Boat To and Bus From Oia

We had planned to use the boatsman. They weren't offering a return the day we were there ( might have been because of the tides because tendering was rough).

Anyway, turned out cable car had shorter wait so we did that, but arriving by boat sounded like fun.

We would use the boat trip but as I mentioned previously my worry is how quickly we will be able to get off the ship given the late arrival. Last time we visited Santorini we used a ships tour and were off very early ( compared to other) but the tours on offer are not really what we want to do.

The boat docks at 2 and boat to Oia leaves at 3 pm according to the old website. I'm going to email Gianluca again today and see what comes back. These islands are heavily dependent on tourism so there may have been changes to the timetable hopefully.

We had planned to use the boatsman. They weren't offering a return the day we were there ( might have been because of the tides because tendering was rough).

Anyway, turned out cable car had shorter wait so we did that, but arriving by boat sounded like fun.

When you got into Fira by the cable car, how did you then get to Oia? By local bus?

There was a parking lot with a bunch of taxis about 1/2 block away. Very pretty ride to Oia.

I've read conflicting answers about how soon one can disembark once you arrive at Santorini.

If we skip breakfast and are at the front of the line to disembark and take the tender, will we be allowed to, even if we have not booked one of the ship's excursions?

We had tickets for the first tender but were asked to wait for the excursions to disembark first. It went very quickly.

looks like still issues with their website, I have tickets for June, I sent an email as I have the tickets but quesioned since no longer on their website, where do I get the boat

How do you obtain tickets for the tender?

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Different ships have different policies. I was on RCI and my son got them from the host in the diamond Lounge. You could try guest relations. Sometimes they give them out in advance and you can always get them the am before disembarkation. Instructions should be in daily.

I've given up on this now. I sent a few questions by email and received a reply that didn't answer any of them but invited me to buy 3 tickets. I think it's possibly a language problem and maybe the person responding doesn't have fluent english which combined with my lack of Greek is a problem!

The website still doesn't seem to do bookings.

I spent a lot of time trying to plan this and it turned out to be really easy. The tenders bring you in to a pier where NST has offices as well as other private boat tours. Can't miss them.

Can also check out line for cable car. Great port!

How do you obtain tickets for the tender?

 

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Hey Irishayes, I will be on the Equinox leaving June 1, too. What are your Santorini plans? I've been looking at options and saw your handle.

We have purchased tickets for the water taxi to Oia and then we will take the bus to Fira. No set plans. Except I'd love to have a drink and a dip in the bar/pool in Oia. Can't think of the name right now. We just want to relax and take in the beauty of Santorini.

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If Santorini plantet dot com is not working yet, you can find out about the boat to Oia by emailing to santoriniplanet at gmail dot com

Hi

Using the info in this thread I booked Santorini Planet a month ago and used it last week. The service worked very well. I was a bit concerned since we were scheduled to arrive at 9 and I booked the 9:45 transfer and thought we would be late. In fact our ship schedule changed, we arrived at 8, we got on the first tender and I was there an hour early.

By letting you book certain times, they give the appearance that it runs on a rigid schedule. This is absolutely not the case. They basically run the boat when it is full which when cruise ships are in port doesn't take too long to happen. The bus was waiting when we arrived to take us up to OIA. The buses to Fira ran at 11 12, 1 and 2 pm. We took the 1 pm and they needed three buses which they provided.

When I landed off the ships tender I didn't see anywhere that said Santorini but I went to the first office I saw that said Boat to Oia and it was the right one. Its a small harbour and was easy to find. They had maps for us to use, the English communication was good in the office and when we got off the bus in OIA they were very clear in communicating options to return to Fira.

We chose to spend more time in Oia than Fira which was a good call.

Overall it was a good experience. The Cable Car line up to get down was really long but we got to the front in about 40 minutes still. We planned to walk as a backup which is feasible but those who did didn't enjoy it especially if they didn't have good walking shoes on.

Just looked at the pictures we took in Oia - what a beautiful place

Greatwhitenorth99--

Thanks so much for circling back about Santorinplanet and your experience. We have them booked for June 15 so I'm glad to know that it all worked well.

Two questions if you don't mind:

Did you have to tell them when you got Oia which bus you would be returning on?

How many ships were in port? Trying to gauge whether we too will have a long line to go back down on the cable car with only one ship (Celebrity Silhouette) in port.

Hi

No you didn't have to tell them which bus you were returning on. There were two ships in Port. MSC Fantasia with 3500 people on board and Holland America with 2000. With one ship in port you shouldn't have as much of a wait as we did

Hi

 

Using the info in this thread I booked Santorini Planet a month ago and used it last week. The service worked very well. I was a bit concerned since we were scheduled to arrive at 9 and I booked the 9:45 transfer and thought we would be late. In fact our ship schedule changed, we arrived at 8, we got on the first tender and I was there an hour early.

 

By letting you book certain times, they give the appearance that it runs on a rigid schedule. This is absolutely not the case. They basically run the boat when it is full which when cruise ships are in port doesn't take too long to happen. The bus was waiting when we arrived to take us up to OIA. The buses to Fira ran at 11 12, 1 and 2 pm. We took the 1 pm and they needed three buses which they provided.

 

When I landed off the ships tender I didn't see anywhere that said Santorini but I went to the first office I saw that said Boat to Oia and it was the right one. Its a small harbour and was easy to find. They had maps for us to use, the English communication was good in the office and when we got off the bus in OIA they were very clear in communicating options to return to Fira.

 

We chose to spend more time in Oia than Fira which was a good call.

 

Overall it was a good experience. The Cable Car line up to get down was really long but we got to the front in about 40 minutes still. We planned to walk as a backup which is feasible but those who did didn't enjoy it especially if they didn't have good walking shoes on.

 

Just looked at the pictures we took in Oia - what a beautiful place

Were you on the Fantasia? How did you manage to get on the first tender? Did the ship stop first to let off the people on shore excursions before moving to the location where you got on the tender? If so, how long did that take?

Hi

yes we were on the Fantasia. Anyone who booked MSC excursions assembled in the appropriate lounge for their tour and didn't have to worry about the tenders. We tried to find out the scoop the night before and after failing with the first person, we got some advice from a more experienced person at Reception.

She told us that in the program coming out later that night it would say that that Tenders would start at 8:15 and that tender tickets would be given out starting at 7:45 (which the program did say when it arrived around 10 pm). The lady at reception said people usually started lining up in the designated lounge about 30 minutes before and that only one person from a party needed to be there . My daughter went down at 7:20 and they started giving out tickets at 7:40 and we got one for the first tender.

In general all information was provided in the program but it was only available later in the evening each evening which made it harder to plan if you weren't taking their excursions but it worked out fine.

On another note, at each destination the night before we would get a slip of paper telling us about a transportation only excursion that was available the next day. These were never advertised in advance as I think they wanted people to book the more expensive ones. In Corfu a taxi was cheaper if you were more than two people, but in Dubrovnik it was a good deal. So, read Toms Port Guides to find out how much alternatives (e.g taxis) cost and then decide if these are worth it if you are doing your own thing.

Hi

 

yes we were on the Fantasia. Anyone who booked MSC excursions assembled in the appropriate lounge for their tour and didn't have to worry about the tenders. We tried to find out the scoop the night before and after failing with the first person, we got some advice from a more experienced person at Reception.

 

She told us that in the program coming out later that night it would say that that Tenders would start at 8:15 and that tender tickets would be given out starting at 7:45 (which the program did say when it arrived around 10 pm). The lady at reception said people usually started lining up in the designated lounge about 30 minutes before and that only one person from a party needed to be there . My daughter went down at 7:20 and they started giving out tickets at 7:40 and we got one for the first tender.

 

In general all information was provided in the program but it was only available later in the evening each evening which made it harder to plan if you weren't taking their excursions but it worked out fine.

 

On another note, at each destination the night before we would get a slip of paper telling us about a transportation only excursion that was available the next day. These were never advertised in advance as I think they wanted people to book the more expensive ones. In Corfu a taxi was cheaper if you were more than two people, but in Dubrovnik it was a good deal. So, read Toms Port Guides to find out how much alternatives (e.g taxis) cost and then decide if these are worth it if you are doing your own thing.

Thank you! Do you happen to recall what time the shore excursions left? I currently have a ship tour booked for this port but I think the way you went to Oia sounds good. I had read stories of people getting a high tender ticket number and then they didn't have time to even get out of Fira. From what I read the ships tour was a good idea to maximize the time on shore.

What did you do in Bari? What were the dining times at dinner?

Hi

 

No you didn't have to tell them which bus you were returning on. There were two ships in Port. MSC Fantasia with 3500 people on board and Holland America with 2000. With one ship in port you shouldn't have as much of a wait as we did

I have a question about the Santorini Planet transfer. Did you feel it was necessary to pre-book or were people able to walk up and buy a ticket on the day of arrival?

I have a question about the Santorini Planet transfer. Did you feel it was necessary to pre-book or were people able to walk up and buy a ticket on the day of arrival?

I have the same question.I cannot find anything on Santorini Planet site for transfers that others have done, so was wondering if we could just walk off the tender and get tickets at the boat union office ?

I have the same question.I cannot find anything on Santorini Planet site for transfers that others have done, so was wondering if we could just walk off the tender and get tickets at the boat union office ?

Why not simply E-mail them?

santoriniplanet@gmail.com

I have the same question.I cannot find anything on Santorini Planet site for transfers that others have done, so was wondering if we could just walk off the tender and get tickets at the boat union office ?

We did that twice last year, first time in August & second in October. You just buy the ticket when you get off the tender and wait until the boat is full enough for them to leave.

I have the same question.I cannot find anything on Santorini Planet site for transfers that others have done, so was wondering if we could just walk off the tender and get tickets at the boat union office ?

I booked the transfers and was told by email from SP they would limit the numbers for each transfer. In others words, once that quota is reached with online bookings, no transfers would be available. I considered it would be risky not to pre book online.

I notice the transfers are once again not available on the SP website. I think it would be a good idea to email them and find out if they will be offering online transfers again.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Amanda