Santorini waiting in line for the cable car

[nealjr]

On 1/3/2019 at 2:32 PM, pcur said:

First of all, check this site for your date in Santorini, and then you'll know how much a problem you'll have with the cable car line:  http://ports.cruisett.com/ .  I always put the number of ships in port in my planning notes for all of our itineraries.  Really helps to plan the day in port.

 

My husband travels with a very lightweight collapsible stool, as he has back problems when he stands too long.  It's titanium, holds up to 300 lbs, and it fits any 26" suitcase.  Very handy when we travel and might have to stand in any long line.  He just goes somewhere and waits until I get to the head of the line.  Walking tours where you stand and listen, museums, just about anywhere.  We will definitely be using it in Santorini.

 

However, I suggest using cell phone and texting back and forth.  Take turns sitting, walking around, getting something to drink, and then texting when it time to get on the cable car. 

I hope your link is correct, it is showing only our ship as being in port on May 23rd.

[Ashland]

I too hope the link info is correct for our May 26, 2019 Vision of the Sea which hopefully is showing we're the only ship there...could this be true ?

[John Bull]

On 1/4/2019 at 8:32 PM, nealjr said:

I hope your link is correct, it is showing only our ship as being in port on May 23rd.

 

6 hours ago, Ashland said:

I too hope the link info is correct for our May 26, 2019 Vision of the Sea which hopefully is showing we're the only ship there...could this be true ?

 

Like other cruise schedule sites, Cruisett is frequently incomplete and sometimes incorrect.

Even official port websites tend to be incomplete - and since Santorini isn't a "port" for cruise ships I'm not sure there even is an official port website. 

 

Cruisetimetables, Cruisemapper and Crew-center all show three ships in Santorini on both 23rd & 26th May, Cruisett just the one on those dates. And there may be more. 

 

But one important element is missing on those websites - the arrival & departure times.

Some are in for the day, some for just the morning, some for just the afternoon, and some all-day. And some depart around 6pm, some around 9pm.

That of course makes a huge difference to how-crowded the destination and particularly how busy the cablecar and donkey-path.

I don't know whether cruise lines deliberately put their heads together or whether it's just a matter of luck, but usually arrival & departure times are well-spaced.

 

If you want to research you can find most of the times of other ships in port from T/A and cruiseline websites.

If you want to be lazy you can just ask those ships' crews at the tender pier, or their passengers, what their "last tender" times are. If they clash you know you need to allow for that, if they don't life should be comparatively easy.

 

JB 

[rkreiss]

Just checked the schedule for Athens and Santorini.  My wife and I will be arriving in Athens on Seabourn's Encore on May 23rd - Not listed.  In fact no Seabourn ships are listed on this site.  

 

I was checking the site as we will be flying to Santorini for a few days stay after the cruise.  I was interested in seeing how many, if any, ships would be at the island while we are there.  It appears, from the listing that we will have only one day with not ship there.  If that is true, then we should have an easy days for sightseeing.  As we have been there before, we just plan to walk around and enjoy what we see.  We are not going to be doing much, if any, shopping.  I should be able to take some very good pictures especially of the sunset.

[pcur]

20 minutes ago, rkreiss said:

Just checked the schedule for Athens and Santorini.  My wife and I will be arriving in Athens on Seabourn's Encore on May 23rd - Not listed.  In fact no Seabourn ships are listed on this site.  

 

 

20 minutes ago, rkreiss said:

I was checking the site as we will be flying to Santorini for a few days stay after the cruise.  I was interested in seeing how many, if any, ships would be at the island while we are there.  It appears, from the listing that we will have only one day with not ship there.  If that is true, then we should have an easy days for sightseeing.  As we have been there before, we just plan to walk around and enjoy what we see.  We are not going to be doing much, if any, shopping.  I should be able to take some very good pictures especially of the sunset.

That's odd about Seabourn, but at least you can see how many other ships are in port on your day.

 

Speaking of pictures, if you are scheduled to enter the bay early in the morning, I can HIGHLY recommend getting up early and going outside to watch the sun rise.  It is spectacular coming over the rim of the volcano on a clear day.  Absolutely beautiful!!

[ollienbertsmum]

I know that we will be able to walk up and down to the ship, I have been to Santorini many moons ago and I think we are fit enough for the trip.  I am more bothered about being kept on the ship for too long and so not having long enough in port on our 2 pm to 10 pm stop on NCL star in September.  As a result I am considering a ship tour, but the one I think could drop us off in Oia so that we can look around and make our own way back by bus/taxi  (or walking for a couple of hours) does not leave until 3 pm.  

 

That has already seemed to have 'lost' us an hour.   I really do not want to be hanging around queuing for tenders forever either.  Anyone got any experiences to share. 

 

[rkreiss]

When my wife and I don't think the ship excursions will cover what we want to do, we arrange for a private guide.  this is usually more expensive but we get to do what we want without having to wait for a bus or on long lines.

 

As for the tender, when we were last in Santorini, which was in 2006, there was not other way to go ashore.  So, be patient as you are on large ship and a lot of people need to be brought ashore.

 

The best thing to do in Santorini is eat.  So find yourself a nice restaurant overlooking the caldaria and enjoy a long lunch.

[John Bull]

Ollienberts mum - with most (all?) ships there are two tender operations, one to the pier under the cliff for independents and the other to Athinos a mile or two down the coast for ships excursions, so excursion tenders don't interfere with independents tenders le no waiting until excursionists have been tendered

 

JB .

[drneal]

My ship, Windstar, leaves at 9 pm.

i wanted to see the sunset from Oui in August

after reading this I’ll skip sunset at oui and get the cable car down

[dronnygirl]

Please be aware that if everyone decides to return to the ship at the same time queues can be very long. There us a sign advising how long the wait is, it was 90 minutes when we were there! As we were worried about getting back to the ship on time we decided to walk down the donkey track. It took us 30 minutes but was very hard on the knees!

[denisey]

On ‎9‎/‎19‎/‎2018 at 4:56 AM, JohninDC said:

When we were there in late June the crew members estimated that the wait was 90+ minutes. :eek: We opted to walk down, which took about 30+ minutes, and was not bad except for dodging a few donkeys.

We walked down also, great views from the steps!  The steps are wide (it takes 2 steps to clear a step) and exposed pebble concrete.  Note, donkeys do not wear diapers! so the steps can get slick.  We were there on a clear, sunny day and saw several people slip.  It isn't a problem, just something to be aware of.

Once at the bottom, they made us sanitize our hands before getting on the ship.  We joked that we were head-to-toe donkey poo, but we had clean hands!

My husband still calls my foot wear from that day "Your Donkey-Poo Shoes!"

It was one of our favorite "cultural experiences!"

[John Bull]

10 hours ago, denisey said:

We walked down also, great views from the steps!  The steps are wide (it takes 2 steps to clear a step) and exposed pebble concrete.  Note, donkeys do not wear diapers! so the steps can get slick.  We were there on a clear, sunny day and saw several people slip.  It isn't a problem, just something to be aware of.

Once at the bottom, they made us sanitize our hands before getting on the ship.  We joked that we were head-to-toe donkey poo, but we had clean hands!

My husband still calls my foot wear from that day "Your Donkey-Poo Shoes!"

It was one of our favorite "cultural experiences!"

 

 

Just one observation.

Yes, there are a number of "slick" stones on the steps - and yes, they're very slippery.

But from my own experience that's the seriously-smooth nature of some of the stones, not the poo. And in daylight its pretty easy to see the shiny ones which are going to be slippery.

By the end of the day almost all the poo has dried to a dust - no fun when there's the occasional wind eddy, but not slippery.

That on a warm dry day in the late afternoon, though I dread to think what it's like in the wet or the dark.

 

One time when we went up by donkey (mule), the one next to my girlfriend lifted its tail and emptied its bowels - all down her leg.

Everyone though it was hilarious  *

 

JB 

* well, almost everyone 

[denisey]

10 hours ago, John Bull said:

One time when we went up by donkey (mule), the one next to my girlfriend lifted its tail and emptied its bowels - all down her leg.

Everyone though it was hilarious  *

 

JB 

* well, almost everyone 

 

I can see how most people would find that funny! 

 

I think the donkeys were especially, um, regular on the day we were there.  But there were also 5 ships in port, and we were the early arrival/departure.  There were still a lot of folks going up when we were going down.