"Oia Sunset On Your Own" through Costco? Shore Excursion

[mgel728]

Hello,

 

I'm wondering if anywone has done the "Oia Sunset On Your Own" through Costco Shore Excursion? (or similar) I'm thinking of booking it but there are no reviews at all and the description doesn't describe the transportation aspect at all.  I'm hesitant to book as I will be traveling with my kids- young teens- and like to have a solid plan.  (I know what Santorini entails through research, so just want to make sure this would be a good choice for us)

[John Bull]

Can I presume that you're aware that Costco don't operate excursions - they're one of a number of worldwide booking agencies offering excursions with local operators.  One problem with booking through a worldwide agency is that the information on their website is often scant - and their staff generally know no more than what's on their website.

That said, Costco offer three Oia Sunset options.

 

$20 pp. OIA SUNSET ON YOUR OWN. No, the transportation isn't mentioned, but at $20 it's clearly just a bus / van transfer from hotels to Oia & back. No use to a cruiser.

 

$62 pp SANTORINI VOLCANO AND OIA SUNSET. Clearly by boat, but the website mentions the boat name as "King Thiras", which is an attractive three-masted gulet. Almost all photos of the boat show it with sails furled, this is pretty typical of how gulets are operated - sails are for show and a diesel engine is for power.

 

A big problem with these - and many other tours - is timing.  All cruise ships anchor in the bay (caldera) under the town of Thira and passengers are tendered to a jetty at the bottom of the cliff. There's no road access to that jetty, you need to ascend to the town by cablecar or on the back of a donkey - this can involve lines, and returning same way at the end of the day almost-always involves long lines. Added to that the gulet sails from Athinios, a 15-minute taxi ride from Thira or longer if you use the included bus..  "Last tender time" will be 60 minutes before the advertised sailing time The website doesn't mention timings, but it's a 10-hour excursion, so it will set off earlier than you can make it, or get back too late to re-join your ship.

 

$67 pp. SANTORINI SUNSET DINNER CRUISE. Same gulet, but only a four-hour excursion. So no problem getting to Athinios for the start, but certain to finish too late to re-join your ship. 

 

These excursions are also offered through other agents like https://www.viator.com/tours/Santorini/CALDERA-and-OIA-SUNSET-WITH-KING-THIRAS-BOAT/d959-117280P2?m=28353&supag=76382119171&supsc=dsa-649086883411&supai=420120885747&supap=&supdv=c&supnt=nt:g&suplp=9045794&supli=&supti=dsa-649086883411&tsem=true&supci=dsa-649086883411&supap1=&supap2=&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9Yy7gKfl8QIVXxkGAB1_ZgeKEAAYASAAEgJR__D_BwE (beware, because I'm in England these prices are in GBP).

 

A general word of warning about sunset activities on Santorini.....

Sunset is vaguely around 9pm (check sunset time for your date) which leaves little time to enjoy the sunset & get back to the tender jetty in time.

Some get themselves a drink between Oia and Thira, I've even heard of folk enjoying the sunset at the end of a (pre-booked) meal before rushing back, but I'd suggest a drink at the bar near the top cable-car station, or watch the sunset from the ship.

 

JB 🙂

Edited July 15, 2021 by John Bull

[mgel728]

Hello and thanks so much for the informed answer.  So, to answer your questions- I was definitely aware that Costco is just a booking agency- I also have no allegiance to them. I merely had a coupon, and for $20 I wanted to know what transportation was involved.

 

I probably should've been more clear in what I'm actually looking for.  Our ship will be in port from 1-11pm.  I do not care at all about actually seeing the sunset in Oia.

 

I merely want to visit Oia, walk around- have some photo ops- shop etc, and will even skip it if its totally inconvenient. Truly we'd like to get off the ship early as possible, tour around the island for 4-5 hour max then be back on the ship and see sunset from there. I'm just looking for the best way to do this and haven't been to Santorini before.  I've read about getting off the tender and taking a power boat to Ammoud Bay then taking a bus back to Fira and the cable car down- but I don't know how to do this and am anxious about the unknown when traveling with my kids(I can't seem to find the name of the power boat company anywhere). If you have any insight, I would love to hear it.  I very much appreciate your answer before!

[Hlitner]

33 minutes ago, mgel728 said:

Hello and thanks so much for the informed answer.  So, to answer your questions- I was definitely aware that Costco is just a booking agency- I also have no allegiance to them. I merely had a coupon, and for $20 I wanted to know what transportation was involved.

 

I probably should've been more clear in what I'm actually looking for.  Our ship will be in port from 1-11pm.  I do not care at all about actually seeing the sunset in Oia.

 

I merely want to visit Oia, walk around- have some photo ops- shop etc, and will even skip it if its totally inconvenient. Truly we'd like to get off the ship early as possible, tour around the island for 4-5 hour max then be back on the ship and see sunset from there. I'm just looking for the best way to do this and haven't been to Santorini before.  I've read about getting off the tender and taking a power boat to Ammoud Bay then taking a bus back to Fira and the cable car down- but I don't know how to do this and am anxious about the unknown when traveling with my kids(I can't seem to find the name of the power boat company anywhere). If you have any insight, I would love to hear it.  I very much appreciate your answer before!

When u arrive at the pier there will be some folks holding up signs for a boat to Oia.  Most include a return bus ticket and just about anyone can give you directions to the return bus from Oia.  When you arrive at the pier below Oia you will walk a small distance to a shuttle bus which takes you up the steep road to Oia.  All Easy Peasey 

[gfkcruiser]

On 7/15/2021 at 12:48 PM, Hlitner said:

When u arrive at the pier there will be some folks holding up signs for a boat to Oia.  Most include a return bus ticket and just about anyone can give you directions to the return bus from Oia.  When you arrive at the pier below Oia you will walk a small distance to a shuttle bus which takes you up the steep road to Oia.  All Easy Peasey 

You always have great advice and knowledge.  We have been to Santorini and took the city bus.  The route along the mountain side was unnerving to me.  Was told by someone, who had been before, to push your way onto the return bus.  Otherwise you wouldn't get on and she was correct.  My DH who wants to be polite was hesitant to do so but he fell in with the plan.

Your comment about the boat at the tender pier interests me and I will have to look into that when I hopefully return in May, 2022.  Last time there was November, 2008.

Gail

[Hlitner]

7 hours ago, gfkcruiser said:

You always have great advice and knowledge.  We have been to Santorini and took the city bus.  The route along the mountain side was unnerving to me.  Was told by someone, who had been before, to push your way onto the return bus.  Otherwise you wouldn't get on and she was correct.  My DH who wants to be polite was hesitant to do so but he fell in with the plan.

Your comment about the boat at the tender pier interests me and I will have to look into that when I hopefully return in May, 2022.  Last time there was November, 2008.

Gail

We were just on Santorini (last week) and those boats were running.  The public (and most other buses) do take the road that runs along the mountain top because it gives everyone some fantastic views.  Last week we rented a car for the day (something we do from time to time) and drove to Oia via the lower road which avoids those views that you find unnerving.  If you hire a taxi you can also ask the driver to take that lower road (it runs through the valley that you can see when you are on the top of the hills. 

 

As to having a rental car it is often our preference since it gives us maximum flexibility and does not cost much more then using taxis all day if you want to go to a few places on the island.   In our case we picked up our car and drive directly to Oia where we spent a few hours and then enjoyed lunch at a restaurant with a view (many places in Oia have good views).  We later drive back to the other side of the island (past Thira) and went to a black sand beach (it was a very hot day).  This can all be done with the local buses (at less cost but with the usual waiting and crowding) or by arranging for a taxi.   Of course one could also opt to take pricier excursions.

By the way, our Santorini day proved quite interesting.  We were on the Seabourn Ovation where many did take excursions or simply tendered later in the day.  But since we wanted to get our car early, we decided to go ashore around 8:30.  We walked down to our ship's tender platform (not issues with tender tickets or lines on Seabourn) where they put us on  own huge shore-based tender.  We were truly the only folks on that tender (except for the crew) and they quickly dropped us near the cable car.  We walked into the cable car station where there was a waiting cable car without any other passengers.   Around 4:30 we decided to return to our ship (our last tender was 10:30pm) and found ourselves on a large tender with only 6 people (including our ship's Captain).   When compared to dealing with the usual lines and crowding on larger ships this was an amazing experience and reinforced our love of smaller ships.  There was only one other ship that day (probably had fewer then 800 on that vessel).  The island was still pretty busy since the hotels and inns were packed with visitors.

 

Hank

[What We Found Travelling]

On 8/19/2021 at 3:25 PM, Hlitner said:

As to having a rental car it is often our preference since it gives us maximum flexibility and does not cost much more then using taxis all day if you want to go to a few places on the island.   In our case we picked up our car and drive directly to Oia where we spent a few hours and then enjoyed lunch at a restaurant with a view (many places in Oia have good views).  We later drive back to the other side of the island (past Thira) and went to a black sand beach (it was a very hot day).  This can all be done with the local buses (at less cost but with the usual waiting and crowding) or by arranging for a taxi.   Of course one could also opt to take pricier excursions.

Hank, 

Can you tell me who you rented the car from & roughly how much the cost?  Cheers 🍻 

[Hlitner]

9 minutes ago, RKHOOKER said:

Hank, 

Can you tell me who you rented the car from & roughly how much the cost?  Cheers 🍻 

We rented from Santorini Car Rental (Santorini-car-rental.com) and paid 55 Euros for a small car with manual transmission.  Keep in mind that if you want an automatic you will pay more money as manuals are still the rule in much of Europe.   I should also mention that getting a car on Santorini was difficult and we were rejected by 4 other rental agencies before finding Santorini car rental.   Over the years we have rented from several different local dealers and we have no particular favorite.

 

Santorni Car Rental does not have an office in Fira.  They delivered our car to a travel agency office located about a 10 min walk from the Cable Car Station and had us drop it in a large free parking lot located about a 15 min walk from that upper station.     Car rentals on Santorini can often be difficult for cruisers since the local agencies prefer longer term rentals to folks staying on the island.  Since the islands are very busy this season it is often necessary to book weeks in advance.

 

Hank