Santorini private excursion

[Susanb10567]

Booked on Edge I September …somewhat confused about what time to book my private excursion…I was debating for awhile if I would do a ship excursion or private and now the one I wanted to do only has one spot left…looking to book a private one on Viator  but not sure what time to have it start…the port time is 12-10 if we arrive on time but then we have to tender ( we are in the retreat so should have a priority tender) but then you have to take the cable car up…anyone have any idea how much time we should give us to meet our guide?

[C-Ya]

We just sailed on Edge in early May. 3 weeks ago. We too had a private tour booked. We were in Santorini ship time, 12 to 9. We left ship at 1pm to make our 2pm tour. It was close, but we made it with 10 min to spare. 
 

Most of our time was spent waiting in line for cable car. Some of our cruisers hiked up, but they said they were exhausted afterwards. 
 

We did a Flying Dress Photo Shoot, in which we toured the entire island by private Mercedes Van. The driver was awesome because he would climb dirt roads with the van, so had minimal walking to unbelievable views. We ended up with a few pics in which our cruise ship is in the background of the spectacular view.

 

One thing that I should note. We spent most of our day being pampered with private transportation, BUT, when we checked our walking APP on our phone, later in the cruise. We found out that we climbed 32 stories of steps alone. In Athens we went to Acropolis and the mountain a few miles behind it, and only climber 20 stories that day, for comparison. 
 

But to be fair, our photographer recommended a restaurant that was quite the climb down to. But we were rewarded by having the entire covered balcony to ourselves, while being served great food and drink! The climb home from there was sections of stairs that went from 4 to 6 stories of steps on a single run. From the bottom, it looked even higher! My feet hurt just remembering. 
 

One last thing……. You realize that Viator is a third party website? Book direct and have the confidence that you can get somebody on phone if tour is not there. Viator’s 800 number takes too long, especially if the operator is acting as a go-between with delayed or lost tour.

[TMLAalum]

We booked the Celebrity tour that took us by tender to port where a bus drove us to Oia. The majority of us on this tour ditched it to do our own thing. It saved us the stress of waiting for the cable car and worth the $$.

 

So perhaps your private guide could meet you in Oia?

[Susanb10567]

Thanks for the info…still trying to figure this all out

[Lastdance]

4 hours ago, C-Ya said:

We just sailed on Edge in early May. 3 weeks ago. We too had a private tour booked. We were in Santorini ship time, 12 to 9. We left ship at 1pm to make our 2pm tour. It was close, but we made it with 10 min to spare. 
 

Most of our time was spent waiting in line for cable car. Some of our cruisers hiked up, but they said they were exhausted afterwards. 
 

We did a Flying Dress Photo Shoot, in which we toured the entire island by private Mercedes Van. The driver was awesome because he would climb dirt roads with the van, so had minimal walking to unbelievable views. We ended up with a few pics in which our cruise ship is in the background of the spectacular view.

 

One thing that I should note. We spent most of our day being pampered with private transportation, BUT, when we checked our walking APP on our phone, later in the cruise. We found out that we climbed 32 stories of steps alone. In Athens we went to Acropolis and the mountain a few miles behind it, and only climber 20 stories that day, for comparison. 
 

But to be fair, our photographer recommended a restaurant that was quite the climb down to. But we were rewarded by having the entire covered balcony to ourselves, while being served great food and drink! The climb home from there was sections of stairs that went from 4 to 6 stories of steps on a single run. From the bottom, it looked even higher! My feet hurt just remembering. 
 

One last thing……. You realize that Viator is a third party website? Book direct and have the confidence that you can get somebody on phone if tour is not there. Viator’s 800 number takes too long, especially if the operator is acting as a go-between with delayed or lost tour.

It sounds very similar to the tour four of us were on a few years ago, but was worth it for those gorgeous photo shoots.  However, we also saw parts of the island where vacant and half-built buildings stood, given us a true perspective of the island.  We were met at the top of the funicular, but our driver was late!I have a tour scheduled through them, but asked for the actual booking party.  

 

As far as Viator...

I was able to deal directly a company through Viator, and feel great about the price for just the two of us.  Just letting you know that it could be possible, but depends on he vendor.  My tour is in Turkey and not Greece for this October.  I was very impressed with the efficiency of the tour operator and his email, so hope the tour is great.

 

Edited May 31, 2022 by Lastdance

[SraLiz]

We have a cruise booked for September 3 and C YA- I would love to know who you used in Santorini. Thanks!

[C-Ya]

7 minutes ago, SraLiz said:

We have a cruise booked for September 3 and C YA- I would love to know who you used in Santorini. Thanks!

I’ll find all the info tomorrow and PM it to you. 
 

It’s not a tour. It’s a photo shoot that just happens to turn into a tour of the island. One funny part…….. there’s all these people hiking up this trail with many taking a break at the top. Not us…… we drove up that hill and felt great when we got to the top. It was a church. It was a church. I will ad photo in next post. 

 

 

 

 

[C-Ya]

[MMMCruiser]

On 5/31/2022 at 1:26 PM, TMLAalum said:

We booked the Celebrity tour that took us by tender to port where a bus drove us to Oia. The majority of us on this tour ditched it to do our own thing. It saved us the stress of waiting for the cable car and worth the $$.

 

So perhaps your private guide could meet you in Oia?

 

I've read about doing this, but I have to ask what happened after you left the tour?  As in, how did you get back to the ship?  Did you stay in Oia or take a bus to Fira and take the cable car down?

[TMLAalum]

13 hours ago, MMMCruiser said:

 

I've read about doing this, but I have to ask what happened after you left the tour?  As in, how did you get back to the ship?  Did you stay in Oia or take a bus to Fira and take the cable car down?

It was a decade ago and we walked downhill from Oia to Ammoudi where we had lunch at a seaside restaurant. We were then met by a previously booked private boat, cruised with a stop at a tiny island, and then returned to the bottom of Fira. We could have taken a swim from the boat had we wished.

There were 12 of us on the boat- 6 of us traveling together and the remaining 6 who joined from our Roll Call.

IDK if such a option is still possible, but it was perfect for us!

[PattyWinters503]

On 6/4/2022 at 7:48 PM, MMMCruiser said:

 

I've read about doing this, but I have to ask what happened after you left the tour?  As in, how did you get back to the ship?  Did you stay in Oia or take a bus to Fira and take the cable car down?

What tour company did you use?  Thank you.  Arriving Aug 15

[grimpil]

How far is the upper cable station from the top of the stairs. I expect they end up in the same general vicinity. We have a private excursion booked that will meet us at the upper cable station. Just thinking that it may be quicker and  better experience to walk up the stairs (ie. we dont do any elevators on the ship). Just dont want to end up too far from out meeting point.

[SpacemanSpiff]

On 7/16/2022 at 12:39 PM, grimpil said:

How far is the upper cable station from the top of the stairs. I expect they end up in the same general vicinity. We have a private excursion booked that will meet us at the upper cable station. Just thinking that it may be quicker and  better experience to walk up the stairs (ie. we dont do any elevators on the ship). Just dont want to end up too far from out meeting point.

Just be aware that (a) there are about 600 steps on the trail; (b) you will share the stairs with donkeys; and (c) you will have to share the stairs with what the donkeys leave behind.

[Hlitner]

On 7/16/2022 at 12:39 PM, grimpil said:

How far is the upper cable station from the top of the stairs. I expect they end up in the same general vicinity. We have a private excursion booked that will meet us at the upper cable station. Just thinking that it may be quicker and  better experience to walk up the stairs (ie. we dont do any elevators on the ship). Just dont want to end up too far from out meeting point.

It is not too far.  But just be careful to avoid all the donkey poo on the way up.  I am an avid walker (no problem trekking 12 miles) but have never felt the urge to climb up from the tender pier in Santorini.  I think you should do it and then post here about the experience :).   You might also consider the hike between Oia and Fira.

 

Hank

[marazul]

3 hours ago, Hlitner said:

You might also consider the hike between Oia and Fira.

 

After climbing the stairs? 🤪😁

[Maverick!]

On 7/16/2022 at 12:39 PM, grimpil said:

How far is the upper cable station from the top of the stairs. I expect they end up in the same general vicinity. We have a private excursion booked that will meet us at the upper cable station. Just thinking that it may be quicker and  better experience to walk up the stairs (ie. we dont do any elevators on the ship). Just dont want to end up too far from out meeting point.

About 5-10 minutes between cable station and top of stairs depending how fast you walk and what the crowds look like. There were 3 ships tendered that day and it was about 40'C last week with no cover from the direct sun when we were there and walking up those 600 steps with limited drinking water was likely the last option on everyone's mind cause the cable car line-up was about 2 hours long :). Oh, and the donkeys (with blinders) going up and down were scaring some of the brave ones climbing (and some changed their mind and came back down).

But if you're there in September or later, maybe the heat wave will have died down somewhat and fewer people all crowding around the Fira center.

Edited July 24, 2022 by Maverick!

[Susanb10567]

6 minutes ago, Maverick! said:

About 5-10 minutes between cable station and top of stairs depending how fast you walk and what the crowds look like. There were 3 ships tendered that day and it was about 40'C last week with no cover from the direct sun when we were there and walking up those 600 steps with limited drinking water was likely the last option on everyone's mind cause the cable car line-up was about 2 hours long :). But if you're there in September or later, maybe the heat wave will have died down somewhat and fewer people all crowding around the Fira center.

Omg..the cable car line was 2 hours long..that is very concerning…

 

We are booked on a private tour on September 5th. We are on the Edge. It looks like there are 4 ships in total..we don’t get there until noon …according to CruiseMapper at least the other two ships arrive in the morning…hopefully that helps ..

 

I told the tour company 1:30..maybe I need to push it back

[Maverick!]

We docked at 7AM and  thought the same to avoid the crowds by heading out a little later towards 11AM.  We had no choice but to take donkeys up since it was pretty chaotic at the cable car station and the wait was long. There are kiosks for boat tours in the line-up area trying to entice those heading to Oia to bypass the cable car to Fira by taking the motor boats directly to Oia for 30 Euro pp. Otherwise, there is no other way up aside from the stairs and donkeys, and no way to anticipate how long the cable car would be.  We heard mention onboard that on occasion the cable car is under repair/nonfunctional which may add to the chaos but I think the chances in high season would be remote.

[grimpil]

9 hours ago, Maverick! said:

We docked at 7AM and  thought the same to avoid the crowds by heading out a little later towards 11AM.  We had no choice but to take donkeys up since it was pretty chaotic at the cable car station and the wait was long. There are kiosks for boat tours in the line-up area trying to entice those heading to Oia to bypass the cable car to Fira by taking the motor boats directly to Oia for 30 Euro pp. Otherwise, there is no other way up aside from the stairs and donkeys, and no way to anticipate how long the cable car would be.  We heard mention onboard that on occasion the cable car is under repair/nonfunctional which may add to the chaos but I think the chances in high season would be remote.

Thank you... that is helpful

[Hlitner]

On 7/24/2022 at 10:19 AM, Maverick! said:

We docked at 7AM and  thought the same to avoid the crowds by heading out a little later towards 11AM.  We had no choice but to take donkeys up since it was pretty chaotic at the cable car station and the wait was long. There are kiosks for boat tours in the line-up area trying to entice those heading to Oia to bypass the cable car to Fira by taking the motor boats directly to Oia for 30 Euro pp. Otherwise, there is no other way up aside from the stairs and donkeys, and no way to anticipate how long the cable car would be.  We heard mention onboard that on occasion the cable car is under repair/nonfunctional which may add to the chaos but I think the chances in high season would be remote.

Waiting for a later tender is not always a good strategy.  The problem is that there are often several different ships that come to Santorini on most days and they do try (although not always successfully) the arrivals/departures to minimize the inevitable overcrowding situation which happens at the cable car stations (upper and lower).  So by waiting you may find yourself getting ashore along with many other folks from a later arriving ship.

 

I would add that we have been to Santorini dozens of times (on cruises and land) and have never seen the cable car shut down for maintenance.  If that were to happen in the tourist season it would be beyond chaotic since the cable car is the only way down to the tender pier for many folks who are no capable of walking.  I would assume in a real emergency situation if the cable car broke down, the authorities would have to change the tender operation over to Athinios and run some kind of shuttle service between Fira and Athinios.  This guy would not want to be on Santorini if that were to happen.

 

Hank