milolii

The cable car was closed for safety inspections after the earthquakes of February/March 2025.

Yes, it opened May 14. We were there in a June. Off the ship at 0730, no line at the cable car. About 2 pm there was a 30 minute wait to come back down.

If Santorini is important to you, I’d be very careful of cruising with Princess. In April, there were posts (here and elsewhere) that the port was dropped on many, (but not all) of the itinéraires for the 2025 season. Both on Sun and the Majestic. Also read posts that the port was also dropped in 2024 from many of the Sun’s itineraries.

There is a discussion on the port of call boards. The tax for Santorini at least is delayed until July 21. Hopefully posters will report back. I’d also look at a roll call for this area, although I’m not sure there are many for Princess as many of the itineraries dropped Santorini in April. We just retuned in June- NCL Viva, large ship(4200 or so). The Epic (can hold over 5000) was also there but she arrived at 1300. Four other smaller ships also there. We didn’t find it crowed, but we were off at 0730 and up the cable car by 0800. And over to Oia on a private tour. There was about a 30 minutes line to get back down and some more wait times for the tender. We were in the Haven so no wait for the tenders either way. Mykonos, OTOH was very crowded, but we managed to get a lunch spot over the water. The tax was also delayed from May due to the earthquakes on and off Santorini this winter.

Several roll calls have reported receiving cancellation emails this week. One person reports the company is no longer available to book on Viator. Perhaps it’s Viator or perhaps the company is dropping that division of their business.

Did You find anything for Sydney? I booked with Cabot Discovery Tours. But looking for something private

If you want to walk on the seabed, you need to look at the tide tables for your date. Here is a chart showing them. Seabed will be muddy. Otherwise you can admire the rocks from above with high tide. Also an interesting site. https://www.nbparks.ca/en/parks/33/hopewell-rocks-provincial-park/26/tide-tables I’ve been to other places along the Bay of Fundy coastal Drive, but not as far as Hopewell Rocks. It is a nice drive. We’re doing this in October with a few others from the roll call. The journey to Hopewell Rocks is 2 hours each way, so not sure about how much stopping. It sounds like a restroom or picture break. Those can be nice though. OTOH, a visit to the Bay of Funday coastal dive offers some very interesting spots. Trip wouldn’t be as long(on the bus).

We were on the Viva last month below the Haven restaurant/ next to the outdoor pool area- Deck 15 in a 2 bedroom. (Late booking, all that was left). The noise after the restaurant closed was disruptive and went on until about 1 am. We finally figured dragging of the large beds at the pool area was the likely the biggest culprit. At times it seemed as if they were dropping furniture. Very loud at times, woke us up. There were other noises as well, though. The Consierge, Leo was a big help in trying to get the noise reduced. So it improved, but didn’t go away. Very nice experience though. I always make it a point to book with cabins above and below and wouldn’t book below a venue again.

Ramses is correct at least as of last month. We were on the NCL Viva last month. The day before docking in Alexandria, we all went down to have our passports stamped. People were called by decks. Letter to your cabin two days before. Five officials, moved quickly. Stamped your passport, off you go. US citizen. We were on a private excursion with Ramses. Met guide and driver outside the gate. There was a register at the gate, add your name, cabin number, sign it. Had to sign back in as well so make note of the page number. Not sure about ship excursions. Israeli citizens need visas.

I haven’t been there, but have been to other parts of the Bay of Fundy. Many fabulous places. We’ve booked a tour with some others on our roll call for our September cruise. Our tour is about 8 hours, but we are in port for 11 hours. If your date is a holiday Monday, I’d be a bit concerned about traffic returning. Check out(if you haven’t already) the tide chart for your day if you want to visit the sea floor. Also my understanding is the trip down and back up is an hour each way. It appears the path to get to get to the stairs, ramp or trail is a mile and a half from the car park. Helpful article and the tide chart below. https://we3travel.com/tips-for-visiting-hopewell-rocks-in-new-brunswick-canada/ https://www.nbparks.ca/en/parks/33/hopewell-rocks-provincial-park/26/tide-tables

It sounds like a great tour, then. I’ve been to the lighthouse, it’s nice.

Be sure to allow for immigration processing if this is your first returning US port and you are a US citizen. I’d go later if this applies to you.

That is fantastic that you had a great time. Overall, how did the immigration process go? Did you hear of any wait issues for those who didn’t book excursions? We’re you on a small or large size ship? TIA

The reporting (not CC post or threads) were from local new articles. One reporter stated they were at a ministry meeting where it was discussed. I can’t remember if it was Greek Reporter, FTN or another organization. I didn’t think much about it at the time, as I was more concerned about if we were going to be able to stop there. So I didn’t mention it either.

@edinburgherThere was some reporting about postponing the tax after the earthquakes on and off shore of Santorini in March. This might explain some of the confusion. But it appears the law will move foreword now. Since @DebbieActon will be there in a few days, we will find out. We just returned, so missed that July 1 start date.

@son3cruisers The cable cars are back in operation. The cars are at the old port. Unless something happens, most of the ships’ excusions tender to Athinios where buses can transport you to Oia. IDK, but I think the phase “save time, avoid the tenders” means you won’t stand in a line to board a tender as your excursion participants will go directly to the tender when your group is called. Maybe call and ask them what this phase means. 0745 should get you to Oia early. Those who aren’t on excusions will tender to the old port and will need to take the cable car, walk or donkey up to Fira. We saw a tender arriving at the bow of the NCL Viva at as we arrived at the aft. So I think that tender came from Athinios(ship excusions). We came from the base of the cable car, old port, Fira.

I’d try again. I know the office was closed for a few days after the founder/owner passed away. I communicated with Haitham, do you have his what’s up app number? 00201003304715 . Though I think you may need to enter the + instead of the double 00 before the 20 country code.

This is a good topic. We pre booked with George’s taxi. 80€s. Driver was waiting for us when we exited terminal. We left at 0800(Friday morning) and got to the airport at 0925. We also saw many taxis out front. So similar to your experience. We flew to the US. I tracked my time- cruise terminal to flight gate. It was 2hr 27 minutes. We had priority checkin with United. The Passport control line was just as long as the economy airline checkin line. We were about 1/3 of the way through, when an agent took us to a new line. Security was easy as the bottleneck was at Passport Control. After that quick walk to the gate. Seriously, plan on three hours. Our flight was @ 1235. June 6, 2025.

@LWFMWe did enjoy her. We weren’t worried about safety. We did a private tour with Ramses. I didn’t see any armed guards, expect the port authorities. I understand they were on the NCL sponsored buses, though. Both those who took private and/or NCL tours were happy with their choices. It is close to 3 hours each way. Literally everyone we met was very nice. Maybe there were some armed guards at visitors center at the Pryamids. There was screening. My husband had some binoculars and they didn’t seem to like that, but our guide got it all straight out. We were willing to check them to some lockers, but they let them go through. Everyone boards buses that take you around to the sites. Some vendors are persistant and only take cash for the most part, Egyptian pounds, €s or USDs. I think it’s good to have some cash with you. The freeway is nice, but is shared by cars, buses, motocycles (that have a cart attached to them) and pedestrians. The motocycles/cart combos appear to be self made and don’t travel very fast. The pedestrians stand on the edge of the freeway and also against the dividers. They also run across the freeway. It’s crazy. Speed limit is 60 kilometers so it slow. The current US State Department warnings(level 3, reconsider travel) have to do with areas near the eastern borders and some incidents involving US students in Cario. We did not stay overnight but retuned to the ship.

@LWFM We just returned from our cruise on the Viva. We used Ramses and were met right outside the gate as @cunnorl describes. It is a bit of a walk so just account for that. You have to sign a registry when you leave and return. The facilities look fairly new. Day two we had the same driver(I asked for him), and he was there waving to us. All the people we met were very nice.

@astera i’d look at Ephesus shuttle for Ephesus and Istanbul. Crete we ended up booking with NCL as our small boat cruise wasn’t available after NCL changed our dates 5 days before the embarkation. Check out the port of call boards and post your question there. You will get lots of information. I can also post more information about the experiences reported by passengers on the NCL Viva sponsored excursions as well. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/472-mediterranean-eastern-western/

Yes, a NCL tour would help, but I don’t know what time they depart. You’d also need to find a way to get to the cable car. It does depend on the number of ships in port and what time the Viva arrives. Happy to give some tips, if I can. What are your ports? Our included Egypt whcih isn't repeated again til October.

We visited Santorini today on the NCL Viva. We had a private excursion. We were off on the first tender as we are Haven guests, but there were also others who got on the first tender. We took a private tour and saw quite a bit of the island. No lines at the cable car going up. This was about 745 or so. I didn’t see any taxis or for that matter, any cars. We saw people coming down on the cable cars to go to work and also saw others bringing supplies down(food, drinks). Our guide did confirm that nobody can’t pick up at the bottom. The cable cars, donkeys or walking are your options. We met our guide at the top. The NCL excusions use the ferry port(Athinios) where buses can wait. At the end of most of the tours, guests were given cable car tickets, but there is still just one line. We came down shortly before 2; cable car line was about 30 minutes. Lines got very long after 2 pm as reported by others. Six cars holding 6 passengers each depart and arrive together. The trip takes a few minutes. We did see people selling boat tickets but not sure where the boats were going. Maybe to Athinios? We ask the guide to take us to Oia first and there weren’t many people there at that time- 0900. We also visited Akortiri, Black Sand Beach and even stopped for a quick lunch. The Epic arrived at 1pm. At that point, the number of passengers jumped. There were also 4 smaller vessels anchored as well. I think we calculates about 9,000 passengers in port. We did see a second tender unloading to the Viva aft that I don’t think was at Fira. Not sure if it came from Athinios. The Cable car is €10.00 each way, you can’t buy a RT. Akortiri is €20.00. We felt very fortunate as the cable car just reopened May14th. Without it, I don’t think large ships could visit.

No contest here, #3. it’s Bergen, Geiranger and Flam. We cruised the fjords in 2024 with Princess. We didn’t have Flam on our itinerary, so we did the Norway in a Nutshell pre cruise that included the Flam railway and the fjord cruise, Flam to Voss. Both Geiranger and Flam are stunning.

We toured with Ramses this last week. We went to Giza - Pyramids, Sakkara and Memphis. The drive is three hours each way. Others on the ship toured with NCL. Everything was fine. We did not stay overnight in a Cairo as some did. We retuned to the ship on day one. We toured Alexandria on day two.