Quite major changes for calls to Santorini.

[edinburgher]

In a few quiet moments today  I was browsing cruise news in general and picked up on  some recent  Santorini  news  which will impact cruise passengers.

I  thought some of it might have already been reported by fellow  members, but as it has not, here goes.

 

1)  Passenger numbers waiting at the old dock. to either board the cable car up to Fira, or who are waiting in line for tenders back to their ships are now limited to 500, --total, not per ship.  Once that number is reached, cruise ships must reduce the number of tenders until numbers are sufficiently low enough  for them to increase again.  This will have the effect of slowing down tender access for cruise ship passengers TO Santorini, also tender access back to their ships. In addition to "cruise news" websites, this was reported on a recent CC "live from" post where the member quoted from a Princess flyer distributed to all passengers prior to their Santorini call.

 

2) Cruise lines can no longer set up water stations at the old dock for their passengers waiting for tenders to return to their ships.Given the sometimes very high temperatures on Santorini, especially in summer, passengers should carry water with them.

 

3)  A 10 euro pp disembarkation tax will be payable by each passenger, initially in Santorini, but expected to extend to other ports such as Mykonos which could follow by the end of this year.

Edited September 5 by edinburgher

[VMax1700]

If there are 500 passengers waiting for tenders back to the ship why would the authorities reduce the number of tenders?  It would make more sense to require an increase in number of empty tenders servicing the dock to remove the waiting passengers.

[edinburgher]

40 minutes ago, VMax1700 said:

If there are 500 passengers waiting for tenders back to the ship why would the authorities reduce the number of tenders? 

I believe that is a question only the authorities could answer.

Edited September 5 by edinburgher

[VMax1700]

13 minutes ago, edinburgher said:

I believe that is a question only the authorities could answer.

Sorry, it was a rhetorical question, with head scratching involved.

 

[edinburgher]

13 hours ago, VMax1700 said:

Sorry, it was a rhetorical question, with head scratching involved.

Having given your question some thought,  Ihinking that you forgot, or did not know, that ship calls to Santorini are staggered, meaning they do not all arrive and depart at the same times.

 

They arrive and depart at different times of the dayfrom early morning  up until very late evening, meaning those which arrive early morning may leave around mid afternoon or early evening and those arriving mid afternoon may leave quite late in the evening. Those on more typical  day timings might arrive mid morning and leave late pm or very early evening.

 

As a result,  tenders from some of  the various ships will usually be running almost continuously throughout the day, with passengers from one or two ships being taken ashore and passengers from a different one or two returning to their ships depending on their timings.

[VMax1700]

50 minutes ago, edinburgher said:

Having given your question some thought,  Ihinking that you forgot, or did not know, that ship calls to Santorini are staggered, meaning they do not all arrive and depart at the same times.

 

They arrive and depart at different times of the dayfrom early morning  up until very late evening, meaning those which arrive early morning may leave around mid afternoon or early evening and those arriving mid afternoon may leave quite late in the evening. Those on more typical  day timings might arrive mid morning and leave late pm or very early evening.

 

As a result,  tenders from some of  the various ships will usually be running almost continuously throughout the day, with passengers from one or two ships being taken ashore and passengers from a different one or two returning to their ships depending on their timings.

Been there a few times but stayed onboard the last few!

I am aware of the staggered arrivals, but was thinking more if the safety aspect with 500 cruisers waiting on the dock.  Slowing the tenders will not help reduce those numbers but sending empty tenders would reduce numbers on dock and slow arrival numbers too.

But, not our problemo!

[edinburgher]

1 hour ago, VMax1700 said:

was thinking more if the safety aspect with 500 cruisers waiting on the dock.

Not our problem indeed!  But not all of that 500 will be waiting for tenders as  a good proportion of them will be waiting in line for the cable car.

[hoopslover]

On 9/6/2024 at 3:55 AM, edinburgher said:

Having given your question some thought,  Ihinking that you forgot, or did not know, that ship calls to Santorini are staggered, meaning they do not all arrive and depart at the same times.

 

They arrive and depart at different times of the dayfrom early morning  up until very late evening, meaning those which arrive early morning may leave around mid afternoon or early evening and those arriving mid afternoon may leave quite late in the evening. Those on more typical  day timings might arrive mid morning and leave late pm or very early evening.

 

As a result,  tenders from some of  the various ships will usually be running almost continuously throughout the day, with passengers from one or two ships being taken ashore and passengers from a different one or two returning to their ships depending on their timings.

We were just there in May and indeed they were staggered throughout the day.  We arrived at 1 pm and departed at 10 pm.  The line for the cable car down was 90 minutes at 6 pm.

Next year we will be in Santorini on July 3 and I just checked cruisemapper and there are 7 ships in port with all of them arriving at 7 or 8 am and all of them leaving between 8 pm and 10 pm.  

We are hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. We may have to stay on the ship.  No more cable cars or stairs for us.

 

[SummmerInKefalonia]

https://www.newsit.gr/oikonomia/xristika/krouaziera-sta-20-eyro-ana-epivati-to-neo-telos-kata-tin-high-season/4174510/

 

20€ will be the extra fee per pax in Santorini and Mykonos in high season (summer months).

A little less it will be in the other months.

Also an increase in passenger tax will be to other greek ports based on their call numbers.

[edinburgher]

13 hours ago, hoopslover said:

Next year we will be in Santorini on July 3 and I just checked cruisemapper and there are 7 ships in port with all of them arriving at 7 or 8 am and all of them leaving between 8 pm and 10 pm.  

We are hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. We may have to stay on the ship.  No more cable cars or stairs for us.

In recent years, Santorini (and Mykonos to an extent) have gone from being eagerly anticipated visits to  visits which fill prospective cruise passengers with trepidation. My understanding is that Sun Princess pulled out of a few calls this summer due to the negative experience of their guests when there are too many ships in on the same day leading to long wait lines for the cable car and overcrowding in Thira and Oia.. And of course they actually do want their passengers to enjoy port calls. The proposed new rules may cause some to rethink their dates and either miss completely or go when on dates when  fewer ships are expected..

 

I blame the increase in the number of ship calls, also the sheer size of them as they carry several thousand passengers.

 

We only called there twice, but we noticed the difference in numbers and the longer cable car lines between the first and the second visit only a few short years later.

 

Unlikely to return,  but should we, we would probably stay onboard.😉

[edinburgher]

3 hours ago, SummmerInKefalonia said:

https://www.newsit.gr/oikonomia/xristika/krouaziera-sta-20-eyro-ana-epivati-to-neo-telos-kata-tin-high-season/4174510/

 

20€ will be the extra fee per pax in Santorini and Mykonos in high season (summer months).

A little less it will be in the other months.

Also an increase in passenger tax will be to other greek ports based on their call numbers.

More expensive than Venice.

[9265359]

17 hours ago, edinburgher said:

My understanding is that Sun Princess pulled out of a few calls this summer due to the negative experience of their guests when there are too many ships in on the same day leading to long wait lines for the cable car and overcrowding in Thira and Oia.

 

The last time I was in Santorini I had no issue with the crowds - working in London and using the tube at peak times makes you immune to that.

 

What I did have an issue with were the idiots trying to get photo shots with only them in the picture - and most particularly one stupid family group who had hired a professional photographer where they and the family were trying to usher everyone out of the way whilst they took their time with some fancy shot.

[edinburgher]

3 hours ago, 9265359 said:

and most particularly one stupid family group who had hired a professional photographer where they and the family were trying to usher everyone out of the way whilst they took their time with some fancy shot.

My own take on that is that the photographer was more at fault than the family, especially if he/she was local and new the challenges those shots would create. He/she should have arranged a different, quieter location eslsewhere on the island.

[2blueyam]

The photographer can recommend another location, but that doesn't mean the people shelling out the big bucks for the professional photographer will listen. They want their perfect shot with this in the background because they saw it on someone else's Instagram feed or Christmas card and nothing else will do. Never mind the other folks stayed on the Island and got up before dawn to get that shot before it got crowded.

[9265359]

4 hours ago, edinburgher said:

My own take on that is that the photographer was more at fault than the family

 

Nope.

 

4 hours ago, 2blueyam said:

but that doesn't mean the people shelling out the big bucks for the professional photographer will listen. They want their perfect shot with this in the background because they saw it on someone else's Instagram feed or Christmas card and nothing else will do.

 

And that was the family's attitude.

 

Ask nicely and I will likely step out of your shot for a few seconds, but behave like a bunch of entitled oafs and...