Santorini -Speed boat to Oia, but back?

I have read of great experience of taking a speedboat from Fira to Oia, then a bus can take you up to the town. They also include a bus to Fira.

From there, people have said they take the cable car down to get tenders. My problem is getting my wife on cable car....

I have not read anywhere if you can take a boat back to Fira, thus avoiding the cable car/walking/donkey experience. Sounds logical to me, but have not read anyone doing that.

Anybody see that happen?

I have discovered a boat tour that leaves from Oia. Not strictly a direct trip back, it's part of their tour. Has great reviews, but minimum trip is 2 hour tour, average is a 3 hour tour. Not sure if need group, or what time it leaves. I have written for information, keep you posted.

Anyone use this service? If so, did you need a group? Were there different times you could go back?

http://www.santorini.com/sailing/anemos-boat/

I have discovered a boat tour that leaves from Oia. Not strictly a direct trip back, it's part of their tour. Has great reviews, but minimum trip is 2 hour tour, average is a 3 hour tour. Not sure if need group, or what time it leaves. I have written for information, keep you posted.

 

Anyone use this service? If so, did you need a group? Were there different times you could go back?

 

http://www.santorini.com/sailing/anemos-boat/

I put together a group of 24 and using 2 of the Anemos boats to get us back to the Old Port below Fira to catch our tender boat to our ship. Each of Captain Stathis' boats hold 12 passengers and the 2 hour tour from Amoudi Port is 200 Euro per boat. You would need to put together your own group of 12 since you rent the boat for minimum 2 hours. Pretty reasonable as it comes out to 17 Euro per person and you avoid waiting in the cable car line in the afternoon. We are doing a private tour from Fira first (taking the cable car up from Old Port) through Private Santorini Tours http://www.privatesantorinitours.com/ from 9;30 am - 1:30 pm and the tour will end at Amoudi Bay where we will have lunch at Katina Taverna prior to taking the 2 hour boat tour by the volcano to Old Port. Both Captain Stathis from Anemos and John from Private Santorini Tours have been very responsive to emails and helpful in organizing of the tours. Hope this helps!

Dolfans from Miami

There is another thread with asked the same questions, here is the link

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1824415&page=3

One post says that you can return by boat instead of the bus, then there is no need for the cable car.

Thanks all for the info.

Have written Anemos, but have not heard back yet.

Others have mentioned NST, that's the service that brings to to Oia, and some have said you have a choice of a return trip by boat. But one other said " the boats to return were not running that day for the return".

So if the plan is to get back to tender area by boat, and they don't run that day, will have to take taxi or bus to main town and put a blindfold on my wife for the cable ride down!

I'm the person who posted that NST wasn't running boats back when we were there.

Please tell your wife the cable car was quick and painless ( I hadn't been looking forward to it either.)

Hi I have received a price from Dimitris Saliveros of Dakoutros Bros J.V (email address is santorini-excursions) for a boat from Port Fira to Oia with a bus up to Oia town and then a bus from Oia back to Fira every hour.

This seems to me like a good option for avoiding the cable car up to Fira town and just using cable car on the return trip to the ship.

Has anyone used this company and provide reviews.

Many Thanks

Carol

Hi I have received a price from Dimitris Saliveros of Dakoutros Bros J.V (email address is santorini-excursions) for a boat from Port Fira to Oia with a bus up to Oia town and then a bus from Oia back to Fira every hour.

 

This seems to me like a good option for avoiding the cable car up to Fira town and just using cable car on the return trip to the ship.

 

Has anyone used this company and provide reviews.

 

Many Thanks

Carol

This is the company which sells boat trips on the port just as you get off the tender. It's not an excursion, more like a shuttle, although they do different excursions as well.

We used them to get the shuttle to Oia and bus back last July. No pre-booking, we just bought a ticket on the pier. We also used them again in September to take their excursion out to the hot springs and to hike the caldera.

They are a perfectly good company to use but, to be honest, I wouldn't pre-book with them as your arrival may be weather dependent. Just do as we, and most other people, did and buy a ticket when you get off the tender.

The problem with the boat service between Fira and Oia is that its privately operated, somewhat unregulated, and normally has no schedule. The last time we were in Fira (April) we asked the boat guy about their schedule and their answer was "soon." We then asked what "soon" meant and he said, when they get at least 10 passengers. It turned out they never got 10 passengers that day...and never even made a single boat run. They would probably agree to take you back from Oia...but it would only be when they happened to have a boat docking (on the trip from Fira). Since there is no schedule, you might find yourself sitting on the pier all day. Most of the Fira- Oia transfers are early in the day...or when a cruise ship arrives and tenders-in their passengers.

Hank

The problem with the boat service between Fira and Oia is that its privately operated, somewhat unregulated, and normally has no schedule. The last time we were in Fira (April) we asked the boat guy about their schedule and their answer was "soon." We then asked what "soon" meant and he said, when they get at least 10 passengers. It turned out they never got 10 passengers that day...and never even made a single boat run. They would probably agree to take you back from Oia...but it would only be when they happened to have a boat docking (on the trip from Fira). Since there is no schedule, you might find yourself sitting on the pier all day. Most of the Fira- Oia transfers are early in the day...or when a cruise ship arrives and tenders-in their passengers.

 

Hank

As several people have attested recently on these boards - the boat doesn't run from Oia to Fira only from Fira to Oia.

There is now a schedule of sorts, even though they may run a little late. We caught a boat from the pier to Oia at around 2 pm last year, so they do run later than just early in the morning. As you rightly say they will run boats when ships are in and during the height of the season quite a few ships don't arrive until late morning or even early afternoon.

Thanks all for your responses to my query. I only want to go from Fira to Oia and bus back to Fira therefore what they are offering should work for us. The company doesn't seem to ask for money in advance therefore as one poster said I will just play it by ear on the day depending on weather. It seems to be a good option to avoid the cable car queues on arrival at Fira (there are 4 boats in port on the same day but we are the first to arrive at 8am). Does anyone know if the ships itinerary says arrival at 8am does that mean at Port Fira or does that mean at Port Armeni (I think that's the name) as I have read the cruise ship will stop there to disembark passengers on cruise ship booked excursions.

Thanks all for your responses to my query. I only want to go from Fira to Oia and bus back to Fira therefore what they are offering should work for us. The company doesn't seem to ask for money in advance therefore as one poster said I will just play it by ear on the day depending on weather. It seems to be a good option to avoid the cable car queues on arrival at Fira (there are 4 boats in port on the same day but we are the first to arrive at 8am). Does anyone know if the ships itinerary says arrival at 8am does that mean at Port Fira or does that mean at Port Armeni (I think that's the name) as I have read the cruise ship will stop there to disembark passengers on cruise ship booked excursions.

The cruise ship will anchor offshore and tenders for excursions will go to Port Armeni where coaches will be waiting. This port is only used for ship excursions as coaches can make it down to portside. Tenders for those without excursions go to Port Fira which is where the cable car, the donkey path and the aforementioned boat excursions go from.

Do not know how big in numbers the ships are on the day you port. On my recent arrival on the Royal princess we were the first in and 2 other ships ported later. Our experience was that there was no line at all in the AM to go up the cable car, I suspect that was because many of our fellow passengers on ships tours were tendered elsewhere. The return line took about 20-25 minutes before we got onto the CC itself with no wait at all for the tender. Remember at Santorini they use port tenders which seem to load, unload and turn around faster than the ships tenders. On a private tour we did a brief stop below Oia where the local boats come in, it appeared that passengers were only going one way. Oia to Fira by boat does not appear to be an option.

Hi I have received a price from Dimitris Saliveros of Dakoutros Bros J.V (email address is santorini-excursions) for a boat from Port Fira to Oia with a bus up to Oia town and then a bus from Oia back to Fira every hour.

 

This seems to me like a good option for avoiding the cable car up to Fira town and just using cable car on the return trip to the ship.

 

Has anyone used this company and provide reviews.

 

Many Thanks

Carol

Can you tell us the price for the high speed boat ride from the cruise ship tender boats to Oia? Thank you!

Can you tell us the price for the high speed boat ride from the cruise ship tender boats to Oia? Thank you!

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I purchased tickets for two on line from Aegean Traveller for 20 euro each for Nov. They included cable car from Fira back to ship. I can't vouch for the company but I guess I'll find out in Nov.

Can you tell us the price for the high speed boat ride from the cruise ship tender boats to Oia? Thank you!

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Whoops, I posted twice and don't see a way to delete.

Can you tell us the price for the high speed boat ride from the cruise ship tender boats to Oia? Thank you!

Just to manage your expectations, although they advertise it as a 'speed boat' it's actually more like a ferry - and chugs along rather than speeds. It was a source of amusement to those onboard that it had been called a speed boat. It's still a great (and reasonably quick) way to get to Oia though. :)

Posters on another thread on Greek ports have concluded that this boat to Oia is no more. I took it 3 years ago and will be in Santorini next month to confirm. Would like to know if anyone has taken this boat this year?

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Posters on another thread on Greek ports have concluded that this boat to Oia is no more. I took it 3 years ago and will be in Santorini next month to confirm. Would like to know if anyone has taken this boat this year?

 

 

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Which thread is this? Someone posted a couple of years ago that the boat wasn't running (even though it was) and from time to time someone, having read that one post, will say it's no longer running.

There are many recent/current threads confirming that there are several companies operating a thriving trade in ferrying people to Oia, this thread being one of the most recent http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2303978&page=7

Thanks. I am relieved to hear that it is still available. I will let the folks on the old thread "Boat to and bus from Oia" know that it is not dead.

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Just back from my cruise and there were definitely 2 companies offering the boat to Oia. Price for boat, bus up to Oia, bus back to Fira and cable car back down to pier was 20 euros. Be sure to reserve your return bus time when you get off the bus in Oia as they do fill up fast.

Just back from my cruise and there were definitely 2 companies offering the boat to Oia. Price for boat, bus up to Oia, bus back to Fira and cable car back down to pier was 20 euros. Be sure to reserve your return bus time when you get off the bus in Oia as they do fill up fast.[/quote

 

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Thanks for the update. That makes me feel better. How did you like Sanorini? And how was the line for the cable car?

The line is totally dependent on how many ships are in port that day. Go to the port schedule and look at the ships in port, their arrival/departure times and the number of PAX on each ship. This is the only way you can get a feel for how long the line is. And if it is long just walk down.

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Just back from my cruise and there were definitely 2 companies offering the boat to Oia. Price for boat, bus up to Oia, bus back to Fira and cable car back down to pier was 20 euros. Be sure to reserve your return bus time when you get off the bus in Oia as they do fill up fast.[/quote

 

 

 

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Thanks for the update. That makes me feel better. How did you like Sanorini? And how was the line for the cable car?

 

 

Oia is stunning. We did the boat, just picked it up in the port, I think it cost us €30 for two of us. Much cheaper than ship excursions and you get to spend longer in Oia.

 

Oia blew us away. It was exquisite. I thought maybe all the talk about how beautiful it is might just have been hype but it was just stunning. We didnt spend any time in Fira we spent the whole time in Oia. We'd have preferred to do a boat back but you have to do the bus to Fira then the cable car. The bus ride was pretty, the queue for the cable car was long at 3pm ish but moved quickly.

 

 

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Since Oia is also high up I wonder how to get to the town when you arrive by this speed boat. Many steps?