Santorini Excursion Help

[jebond]

We have "Best of Santorini" (SA05) booked, but it is so expensive! Considering switching to "Ultimate Tour of Santorini" (SA29) or "Santorini Highlights, Caldera Catamaran Sail & Springs" (SA19). Has anyone been on any of these tours & have any feedback? We are a family of 5; our kids are 14-21.

 

[soniam]

We haven't been to Santorini but are doing it on Celebrity this summer. My husband wanted to initially do the caldera sailing. However, I don't know how much you really get to see the city. That's the important part of Santorini from what I can tell. You can see the water from the ship. The Europe shore excursions appear to be expensive on every cruise line. You could try booking with an outside company.

 

[Marthasor]

I haven't done any of those specific tours, but I have spent some time on Santorini. In looking at the excursion descriptions, I think you could switch to either the Ultimate or Santorini Highlights - it just depends if you are interested in sailing and swimming or not. IMHO, Fira isn't that great to visit (Oia is really the place to go - the place that is on all of the Santorini postcards!) and I don't know if you need to visit a winery with children?

Oia is gorgeous (really the "must-see" of Santorini) and the black sand beaches are neat. Sailing around Santorini is really spectacular (that's probably the one I would vote for if your children like to swim).

Maybe consider looking at a private tour? We used Santorini Day Tours when we visited a few years ago and they did a very good job. https://santorini-privatetour.com/

 

[jebond]

I haven't done any of those specific tours, but I have spent some time on Santorini. In looking at the excursion descriptions, I think you could switch to either the Ultimate or Santorini Highlights - it just depends if you are interested in sailing and swimming or not. IMHO, Fira isn't that great to visit (Oia is really the place to go - the place that is on all of the Santorini postcards!) and I don't know if you need to visit a winery with children?

Oia is gorgeous (really the "must-see" of Santorini) and the black sand beaches are neat. Sailing around Santorini is really spectacular (that's probably the one I would vote for if your children like to swim).

Maybe consider looking at a private tour? We used Santorini Day Tours when we visited a few years ago and they did a very good job. https://santorini-privatetour.com/

We don't have any interest in visiting a winery, but it seems like so many of the tours have it included. Thanks for the recommendations.

 

[Dug720]

When I was on Royal I did a volcano hike/hot springs swim excursion in Santorini that was so much fun. We sailed out to the volcano in the middle of the caldera and hiked up and down (that was on your own so you could go all the way up and around or just partway up. GREAT views of the whole area. Then we went around the volcano to an area where there are natural hot springs for some swimming. When we got back to the little port, we were given passes for the funicular up to Santorini and back down and we had plenty of free time to wander on our own. It was a nice mix of everything.

 

[tidefan]

Can't remember what ours was called last year, but we went to Oia in the morning, the winery next (which we actually enjoyed a lot), and then on to Fira. It was actually a great excursion. A benefit of excursions there is that you go to the tender port and meet your coach instead of the port with the cable car that everyone else uses.

 

[gstdog]

We did Santorini last year on our own. Feel free to check out my trip report here. We did a 10km hike from the port in Fira to the city of Oia along the coastline, and loved it.

 

[DCLMP]

We’re in Santorini we did a private tour around the island with All Tours. It was a little pricey 400 for two people. It was a great day.

We’re the only ship in town and the line to take the gondola up was insane. I was afraid we’d miss our tour so we hiked up the mountain. You have to dance around the donkey poop because it’s basically a donkey trail. The worst part was when the donkeys are loose and come stampeding down. I came close to being taken out by a donkey.. not on my list of things that could go wrong on a vacation.

If you do a ship excursion you are taken to a different port where you get on a bus.
If you book a private tour give yourself plenty of time to tender, gondola or hike. The gondola is 6 dollars a person which I thought was pretty steep for a 2 minute ride. Donkeys are 10 euros, your legs are free.

 

[Pens Fan]

We used this company in 2019 for an excursion to Oia, a tour of the surrounding area and a visit to winery for a tasting and to watch the sunset. It was a fantastic day.

https://santorini-private-guide.com/

Wow, gotta say when I pulled up this website to get the link, I noticed the prices have really gone up since then. We paid 340 Euros (excluding tip) for a 6 hour tour for 2 people. Still for a family of 5, you can probably save quite a bit of money vs going through the cruise line. And having a private guide makes all the difference IMHO.

 

[brentm77]

We have "Best of Santorini" (SA05) booked, but it is so expensive! Considering switching to "Ultimate Tour of Santorini" (SA29) or "Santorini Highlights, Caldera Catamaran Sail & Springs" (SA19). Has anyone been on any of these tours & have any feedback? We are a family of 5; our kids are 14-21.

Avoid the "Local Greek Experience and Fiesta." It was a disaster. In fact, I would completely avoid Disney excursions on Santorini, as most in our FB group posted negative experiences. Disney did not do a good job of providing sufficient time to see the sights, and the lunch included with our tour was gross.

If I was going again, I would arrange for private transportation to Oia, with reservations for a nice lunch there. I would give myself several hours there, with time to browse and not be rushed. It will be packed - so don't expect it to look like the pictures. But it is still cool and the highlight of the island. I would have transportation back to Fira, where you will be dropped off, spend as much time shopping and hanging out as you want, and then wait in the very long line to go back down to the port, where you will be tendered to the ship. I personally wouldn't try to do much more than those two stops, since they will give you a good Greek island experience and take plenty of time in themselves (with the gondola transportation time taking another big chunk of time). Oia is prettier, clear, less crazy, than Fira, but Fira is kind of fun for what it is with lots and lots of shopping, some fun snack options, and still some amazing views. I wouldn't want to spend a lot of time in Fira, but it makes a nice last stop, since you can time getting back on the ship easily when you are ready (count on an hour wait or more for the gondola though).

The downside of not using Disney is you will be tendered to the cable car to get to the top of the port, instead of tendered to to a back road where a bus takes you up. This will cause some slowness in the morning, but I think it would be worth it to control how much time you have at the sites.

With the Disney excursion, we literally only had enough time in Oia to stand in line for a bathroom, go in one or two shops, take some photos, and then rush back to the bus. Since it really is the highlight of the island, it was disappointing. The place for lunch was disorganized, dirty, the food wasn't good, and the owner of the shop seemed flustered with the size of the crowd. The "ocean view" was seeing a little water if you walked out in front of the shop and looked down the road. It wasn't very pleasant. Somehow, we still had a fantastic day (I mean, the island is amazing), but we just know it could be better on our own next time.

This is my general advice for the med cruises with Disney. Every private tour we took was so much better than those booked through Disney. It wasn't even close. A private tour in Athens is a must if you want to get ahead of the crowds and see all the cool stuff before the busses start pulling up.

 

[CruiseGoon]

I think both of those tours will take you to several spots for brief stops. You are basically getting a sampling of what's on the island. I think I did the Ultimate Tour of Santorini last year. It was nice to be able to see so much, but it was too short. The stop in Oia did not give us nearly enough time to find the blue domed church and I was most disappointed that stop didn't last longer. The church was very pretty and is a nice example of Byzantine style. The stop at the beach was only enough time to get off the bus, look at the water and get back on the bus. The lunch was very nice and there happened to be a wedding reception in one of the adjoining spaces when we were there. Even though it's one of those stops to trap you in to spending money, we liked the winery and ordered a package of wines to be shipped back home.

The current description of the tour doesn't mention it, but we got dropped off in Fira and had tickets for the cable car to take down. I don't know if that's changed. We had enough extra time to look for souvenirs there and have a drink and snack before getting in line for the cable car. Be warned, I would not recommend walking down the donkey path at the end of the day. It is in the direct afternoon sunlight and there is nowhere shady to escape to. The line for the cable car can get lengthy at the end of the day, so timing it will be important and there will be aggressive beggars working the area.

I would say research and pick the sites that are most important for you to see. Oia should be prominent on that list. If it turns out to only be 2 or 3, maybe look into a private tour, so you can spend more time in the places you like most.

 

[mab2012]

We did Santorini last year on our own. Feel free to check out my trip report here. We did a 10km hike from the port in Fira to the city of Oia along the coastline, and loved it.

Likewise. At least, my daughter (then 16) and I hiked - it was her favourite port stop - and my husband and 13-year-old son took the bus to Oia instead. The views were incredible. I don't really feel like we missed much on the rest of the island, but then I didn't see it, so I can't say for sure.

 

[LarryGadget]

Does anyone know which Disney Port Excursion allows for the most time in Oia? I want to stick with a Disney excursion at this port, but also want to spend more than an hour in Oia.

 

[MrMagoo]

Does anyone know which Disney Port Excursion allows for the most time in Oia? I want to stick with a Disney excursion at this port, but also want to spend more than an hour in Oia.

If you want to spend more time in Oia you would be better off with a private tour.
A private guide can arrange your tour to your desires where Disney tours can't.
We used Tours by Locals and had a great tour of Santorini. As a local guide that lives in the area, they know the
best places to go and when you should be there to avoid the crowds from the cruise ships.

 

[pindecisive]

Oia was awful with all the cruise ships. If you have the chance, go to Thera or Imerovigli, much less crowded and easier to traverse.

 

[tidefan]

Oia was awful with all the cruise ships. If you have the chance, go to Thera or Imerovigli, much less crowded and easier to traverse.

We got lucky last year on the Magic. For most of the morning, it was only us and the Norwegian Sun. We were off the ship early at 8am and went to Oia first. It was great.

When we got to Fira, at 1:00pm, the Norwegian Escape pulled in with about 5,000 passengers, it was a mess…

 

[brentm77]

We got lucky last year on the Magic. For most of the morning, it was only us and the Norwegian Sun. We were off the ship early at 8am and went to Oia first. It was great.

When we got to Fira, at 1:00pm, the Norwegian Escape pulled in with about 5,000 passengers, it was a mess…

The June 10th cruise? Our day at Santorini was identical, but I can't remember the names of the ships in port. A local told us that some days there were seven ships in the port. I cannot imagine what it would be like. Oia was pretty great when were there compared to the crowds I have seen in some videos. We really lucked out traveling then, as Rome wasn't bad either. I see videos from this summer and realize that we went at the perfect time when things were pretty much back to normal but the tourists hadn't all come back yet. The day we boarded the cruise, the U.S. dropped the test to return home requirement, which was a huge relief too. It was nearly the perfect trip.

 

[tidefan]

The June 10th cruise? Our day at Santorini was identical, but I can't remember the names of the ships in port. A local told us that some days there were seven ships in the port. I cannot imagine what it would be like. Oia was pretty great when were there compared to the crowds I have seen in some videos. We really lucked out traveling then, as Rome wasn't bad either. I see videos from this summer and realize that we went at the perfect time when things were pretty much back to normal but the tourists hadn't all come back yet. The day we boarded the cruise, the U.S. dropped the test to return home requirement, which was a huge relief too. It was nearly the perfect trip.

No, the June 27th 9-night Greek Isles. We were a few weeks behind you!

I agree, it was a great time to go and other than the terrible testing fiasco at the Civitavecchia terminal, it was awesome!

 

[angelinaxox]

I visited Santorini on a Royal Caribbean cruise and did a Royal tour that took us to Akrotiri and Oia. I haven't seen anyone else mentioning Akrotiri but we thought the ruins were very interesting. We were the only tour there until we were just about to leave so we had the ruins to ourselves for most of the tour and we arrived at Oia before other tours so for the first half of our time spent there it was empty before it became crowded.