Santorini, independant trip

[SilverDollarDoll]

Although our cruise ended 6/24, we just returned home from Europe last nite. The boat ride back from Oia to Fira was a wonderful, relaxing way to end our day on Santorini. It was quite warm that day, and the hike down the steps to Ammoudi port was challenging for some in our group, but lunch at Katina's (that restaurant and the Sunset bar are the nearest to the base of the stairs) was excellent and the difference between Oia and Ammoudi port was a great contrast.

 

Stathis was on-time and we did make a brief stop to leave his boat and climb to a little chapel on one of the volcanic islands. I think Angiulla fan will definitely enjoy his extended boat trip with a dip in the hot springs.

 

There is definitely a niche on Santorini for scheduled boat service between Fira and Ammoudi port!

 

 

How do you find information about "Stathis"? Is this just a trip back from Oia to the port or were you with him all day? Prices? Contact info???

Thanks.

[Steppy08]

How do you find information about "Stathis"? Is this just a trip back from Oia to the port or were you with him all day? Prices? Contact info???

Thanks.

 

The company is Anemos Boat Charters, Stathis is the owner/captain.

 

http://www.santonet.gr/sailing/anemos-boat

 

We did a 3 hour tour that left from Ammoudi, to Thirassia, hot springs, and back to the tender port at Fira. The boat seats 12. I believe the total cost was around 330€ total. You can customize the trip to whatever you want.

[SilverDollarDoll]

The company is Anemos Boat Charters, Stathis is the owner/captain.

 

http://www.santonet.gr/sailing/anemos-boat

 

We did a 3 hour tour that left from Ammoudi, to Thirassia, hot springs, and back to the tender port at Fira. The boat seats 12. I believe the total cost was around 330€ total. You can customize the trip to whatever you want.

 

Thanks for your fast answer. Sounds great...

[squaremimi]

 

We found that many people did not eat dinner in Oia and had dinner on the ship. We truly enjoyed our dinner looking out over beautiful Oia.

 

 

Do you still remember the name of the restaurant you went since we also want to have our meal looking out over Oia, thanks!

[Jools789]

I will have my children (5, 8 & 12) with me when I go, can anyone say if is it safe and more importantly worth going up the Caldero view on a mule ride?

[sdodge1]

Hi lovesthebeachx4

 

I was about to ask you the same question. I've only sent one email via the contact on their website. That was several days ago and like you I haven't had a reply. I'll try again and keep you posted. In the meantime anyone out there in CC land ever managed to make contact with them?

 

 

Same problem. I have written 2 emails and no answer. If anyone gets info about a group using this or any charter going directly from Fria to Oia on Sept 8th, coming in on the Solstice, I would really like to know. I understand there is a sign at the cruise doc that directs you to their business.

[firstcarib]

Cinnamon,

I was mostly concerned that I might have spent all my euros and was just wondering if US $ were accepted. I have seen some tours that do accept US money. Who knows, euros are not exaqctly setting the world on fire and they keep going down in value. It was just a question, but thanks for your concern.

 

I know there's been a lot of problems concerning the poor old euro recently, but why do you guys from US of A feel that you can use $ in Europe? Can we use € or £ in The States..I think not! :confused:Of course you can pay in $ on board ship, but I seriously doubt you can pay in $ when spending in Greek shops & boat tours etc

It just would not occur to me to try to pay in £.. Although actually in Turkey they often will take any currency...their own Turkish lira is not overly strong( ok..nor is the poor old euro!):cool:

[SilverDollarDoll]

I know there's been a lot of problems concerning the poor old euro recently, but why do you guys from US of A feel that you can use $ in Europe? Can we use € or £ in The States..I think not! :confused:Of course you can pay in $ on board ship, but I seriously doubt you can pay in $ when spending in Greek shops & boat tours etc

It just would not occur to me to try to pay in £.. Although actually in Turkey they often will take any currency...their own Turkish lira is not overly strong( ok..nor is the poor old euro!):cool:

 

Please don't assume that we Americans think we can just automatically use our money in your country. BUT...........when one reads that there are places that DO take US money it's obvious that it makes it a lot easier for us to spend our money and not worry about getting euros etc. ahead of time. Not always sure where the money machines are in a foreign city so it's an obvious question. Please don't think we are being unfriendly by asking that question. I bet if we told some foreign travelers that we had places in US where euros, francs whatever were accepted they would be happy to know that in advance.

[fishouttawater]

Please don't assume that we Americans think we can just automatically use our money in your country. BUT...........when one reads that there are places that DO take US money it's obvious that it makes it a lot easier for us to spend our money and not worry about getting euros etc. ahead of time. Not always sure where the money machines are in a foreign city so it's an obvious question. Please don't think we are being unfriendly by asking that question. I bet if we told some foreign travelers that we had places in US where euros, francs whatever were accepted they would be happy to know that in advance.

 

My husband works in currency trading (and for the record, I'm American and he's Canadian but we both live in London just to give context to this discussion) and I can assure you that neither of us would EVER use dollars, even if they were accepted. Here's why:

 

A) Most of the time ATMs are available in almost any country you travel. If you're nervous about pulling out Euros, pull out more than you'll need. If you don't spend them all, I bet you have a friend going to Europe who might be willing to buy them off of you.

 

B) If somewhere takes dollars, you WILL pay a premium for that service. I was recently in Mexico and the dollar/peso upcharge was 20%.

 

C) If you are at a hotel abroad, ALWAYS make sure they charge you in local currency on your credit card. Your card will give you a much better exchange rate. They often ask if you want to be charged in dollars because they then make money off giving you an atrocious exchange rate (i.e. I noticed the last time, their exchange rate was around 30% more than we would have paid otherwise)

 

-- If you're just buying a trinket, a few pennies is probably not a big deal, but when you're buying something expensive, you can seriously increase the price of the object.

 

But honestly, when you pay in dollars it sort of feeds the ethnocentric stereotype that Americans are foolish and ignorant about the world. I'm not trying to be rude, but no European would ever ever assume to pay in Euros when the country is on a different currency. You notice that these places take dollars? That's because Americans are the only ones who are foolish enough to pay the premium and arrogant enough to assume that world should take our currency.

 

Sorry to hijack this lovely Santorini thread -- I came here looking for some advice for our upcoming cruise :)

 

Thanks for all of the great advice for what to do on your own!

[firstcarib]

Hi..I didn't mean any offence whatsoever to our American friends:p, but agree with OP that Europeans..& I include us Brits in that category!!..automatically obtain & use the currency of our destinations worldwide. It seems a bit bizarre to think a Greek /Italian/French cafe owner or shop keeper would want to be paid in $ or £. Apart from the bad exchange rate for the traveller! :eek:

But moving on...talking of boat trips on Santorini, I've just heard from Dakoutros Bros, who run the boat trip to Oia, that they can no longer return passengers from Oia to Fira town by coach. You have to return on the boat from Oia to Old Fira, the port.. So, if you want to then visit the upper main town of Fira, you must take your chances with the donkeys or cable car queues!

Don't miss the ship though.:rolleyes:

[John Bull]

Please don't assume that we Americans think we can just automatically use our money in your country. BUT...........when one reads that there are places that DO take US money it's obvious that it makes it a lot easier for us to spend our money and not worry about getting euros etc. ahead of time. Not always sure where the money machines are in a foreign city so it's an obvious question. Please don't think we are being unfriendly by asking that question. I bet if we told some foreign travelers that we had places in US where euros, francs whatever were accepted they would be happy to know that in advance.

 

I can fully understand Americans asking if they can use USD in Europe, even though the answer is almost 100% negative.

USD are accepted (& at fair rates) in the Caribbean, and they're the foreign currency of choice in much of Asia, South America & doubtless elsewhere. So although a presumption that the same applies in Europe would be wrong, I see no problem in asking the question.

 

With the boom in foreign travel over recent decades, I rather suspect that if there were no Euro, the USD would be much more widely accepted in Europe's tourist spots.

 

US (and UK) travellers to Euroland will almost certainly be spending days or weeks there, whether in one spot or cruising several euro countries, so it makes sense to buy euros.

 

And the Euro is now the foreign currency of choice from visitors to nearby countries such as Denmark, Sweden, Croatia, Turkey, Israel, Morocco.

This is important for the cruiser, who'll frequently visit a country for just one short day.

Rip-off exchange rates from local vendors (don't get me started on rip-off rates from cruise ships :D) will vary case-by-case.

For bargaining in markets or bazaars, or negotiating a fare with a taxi driver, I don't see that it makes any odds what mainstream currency you're talking.

For a beer or a coffee priced on the menu in local currency, sure you'll get a poor rate for USD or euros but the cost is low, so the difference will be low.

For priced purchases costing more (a meal or moderately-expensive souvenir) you'll probably lose a fair bit by offering any foreign currency, but a card solves the problem.

 

I always like to have at least a little local shrapnel, for public transport & some entry fees that can only be paid in local currency.

 

Just MHO

 

JB :)

[SilverDollarDoll]

I can fully understand Americans asking if they can use USD in Europe, even though the answer is almost 100% negative.

JB :)

 

Thanks John Bull. Great words that make perfect sense. I'm sure we all share your "HO"

 

Micki

[Kelly28]

We returned from our FABULOUS Equinox trip to the Eastern Med and cannot rave enough about what a great trip it was. Only disappointment was that we had strong winds in the Greek isles and they closed the port of Mykonos for two days. Our Captain detoured to Crete where we had a nice town/beach day. But I had really wanted to see Mykonos and visit the St. John resort. Oh well.

 

Here's the info from our Santorini day. I tried to keep good mental notes so I could share info here:

 

Tender tickets were going to be available at 10 a.m. We got in line at 9:30 a.m. and I would say there were 30 to 40 people in front of us. Some folks got in line at 7 a.m.! They started giving out tickets at 9:55 a.m. We got Tender #7 and were told it would leave at 2:30 p.m. We probably anchored at Santorini (which was so cool!) around 1:30 p.m. We missed the call for our tender (just after 2 p.m. I'm guessing) as the announcement cannot be heard in your room. So we went down and got on the next tender at 2:15 p.m. We were at the top of the funicular at 3:05 p.m. The funicular line was quite long (almost back to where we got out of the tender) but it probably only took 20 to 25 minutes to get through it).

 

Our entire group of 23 people were incredibly on time and all made it over before our 3:30 meeting time. Too bad that the NST bus driver was about 10 minutes late but it was o.k.

 

Had a great trip over to Oia, walked around the town, had drinks (it was hot) at the very southern end of the walk, did some shopping and then had a lovely dinner overlooking the water. Oia is as charming as everyone says and it was even more so as the evening wore on and the other four boats who were in port departed.

 

We arranged to meet our NST driver at 7:30 p.m. for the return trip to Fira (about a 15 minute drive). Got a bit lost looking for the cable car station and found a bit of a line for the ride down. But at 8:00 p.m. at night, it only took 15 minutes to get to the front of the line, ride the cable car down, catch the tender and get back on the boat.

 

We found that many people did not eat dinner in Oia and had dinner on the ship. We truly enjoyed our dinner looking out over beautiful Oia.

 

Hope that's helpful to future planners.

 

And I had considered doing the hike and, upon seeing how long it really was once we got there, I am glad we arranged for the bus. It was hot on Santorini and it would have been a long slog with teens in tow!

 

Thank you for the great review. We will be on the Equinox in September and plan on DIY in Santorini. Would you recommend the restaurant in Oia? If so, what was the name of the restaurant?

Thank you,

Kelly

[lovestx]

Thank you for the great review. We will be on the Equinox in September and plan on DIY in Santorini. Would you recommend the restaurant in Oia? If so, what was the name of the restaurant?

Thank you,

Kelly

 

I don't remember the name but it was one of the three that Rick Steve's has in his book (and I can't find that book right now, sorry to say) on Cruising the Med. The restaurant was in the part of town closest to the center point and you walked down from the promenade/street to get to it. It was very good but I am sure there are other good restaurants in Oia.

 

Have a wonderful trip!

[Kelly28]

I don't remember the name but it was one of the three that Rick Steve's has in his book (and I can't find that book right now, sorry to say) on Cruising the Med. The restaurant was in the part of town closest to the center point and you walked down from the promenade/street to get to it. It was very good but I am sure there are other good restaurants in Oia.

 

Have a wonderful trip!

 

Thank you soj much for responding. I have the book so I will check it out :)

[sdodge1]

Hi lovesthebeachx4

 

I was about to ask you the same question. I've only sent one email via the contact on their website. That was several days ago and like you I haven't had a reply. I'll try again and keep you posted. In the meantime anyone out there in CC land ever managed to make contact with them?

 

No and I have written 3 emails to them asking for reservations for 21 people and I cant get them to answer me. good luck