cable car is. They weren’t allowed to use the ships tenders and had to use the ones from Santorini. 

 

Of course it it might be completely different for different ships/ different cruise lines.

 

Please don’t use the donkeys to go up the cliff at Santorini, they are very badly treated and the poor things struggle with the weight of some people. If you google Donkey cruelty Santorini you get a whole host of articles come up, or at least you do in the UK. People that walk up say it is really slippery and smelly. 

 

 

 

 

Sorry that hat was supposed to say further along to the left.

[PescadoAmarillo]

Unless the weather prevents early tendering, since the ship arrives at 7am, they should start handing out tender tickets about 30 minutes before that, or no later than 7am. If there is only one ship in port that day, they can actually load tenders from two tender platforms as there is room on the pier for multiple ship tenders.  

[caribill]

14 hours ago, pthardy said:

  Can anyone tell me what time they might start to hand out tender tickets?

 

The time and location will be in the Patter in your cabin the night before.

 

Whatever time it says, go there about 20 minutes early to be near the front of the line or in case they do start earlier than announced.

[RLK33853]

We have found Santorini one of the easiest tender ports as they use large local tenders which are easier to load and unload, and I believe carry more passengers than Princess tenders.

 

Enjoy the walk to Oia - we did it on our own last time.  It takes a while but it very much worth it.  Wear good shoes - while the first part from Fira is very gentle and on sidewalks, the last part just before Oia is quite rocky.  Nothing sinister but don't try to do it in sandals, etc.

[Colo Cruiser]

All Santorini tendering (water shuttle) is done by the Santorini Boatman Union.

It is fast and efficient.

http://www.boatmenunionsantorini.com/the-fleet2/

[chipmaster]

23 hours ago, pthardy said:

Hi, there are a few of us.  We have booked a private excursion so am feeling anxious about this.

 

If you on a private tour and includes transportation you likely will be on the first wave off the boat, hopefully tour has it's thing together and transportation is waiting for you at port.   When we took our NCL tour ( we were off first / early ), and at port it was chaos with traffic totally jammed top to bottom, but our transportation got there early and was at the base waiting.

 

Enjoy 

[AF-1]

22 hours ago, john elway said:

We are doing the hike from Fira to Oia,so we’d like to get off early as well.

wow that is quite a hike.  The bus ride alone is about thirty minutes

[4cats4me]

We’ve ported at Santorini at 7:00 am twice, on two different cruiselines. Both times, th3 last being last oct 8,  there was zero issue being first off the ship.  

The captain made an announcement bright and early that tendering was wide open, so we simply strolled onto one without a ticket shortly before 8:00 am. 

Although we didn’t have a tour, we just wanted to get a head start on the cable cars, which also were wide open.  We were also the only ship in port last year, so I’m sure that made a difference.  I think 7:30-8:30 is probably optimal, and would imagine that the crowds start when everyone is done with their breakfast and also catching Princess tours, which begin around 9:30 or 10:00.