Santorini excursions

You won't arrive at the port. Ships don't dock at Santorini. You'll get to island on a tender. And then need to take the gondola up to Fira. Fira will have rental cars, but I guessing these may already be booked at this late date.

Ship tours get taken to the new port, so they can transfer to tour buses. The ship excursions get off the ship first. But the ship's patrons all have to return via the gondola/tender port.

I got back from a Celebrity cruise on Sat. I was in Santorini before, and we did our own thing; gondola up and then a bus to Oia. This time we were with friends who wanted to do an excursion. The excursion buses take you to Oia and Fira. It is quite a hike from the parking lot to Oia. Also, in Fira there is a fair amount of walking to the parking lot. We were given the option to go back to the ship via gondola, or by bus. There were tenders back and forth to both ports.

The previous post described the set up quite well. Independent, you will tender in and cablecar up. Excursion, you will tender to different area and get on a bus. On our Azamara excursion, we were only given the option of cable car back, but that may vary by excursion/cruise line. An excursion will still involve significant walking from bus parking spots.

I would encourage you to find your ship’s destination expert and ask your questions as they may have some ideas for you. Some cruise lines have advance presentations about ports that are either live or on your stateroom tv. The two main towns involve a great deal of walking and there are large number of tourists all seemingly wanting to squeeze in for the same photo op.

Thanks everyone. I decided to book a private tour.