Santorini shore excursion with Katakolon- Express?

[JC168]

Our family will be in Santorini mid June and consider using Katakolon-Express for the shore excursion. Just wondering if anyone tried and the experience?

[sxb230e0]

My opinion is you can do Santorini on your own at little cost and enjoy being totally on your own schedule. Low cost public buses run to all the major points. Beautiful island!

[JC168]

Since NCL cancelled Kusadasi port, that gives us 2 days of Santorini on our back to back cruise. I am trying to avoid the cable car just in case the wait up is long. I heard that the water taxi from the old port to Oia has been cancelled. Therefore I came across Katakolon-Express website where they offer shore excursion with private tender and tour of Fira, Oia, Pygros, winery, and a monetary for a reasonable price. However I cannot find any review nor much info on this tour. I guess I will tour Santorini on my own 1 day and look for any local tour being offered at pier the other day.

[JAF1]

We were on Santorini last summer and found by getting off the ship fairly quickly there was no queue for the cable car and we walked straight on to the cars. When we were due to go back to our ship we decided to walk down and not sure that was a good idea as we found the stones were very slippery where they were covered in lots of donkey mess plus we had to get out of the way of the donkeys several times - next time we would get the cable car back down.

[borasue]

We did a Med cruise last September and I booked private tours for all ports. In Katakolon, based on CC recommendations, Rick Steves & TripAdvisor, we booked a semi-private tour (up to 25 people) "Olympic Experience." While we booked thru OlympicTraveller.com with Christos Dorziotis, others booked the same tour thru OlympicTours.gr with Niki Vlachou. It was a great experience, our guide Ioanna was wonderful, and the tour included a great lunch buffet at a local restaurant with wine, all for approx $75 per person, plus ticket costs of $10; a comparable HAL tour was $145 p/p.

 

We also used the same company for tours in Athens (recommend) and Santorini (would not recommend).

[magslram]

We did a Med cruise last September and I booked private tours for all ports. In Katakolon, based on CC recommendations, Rick Steves & TripAdvisor, we booked a semi-private tour (up to 25 people) "Olympic Experience." While we booked thru OlympicTraveller.com with Christos Dorziotis, others booked the same tour thru OlympicTours.gr with Niki Vlachou. It was a great experience, our guide Ioanna was wonderful, and the tour included a great lunch buffet at a local restaurant with wine, all for approx $75 per person, plus ticket costs of $10; a comparable HAL tour was $145 p/p.

 

We also used the same company for tours in Athens (recommend) and Santorini (would not recommend).

 

Hi there, my husband and I are looking to do a private/semi private tour whilst in Santorini on 08/06/2016 on Celebrity Equinox. Could you please clarify your quote above about Santorini (would not recommend) as your review stated a great experience. I'm thinking about booking Olympic Tours but just wanted to check this out with you first. Many thanks.

[borasue]

Hi there, my husband and I are looking to do a private/semi private tour whilst in Santorini on 08/06/2016 on Celebrity Equinox. Could you please clarify your quote above about Santorini (would not recommend) as your review stated a great experience. I'm thinking about booking Olympic Tours but just wanted to check this out with you first. Many thanks.

 

Magslram.... The tours provided by OlympicTraveller/Christos were great in Athens and Olympia. The tour in Santorini was okay, but the bus was MUCH smaller and very tight, because of the narrow streets. The tour progressed from Fira to Oia, where we only had about an hour and a half. Then we boarded the van and headed to Akrotiri, had a brief stop at Red Beach (just enough time to walk to the overlook... not actually go down to the beach), and finally the winery. The tour lasted about 5 1/2 hours, but much of that time was spent on the road between sites. The only place we had TOO much time was the winery. :rolleyes: And unless you thought early on to grab a bite to eat during the brief visit to Oia, there wasn't even an opportunity to get lunch. If I had it to do all over again, I'd skip an organized tour and spend the time roaming around Oia... soaking it all in. Whatever you choose, you're going to love Santorini. Have a wonderful trip!

[magslram]

Hi borasue, thanks for your reply. Good information. I think that we are going to go ahead with a trip to Santorini with 'Santorini Tour Guides'. Trip Advisor reviews under 'Santorinis Private Day tours by Kostas' seem very good. We are looking for 2 people to share with us, so if anyone is reading this and are interested please contact me on mags58@ntlworld.com. thanks again.

[SpainAlien]

Hi borasue, thanks for your reply. Good information. I think that we are going to go ahead with a trip to Santorini with 'Santorini Tour Guides'. Trip Advisor reviews under 'Santorinis Private Day tours by Kostas' seem very good. We are looking for 2 people to share with us, so if anyone is reading this and are interested please contact me on mags58@ntlworld.com. thanks again.

 

You might want to post this in your roll call, people who are on your cruise will see it then.

 

Hope you have a great time, we are there June 2017 so please report back :)

Edited March 23, 2016 by SpainAlien

[magslram]

Thanks for that. Being new to this site I'm not to sure of how it works, not very user friendly. I'll try and post it on roll call.