Booking a tour that starts and ends at St Gerasimos Sq in Santorini

[Artemis908]

Hello - not finding any shore excursions with RCL that I fancy and I found a Viator tour that I like that starts and ends at St Gerasimos Square from 5-9. My ship is docked from 1-11pm and I have been reading that the cable cars can get insanely crowded toward the end of the day.

 

How far is St Gerasimos Square from the cable cars and am I giving myself enough time to get back to the ship if it ends at 9?

[Hlitner]

I love a challenge :).  Although we have been to Santorini many times, I had to use Google Earth (a wonderful app) to spot the exact area of that square.  A fast walker could get from there to the top cable car station in about 10 min (so allow 15).  If your ship departs at 11pm, the last tender will likely depart at 10:30.  So, in theory, if your tour van gets you back to Fira by 9, you would have no problem getting to the cable car queue by 9:15.  Nobody can answer the question, "how long will I wait in the cable car queue?"  We can speculate (and it is speculation) that ships generally station a staffer at the top cable car station to make sure that passengers are not stuck in the queue and miss the last tender.  When that does happen, most ships delay their departure until they can get everyone down to the tender pier.  Of course, you are choosing a monster ship (with likely more than 5000 passengers) so that can be interesting in a port like Santorini where the cable car can only move about 600 souls per hour.   

 

You have stumbled on one reason (of many) why DW and I prefer small ship cruising 🙂To quote a famous "Dirty Harry" post, "Are you feeling lucky?"

 

Hank 

[edinburgher]

 I found a Viator tour that I like that starts and ends at St Gerasimos Square from 5-9. My ship is docked from 1-11pm

 

Is there something particularly unique about this tour that cannot be found elsewhere?

 

If you can find the same or similar and will be there from 1300 onwards, why not choose a tour which leaves earlier than 1700 and relieve yourself of the stress?

 

BTW Viator is not a tour company, They are a  middleman, meaning you don't actually know which company you will tour with.

Edited February 5, 2023 by edinburgher

[pdmlynek]

You have already received a very good reply from Hank @Hlitner who always gives excellent advices. None the less, let me chime in.

 

(1) You should find out what other ships will be in Santorini that day, and if any will be there that late. I would not be surprised if all other ships would have not left before your ship.

 

(2) Fira is not very large, so you'll be at the top of the stair in 10 minutes. From there, it is just a pleasant 20 minute stroll to the ship. You should have no problem making it with plenty of time to spare.

[Billy Butlin]

Hi - if I can hijack this thread with a similar question.

 

I have a tentative booking with a tour operator where I need to be up top in Fira for 9.30 ( though I guess 9.45 at a push).

 

My issue is our ship gets into port at 8am and whilst only small in passengers 650 max a Celebrity ship arrives at 7am with up to 1900 passengers.

 

Given I cant guarantee to be first off our ship (Ive read they may tender those on organized tours first) and the Celebrity passengers have an hour head start .... what are the chances of getting off the ship, across on a tender and up and of the cable car in 90 mins ..... it feels tight !!

 

Regards

[pdmlynek]

6 hours ago, Billy Butlin said:

Hi - if I can hijack this thread with a similar question.

 

I have a tentative booking with a tour operator where I need to be up top in Fira for 9.30 ( though I guess 9.45 at a push).

 

My issue is our ship gets into port at 8am and whilst only small in passengers 650 max a Celebrity ship arrives at 7am with up to 1900 passengers.

 

Given I cant guarantee to be first off our ship (Ive read they may tender those on organized tours first) and the Celebrity passengers have an hour head start .... what are the chances of getting off the ship, across on a tender and up and of the cable car in 90 mins ..... it feels tight !!

 

Regards

You should not have problem if you booked the excursion through the cruiselie.  They'll put you on an early tender.

 

Once you get to the port, then it is about a 40 minute walk to Fira.  

[Billy Butlin]

My tour is with an independent operator so I may not be first off the ship.

 

I was not planning on walking from the port area but getting the cable car. My concern is if Im not first off our ship and another larger ship started tendering before us then I could be at the back of a queue that may not get me up into Fira 90 minutes from us starting to dis embark.

 

Thanks

[pdmlynek]

10 hours ago, Billy Butlin said:

My tour is with an independent operator so I may not be first off the ship.

 

I was not planning on walking from the port area but getting the cable car. My concern is if Im not first off our ship and another larger ship started tendering before us then I could be at the back of a queue that may not get me up into Fira 90 minutes from us starting to dis embark.

 

Thanks

If you know that there will be a larger ship that will arive before you, and you know that you won't be one of the first ones off your ship, and you know that the rate of gandolas is only 600/hr, it may mean that you won't make the 9:30.

 

To us, people in their late 50s, not in any athletic shape, had no problem walking up the stairs in about 40 minutes. It was a pleasant walk.  If you can walk a few miles on a flat surface, you should not have a problem walking this up.  The fear that this discussion group puts into cruisers' hearts about the feat of climbing the stairs is unwarranted.  

 

[Billy Butlin]

Thanks I may go for the cable car with the contingency of being able to walk up within a maximum of 45 minutes if the cable car queue is too busy.