Santorini: Excursion vs DIY

We will be in Santorini in August from 1pm-10pm. I had read that it is better to do shore excursions from the ship as you get off quicker. The excursion we picked is the Scenic Kaiki Ride and Volcano Hike where you take a boat ride over to Nea Kameni and hike to the crater. My DH and I enjoy hiking and have never seen a volcano so thought it would be a great experience. When I booked it I thought it was going to be from 2pm-4:30pm after reading the excursion brochure; but on my cruise planner it states it is 3pm-5:30pm. I had thought we would have enough time to still go to Oia if it got done at 4:30, but now I don't think we would (last tender at 9pm). I am also concerned that since it doesn't start til 3pm, we will be wasting time waiting on the ship to tender over to the New Port. I have seen on someone's trip report and in Rick Steves guide that there are excursions from Old Port to the volcano, as well as the boats to Oia.

So my main question is: should we dump the ship's shore excursion and just do the volcano hike on our own from the Old Port followed by going to Oia? Or forget about the volcano hike all together and just visit Oia and Fira? Or stay with the ship's excursion?-If this, what should we do after the excursion?

3rd Option, how about finding another real tour from a reputable tour operator that runs the tour you want to do, and does it earlier? You'll save up to 50% off the ship's tour cost and have a much smaller group. This way you can go to Fira and Oia after, and not waste time.

In our 20+ years of cruising we have only ever taken the ship tour 3 times. Since you aren't getting off the ship as soon as they arrive, and there is no way you'll be late getting back, there is little benefit to the ship's tour.

3rd Option, how about finding another real tour from a reputable tour operator that runs the tour you want to do, and does it earlier? You'll save up to 50% off the ship's tour cost and have a much smaller group. This way you can go to Fira and Oia after, and not waste time.

 

In our 20+ years of cruising we have only ever taken the ship tour 3 times. Since you aren't getting off the ship as soon as they arrive, and there is no way you'll be late getting back, there is little benefit to the ship's tour.

Thank you for your response! I found a few tour operators that do the tour, but it is either in the morning (we arrive at 1pm) or it includes the hot springs. We are not interested in smelling like sulfur all day from swimming, or sitting on the boat while everyone else swims while adding extra 45+minutes to our boat ride.

We were not planning on taking a ship tour, but that one interested us and I heard that it is recommended often to do a ship tour for Santorini due to getting off the ship quicker. But since that tour is not doing that for us we agree that its not worth it.

At this point we have decided to tender to the old port and take a boat to Oia. Although hiking a volcano has a bragging/coolness factor to it, we decided it wasn't worth it to skip Oia as everyone comments how that is the "can't miss spot." Maybe next time ;)

The OP mentioned using a ship tour so that they can tender to the port at Athenios. Only those on ship tours get to tender to this little port since that is where one must go to get on a bus :). Private tours would all leave from Fira which means you still must deal with the hoards getting off the ship to tender into the small area below Fira. And then you have to wait your turn for the Cable Car...or use donkeys (some do hike up the donkey road). If Oia is a priority for the OP we would suggest avoiding that particular ship tour because of the scheduling.

If you go on your own you have a few options for getting to Fira. There is often a private outfit that runs boats from the tender pier at Fira over to Oia. This boat tour will usually give you bus tickets so you can take the local bus back to Fira. But be aware that these buses only run about once every 45 -60 min and quickly become full on a busy cruise day. It is also possible to take a taxi but there are plenty of times when there are no taxis waiting around Oia (this is not an issue in Fira where there are always taxis at the main taxi parking area located close to the Fira bus station).

Another option is to simply rent a car, but given the short time in port we do not think this is a good idea.

Hank

We did the volcano and warms springs swim on our own (about 20 euros in 2013) and it looks like this. Even if you really play around in the muddy part of the springs you will not end up smelling of sulphur as the last 30 yards (at least) of the swim back to the ship is in 'normal' sea. All I would say to anyone doing this is to either use a synthetic swimming costume or one you don't mind risking a faint brown stain. All the best, Tony

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