Just back from Santorini "speed" boat....

I liked the idea of avoiding at least one queue to the cable car, so, months before the cruise I was looking into the option of "Santorini Planet" / "Aegean Traveller". It consisted of speed boat to Oia after tendering in Santorini, from the dock at Oia up by bus and, included in the price of 25 Euro, a bus from Oia to Fira. Then, independently, back to ship either by cable car, foot or donkeys.

At some point someone on this forum reported back that the vouchers sold by "Santorini Planet" / "Aegean Traveller" were void (at the dock, I went looking for their "office" - nowhere to be seen...), so I decided to "play it by the ear" and decide on the spot (ie, on the dock at Santorini). When I looked at the ships' schedule, we (Equinox) were supposed to be "alone" between 7-9AM, the MSC Fantasia at 9AM and the reflection at 2PM. I figured we'll have an "window of opportunity" when the queue to the cable car will consist of Equinox pax alone. BUT, MSC Fantasia arrived earlier and at 8.45 there was a considerable queue for the cable car.

I was approached by people advertising the "speed boat" transfer to Oia, bought the tickets, asked them what IF ALL the pax we'll want to take the noon bus to Fira, and they assured me that they KNOW how many tickets they've sold...

The "speed boat" took at least 100 pax, and then some pax had to stand in the bus... there were not enough seats for everyone, and the same story went at noon - at least 20 pax were left by the noon bus, waiting for another...

At 1PM we were at the cable car queue, which was already long and saw people "inocently" join the front line.... I should think that for the steep price of a one min ride, it should be more efficiently run and have someone watch the queue for "interlopers" :)

We left the ship at 08.45AM and what with tendering, waiting for the "speed boat" to fill, docking at Oia and boarding the "up" bus there - we were in Oia 2 hrs later, so the 11AM bus was not relevant for us.

We spent one hour in Oia, took all the pictures from all the amazing views and were in line for the noon bus 10 min before. It seems that a lot of people who arrived with us, left with us.

Happy to answer any detailed questions.

I liked the idea of avoiding at least one queue to the cable car, so, months before the cruise I was looking into the option of "Santorini Planet" / "Aegean Traveller". It consisted of speed boat to Oia after tendering in Santorini, from the dock at Oia up by bus and, included in the price of 25 Euro, a bus from Oia to Fira. Then, independently, back to ship either by cable car, foot or donkeys.

At some point someone on this forum reported back that the vouchers sold by "Santorini Planet" / "Aegean Traveller" were void (at the dock, I went looking for their "office" - nowhere to be seen...), so I decided to "play it by the ear" and decide on the spot (ie, on the dock at Santorini). When I looked at the ships' schedule, we (Equinox) were supposed to be "alone" between 7-9AM, the MSC Fantasia at 9AM and the reflection at 2PM. I figured we'll have an "window of opportunity" when the queue to the cable car will consist of Equinox pax alone. BUT, MSC Fantasia arrived earlier and at 8.45 there was a considerable queue for the cable car.

I was approached by people advertising the "speed boat" transfer to Oia, bought the tickets, asked them what IF ALL the pax we'll want to take the noon bus to Fira, and they assured me that they KNOW how many tickets they've sold...

The "speed boat" took at least 100 pax, and then some pax had to stand in the bus... there were not enough seats for everyone, and the same story went at noon - at least 20 pax were left by the noon bus, waiting for another...

At 1PM we were at the cable car queue, which was already long and saw people "inocently" join the front line.... I should think that for the steep price of a one min ride, it should be more efficiently run and have someone watch the queue for "interlopers" :)

We left the ship at 08.45AM and what with tendering, waiting for the "speed boat" to fill, docking at Oia and boarding the "up" bus there - we were in Oia 2 hrs later, so the 11AM bus was not relevant for us.

We spent one hour in Oia, took all the pictures from all the amazing views and were in line for the noon bus 10 min before. It seems that a lot of people who arrived with us, left with us.

Happy to answer any detailed questions.

were there any taxis to take you from oia to fira vs.s the bus?

I liked the idea of avoiding at least one queue to the cable car, so, months before the cruise I was looking into the option of "Santorini Planet" / "Aegean Traveller". It consisted of speed boat to Oia after tendering in Santorini, from the dock at Oia up by bus and, included in the price of 25 Euro, a bus from Oia to Fira. Then, independently, back to ship either by cable car, foot or donkeys.

At some point someone on this forum reported back that the vouchers sold by "Santorini Planet" / "Aegean Traveller" were void (at the dock, I went looking for their "office" - nowhere to be seen...), so I decided to "play it by the ear" and decide on the spot (ie, on the dock at Santorini). When I looked at the ships' schedule, we (Equinox) were supposed to be "alone" between 7-9AM, the MSC Fantasia at 9AM and the reflection at 2PM. I figured we'll have an "window of opportunity" when the queue to the cable car will consist of Equinox pax alone. BUT, MSC Fantasia arrived earlier and at 8.45 there was a considerable queue for the cable car.

I was approached by people advertising the "speed boat" transfer to Oia, bought the tickets, asked them what IF ALL the pax we'll want to take the noon bus to Fira, and they assured me that they KNOW how many tickets they've sold...

The "speed boat" took at least 100 pax, and then some pax had to stand in the bus... there were not enough seats for everyone, and the same story went at noon - at least 20 pax were left by the noon bus, waiting for another...

At 1PM we were at the cable car queue, which was already long and saw people "inocently" join the front line.... I should think that for the steep price of a one min ride, it should be more efficiently run and have someone watch the queue for "interlopers" :)

We left the ship at 08.45AM and what with tendering, waiting for the "speed boat" to fill, docking at Oia and boarding the "up" bus there - we were in Oia 2 hrs later, so the 11AM bus was not relevant for us.

We spent one hour in Oia, took all the pictures from all the amazing views and were in line for the noon bus 10 min before. It seems that a lot of people who arrived with us, left with us.

Happy to answer any detailed questions.

So one hour was enough time in Oia in your opinion? I ask because the cruise line does an excursion with 2 hours in Oia and I was hesitant because it is only 2 hours.

Host Star,

Didn't see even ONE taxi.... Oia & Fira are, so far as I've seen, stone paved narrow alleys, and only one road between them.

Charles,

It was more than enough for us and turns out - many others.

In those 70 min we bought, in different stages, sesame-coated peanuts, cherries from a small kid, cold water, patted a friendly kitty, took many pictures for ourselves and for other tourists, and I even went back and forth looking for the famous blue domed building, while DH took respite from the merciless sun in the shadow (we even took an umbrella with us, brilliant idea, thinking we'll use it at Ephesus...). Turns out the famous blue domed building is on your right when facing the sea.

I didn't buy anything in the stores. So if u plan to do some shopping, factor in additional time.

By the time we left at noon, it began to feel very crowded, with many buses coming from Fira. Glad we've done it relatively early.

Interesting information. Can you please advise if the return bus ticket that you get for returning from Oia is for a "special" bus or simply the local bus? I guess that you paid a total of €25.

The 25 Euro includes - transfer by (speed)boat from the dock to Oia, then bus up to Oia and then their bus (not local bus) to Fira. The buses were called NS Travel (or something...:confused:)

The cable car down to the dock is on you (5 Euro pp).

Thanks for the report!

Hi

Did you pay on the day or did you have a Santorini Planet voucher please?

I have a voucher for 3 for 25th August but keep reading conflicting information regarding this

Thanks

Hi

Did you pay on the day or did you have a Santorini Planet voucher please?

I have a voucher for 3 for 25th August but keep reading conflicting information regarding this

Thanks

At the beginning I tried to book through Santorini's site, but both my Israeli credit cards didn't went through. When I contacted by email the site, their reply was "the site is off"... Then, other people got the reply that Santorini Planet's new name is "Aegean Traveller"... I wrote to them, they were supposed to send me a "booking form", which, luckily for me, never materialized... Something smelt me fishy about the whole "enterprise", so I decided to just show up on the dock and see what happens. I paid on arrival the 25 Euros.

I DIDN'T SEE ANY SIGN OF THOSE TWO COMPANIES ON THE DOCK !!!

P.S. BUT, someone on this forum posted about 6 weeks ago that his voucher was accepted, and someone posted that NOT.

How rough riding was the "speed" boat? My brother has a bad back and has to be careful about getting jostled around.

And, how long a ride was it?

Thanks for the info.

Its high time all the tourist operators, hotels and retailers in Santorini paid to upgrade the existing cable car which is low capacity and over 30 years old to a new high capacity continuous ropeway cable car with cabins/chairs evenly spaced over the whole ropeway up and down . The existing fixed cabins up and down counterbalanced like an elevator are very low capacity. This existing low capacity system is totally incapable of handling the demands placed by up to 8 cruise boats a day . The traders of Santorini have benefitted for over 30 years and should now bear the cost of upgrading to a higher capacity .

How rough riding was the "speed" boat? My brother has a bad back and has to be careful about getting jostled around.

 

And, how long a ride was it?

 

Thanks for the info.

Hope you've noticed the quote marks ;) This is not a "speed" boat, just a boat holding 100-150 pax. Very smooth ride, I think 30 min, it just waited a lot to dock at Oia, I'd say 15 min ride and 15 min waiting time...

Its high time all the tourist operators, hotels and retailers in Santorini paid to upgrade the existing cable car which is low capacity and over 30 years old to a new high capacity continuous ropeway cable car with cabins/chairs evenly spaced over the whole ropeway up and down . The existing fixed cabins up and down counterbalanced like an elevator are very low capacity. This existing low capacity system is totally incapable of handling the demands placed by up to 8 cruise boats a day . The traders of Santorini have benefitted for over 30 years and should now bear the cost of upgrading to a higher capacity .

All cruise and ferry passengers appear to get to Fira one way or another so why should they change something that obviously works OK?

At the beginning I tried to book through Santorini's site, but both my Israeli credit cards didn't went through. When I contacted by email the site, their reply was "the site is off"... Then, other people got the reply that Santorini Planet's new name is "Aegean Traveller"... I wrote to them, they were supposed to send me a "booking form", which, luckily for me, never materialized... Something smelt me fishy about the whole "enterprise", so I decided to just show up on the dock and see what happens. I paid on arrival the 25 Euros.

I DIDN'T SEE ANY SIGN OF THOSE TWO COMPANIES ON THE DOCK !!!

P.S. BUT, someone on this forum posted about 6 weeks ago that his voucher was accepted, and someone posted that NOT.

Do you know if credit cards are accepted for payment or do you need cash?

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Do you know if credit cards are accepted for payment or do you need cash?

I paid cash. People around me were deliberating whether to take the tour or not, but I arrived knowingly and paid straight on, so didn't see anybody else paying. They write u a receipt by hand, very primitive...

From our experience traveling in Europe, we get a lot of discounts (i.e., in Venice and Istanbul we got 10% of the room's price for paying cash), also in shops, so we split it between DH and me, take daily an average amount and leave the rest in the safe.

In Israel we pay very high commissions on credit cards, and we always use the leftover Euros for another trip :D

I just love the way that on every thread about the boat the word speed is in "inverted comma's" or (brackets) or italics or singled-out in some other way.

With considerable justification :D

But, hey, the alternative is a long line or a very long swim. ;)

JB :)

It's true it isn't a "speed" boat as such rather a large boat with big engines so it does travel the distance relatively quickly! But the main thing is it gets you on the island and away from the cable car crowds!

I do agree about the cable car in Santorini but I don't think you could add to the current one - you would need to build another system - but I would imagine that whoever operates the Oia speedboat might object to that!

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We used this service on August 27th having purchased vouchers on line in early May. We were travelling on Celebrity Reflection which docked at 2pm so were booked on the 3 pm boat. We went into the first office we saw after leaving the tender and immediately came across Gianluca who had sold us the tickets via Santorini Planet. He took our vouchers and said they were not valid because he had not received the money. I gave him my recept from PayPal and also pointed out that I had emailed him twice regarding the service after reading concerning reports on this website. He continued to insist the voucher was not valid but my husband and I gently stood our ground. He then walked away from us and passed the voucher to the cashier without further communication with us. This was very uncomfortable as he was rude and charmless.

We got on the 3pm boat but had failed to appreciate that the boat went to Athinos and not Oia. We were bused from Athinos to Oia which took about 45 minutes on a bus with no air con. We arrived in Oia at 4.20 pm and the buses back were 5pm, 6pm and 7pm.

The whole thing was pretty chaotic and most people like us did not appreciate that they were going via Athinos.