Santorini excursions

[eilew26]

Hi, we are traveling on Odyssey in July and will be in Santorini 7/29.  There are a couple of other ships that arrive at 8am, we get there at 1pm.  We were interested in taking the water taxi from the port to Oia and working our way back to Fira, possibly taking the cable car or stairs back.  Royal is offering an excursion for the water taxi and we are considering it to get priority for the tender, but it's more expensive than I heard the water taxi is if you just walk on and it says the excursion is only 4 hours.  Has anyone done this before and is it worth the money?  How does the transportation back to Fira work, is it at a certain time? Or is it every hour?  How about back to the boat, would we be able to stay longer than the 4 hour excursion time?  If we don't do the excursion and we just want to get off and take the water taxi ourselves, how and when can you get the tender tickets? How long after arrival in port are you reasonably able to get off the ship?

[cedricmr]

Hello,
The ship is stopped in the bay. Tenders must be used. In santorini, two different ports (one for individual travelers, the other for excursions with access to buses. So it is convenient to have a royal excursion because we go to the port with tenders and we have the bus. For the return, almost all excursions end in Fira to visit the city and go down alone (on foot or by funicular).
If you are not taking an excursion, you have to collect your ticket on the ship, wait for your tender, then... climb/climb/go on foot or wait/wait/wait for the funicular.
Last year we did with the excursion Oia and free to Fira. In Oia, possibility to abandon the group: long hike or taxi to Fira...

[TessFromFlorida]

@eilew26 Santorini is a stop where it is worth booking an early tour so you are not waiting hours for a tender. That or the Key. I opted for the Key because we had 2 tender ports and it was WELL worth the extra money when you also factor in the lunch. There were some upset folks who couldn't get off the ship for quite some time.  The great thing is you will be there at night. We booked the North Star at sunset and it was beautiful. 

[rjac]

We were in Santorini this past July and we did a non RC catamaran trip. It was very HOT on the water. I can imagine what it would have been like on the island. Please take the heat  into consideration for your excursion and bring plenty of water! 

[JeanEve]

Hello. Reaching out in hopes that someone can clarify the Island of Santorini and Oia Village excursion. We know that the tender takes the group to the Athinios port to grab a bus. Our question is, does the bus go back to Athinios port after stopping in Fira, as the overview indicates? Or is Fira the end of the tour and we are on our own to return to the ship?

[KJones]

The bus will take you back to Athinios port after the Fira stop. You also have the option of not returning with the bus and making your own way to the Old Harbor port to catch the tender back to the ship.

[FOB]

We did Santorini in July 2023 and just did our own thing. We were lucky that there was only one other ship in and we were on enchantment so the number of folk was not super high. On odyssey it could be quite crowded. 
if you decide to walk down the stairs be careful as they can be quite slippery and they are also going to have donkey manure on them as it is possible to go up or down on a donkey

as mentioned Santorini in July is likely to be very hot and there is limited shade so make sure that whatever you wear gives you protection and it might even be worth bringing an umbrella to act as a parasol while you are queueing for the tender back to the ship

[DWood]

Hi, has anyone been on the Royal Caribbean 'Views of Santorini' excursion? If so would you recommend it and do you get much chance to explore or is it mostly on a bus? Unfortunately the website doesn't give much information. Thanks.  

[JJMOLL]

On 1/22/2025 at 4:03 PM, JeanEve said:

Hello. Reaching out in hopes that someone can clarify the Island of Santorini and Oia Village excursion. We know that the tender takes the group to the Athinios port to grab a bus. Our question is, does the bus go back to Athinios port after stopping in Fira, as the overview indicates? Or is Fira the end of the tour and we are on our own to return to the ship?

We did this excursion back in October and they changed it to include a shuttle back to the Athinios port after stopping in Fira.

They give you the option to make your own way back via Fira if you want (and also handed out cable car tickets if you wanted them). We intended to get the cable cars back but it was so busy we ended up walking the donkey trail back down. It is a very, very early day...  

[richmis]

On 3/11/2025 at 6:11 PM, JJMOLL said:

We did this excursion back in October and they changed it to include a shuttle back to the Athinios port after stopping in Fira.

They give you the option to make your own way back via Fira if you want (and also handed out cable car tickets if you wanted them). We intended to get the cable cars back but it was so busy we ended up walking the donkey trail back down. It is a very, very early day...  

Has anyone done the specific excursion from Odyssey called Oia and Fira with Greek Lunch?

[km1705]

eilew26 - did you receive more information about the Royal Caribbean water taxi and the 4-hour timing vs getting water taxi tickets on your own, maybe using the Key to get off the ship in a timelier manner?  I have the exact same questions you had about this.  I cannot determine how long it will take to get off the ship and board the water taxi either way.  I would like to do whichever is faster.  I am also concerned about the 4-hour timing for the ship's excursion and when during the 4-hours the transportation to Fira happens.  Thank you for any insight you can share.

[tonyfsu21]

We had a sunset catamaran booked until we found out we would be essentially stuck on the ship until 5pm (ship arrives in Santorini at 11am). We rebooked a tour that started early to enjoy a full day on land. The tour desk had lots of upset people who had no idea how difficult it is to get off the ship when you add in the impact of the tenders. I should have done some more research but I now understand you need to book a tour as early as possible. They added the tour below (and even discounted $50/pp). We are about 1.5 hours away from Santorini and we are excited to spend the day there. The sunset catamaran will have to be booked on a return trip. FYI- The ATM on the ship (Odyssey promenade) dispenses Euros and the casino ATM dispenses USD.