Review: Shore Excursions Group (Exclusive Santorini, Oia, and Winery Tour)

This is a review of an excursion I booked through Shore Excursions Group during my family’s Mediterranean cruise. You can read the entire report, starting HERE.

Website Description

Exclusive Santorini, Oia and Winery Tour

Departing from the tender pier at Fira port, you will be led to your transportation. From here, you will begin your exploration of this wonderful island.

Your Santorini Winery tour will take you to the major must see sites on the island. Depending on traffic the day of your tour, the order you see the sites may vary from the tour description order. One of your stops will be at the village of Oia, located at the northern tip of the island. As you travel along, you will see the different layers of lava the volcano had produced making a timeline of the island’s history. Oia offers magnificent views of the caldera and the rest of the other islands. Depending on the time of day, the sun paints the cliffs with different shades of color and light like an ever-changing landscape painting. Perhaps this is one of the reasons that Oia attracts so many artists. With its cobblestone streets, beautiful old mansions and houses perched on the cliffside, you can admire the traditional Cycladic architecture for which Santorini is so well known.

From Oia, you will travel across the terraced island, through Pyrgos village and make your way up to the highest peak of Santorini, Mt. Profitis Ilias.(883 feet) Here a monastery of the same name was built in 1712. Although you cannot enter the monastery, you can enjoy its magnificent view of the entire island from the south end of Perissa Beach to the north part of the island were Oia village is situated.

After the photo stop, you will drive to one of the local wineries on the island. Here you can learn about how wines were once produced on the island, as well as learning of the unique way in which grapes are grown and harvested on Santorini. You will be able to sample three of the most famous wines of Santorini.

From the winery, you will make your way back to the town of Fira, the picturesque capital town of the island built on the rim of the caldera wall. Your guide will lead you to the major pedestrian street where they will give you a brief orientation of how to navigate the town before you explore on your own. Wander the endless maze of whitewashed streets looking for jewelry, gifts, or the perfect view of the caldera while you enjoy a coffee or wine. The tour ends in Fira, so you can enjoy the atmosphere of this beautiful place and return to your ship at your leisure.

Please Note: The tour duration does not include the time required to tender ashore from your ship. This tour ends in Fira Town.

Process/Booking

I found a few of our excursions through Shore Excursions Group. It’s an easy website to navigate, as you put in your exact itinerary and it pulls up all of your options. The checkout process is super simple, as well. I received a separate voucher for each excursion purchased, with details/instructions.

A few planning notes:

The website has you pay in USD, so there’s no exchange rate.
I did plan a few Euros for tip when I ordered them from my bank.
WhatsApp is majorly used in Europe, so I had that downloaded. As soon as we got into port, I checked it for messages from the tour operators. This was the form of communication for all of our transfers/excursions/tours.

Excursion Recap

Note: Most of this portion is the same as my trip report. If you’ve already read that, you can skip along to my overall thoughts below!

The instructions were fairly clear, so we easily found our tour group when we arrived in port. We checked in and they told us to come back at 3pm (50 minutes). We took the opportunity to walk through all the shops along the port. It was there that we discovered the Greeks’ love for wood carved penis decorations.

Being completely honest, I wasn’t fond of the port area. It’s super narrow. There were four ships in that day and it was really crowded…. it got very overwhelming. We went back at the tour meeting spot at 2:50pm…. and ended up waiting until after 3:15pm before leaving. It was NUTS, so the tenders couldn’t dock. We finally got one and boarded. From there, we were taken to an industrial port to board buses that were waiting for us.

Our first stop was Santos Wines, where we enjoyed a wine tasting and cheese board. It was a bit unorganized, at first, but fun once it got going. Megan was split up from us, so Em and I were seated with a nice family from various states in America.

Next stop was Mount Profitis Ilias, a monastery and chapel that are the highest building of the Orthodox Church. The views were pretty, but honestly, I could have skipped this stop.

From there, we took a lengthy drive to Oia. Oia is the village that everyone thinks of when thinking of Santorini. All the picturesque spots that we see are in Oia. Just a warning – When taking a tour, the bus lot is pretty far from the center of the village and downhill. It is A LOT of steps up to the main village. We did the hike up and walked around, taking photos and looking for souvenirs. I REALLY liked Oia and would have loved having more than the hour-ish that we got there.

As our time in Oia came to a close, we got a yummy frozen beverage and headed back to the bus. Again – it’s a lengthy walk and the steps are not the easiest.

The drive back to Fira was about 20 minutes. There was another hike up a hill (this a theme that will continue). We got to the town and split for the rest of the group. My parents were already in line for the funicular and were warning us that it was a long one. We knew that we’d probably need to just walk down the steps, so we decided to head that way.

Overall Thoughts

I didn’t dislike this tour, but I’m not completely sure what level that I would recommend it. Especially with the price they’re now charging for it. In summer 2023, it was listed at $115 with a special of $99 (which is what we paid). Currently in June 2025, it’s listed at $192 with a special discount at $147. I’m not sure that I would pay that for it. I’d honestly have to price compare with the cruise line and other websites.

Things I liked/disliked:

Our Guide – I can’t recall our tour guide’s name, but she did a good job. Her accent was VERY thick and she spoke somewhat softly, so we had a tough time understanding her, sometimes.
Tour transportation – I was really glad that we didn’t have to go up the funicular. It was SO crowded and all of the tours seemed to be having trouble. It took a while to get us figured out. Once they did, though, it was very convenient. They took us to more of an industrial port and loaded us onto buses from there.
Winery – I did enjoy it a lot. It was super chaotic when we arrived and my sister got split up from us. There were individual guests and multiple bus groups. It’s a pretty large establishment. Once we did get settled, it was a lot of fun and the wine/charcuterie was delicious. Plus, the views while we walked around were gorgeous.
Mt. Profitis Ilias – I could have skipped this part. It was slightly harrowing to get to and then was mainly just a photo stop. Our guide did tell us a bit about the history of it, but it wasn’t a real highlight, for me.
Oia – I LOVED Oia. We were guided to the center of the village and then let loose for a period of time. I could have easily spent double or triple the amount of time exploring.
Fira – Our time in Fira was so quick that I really didn’t get to see any of it. What I saw while we were speed walking to the stairs was something I’d like to see more of, though. It would be nice if they gave us more time there.

I felt like the tour showed us a lot, so I’m glad for that! I probably would choose a different excursion, just because I now know where I want to spend more time.

Italy/Greece 2023 Trip Report (September 1 – 15, 2023)
– The Beginning (Vivi Alla Giornata!)
– The Planning Process (Rome)
– The Planning Process (Greece Ports)
– The Planning Process (Italy Ports)
– Flight Confusion
– Day 0: Leave for Rome (September 1, 2023)
– Day 1: Rome Arrival and City Tour (September 2, 2023)
– Day 2: Board the Breakaway (September 3, 2023)
– Day 3: Sea Day (September 4, 2023)
– Day 4: Santorini, Greece (September 5, 2023)
– Day 5: Athens (Piraeus), Greece (September 6, 2023)
– Day 6: Mykonos, Greece (September 7, 2023)
– Day 7: Olympia (Katakolon), Greece (September 8, 2023)
– Day 8: Valletta, Malta (September 9, 2023)
– Day 9: Messina (Sicily), Italy (September 10, 2023)
– Day 10: Naples, Italy (September 11, 2023)
– Day 11: Florence/Pisa (Livorno), Italy (September 12, 2023)
– Day 12: Disembark and Vatican City (September 13, 2023)
– Day 13: Rome (September 14, 2023)
– Day 14: Leaving Rome (September 15, 2023) and Some Final Thoughts