Santorini Questions (re: time of last tender to ship & seeing sunset in Oia and having time to get back to ship)

[Talisker2023]

We are traveling on the Celebrity Constellation, leaving Ravenna on May 25, 2023 and finishing up in Athens on June 3.

 

We will be in Santorini on May 30 and I have a couple of questions:

 

1. The Celebrity website does not have a lot of specifics and says that our time in Santorini is from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Does that mean that the last tender leaves Santorini at 10:00 p.m. or that we have to be back on the ship no later than 10:00 p.m.?

 

2. We would like to book a private tour that finishes up in Oia for sunset. Sunset on May 30 is 8:29 p.m. With sunset being so late, do we realistically have time to see the sunset and get from Oia to the top of the cable car, etc. and then down to a tender in time to get on our ship before it leaves?

 

This is all a conversation I will have with any tour operator, etc., but just curious if anyone has experience in this regard.

 

Thanks!

[CruiserBruce]

Usually the announced time is sail away. Most cruise lines tell you the last tender is 30 minutes prior to that sail away time.

 

Sunset is not a minute long, particularly on Santorini. The color display goes on, constantly changing, for close to 30 minutes after the actual sunset (plus time before the scheduled sunset). I would be on board...the colors can be very vivid from the ship as well.

[John Bull]

14 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

Usually the announced time is sail away. Most cruise lines tell you the last tender is 30 minutes prior to that sail away time.

 

Sunset is not a minute long, particularly on Santorini. The color display goes on, constantly changing, for close to 30 minutes after the actual sunset (plus time before the scheduled sunset). I would be on board...the colors can be very vivid from the ship as well.

 

My experience of tendered ports, including Santorini, is that last tender time is 60 minutes before the quoted sailing time - ie 9pm.

Sunset on 30th May is 8.30pm but as per Bruce's comment it lasts longer.

All of which merely reinforces Bruce's suggestion that you view it from the ship .

 

JB 🙂

[edinburgher]

Agree that last tender is usually 1 hour before sailing to allow time for removing everything shoreside, returning the last tenders to the ship,  and raising them into position onboard in good time for the actual sailing time.

 

If you use the SEARCH option for previous threads re" Santorini sunsets" you will find many posters have reported seeing the sunsets from their ships. (including ourselves)  We also had local musicians, singers and dancers come onboard to give a brief folk show around the pool area.

 

You could therefore watch the sunset from your ship, stress free with no concerns about a last tender.

[pdmlynek]

2 hours ago, edinburgher said:

Agree that last tender is usually 1 hour before sailing to allow time for removing everything shoreside, returning the last tenders to the ship,  and raising them into position onboard in good time for the actual sailing time.

 

My experience is different. 

 

In our case, on NCL last summer, the last tender was leaving the dock 30 minutes before the sail time.  

 

But we actually left after the last tender. 

 

After the last tended there was a small boat that transports the ship's rep back onto the ship, about 12 minutes after the last tender.  So that was 18 minutes prior to the sail time.

 

Our wives did not find it funny that we were not on the last tender, and thought that we were going to have to catch a flight out of Santorini. Much to their surprise we had it arranged to come back with the last of the ship's crew.

 

 

[pdmlynek]

On 2/5/2023 at 4:33 PM, Talisker2023 said:

We are traveling on the Celebrity Constellation, leaving Ravenna on May 25, 2023 and finishing up in Athens on June 3.

 

We will be in Santorini on May 30 and I have a couple of questions:

 

1. The Celebrity website does not have a lot of specifics and says that our time in Santorini is from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Does that mean that the last tender leaves Santorini at 10:00 p.m. or that we have to be back on the ship no later than 10:00 p.m.?

...

 

(1) Regarding your first question, 22:00 is the time that the ship leaves the dock or, in this case, its position in the caldera.  Ships tend to be very punctual about it; sometimes they leave 2 or 3 minutes early.

 

It is similar to airplanes.  If the departure time is at 22:00, then that is the time it pushes away from the gate.  You have to be ready to board at the gate 45 or 30 minutes earlier.

 

Whether the last tender leaves 30 minutes or 60 minutes prior to the departure time for your cruiseline, for that particular stop, is something that you are going to have to investigate yourself.  

 

 

[pdmlynek]

On 2/5/2023 at 4:33 PM, Talisker2023 said:

We are traveling on the Celebrity Constellation, leaving Ravenna on May 25, 2023 and finishing up in Athens on June 3.

 

We will be in Santorini on May 30 and I have a couple of questions:

...

2. We would like to book a private tour that finishes up in Oia for sunset. Sunset on May 30 is 8:29 p.m. With sunset being so late, do we realistically have time to see the sunset and get from Oia to the top of the cable car, etc. and then down to a tender in time to get on our ship before it leaves?

 

...

 

Regarding your second question, I believe that it would be foolish to try to view the sunset from Oia.  

 

But to really answer your query, you need to let us know when you typically terminate your sunset watching.  How many degrees below horizon is the sun when you say, "that was great, let's turn in"? 

 

As you likely know, on Sanorini at that time of the year, the sun at the time of sunset moves almost exactly 5m00 per degree with respect to the horizon.  If you want to experience the sunset until -3 degrees, then you'll wrap it up at 20:44.  If you move from civil to nautical twilight, you'll be there until 20:59.  Personal choice.

 

If your last tender is 60 minutes prior to sailing, then in your case, the tender leaves at 21:00.  You should be there about 5 minutes prior to that, so at 20:55.  It takes about 15 to 20 minutes to walk down the stair, about 5 minutes to walk from the bus station to the top of the stairs, about 25 minute bus ride from Oia to Fira.  This means that you are looking at the bus leaving Oia bus station at 20:05 at the latest.  The last bus from Oia to Fira before 20:05 is at 19:50, and you need to be there about 5 minutes beforehand so you do miss it (like we did), and you need additional 5 minutes to get there from the place where you'll observe the sunset.  So realistically, you need to leave your observation spot in Oia at about 19:40, or about 50 minutes before the sunset happens.

 

Of course, I would not expect you to take the last bus.  Busses break down, or they may get delayed, or you may miss it, etc.  It makes sense to take the penultimate bus, which runs from Oia to Fira at 19:20.

 

If the last tender is at 21:30, and you terminate your sunset observations at sunset time, and you are OK with risking taking the last bus at 20:20, the bus still leaves Oia before the sunset. 

 

If you observe the sunset at Oia, you'd have to take the next bus after the sunset, which is not half a hour later but runs at 21:40.  This means that you'd get down to the port at 22:35, or about 55 minutes or 1h25 minutes after the last tender has left.

 

Good luck, whatever you decide!

 

Edited February 7, 2023 by pdmlynek

[mapleleaves]

 

The other factor to consider is ... how many ships are in port with you, # of pax, and their departure time. Google to find the Santorini port schedule.

If there's a ship departing after yours, there could be a helluva line at the cable cars.  And similarly there could be several hundred people leaving Oia at the same time as you....full bus and no taxis. If your  tour ends in Oia how will you get to Fira?

We watched the sunset from the ship. Sadly it was a cloudy day so it was just a sliver and lasted moments.  But it was still a beautiful sight to look up at all the lights in Fira, and the lights of the zig zag path coming down the hill. 

 

 

 

[Visitors4]

Hi Talisker2023, I visited Santorini September 2022 and saw the sunset "golden hour" from Fira. In September, golden hour started around 7:00 PM. My ship was in port the same hours as yours will be. 

 

Verify this for your sailing - guests typically have to be back on the ship half hour before departure - which would mean 9:30 PM for yours. Find out how long the ride is from Oia to Fira. The tender ride itself takes at least 15 minutes. What is unpredictable is the wait time at the cable car in Fira town and at the tender line in Fira Old Port. The previous point from cruiser "mapleleaves" re: how many ships are still in port in the evening with your ship - that will impact those wait times. These times and factors would likely make it risky to view a sunset from Oia. Also consider that after sunset, it will be dark and the main street in Oia is not very wide and it may be crowded. The best part of a sunset is golden hour before sunset. Fira town has many bars/restaurants that offer prime views of sunsets.

 

You may want to read my post about my experience in Santorini and sunset viewing experience - has some suggestions that may help you.