Boat To and Bus From Oia

Anybody know if the ability to book a boat to Oia and a bus back to Thira will be in operation this year? I had seen some discussion on the operators possibly not being allowed to operate the buses back to Thira.

Sounded like a good way to miss the cable cars in the morning.

I was told it will be in effect but that it is not possible to book in advance. Sounds good to me also.

Hi- is this the one with the Boatmens Union? My brief email with them said

to get tickets from their office at the pier and when the boat is full they go :) It would be great if those CC members on the first cruises of the year would report back on the details of this and how well it's working :)

We visit in Sept and the idea of the boat transfer sounds good to me!

Yes, i had emailed them. I had the impression that they also do the tendering. So not sure if there is an advantage to being in the earliest tenders though guess it can't hurt!

Holly2- Will you consider posting when you return? Would really help out those future CC members visiting later on in the year:) Thanks

I bet their boat would fill up pretty quick!

Sounds interesting. Can anyone with more than 1 post to their name on Cruise Critic speak to the service just mentioned in the prior two posts?

Hi guys I m Miril, I was two weeks ago on MSC Fantasia, it was an amazing cruise, about your questions I found all the infos and as well the tickets to go to Oia by boat, return to Fira by Bus and included also the ticket of the cable car, on this website www.santoriniplanet.com

I got my voucher online and when I got off I asked about this office, This guy who manges it Loukas, it is cooperating with NST and Union Boatmen, I had a fantastic tour, they also gave us some discounts in some shops in Oia.

You can contact him and you for more details but great idea to book online.

Enjoy your vacations, I will do one more on July one more time Greece with Costa Magica.

Hi- I redeived an E Mail this Am from Loukas re this service, as he had seen my previous posts on here and with the Boatmens Union. Would also like to hear from more CC members that have used the service- we are early in the season so should prove a very popular alternative to Donkeys etc.- Let's hear from all of you CC members :)

Hello, two questions. 1. do you have to buy the tickets ahead of time or can you buy it once you get off of the tender? 2. do you have to decide ahead of time how long you want to stay in Oia or can you just decide how long when you are there?

After reviewing/researching a great deal of posts on Santorini, I have come away with the feeling that if you are able to catch one of the first tenders off your ship (we will be arriving at 7:00 am) after the ship's excursions are tendered to their "special" port, that the lines should not be that bad for the cable cars. My main concern was the line for the cable cars returning to Old Port to catch the tender! With not wanting to end a great visit with an hour plus wait for a cable car in the hot sun (have done this way to many times in Disney!), I have opted to take the cable cars up to Fira, arranged a private 4 hour tour for our group of 12 ending in Oia for about an hour free time before being dropped off at Ammoudi port to catch a 2 hour charted boat tour which will end at Old Port, alleviating the need to wait in line at the cable cars at the end of the day. Hopefully all works out as planned! :)

Dolfans from Miami

I'm confused. Checked my email from NST and was told you can't book in advance.

What is the charge for booking online?

Apparently Santoriniplanet that is mentioned here is a new operator which accepts online booking.

NST is an existing operator which doesn't accept online booking. Also, there have been some discussions on this board about NST dropping the bus transfer from Oia to Fira this season. Hopefully, some early cruisers who use their service can clarify this.

Thx. The email from NST said there was a bus.

Do we know what the new operator is charging?

Thx. The email from NST said there was a bus.

Do we know what the new operator is charging?

When you go to the website, the booking form is there- charge is 20 Euro all in, boat, buses and cable car ticket back down to port in Fira. It is similar to what has been offered before, but e mail sent to me just popped up last week --only posts about it are from 1time new members so far :confused:

Well I just tried to book transfers on the santoriniplanet website without success. Has anyone done this and was there a step I was missing? Once I filled in my info I could not get to the part where you pay. It directed me to some gobbeldygook from PayPal. I have an account there but could not get passed the junk.

I gave SantoriniPlanet another try today and booked our transfers with no problem this time. I will report back in after we visit Santorini on May 12th.

I gave SantoriniPlanet another try today and booked our transfers with no problem this time. I will report back in after we visit Santorini on May 12th.

We are a month behind you so your feedback will be appreciated.

When we toured Greece in August 2007 with a major escorted tour company we took the optional cruise after the tour of the Greek Islands.

Our tour director had been doing this escorted optional cruise tour of the Greek Islands for years. While our chartered bus was driving to Oia we passed a local bus. She stated that if we came back on our own to consider just taking the local bus to and from Oia as it would be the least expensive and at that time the bus schedule would easily accommodate your cruise ships arrival and departure schedule.

Something to think about. But first verify if it still available, cost and if the bus schedule will be to your comfort level. Also if interested make sure you have the exact amount of Euro coins available for your round trip.

Also the day we were in Oia in August the temperature was 106 degrees. A little on the warm side you may say.

Great you booked! Can't wait to hear about it. Can you please see if non- prescheduled people are also using the boats which is what we planned to do.

Have a great trip!

Another question: we arrive at noon, didn't see any transfers listed until 2.

NST said they run whenever you show up.

Think it might well be the same boats once they finish tendering which are used by both companies.

I gave SantoriniPlanet another try today and booked our transfers with no problem this time. I will report back in after we visit Santorini on May 12th.

Just had a look at port schedule for Santorini today, very busy- wonder how Santorinin Planet is doing with bookings? I look forward to hearing about your experience with them mollymac :) If all is well I will be booking for our Sept trip!

If you book through Santorini Planet, do you have to specify a specific time for the boat & bus? Also does this mean that you can only use your online ticket on their boats? I would be quite wary if this service is offered by several boat owners that you would be tied in to just these people. We will be on Santorini on 8 June. It would be good to hear back from someone who has actually used this service before then. :)

Hi Zennor, no look I booked for 8.45 but I got out with the tender at 9.30...no problem they are really fantastic, when you get to the port with your voucher from santoriniplanet, you will get your tickets for the boats from the office of the Union Boatmen and NST travel, so they are cooperating, you do not need to specific any time to return back from Oia, we were in Oia and we decided there. and of cours the voucher that you do online is available only for the union boatmen boats...that they have a lot because they have the tenders to let the people get off from the cruise ships, so if you do not want to wait for the crazy line of the cable car and as well at the office like it happened when we were there, really good thing the voucher online, you go to the office and directly you get your ticket 1 minute no more and you can sit on board...

We booked online with Santorini Planet one week before our cruise and had very good service from Loukas.

He confirmed my reservation by email but noted that he thought I had booked for the wrong date. When I got on board the ship I confirmed that a change had been made in our itinerary. When I emailed Loukas at Santorini Planet to make the correction he assured me that he had already taken care of it!

When we arrived at the dock Loukas was there with signs advertising his service. He had our prepaid voucher that we brought with us exchanged at a desk there and we boarded a boat which took us and a few other people to the dock below Oia where a small, new bus was waiting to take us to the area in Oia where the tour buses wait for the cruise ship tours. From there we were on our own.

When we were ready to return to Fira we walked back to the drop-off spot where another small, new bus was running every hour on the hour. The driver would drop us off either near the end of the street to go to the cable car or down the hill near all the scenic restaurants.

The tickets were 20euros for the boat and bus transfer, either prepaid reservations or purchased on the dock. I would think as the season heats up having a reservation would be the way to go but was not necessary the day we were there. The cable car ticket was not included.

We booked online with Santorini Planet one week before our cruise and had very good service from Loukas.

 

He confirmed my reservation by email but noted that he thought I had booked for the wrong date. When I got on board the ship I confirmed that a change had been made in our itinerary. When I emailed Loukas at Santorini Planet to make the correction he assured me that he had already taken care of it!

 

When we arrived at the dock Loukas was there with signs advertising his service. He had our prepaid voucher that we brought with us exchanged at a desk there and we boarded a boat which took us and a few other people to the dock below Oia where a small, new bus was waiting to take us to the area in Oia where the tour buses wait for the cruise ship tours. From there we were on our own.

 

When we were ready to return to Fira we walked back to the drop-off spot where another small, new bus was running every hour on the hour. The driver would drop us off either near the end of the street to go to the cable car or down the hill near all the scenic restaurants.

 

The tickets were 20euros for the boat and bus transfer, either prepaid reservations or purchased on the dock. I would think as the season heats up having a reservation would be the way to go but was not necessary the day we were there. The cable car ticket was not included.

Hi mollymac- really happy to hear that the Santorini Planet booking went well :) I will likely book with them in Sept. Looks like its just us and one smaller ship in port that day- hopefully not soo crowded. Many thanks for posting.