Summer 2024 Santorini port cancellation - port capacity enforced?

[John Bull]

On 5/29/2024 at 10:28 AM, VMax1700 said:

They made it public quite a few years ago.  Why do they need to make a public statement about enforcing their own rules?  It is our responsibility, as travellers, to find out the local rules and regulations before we plan to visit.

 

I can't agree, Max.

Passports & visas & inoculations such, yes.

But finding out rules about max number of cruise visitors to ports, esp when they've not been well-publicised or enforced, is expecting too much - that's the province of the cruise lines although it's difficult enough for them, let alone individual passengers. 

 

 

On 5/29/2024 at 2:05 PM, edinburgher said:

Lesson #1 when booking a cruise.

 

Never ever book a cruise for one specific port of call as there are too many reasons why a call could be cancelled right up until the last minute.

Agreed 100%

 

On 5/29/2024 at 3:29 PM, mapleleaves said:

But the boat is only a one-way transfer to Amoudi Bay (below Oia).  You still have to get to Fira and ride the cable car down to the pier. The queues going down can be as bad as the queue going up.

Last summer someone posted about a separate boat company at Amoudi Bay (at the bottom of the staircase) that was taking people back to the tender dock. 

It would be great if someone could report back on whether it's currently operating.  That would be a game changer.

 Except for those with mobility issues there is the option of walking down the zig-zag path - that's a whole lot different to walking up it. 

 

Yes, I could never understand why the operator of the boat to Amoundi (Oia) or some other entrepreneur doesn't provide a service back to the tender pier at the bottom of the cablecar / zig-zag path. It would surely earn a lot of euros.

I'll echo the question - is there now that service ??? 

 

JB 🙂

[chinita415]

I think there may be a return boat service from Amoudi Bay to Old Port  from reading some of the MSC Davina groups. I will report back when I come back.

 

My current plan is to go to get tender tickets at 7a for first tenders around 9am and straight to cable car. We are first ship there. People have reported no lines if first tenders obviously. I have decided to splurge on the flying dress photo shoot and will meet driver in Fira to Imerovigli. Then lunch back at Fira and then cable car down mid afternoon with some wait.

Edited June 22 by chinita415

[mapleleaves]

7 hours ago, chinita415 said:

I think there may be a return boat service from Amoudi Bay to Old Port  from reading some of the MSC Davina groups. I will report back when I come back.

 

 

 

Yes, please report back about the return boat service!

Last summer I read ONE report where RCI pax used a boat service to return to old port.  They were small boats, about 12-15 pax and even took reservations. 

NOTE, their location is at the opposite side of the Bay from where the other water taxi service drops off pax.  If you use the water taxi TO Amoudi, you're dropped off at the dock below the road.  The return service uses a dock below the stairs.

Good luck!

 

[zqvol]

On 6/22/2024 at 2:48 AM, chinita415 said:

I think there may be a return boat service from Amoudi Bay to Old Port  from reading some of the MSC Davina groups. I will report back when I come back.

 

My current plan is to go to get tender tickets at 7a for first tenders around 9am and straight to cable car. We are first ship there. People have reported no lines if first tenders obviously. I have decided to splurge on the flying dress photo shoot and will meet driver in Fira to Imerovigli. Then lunch back at Fira and then cable car down mid afternoon with some wait.

Good luck. People with ship’s tours are let off first. The tenders are all run by the Greek Seaman’s Association. They control how soon you get ashore. Don’t forget there are also locals using the cable car daily. Santorini is a circus on the best of days and your number of ships don’t include the people that come by ferry. Make sure you take lots of water and wear hats. Expect triple digit temps and high humidity. Cable car down lines can easily exceed two hours at mid day. 

[John Bull]

On 6/24/2024 at 12:37 AM, zqvol said:

Good luck. People with ship’s tours are let off first. The tenders are all run by the Greek Seaman’s Association. They control how soon you get ashore. Don’t forget there are also locals using the cable car daily. Santorini is a circus on the best of days and your number of ships don’t include the people that come by ferry. Make sure you take lots of water and wear hats. Expect triple digit temps and high humidity. Cable car down lines can easily exceed two hours at mid day. 

 

 

Hmmmm, IMHO that's perhaps over-egging it a little.

 

Cruise passengers on ships' tours are tendered to Athinios (it has a road leading down to it), whereas independents are tendered to Fira Old Port (that's the one with the cable-car, donkey path and ferries without timetables to Oia). In our experience the tenders to the two different places operate at the same time, so hold-ups caused by ships' tours are minimal - much better than at most other ports.  

Yes, locals (or more-accurately those vacationing on the island) use the cablecar - but they're going down for boat trips & back up at the end of the day. So they have little impact on the cable-car lines except around noon - early pm.

And those arriving (or leaving) by ferry land (or depart) at Athinios - the same place as ships' tour tenders.  So they have no affect whatsoever on the cable-car etc at Fira Old Port.

 

Not saying Santorini doesn't have a big problem with too many cruisers and inadequate transportation from & back to Fira Old Port tenders.

But the factors that you've mentioned have little or no impact

 

Yes, hats and plenty to drink

 

JB 🙂

 

[AlaskaGoer]

On 6/22/2024 at 2:48 AM, chinita415 said:

I think there may be a return boat service from Amoudi Bay to Old Port  from reading some of the MSC Davina groups. I will report back when I come back.

 

My current plan is to go to get tender tickets at 7a for first tenders around 9am and straight to cable car. We are first ship there. People have reported no lines if first tenders obviously. I have decided to splurge on the flying dress photo shoot and will meet driver in Fira to Imerovigli. Then lunch back at Fira and then cable car down mid afternoon with some wait.

 

We took the boat from Old Port to Oia, and someone asked the captain if they do a return trip. He said no.

 

Unless there are other boats that you can hire to get back, I think you're stuck using the bus to return.

[marazul]

7 hours ago, AlaskaGoer said:

 

We took the boat from Old Port to Oia, and someone asked the captain if they do a return trip. He said no.

 

Unless there are other boats that you can hire to get back, I think you're stuck using the bus to return.

I have been told that they have a deal to spread the tourist $ around. You use the boat for one leg and the cable car for another.  That moves people out of Oia and on to other places so they get to visit other shops and eateries maybe even beyond Fira.  A large percentage of cruise tourists just go through to see the sights and spend little money creating more stress on the infrastructure and local population than the revenue they produce. It would be even more chaotic if 10000 people were to jam Oia during the day and return the way they came.

[AlaskaGoer]

8 hours ago, marazul said:

I have been told that they have a deal to spread the tourist $ around. You use the boat for one leg and the cable car for another.  That moves people out of Oia and on to other places so they get to visit other shops and eateries maybe even beyond Fira.  A large percentage of cruise tourists just go through to see the sights and spend little money creating more stress on the infrastructure and local population than the revenue they produce. It would be even more chaotic if 10000 people were to jam Oia during the day and return the way they came.

Makes sense.

[chinita415]

Well that is frustrating. They need to improve infrastructure if they want to spread the tourist dollars. We plan to take the cable car back early afternoon.

[Occi]

We are visiting the island 9th Sept on Explorer of the Seas and got this update:

 

Dear Guest,

Recently, the tour operator for your Village of Oia On Your Own tour has revised their description. To avoid delays in your return to the ship due to lines at the cable car, your tour now includes an hour of free time in Fira. Please note, you'll also receive transportation back to the Athinios port for direct access to tenders which will take you back to the ship. Guests who wish to remain in Fira for an extended period should advise their guide.

[sheshe01]

6 hours ago, Occi said:

We are visiting the island 9th Sept on Explorer of the Seas and got this update:

 

Dear Guest,

Recently, the tour operator for your Village of Oia On Your Own tour has revised their description. To avoid delays in your return to the ship due to lines at the cable car, your tour now includes an hour of free time in Fira. Please note, you'll also receive transportation back to the Athinios port for direct access to tenders which will take you back to the ship. Guests who wish to remain in Fira for an extended period should advise their guide.

Transportation back? What does that mean? A ticket for the cable car or they are reversing the route and taking you back to Oia and down to a boat to direct shuttle to dock? I find cruise lines description of tours leave out detail. We are in port that same day on the Getaway

[mapleleaves]

7 hours ago, Occi said:

We are visiting the island 9th Sept on Explorer of the Seas and got this update:

 

Dear Guest,

Recently, the tour operator for your Village of Oia On Your Own tour has revised their description. To avoid delays in your return to the ship due to lines at the cable car, your tour now includes an hour of free time in Fira. Please note, you'll also receive transportation back to the Athinios port for direct access to tenders which will take you back to the ship. Guests who wish to remain in Fira for an extended period should advise their guide.

 

Lucky you! You will avoid the cable car fiasco entirely!

The tender will take you from your ship to Athinios to board the bus, and at the end you will be returned to the tender dock at Athinios.  Nice!

[Occi]

2 hours ago, sheshe01 said:

Transportation back? What does that mean? A ticket for the cable car or they are reversing the route and taking you back to Oia and down to a boat to direct shuttle to dock? I find cruise lines description of tours leave out detail. We are in port that same day on the Getaway

It was originally cable car now it's a return to the port. We now have less time in Fira, I'll put up with that for an easier route back

[John Bull]

On 7/7/2024 at 9:32 AM, Occi said:

We are visiting the island 9th Sept on Explorer of the Seas and got this update:

 

Dear Guest,

Recently, the tour operator for your Village of Oia On Your Own tour has revised their description. To avoid delays in your return to the ship due to lines at the cable car, your tour now includes an hour of free time in Fira. Please note, you'll also receive transportation back to the Athinios port for direct access to tenders which will take you back to the ship. Guests who wish to remain in Fira for an extended period should advise their guide.

 

 

That's what Celebrity started doing with some? (all?) of their excursions a few years ago. The hope was that other lines would follow suit but that didn't seem to happen.

 

Good to see that RCI are following suit, altho the phraseology is strange - surely this is an RCI initiative, not the tour operator's

 

JB 🙂

[marazul]

On 7/6/2024 at 3:41 PM, chinita415 said:

Well that is frustrating. They need to improve infrastructure if they want to spread the tourist dollars. We plan to take the cable car back early afternoon.

Santorini is 12 miles long and 3 miles wide at the widest point.  It is largely mountainous (the edge of a volcano).  There is not enough land to create any more facilities.  The infrastructure is under great stress and the tourist revenues are not nearly high enough to upgrade it. They are concerned about the water supply.

 

The year round population of the island is 15,000.  On a given day, 10,000 or 12,000 cruise passengers troop through the narrow area between Oia and Fira. A lot of them come in one end and take the cable car out without contributing at all to the economy other than the cable car fee. 

 

Some residents benefit from tourism, but many more, like teachers and public employees, do not.  Tourists who stay at hotels contribute much more to the economy than the cruise passengers.  Their need to reduce the number of cruise passengers is real.  The enormous increase in the size of cruise ships is one of the main contributors to the problem.

[marazul]

Another interesting article in a Greek newspaper:

https://www.ekathimerini.com/news/environment/1243381/santorini-gasping-from-overbuilding/

[Hlitner]

6 hours ago, marazul said:

...............

 

Some residents benefit from tourism, but many more, like teachers and public employees, do not.  Tourists who stay at hotels contribute much more to the economy than the cruise passengers.  Their need to reduce the number of cruise passengers is real

ar fee. .  The enormous increase in the size of cruise ships is one of the main contributors to the problem.

The enormous increase in both the size and number or mega ships, has led to an anti-cruise ship attitude we have felt in many parts of the world.  As one who has loved cruising for over 50 years, I find the situation very sad.  Ports that DW and I used to love (such as Santorini) are how places we prefer to avoid.  And even with our extensive land trips, we find ourselves avoiding major cruise ports.  When we island hop in Greece, we do not go to places like Santorini and Mykonos, but rather choose islands (such as Naxos or Paxos) that do not host cruise ships.  The reality is that spending $1000 a night for a decent boutique hotel in Oia, is not a great option if one tries to go out for breakfast and finds that its almost impossible to move through the narrow streets.  Places like Santorini, Riomaggiore, and now Dubrovnik, are beginning to drown in overtourism!   Consider Barcelona.  They built an excellent cruise port that can handle 5 mega ships per day.  The city is large enough to absorb quite a few cruisers.  But we recall one day, when we were in Barcelona with 11 other ships!  They had cruise ships docked all over the region, including at many piers intended for commercial shipping.  We have been in ports where there are traffic jams of tenders!  And than you have cruise lines, such as Princess, that sends a huge ship

 

As an avid traveler, who still has some spirit of adventure, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find destinations not completely overrun by tourism.  In some cases, one can go to a cruise port city, and simply avoid the few places that tend to attract cruisers and day trippers.  While the walled old town of Dubrovnik is becoming like Oia, one can still say out in areas like Lapad which are not visited by cruise excursions (or most cruise passengers).  But on Santorini, there  is no longer anywhere to go to escape the crowds.  Even places like Red Beach, can become too darn crowded.  We think that Santorini is going the way of St Thomas, which forty years ago was a terrific island on which to vacation.  Now, we wouldn't even consider that island.  We still love the beauty of Santorini, but the crowds have really ruined the charm.  And unlike many places, even if you wait to late afternoon there are likely to still be thousands of cruisers on the island.

 

Hank

 

I am nto sure I see a good solution to overtourism.  There are places and ways to avoid the masses, but they are often very pricey or difficult to access.  

[chinita415]

We are 20 days out and Santorini is still on our itinerary. We still have 3 big ships(MSC Davina, RCL Odyssey of the Sea, and Sun Princess with a few smaller ship at about 10k. We will see how it goes.

 

[marazul]

There are plans to limit cruise pax to 8000 per day starting in 2025. The photos show why. There is also talk of building a new port. 

 

https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1244697/santorini-concerned-about-overtourism-as-11000-cruise-travelers-flood-the-island/

Edited July 24 by marazul

[chinita415]

Don’t know more details but this past Tuesday July 30, there were fights in lines I think at the tender port in the afternoon. 13k pax day with 4 big ships. MSC Divina gave guests $100 or maybe €100 onboard credit due to the fiasco. We will be there soon and it’s 11k. Wish me luck and patience. My goal is to get in the cable car queue by 1p.

[chinita415]

Still on board heading to Naples. Santorini was yesterday Tue August 13. 3 big ships with 13k pax - MSC Divina which I am on, Sun Princess, and RCL Odyssey OTS. It was a literal hot mess.

 

They extended our port time from 8a to  6p to 9p. Sun Princess with similar times and Odyssey arrived at 1p. Letter night before said eat breakfast on board then head out and come back late. Also that tenders might sometimes have to pause due to crowding.

 

i had 10am photo shoot which I had little hopes of making but the vendor thought I did. Tender tickets distribution listed at 7am and when I got there at 6.45 there was a huge line. Should have gotten there at 6.30. Got tickets for 9.30a meeting in theatre. They did run early so they let people go before 9.30. First tender off at 8.30a. By the time we go to Old Port, huge line for cable cars. We waited an hour. I knew we wouldn’t make our photo shoot as soon as I got our tender tickets. Luckily they were able to reschedule us to 11.30am which was perfect. After an hour wait for cable car and then getting a taxi van , we made it to Imerovigli at exactly 11.30am.

 

We went back to Fira around 1p and had lunch there. Got in line for cable car at 2.30p and it took maybe 40 mins. Another 20-30 mins for tender back to ship. MSC had staff spraying people with water and had umbrellas for people to use while waiting for tender. 
 

We were all hot and soaked with sweat by the time we got back to ship. 
 

This is the cheapest way to visit Santorini but my husband said we paid with suffering 😅. Will likely not come back on cruise ship but maybe land based next time. 
 

We saw many water taxis going to Athinios but none came back the other way. I asked at least 4 stalls while waiting in line.

 

Glad we went as it was my mom’s bucket list and why she came on this trip. But what a hassle and I hope they really keep it under 8000 for all days next season. We talked to people from the other ships and sentiments were that this was not a good experience but glad we did it once.

 

I am glad our photographer was able to reschedule and I hope they turn out good. 😊 

[sheshe01]

Looking at the port schedule for our Santorini day it looks like it could be up to 15K. There is an P&O Azura listed with no port times?? Even without that ship we would still be 11-12K. Doing a tour from our cruise line so the getting off will not be too bad but enjoying the day and getting back to the ship probably unpleasant

[chinita415]

1 hour ago, sheshe01 said:

Looking at the port schedule for our Santorini day it looks like it could be up to 15K. There is an P&O Azura listed with no port times?? Even without that ship we would still be 11-12K. Doing a tour from our cruise line so the getting off will not be too bad but enjoying the day and getting back to the ship probably unpleasant

Try to get an excursion that skips the cable car all together. There is at least one like that per cruise line I think.

[medskis]

2 hours ago, sheshe01 said:

Looking at the port schedule for our Santorini day it looks like it could be up to 15K. There is an P&O Azura listed with no port times?? Even without that ship we would still be 11-12K. Doing a tour from our cruise line so the getting off will not be too bad but enjoying the day and getting back to the ship probably unpleasant

I am doing the same early October….booking a ship excursion.  We are on Windstar with only 340 pax but several BIG ships in.  On our Mykonos day it looks like 17k pax, multiple ships.  Sure takes away what we were hoping for with small ship.  

[sheshe01]

We chose one that does end in Fira. Even though it includes ticket for cable car we have already discussed and will not wait more than 20 minutes or so. We will either ride the donkeys or walk down. The only option that didnt end in Fira was unappealing and expensive. We are both athletic and aware it is the donkey path that we will share if we do walk.