Santorini Shore Exc to get off fast!!!

[travellovers2]

Has anyone ever booked a shore excursion to get off the ship early and then not continue once you get to Oia?? We keep reading about the lines to go up to Fira, then the lines to catch a bus/taxi to Oia, that we're considering just booking the cheapest shore excursion so we can get off early and then not continue on it once we're in Oia.

[paul929207]

There is a ferry service from the tender dock below Fira to Oia that connects to a bus up to Oia. Might be a lot cheaper than a ship tour.

[John Bull]

Not certain of my facts here, but I believe that ships' excursions - at least those by coach - tender to a different landing point, where the road comes down to the sea.

 

I guess you could bale out of a ship's excursion at any stop, obviously ensuring that the driver & guide know that you're doing so.

 

Unless at least a worthwhile portion of the excursion is of value to you, seems an expensive way of circumventing the lines, and unless you re-join the excursion at some point it won't resolve the issue of lines to return down the cliff, which in my experience is more problematic than the trip up.

 

Subject to your ship's arrival time compared to the other ships there same-day, climbing over the heads of other cruisers (;)) to get an early tender ticket will avoid excessive waiting to go up.

 

But coming down can mean a long long wait in line for the cablecar.

To be sure of not missing your sailing you need to be at the top of the cliff 45 mins before last-tender-time. That way, if the line is too long, you can walk down in about 25 minutes - but it's not for everyone. Steps are uneven & many stones are very shiny & slippery (due to smoothness, not donkey-poo), it can also be quite unpleasant due to gusts of wind occasionally blowing the dust of dried donkey-poo. Few donkeys are available to go down, it's quite hazardous going down by donkey.

 

If you can't walk down, to avoid the risk of a delay you might want to be around the top cablecar station a good two hours before last-tender. There are bars & cafes there, so if lines are short you can relax a while & enjoy the glorious view with a beer in hand. And if one or more of your party has a problem with standing for a long time, they can sit while others in the party hold the place in the line.

 

There's only one guaranteed quick & easy way down.

http://www.bpslangar.co.uk/

:D:D:D

 

JB :)

[texancruzer]

There's only one guaranteed quick & easy way down.

http://www.bpslangar.co.uk/

:D:D:D

 

JB :)

 

 

Ha Ha ;)

[Waihekean]

Has anyone ever booked a shore excursion to get off the ship early and then not continue once you get to Oia?? We keep reading about the lines to go up to Fira, then the lines to catch a bus/taxi to Oia, that we're considering just booking the cheapest shore excursion so we can get off early and then not continue on it once we're in Oia.

 

Yes, we have booked a shore excursion to get of the ship early and we are doing the same this year. Know from my research last year that Pax did leave the tour in Oia, just to make sure you inform the tour guide and collect your cable car ticket from him/her.

 

Researched for myself this year to stay longer in Oia and would then have to take the 6pm bus back to Fira. Not sure if doing that, might stay with the tour and take some time to explore Fira a bit instead before having a sunset dinner there.

[KirkNC]

I can see where it could make sense as it takes about an hour or more for the excursions to unload, reposition the ship and than start to unload DIYers. Of course than you would need to catch the ferry which could take a while. It would also be good to know which order the excursions offload to get the best bang for you buck.

[Grumpy100]

We are doing this exact thing when we go in November. We are taking the ships excursion that lets you disembarke on the ships tender first ahead or the other passengers that take you to another part of the island. From there we take a bus up and then go to a winery, then onto Oia where you spend about an hour. Then they take you to Fira and there it ends with a ticket to go down on the cable car. We took this one on purpose so that we could be off first and not waste time waiting on the cable car to go up to Fira. There are two other ships in port that day so want to be prepared.

I guess we could stay in Oia longer if we wanted and then catch a cab back to Fira if we wanted as long as we let the tour guide know.

:D:D:D

[SPacificbound]

Ha Ha ;)

 

Quick off topic highjack, I love your signature line. :)

I spent a good part of my life in Corpus Christi. :D

[sunshinechgo]

I just took a cruise this past May to Santorini. It was easy to get off the ship. I got up and got to the destination to get the tender tickets. i got the 2nd tender (didn't know that diamond members got #1). We were off the ship onto the tender and then walked first to the donkeys. My niece really wanted to do it but got scared so we got the tram tickets. Thirty six people go up at once between 6 cars. It was pretty fast getting up to Fira.

 

Coming back down there was a line to buy your tickets but it moved quickly. I walked up to the back of the line and by the time my sister and niece came I was right by them. It moved pretty quickly.

 

I loved Santorini. There wasn't enough time on that island in my opinion.

[dogandchief]

Has anyone ever booked a shore excursion to get off the ship early and then not continue once you get to Oia?? We keep reading about the lines to go up to Fira, then the lines to catch a bus/taxi to Oia, that we're considering just booking the cheapest shore excursion so we can get off early and then not continue on it once we're in Oia.

 

Hi Travellovers2,

Do you know how many ships are at the port on the day you visit?

When we arrived there at 8am, there wasn’t any other ship apart from ours so it was not busy and there was NO queue/line to go up to the cable car at all. We got onto a cable car straight away (Must admit this took us by surprise as we were expecting a very long queue especially as it was at the height of the season – beginning of August), we were very luckly.

It looked like lots of people were opting for this relatively new ‘boat service’ from Fira to Oia (EUR20 pp I think incl. the bus back to Fira) to avoid the cable car up to Fira and then local bus to Oia all together. We saw at least two boats (both good size) taking passengers in when we arrived and left for Oia as soon as they collected enough passengers.

Our ship had a full day at Santorini (8am – 8pm, I think) and we were not in a hurry or didn't have a tight schedule to follow as we only wanted to visit Oia and Fira with a quick bite to eat. So we decided to take a little risk and played it by the ear which in the end worked out all perfectly for us…

I suppose if your ship has a full day (rather than half a day), it may not be as bad as you imagine or read here, but of course it’s all depending on how many ships are visiting at the same times as you.

Just to add, when we got back to the old port to take a tender boat back to the ship (around 15:00 I think), another cruise line had just arrived and it was kind of getting slightly busy by this time and the queue/line has started forming to go up to the cable car… but still not frantically busy in any way, just busier than when we arrived.

I know we were very lucky to be the only ship at the time (when we arrived at least) and were probably in minority but I thought I’d mention this to you.

You can check how many ships are at the port on this website (you probably know this already but just in case) ;

http://ports.cruisett.com/

Also you can get more accurate numbers on this boatmen union’s website once it’s closer to departure.

http://www.santorini-boatmenunion.com/index.php/en

(click on ‘Cruise-Ship Program’ at the top – at the moment, it is only showing for AUG 2013 arrival)

Hope this helps :)

Edited August 22, 2013 by dogandchief

[travellovers2]

Hello doganchief

 

Thank you very much for you post. I checked the first website and it says that we're the only ones in port that day, but then again others have said that smaller ships are not listed.

 

Our concern is not as much the lines to the cable car etc, as much as what time they will let us off the ship. We read that Princess will allow passengers that have shore excursions to get off first and then it goes by ticket number.

 

The ship is going to be there from 7a-6p. So we decided on taking the tour that goes to the winery, then to Oia and back to Fira. Another poster said that they felt it was enough time.

 

I like that second link, it does only show August, so I will check back once September comes around. We can cancel the tour later if we wish.

 

Thank you!!! :D

[Elizabeth_Lu]

We had a wonderful time in Santorini!

 

Our guide Margharita was wonderful!! She was very knowledgeable and very nice. We highly recommend her. I would recommend this company as being very professional and wouldn't...

 

It really was a very nice tour we’ll always remember it so thanks to them

[texancruzer]

Quick off topic highjack, I love your signature line. :)

I spent a good part of my life in Corpus Christi. :D

 

Thanks, its the mantra I live my life by........

 

And if you haven't been to Corpus lately - you won't recognize it !!!! We left for 10 years (87-97) and it was so different when we came back..... we are on the island now and love it !

[kadey]

We did this on our trip to Santorini.We didn't plan i this way,we just weren't ready to head back to Fira from Oia when the tour was leaving! WE informed our guide and we were given our cable tickets.It was a quick and cheap bus ride back to Fira when we were ready. We are excited to be going back in May. To have the maximum amount of time we are this time intentionally planning to pay for the excursion to Oia.For the cost of the excursion we are really getting at least an extra hour in Santorini,transportation to Oia and the cable car ride back. The extra time on this beautiful island alone is priceless.