Summer 2024 Santorini port cancellation - port capacity enforced?

[chinita415]

Have not found more overall information so asking here...

 

We are on MSC Davina August 2024. People are finding out Santorini port canceled about a month out right now. The only thing I can find from online news wise is that Sun Princess cancelled June 11 stop voluntarily.

 

MSC Davina, Sun Princess, and RCL Odyssey of the Sea are the 3 big ships calling all summer and are there the day we are there on August 13th. Anyone else on these ships or others with more information? I understand the 8000 cruise passengers limit was established years ago but it appears they are starting to enforce it now? What a bummer that the local authorities allowed booking of well over 10k pax on many days this summer knowing this limit. How will cruise lines and local authorities decide who has to cancel? I am sure a lot of background negotiation is happening. 

 

We booked this specific sailing because of Santorini. Probably won't have much flexibility to change.  

 

We were in Alaska last summer on Quantum of the Sea and had Skagway canceled because of the landslide. They canceled for the whole season a few weeks before we sailed. I wish they would make firm decisions so people can make plans rather than leave us hanging. 

 

[VMax1700]

19 hours ago, chinita415 said:

the local authorities allowed booking of well over 10k pax on many days this summer

I would suggest that it was the cruise lines who not only allowed, but promoted the booking of over 10k pax and that the local authorities have nothing to do with the booking system.

 

The cruise lines put the sailings on the market several years in advance and well before they make any firm arrangements with the authorities. 

 

p.s. there are non stop flights from Athens to Santorini from €30 return.  Why limit yourself to a port day when you can spend a couple of days there instead?  

Edited May 27 by VMax1700

[chinita415]

But don't local authorities have the final say on bookings? Not saying cruise lines are not a fault. The travel sector especially cruising has definitely rebounded since COVID shut down.

 

We are in California so traveling all this way means we want to see as much as we can in a multi center trip. Santorini is on my mom's bucket list but she only wants to see the Insta famous spot so a cruise stop was the perfect way to accomplish this.

 

I am just looking for some concrete information. I understand cruise stops change all the time and experienced this last summer in Alaska. But that change was out of the control of the cruise line and local authorities. What ended up deciding who got bumped was the contracts for the docks. For Santorini there does not seem to be any information. 

 

Bumping to see if anyone else on Sun Princess or Odyssey of the Seas has heard any more information. 

[edinburgher]

On 5/26/2024 at 5:55 PM, chinita415 said:

The only thing I can find from online news wise is that Sun Princess cancelled June 11 stop voluntarily.

I was curious and googled "cruise ships cancel Santorini calls" and found many many results.

 

According to the many media reports in the results, it appears that Princess voluntarily cancelled due to the total number of cruise pax expected to visit on that date and it was thought that number of visitors would negatively affect the guest experiences.(or words to that effect) As an example, on June 11  around 17,000 pax were expected to go ashore and it was thought that overcrowding could be an issue.

 

And they would be correct.  Imagine the lines for the cable car and the crowded narrow streets in both Fira and Oia with that many pax, plus additional local residents and visitors on land trips.

Edited May 27 by edinburgher

[chinita415]

Yes the only articles were about Sun Princess cancelling. Probably because Sun Princess news is worthy. I want to know what they are doing for the rest of the summer. I added up wrong. Looks like my date there are about 11K total so maybe ok. But again on the MSC Davina Med group in another social media platform people are reporting cancellation of Santorini for Marmaris Turkey for sailings in the next month. So looking for information how these changes are determined. Wonder if anyone on RCL sailings seeing cancellations.

Edited May 27 by chinita415

[chinita415]

I will just keep updating here. This is the official port website:

https://www.santoriniports.gov.gr/en/cruise

 

Someone from the MSC Davina June 28th sailing just mentioned they were canceled. They were supposed to be there July 2nd. Even without Davina there are still 9000 people. 

 

I am not so confident I will get to go. Will it be MSC, Princess, or RCL that has to cancel on my date? Those are the mega ships on my August 13th date.

 

[edinburgher]

14 hours ago, chinita415 said:

I am not so confident I will get to go.

  If the overcrowding  meant  you had to stand in line for hours (in August heat) to go up or down the cable car or walk the donkey path one or both ways,  then literally shuffle along or push your way through the crowds on the narrow streets, some would argue that it is better that the call is cancelled, especially when it is known ahead of time and you can plan alternative sightseeing in your replacement port. Disappointing yes, but port calls get cancelled for many different reasons, sometimes on the actual day.

 

 

 

To get some idea of what it can be like in Oia on a busy port day in photo form,  try googling something along the lines of " images of Oia on a busy cruise day" Once you see the crowds jammed against each other, I think you will feel a sense of relief in not being there.  It certainly wouldn't be the experience your Mom would have imagined when she included it on her bucket list.  For that you would need to visit well off season and stay for a couple of days minimum.

Edited May 28 by edinburgher

[edinburgher]

14 hours ago, chinita415 said:

am not so confident I will get to go

Browsing some other forums I came across this one  referring to Sun Princess cancelling calls to Kotor Montenegro and thought you might be interested to read it.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/3006564-sun-princess-still-visiting-kotor/#comment-67393918

 

Kotor is another super attractive port call with a beautiful sail-in, but the town itself is tiny, and maybe this is another overtourism issue.

 

I think the better option for the future is to travel outside the busiest time of year in Europe (summer) annd to sail  ships smaller than some of the super sized ones.

 

Edited May 28 by edinburgher

[chinita415]

We were supposed to be on the cruise last week but had to reschedule due to work. Not only are we in Paris during Olympics but now this. My mom is 78 so who knows when she will have the opportunity. If we do make it to Santorini, I will try to book a private photo shoot with transfer from top of cable car. 
 

I am making an educated guess we might make is as some of the June and July dates still have 9000-10000 after cancellation of MSC Davina that I know about. Our date has 11k. But maybe MSC is the loser and we will get bumped instead of Princess and Royal with more clout. Our ship arrives first at 8A then Sun Princess at 9a. Royal arrives at 1p. Hopefully we can take advantage of this by getting off an early tender.

 

Edited May 28 by chinita415

[edinburgher]

6 hours ago, chinita415 said:

But maybe MSC is the loser and we will get bumped instead of Princess and Royal with more clout.

I think you are still misunderstanding.  It is not a question of "which ship with least clout will get bumped", it is that the cruise line (in one case Princess) is VOLUNTARILY skipping Santorini, and I think also Kotor,(referencing the other thread above in post #8) due to the guest experience likely to be badly affected by the number of visitors.Cruiselines actually want their guests to enjoy onshore experiences as negative onshore experiences could lead to fewer repeat bookings in the fture and negative reviews.

 

Too bad you will be in Paris during the Olympics, but  hopefully your days pre or post cruise will still be everything you hope they will be, although you can probably expect the city to be busier than it usually is in August.

Edited May 28 by edinburgher

[chinita415]

So far people on MSC through the first week of July are finding out about cancellations.  Not all sailings but those with over 10k pax scheduled. It is unclear if MSC is voluntarily rescheduling vs there is some background negotiations we are not privy to. The emails to MSC guests just mentioned cancellation due to “port congestion.” Apparently this happened last summer too.

 

Whatever government entities came up with the 8000 pax per day limits and are actually enforcing it need to make a public statement. Or MSC needs to let customers know they made the decision voluntarily. It is just aggravating having to wait. Like I said last summer it was a little bit of a wait with lots of rumors for Alaska but at least they made a decision for the whole season. Sounds like they are still figuring out things a month at a time.

 

i truly think this is the only time my mom will make it to Greece. Won’t be and of the world if we miss Santorini but it will nevertheless be disappointing. We have Mykonos still but also apparently some cancellations there last year too.

 

I understand this is totally a first world privilege problem.

 

MSC is letting people change to other sailings within 2 weeks so those affected can pick another week with few ships. We don’t have that flexibility.

[Shella73]

I am on an NCL Cruise in august, they rescheduled our Santorini stop by days. it went from being day five today to. Because the number of ships in port. We are 95 days out hopefully we get to keep the stop. I'll be watching, good luck to you

[chinita415]

Thank you Shella73 for sharing . Are you on NCL Viva? Thought I saw it on the August schedule. Seems like cruise lines are doing this voluntarily then? 
 

I am booking independent photo shoot in Santorini so will let vendor know we might get canceled and have good cancellation policy. 

Edited May 29 by chinita415

[cruiseaholic78]

15 hours ago, chinita415 said:

We were supposed to be on the cruise last week but had to reschedule due to work. Not only are we in Paris during Olympics but now this. My mom is 78 so who knows when she will have the opportunity. If we do make it to Santorini, I will try to book a private photo shoot with transfer from top of cable car. 
 

 

If you do make it to Santorini, there is an alternative to the cable car,

you can take a boat directly fro the tender port to Oia. To be honest we were there in October and it was so crowded you could hardly walk through the streets.

You can Google “boat transfer Santorini”

Here is an example 

https://transfer-to-oia.gr/

[VMax1700]

11 hours ago, chinita415 said:

Whatever government entities came up with the 8000 pax per day limits and are actually enforcing it need to make a public statement.

They made it public quite a few years ago.  Why do they need to make a public statement about enforcing their own rules?  It is our responsibility, as travellers, to find out the local rules and regulations before we plan to visit.

[VMax1700]

As the cruise companies have know about the 'cap' since 2016, surely the question is more about the cruise lines selling destinations which they may not be able to fulfill, than the local agencies enforcing their guidlines.

Why have the cruise lines not got together and 'planned' their voyages instead of making deviations and cancellation which lead to customer unsatisfaction?

[edinburgher]

On 5/26/2024 at 5:55 PM, chinita415 said:

 

We booked this specific sailing because of Santorini.

Lesson #1 when booking a cruise.

 

Never ever book a cruise for one specific port of call as there are too many reasons why a call could be cancelled right up until the last minute.

[mapleleaves]

7 hours ago, cruiseaholic78 said:

If you do make it to Santorini, there is an alternative to the cable car,

you can take a boat directly fro the tender port to Oia. To be honest we were there in October and it was so crowded you could hardly walk through the streets.

You can Google “boat transfer Santorini”

Here is an example 

https://transfer-to-oia.gr/

But the boat is only a one-way transfer to Amoudi Bay (below Oia).  You still have to get to Fira and ride the cable car down to the pier. The queues going down can be as bad as the queue going up.

Last summer someone posted about a separate boat company at Amoudi Bay (at the bottom of the staircase) that was taking people back to the tender dock. 

It would be great if someone could report back on whether it's currently operating.  That would be a game changer.

[erby2283]

We are slated to stop on September 11th and there are 6 ships in port with an estimated 8,199 projected passengers. We are the 5th ship to arrive that morning and the 2nd ship to leave. 🫢  We've already booked a ship excursion to avoid the cable car up and just plan to head back extremely early to try and avoid the lines at the cable car.  But we also plan to know it will be a cluster f - so just trying to keep that in mind so we know what we're getting into. 

[chinita415]

6 hours ago, VMax1700 said:

They made it public quite a few years ago.  Why do they need to make a public statement about enforcing their own rules?  It is our responsibility, as travellers, to find out the local rules and regulations before we plan to visit.

As you can see from my signature I am not a naive cruiser nor a naiver traveler. There is just too much information to gather. Why am I being lectured on for asking? And most definitely the cruise lines have to be more responsible about booking ports they can’t deliver. But I suppose this is the same as airlines routining overbooking flights.

[chinita415]

1 hour ago, mapleleaves said:

But the boat is only a one-way transfer to Amoudi Bay (below Oia).  You still have to get to Fira and ride the cable car down to the pier. The queues going down can be as bad as the queue going up.

Last summer someone posted about a separate boat company at Amoudi Bay (at the bottom of the staircase) that was taking people back to the tender dock. 

It would be great if someone could report back on whether it's currently operating.  That would be a game changer.

Yea I have read only one way from tender port to Ammoudi Bay. It would be one method to reduce queue times at Fira and also for those with anxiety about the cable car heights. I am currently booked on a cruise excursion for one way tender port to Ammoudi Bay and then buses to Oia and Fira and cable car down. Would be good to have option to go down and back via boat as well.

[chinita415]

14 minutes ago, erby2283 said:

We are slated to stop on September 11th and there are 6 ships in port with an estimated 8,199 projected passengers. We are the 5th ship to arrive that morning and the 2nd ship to leave. 🫢  We've already booked a ship excursion to avoid the cable car up and just plan to head back extremely early to try and avoid the lines at the cable car.  But we also plan to know it will be a cluster f - so just trying to keep that in mind so we know what we're getting into. 

That is a reasonable number for 5 ships. Yes go in with low expectations and be surprised if it all goes well.

[chinita415]

2 hours ago, edinburgher said:

Lesson #1 when booking a cruise.

 

Never ever book a cruise for one specific port of call as there are too many reasons why a call could be cancelled right up until the last minute.

Of course I know this but it is disappointing nevertheless. Over spring break last month I was on a cruise to nowhere from Galveston on Disney. The harbor was closed at Progreso and we could see it and the captain hung around and really tried. But weather didn’t cooperate. Luckily for me we had no grand plans but I felt bad for people who booked that sailing to go to Chichen Itza.
 

Changes due to unforeseen things like weather or mechanical issues are less aggravating than cruise lines overbooking. Serious question- do they really not coordinate with each other and do the port authorities have no control like the cruise lines can’t book that port unless approved by port authorities? Is it different because it is a tender port?

[VMax1700]

11 minutes ago, chinita415 said:

As you can see from my signature I am not a naive cruiser nor a naiver traveler. There is just too much information to gather. Why am I being lectured on for asking? And most definitely the cruise lines have to be more responsible about booking ports they can’t deliver. But I suppose this is the same as airlines routining overbooking flights.

I do not believe it is the same as airlines overbooking flights, it is more like airlines booking you on a flight to Vegas and instead taking you to Reno.  It's similar but not the same! 

There appears to be no sanction on cruise lines offering itineraries for sale before they can confirm that the ports will be available to them.  Who should be responsible for that?  

Perhaps a class action against a cruise line for false advertising would awaken them to their devious failings.

[edinburgher]

17 hours ago, VMax1700 said:

There appears to be no sanction on cruise lines offering itineraries for sale before they can confirm that the ports will be available to them.

But that may not be the situation at all unless you have evidence of that?

 

At the time they confirmed they had a slot and included it on an itinerary, they were possibly the first or second to confirm  and unaware of how many other ships might request the same date AFTER after their own confirmation,  only later  discovering just how many others also booked the same date.

 

Given that an overcrowded port call could bring disappointment and possible upset to so many passengers,  voluntarily withdrawing in favour of a  less busy port  is possibly the better decision.

Edited May 30 by edinburgher