Santorini:
I was very excited about this stop. From the pictures you see, it doesn’t look like it can be real…but it is. I had tried to book a ship’s excursion before our trip but they only let you book this port while on the ship. I am not really sure why. I thought because our time was so short there it would maximize it by doing the ship’s tour. Because this port was so important to me, and because I was concerned that the excursions might be all booked by the time we got on the ship (because most passengers got on the day before us in Venice, Italy) I decided to research private tour companies. I stumbled on Pixel Tours and after doing my cross reference of reviews and prices I contacted them. I received quick, informative email replies and booked with them. This was a great decision!
We had to tender into the port and then you must ascend the cliff to arrive at the town. We found it helpful to try and be one of the first people off of the ship and head directly to the cable cars. You actually have three choices…take a cable car, walk up a billion steps or ride a poor, sad donkey. We rode the cable car up and it was perfect. The whole process takes a little while but just be patient…it is worth it. We were a bit earlier than they thought we would be so we called the company and told them we were there. In about 10 minutes there was an escort was there to take us to our guide. Then we met Vicky. Vicky was a breath of fresh air…vibrant and full of life. Super friendly with a warm, outgoing personality. Just what we all needed to perk us up after all of our travel and remaining jet-lag.
Santorini was spectacular and breath taking. Exactly like the post cards. We saw so much in our short time on the island and Vicky had lots of great information and humor to share. We saw both main cities…Fira and Oia, a black sand beach, a winery, several small towns, etc…it was a wonderful tour. And, again, we beat all of the crowds everywhere! If you go to Santorini you MUST contact Vicky. You will have the time of your life without worry of getting back to the ship on time.
As we read online, the lines or Queue for the cable cars are VERY long…like crazy long. We waited for a little while and it didn’t move at all. MSC assured us that they would wait for all of the of passengers to get back but we didn’t want to take any chances so we decided to walk down the steps. It sucked. There were tons of donkeys and there were tons of steps. It went on and on and on…they were steep in sections and slippery, there was donkey poo and lots of people. While I am glad we didn’t wait for the cable car…I don’t really ever need to do the walk again either. I don’t recommend that you choose to walk up unless you are super fit. It is a LONG way.
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