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Cruise excursions worth it?

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We have one of those short Greek island hopping cruises in a couple of weeks. (Celestyal). Not an ideal way to see the islands, but it’s part of a larger pilgrimage, so we’ll make the best of it. Looks like our boat will anchor at Santorini at 1630 and leave at 2100. Not much time! I’ve heard that it’s a pain to get up to Fira, and wondering what the best option is for our time. Here are the options. Any advice? Remember four hours only! Thanks!

  1. Cruise line excursion to Oia. Apparently drive through some other small historic towns, then to Oia, where it says we will have plenty of time to stroll the town. Would be in Oia at sunset. Not sure how to get back to the shop, but since it’s a sponsored shore excursion I guess they would tell us.

  2. Do Fira on our own (knowing that we will get a later tender from the ship since not on official excursion.) how difficult and nerve racking is it to wait for the cable car on the way back to the ship?

  3. Try to do Oia on our own by getting the boat taxi at the Fira port to Oia then a bus back to Fira to catch the tender.

Thanks for advice!!!

Posted by
1637 posts

The big advantage of the ship excursion is that if there is a problem the ship waits for you. If you are on your own and have a problem (traffic, etc) and are late the ship leaves. With such a short time I would go with the ship excursion.

Posted by
5604 posts

Cruise Critic is probably a better resource than this site. Have a great time!

Posted by
8319 posts

Unless there's another ship in town at the same time, just ride the cable car up the hill. The line can get long if there are other ships in port at the same time.

The ship's excursions are getting more expensive and more expensive as the years go on. We just about always make our own arrangements in ports. The ship excursion will tender you off the ship into a small port where they'll have buses waiting--to avoid the mules or the cable cars that cannot handle thousands of folks promptly.

Our first trip to Santorini is when we took the cable car up and rented ATV's for the day. We saw every inch of that beautiful island.

Four hours on Santorini is really just a token visit and the island is worth a full 8 hours at a minimum.

We'll be there the middle of October for our third visit.

Posted by
2 posts

If it were me, I would take the cruise line excursion. We were on a Royal Caribbean cruise when we were there. We always pay the extra money to take the cruise line excursions for peace of mind knowing they will wait for you if there are any issues. I've been in the cable car line there and it was long. I can't remember exactly how long but we are thinking it was at least a half hour to 45 minutes. Enjoy Santorini!

Posted by
2587 posts

With that short a visit Imwould do the ship excursion. Too many horror stories about how long the wait for the cable car can be.

Posted by
2185 posts

Not only does a ship excursion guarantee you’ll get back onboard on time, but you’ll also be in the first group to get off the ship once it anchors. So you’ll have more time on the island.

Posted by
1441 posts

Just to be precise this is a tender port so the ship is not anchored. The ship tour will tender you to the ferry port where there will be a bus waiting for you. That means no wait for the cable car.
What you need to understand is, after the excursion does the bus drop you off at the cable car or do they go back to the ferry port for tender. If they drop you off in Fira you will have to use the cable car. You would have to confirm,if you are dropped off at the cable car and are late will the ship wait for you because you were on an excursion?

If the line up is too long you always have the option of going down the stairs. Thats a long walk downhill and full of slippery donkey poop.

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