Greece › Santorini › Cruise Ship Ban
Updated: February 3, 2022
Crowds of cruise ship passengers taking the cable car back to the cruise ship port in Fira, Santorini. For a strong and sustainable local economy cruise ships should be banned in Santorini.
Why we want cruise ships banned from Santorini
• Cruise ship passengers put incredible amounts of stress on the Santorini infrastructure with little economic benefit to the local economy.
• Cruise ships accelerate the degradation of the Santorini environment.
• The economics of cruise ships encourage short-term financial interests at the expense of long-term and sustainable tourism growth and development.
• Santorini is a much more healthy and enjoyable place to live, work, and visit without the stress, hassle, and chaos introduced by thousands of daily cruise ship passengers.
Sign this petition by leaving a comment below with your reasons for supporting a cruise ship ban from Santorini.
And please share this post with others. We’d love to have the input and suggestions from local business owners (of both Santorini and Mykonos) who would benefit from a cruise ship ban.
I visited Santorini every summer from 2006 to 2011. It was such a beautiful magical place. I remember meeting the peaceful locals who loved speaking with visitors. The lovely friendly outdoor cats basking in the sun. Getting breakfast, lunch, or dinner in Fira was so peaceful and beautiful. I use to just really be in the moment. Flash forward to this past summer 2022. I missed Santorini so much I took a solo trip. When I visited Fira I was disgusted by how many tourists were crowded in the streets. We were elbow to elbow. Trash littered the streets, spray paint all over the walls, initials etched into the cacti. Who does that?! I couldn’t get a single seat at a restaurant as they were all crowded. I did not see a single local who lived in this area as i use to see relaxing outside their homes. Where are these cats? Probably hiding in fear of the crowds. The island is now filled with narcissist trying to get the best selfies to get the most likes. These crowds of cruise ship tourists do not care about the island, they do not appreciate it either they are there making a mess and destroying what this beautiful island once was. A peaceful place where you can meet the locals, and where the elderly relaxed outside their homes. Now it’s chaos!! Please please stop huge tourism from the cruise ships. Such a sad thing to see the changes that occurred. My beautiful Santorini now destroyed.
Why are 3, 4 – even 5 – huge cruise ships allowed into Santorini at the same time? The thousands of tourists they disgorge spend relatively little, whilst being bused around the island. The only result is severely damaging the experience for visitors to Santorini who stay in hotels, eat in restaurants and are there for several days to properly enjoy the amazing beauty. Increasingly these visitors will stay away – and Santorini will turn into a huge over-developed theme park for cruise ship day-trippers.
I’ve been in Santorini just a few hours into our four day stay. I’m already horrified by the amount of people pouring in. The streets and alleys are impassable, yet the restaurants and stores have few patrons. This confirms the lack of economic benefit to the island. I’ve also witnessed terrible and entitled behavior from passengers who act like they own the place because they bought one coffee. This beautiful place should be taken care of and treasured, not treated like a stop on a tour bus. People who want to enjoy their time here will stop coming if this continues. Thank you for starting this petition, I hope many others sign it.
I’ve never visited Santorini, butI would love to one day, but I don’t want to be part of the problem. I had the joy of visiting other parts of Greece that aren’t saturated with tourists. By prohibiting cruise ships, Santorini can reclaim its charm. It would be in the best interest of the islands if cruise ships were banned.
Santorini is a really beautiful and magic island…that gets destroyed by the passengers of the numerous cruise ships that arrive here. We have experienced days with cruise ships and without and the difference was huge. It was so relaxing to walk through the streets without the day visitors from the ships! I am definitely in favour of banning the cruise ships.
Ban cruise ships from Santorini, negative effect on the environment, tourists dropping in on the island in huge numbers but a limited contribution to the local tourist services.
As a one time visitor to Santorini staying for 6 nights at a hotel in Firostefani, eating at local restaurants and shopping at local supermarkets I was gobsmacked at the number of cruise ship passengers hitting the island every day to do nothing but take a selfie or two, buy a cold drink and maybe a fridge magnet before heading back to the ship. I don’t see how this is sustainable or how it really benefits the local community while the cruise ship companies make millions.
I am doubtful that the ships will stop coming, but at the very least limit it to one ship at a time!
Everyone staying on the island wants cruise ships banned. However, I highly doubt they would do it because of the lost revenue, so the next best alternative would be to petition for a big increase in port fees from cruise ships. This would naturally reduce the number of ships stopping at Santorini and maintain revenue for the island. It’s a win-win.
I look forward to ten days in Santorini this year and hope the cruise ships stay away. They make it so hard to enjoy the beautiful island with so many tourists rushing around
I had wanted to visit Santorini for many years and when I finally visited in 2017 I was pretty disappointed with it thanks to the overcrowding by hoards of day trippers from the cruises.
Would love to visit again one day but my experience has put me off……..definitely all for the ban!!!
Please ban cruise ships to Santorini.
Went to Santorini for 20 years but now won’t go there or Mykonos because of the crowds. Primarily they are ruined by the cruise passengers who don’t even spend money and make it intolerable. If they do ban them I may go back again.
Santorini is a beautiful island and should not be treated as a “Disney Land” just for fun. This island deserved suistanable tourism without any big cruise ships.
Our family had the privilege of visiting santorini in July of 2021 without any crowds! What a gift! I can have imagined it as it looked in pictures. It’s such a special place!! I’m so grateful for the people and culture we got to meet this summer. A cruise ship would have drowned us and taken away from the experience.
No more cruise ships in Santorini!! Let covid set a precedent to say goodbye to the ridiculousness of too many people on such a lovely island!!
Cruise ships are horrible for the environment and they should be banned everywhere until they can do more good than harm to our oceans and the communities they travel to.
Cruise tourism is absolutely unsustainable for Santorini for many reasons. In my own experience I found the hours during which cruise passengers overcrowded the island no fun, because I prefer to enjoy the beauty of the island in a relaxed way. Santorini deserves to be experienced in tranquillity staying at least a few days.
Loved Santorini but the daily influx of people from cruise ships packed the streets, made roads impassible, and privacy in our cave house impossible. People on our roof, people sitting on our stairs and even on our porch. I would never return until cruise ships are banned.
I am a regular traveller to Santorini and have fallen in love with it. I no longer visit Oia as it has been destroyed by the cruise ships…Too many people who make it unbearable for residents and tourists like me who are staying there on vacation and who do contribute to hotels, restaurants, shops etc. ..The cruise ship visitors give almost nothing to the local businesses so contribute nothing to the people who live there. Do not let the crowds of cruise ship visitors destroy the natural beauty of Santorini.
I am not a resident of Santorini, but I have rented and worked on the island. I am signing Santorini Dave’s petition to ban cruise ships from Santorini because I strongly believe in long term growth and development for sustainable tourism. In addition to that, the damage cruise ships have to Santorini’s infrastructure is an environmental concern and it’s slowly eroding the natural beauty and wonder of the island. The cruise ship industry offers very little economic benefit and is detrimental to long term development and sustainable tourism. For these reasons I am signing this petition and urge everyone to do the same for Santorini’s survival.
Help restore Santorini to its rightful glory!
I am part-time resident to Santorini and think the cruise ships offer little monetary benefit to local businesses. Some, yes. But very little compared to overnight guests who come to enjoy the boat tours, wineries, good restaurants, and luxury hotels. Maybe a cruise ship visitor buys a t-shirt or few bottles of water. But often little more and sometimes not even that. Please no more cruise ships spoiling the Santorini caldera.