Santorini: How much time to allow to get back to the ship from Oia after sunset?

Would love some expert advice here. We are visiting Santorini in mid September. We are planning on having dinner in Oia and watching the sunset (sunset is around 7:20 pm). Our ship leaves Fira at 10:00 pm (ideally we'd like to back on board by 9:30 pm).

We are planning on taking a taxi from Oia back to Fira around 8:00 pm (allowing a little bit of time for the crowds to thin out).

Two questions: will we be able to get a taxi at that time without too much trouble?

Is allowing 1.5 hours to get a taxi, drive to Fira, line up for the tram, tender back to the ship reasonable/enough time?

I am a bit of a worrier when it comes to plans with hard deadlines (like a ship sailing without me). I'd like to relax and enjoy dinner and the sunset without worrying that we won't be able to find a taxi or get back in time.

Appreciate any advice!

Since it's a tender port, for a ship departing 10pm the likely "last tender" time will be 9pm. That's 9pm on the tender pier, not on the ship.

We've not had a port-of-call at Santorini in the evening, so I'll defer to replies from those who have.

Difficult to predict the line for the cablecar, though theoretically it'll be very short at that time and composed of only your fellow cruisers. Perhaps best to allow 30 minutes from the top cablecar station to the tender pier in case you have to walk down the zig-zag path instead of taking the cablecar.

You'll get a decent sunset photo from close to the top cablecar station / zigzag path - but if you want the iconic blue church domes in the foreground that's a five to ten minute drive so best to have a taxi take you to that point & wait for you. That means allowing 40 minutes from there, which shouldn't be problematic with a 9pm last-tender.

JB :)

you say you want to watch sunset in Oia not Fira so that means you need much more time

I would contact a local tour company-we used Santorinitaxitours and ask them what they would recommend and if it is too tight a timeline

Appreciate the input -- at this point I think we are the last ship out, but I don't know for sure. Will reconsider. :)

I would recommend booking that taxi for the trip back from Oia to Fira after dinner.

you (and about a few hundred other fellow passengers) will all be looking to get back to the cable car station at Fira.

we opted to see the sunset from the cruise ship and not have this worry about getting back to the ship in time. similarly, ship left at 10.00 pm and was the only one in port that day.

we enjoyed our time in Oia and made our way back to the ship via bus (from Oia to Fira) and then via cable car and tender back to the ship. all up, it took at least 1.5 hours to do this return trip (with minimal waiting times for the bus, cable car and tender boat).

the sunset was viewed from the deck of the ship. it was over in a very, very short time.

Thanks everyone. This really helped -- we've decided the sunset is viewable from many places on the island, and it is not worth the "worry stress" associated with being away from the ship port. We will arrange for a lovely cliff-side dinner in Fira instead. :p

having dinner at Fira......reduced stress levels = a wise decision