Do it yourself Santorini

[room with a view]

Our NCL tour similar Oia Village & Winery  pre booked online was also sold out . Only Spanish available. 

Booked it ...then exchanged for English at Guest Services when on board.

[emeraldcity]

Just back from my Greek Isles cruise. We were late getting due Santorini due to a diversion for a medical emergency. We arrived at 10:30 a.m. and were one of 4 ships in port ... but the Odyssey was by far the biggest ship. People had to queue up for tender tickets to leave the ship and we opted to stay on board that morning, have a nice lunch and then head ashore at 2:00 p.m. We knew we had plenty of time because the captain had announced the ship would delay departure until 10:00 p.m.

 

It took about an hour and a half for all the people with tender tickets to get off. By noon, no one needed a ticket.

 

My plan of duplicating my experience on how to get to Oia fell apart as soon as we hit the dock ... the water taxi to Oia ceases operation at noon. So we took the cable car up and figured we'd explore Fira. Of course, it didn't take long to realize that Fira wasn't going to deliver the visual experience of Oia ... but there is a solution to every problem. We got deeper into the town and spotted a big sign that said taxi. Even better, as we got closer to the sign, we discovered a lot full of buses right behind it. We asked at the lot and were told to go to bus 18. You buy your ticket as you are boarding the bus and it set us back a mere 1.6 Euro each. 30 minutes later we were in Oia. The bus runs every 30 minutes. When we finished exploring Oia, we headed back to where the bus dropped us off and there were two buses waiting to load passengers for the trip back to Fia.

 

Score! 6.4 Euros total for two rides in a very comfortable huge coach. They simply don't pay that driver enough to negotiate those roads every day.

 

PS. While we waited about 15 minutes for the cable car ride down, we found out that those who opted for a taxi to Oia paid 35 Euros. And while we enjoyed dinner that night on the ship at 8:00 we realized the cable car ceases operating before dark ... we could make out little pinpoints of light slowly zigzagging down the cliff as passengers made their way back down, undoubtedly using the flashlights of the phones.

Edited October 10, 2022 by emeraldcity

[ninjacat123]

On 10/10/2022 at 1:34 PM, emeraldcity said:

Just back from my Greek Isles cruise. We were late getting due Santorini due to a diversion for a medical emergency. We arrived at 10:30 a.m. and were one of 4 ships in port ... but the Odyssey was by far the biggest ship. People had to queue up for tender tickets to leave the ship and we opted to stay on board that morning, have a nice lunch and then head ashore at 2:00 p.m. We knew we had plenty of time because the captain had announced the ship would delay departure until 10:00 p.m.

 

It took about an hour and a half for all the people with tender tickets to get off. By noon, no one needed a ticket.

 

My plan of duplicating my experience on how to get to Oia fell apart as soon as we hit the dock ... the water taxi to Oia ceases operation at noon. So we took the cable car up and figured we'd explore Fira. Of course, it didn't take long to realize that Fira wasn't going to deliver the visual experience of Oia ... but there is a solution to every problem. We got deeper into the town and spotted a big sign that said taxi. Even better, as we got closer to the sign, we discovered a lot full of buses right behind it. We asked at the lot and were told to go to bus 18. You buy your ticket as you are boarding the bus and it set us back a mere 1.6 Euro each. 30 minutes later we were in Oia. The bus runs every 30 minutes. When we finished exploring Oia, we headed back to where the bus dropped us off and there were two buses waiting to load passengers for the trip back to Fia.

 

Score! 6.4 Euros total for two rides in a very comfortable huge coach. They simply don't pay that driver enough to negotiate those roads every day.

 

PS. While we waited about 15 minutes for the cable car ride down, we found out that those who opted for a taxi to Oia paid 35 Euros. And while we enjoyed dinner that night on the ship at 8:00 we realized the cable car ceases operating before dark ... we could make out little pinpoints of light slowly zigzagging down the cliff as passengers made their way back down, undoubtedly using the flashlights of the phones.

How long did you wait in line to take the cable car up to Fira?  Good to know about the boats to Oia stopping service at 12:00pm and that the cable cars stop running before dark.  Our ship ports at Santorini at 8am and leaves at 5pm.  Unless we have a medical emergency as well, then all bets are off!

Edited October 11, 2022 by ninjacat123

[mapleleaves]

1 hour ago, ninjacat123 said:

How long did you wait in line to take the cable car up to Fira?  Good to know about the boats to Oia stopping service at 12:00pm and that the cable cars stop running before dark.  Our ship ports at Santorini at 8am and leaves at 5pm.  Unless we have a medical emergency as well, then all bets are off!

a very important factor is .... how many ships are in port with you? what time are they in port? and how many pax?  That has a big impact on the cable car wait, both up and down. Check the info on a couple of sites since they aren't always accurate.

The cable cars have fixed schedules depending on the season. Google to find this info.  They were running after dark when we were there 2 weeks ago.

As I said previously, I wish I had taken a ship excursion to Oia, just to ensure getting off the ship quickly and to Oia.  The 2 hrs we lost waiting for the cable cars, cost us a visit to Oia.  Luckily we knew exactly where to go in Fira to get our shots, but many folks were so late arriving that they only hung around the shops, enjoyed the view for an hr and went back to the ship.

[emeraldcity]

3 hours ago, ninjacat123 said:

How long did you wait in line to take the cable car up to Fira?  Good to know about the boats to Oia stopping service at 12:00pm and that the cable cars stop running before dark.  Our ship ports at Santorini at 8am and leaves at 5pm.  Unless we have a medical emergency as well, then all bets are off!

There was no wait to get the cable car up. Mind you, we let the vast hoards rush off the ship first and leisurely disembarked about 3 hours after arriving off Santorini.

[NeilonBoard]

On 9/29/2022 at 11:44 AM, LGinPA said:

 

Does anyone know what type of payment they accept for the boat ride to the Oia port? Are CC's taken or is it cash only? 

Both cash or credit cards are acceptable. Seem to recall 30 euros per head which includes the shuttle bus back to Fira.

[NeilonBoard]

On 10/1/2022 at 9:35 AM, Kiwi Brenda said:

Can anyone who’s walked down instead of taking the cable car advise how long it took them? On the roll call for our cruise next year someone posted it took them 2-3 hours! If that’s accurate a one hour wait for the cable car doesn’t seem so bad…

We are in our 60s and it took us approx 40 minutes. Just take your time and enjoy the view.

[kimlovesfl]

On 9/18/2022 at 1:58 PM, Hlitner said:

Lets clear the air (pun intended) about the cable car (down).  There is a single queue to get into the upper cable car station.  Having a ticket does not allow you to avoid the line which happens to be the same line used for those that need to buy tickets.  Even those on cruise ship excursions will need to use the cable car (of they could walk or use a donkey) to get down as the tours all end in Fira where folks are on their own.  

 

 

 

 

We were on a Royal Caribbean shore excursion that took us to Oia and Fira. We did NOT have to take the cable car down. Our bus went right down to where we picked up the tender, on that long, winding, road with the hairpin turns. You had the choice of taking the cable car on your own. 

 

We were there almost 2 weeks ago, and 5 or 6 ships were in port (about 13,000 passengers). Several people we talked to said the line for the cable car was over an hour, and that the hike down the donkey path took 45 minutes. The towns were extremely busy that day. I am very glad we took an excursion. 

[ilovesalchows]

That sounds perfect, Kim.  I hope more excursions offer the trip back to the excursion tender port.  That would be a big selling point for purchasing the ship's excursions.

[Hlitner]

6 hours ago, kimlovesfl said:

We were on a Royal Caribbean shore excursion that took us to Oia and Fira. We did NOT have to take the cable car down. Our bus went right down to where we picked up the tender, on that long, winding, road with the hairpin turns. You had the choice of taking the cable car on your own. 

 

We were there almost 2 weeks ago, and 5 or 6 ships were in port (about 13,000 passengers). Several people we talked to said the line for the cable car was over an hour, and that the hike down the donkey path took 45 minutes. The towns were extremely busy that day. I am very glad we took an excursion. 

That is terrific news for those who take tours.  We have never heard of tours going back to Athinios and have long thought it would be a good idea to lessen the cable car demand/lines.  

 

Hank

[marazul]

9 hours ago, kimlovesfl said:

 

We were there almost 2 weeks ago, and 5 or 6 ships were in port (about 13,000 passengers). 

That is insane. The year-round population of Santorini is 13,500.

[room with a view]

Our NCL took us by boat then by bus up the winding road (great views) to Fira and then on to Oia ... we were given one and a half hours to see  Oia -it was insanely busy .

We were then taken to a winery for sampling along with cheese and breadsticks (included) . Very welcome as we did not have time to grab any food in Oia.

 

We were then given a ticket to the cable car - no alternative.We stood for more then a hour and were very worried as the time on board was 2.30pm (I think we arrived at 7.00am ) so time was short.

 

As it was the ship did not leave till way past the time on board as I guess many many passengers were stuck in the Q.