Bus Operators Strike Forces Santorini to Cancel All Cruise Calls

Cruise passengers scheduled to visit the beautiful island of Santorini, Greece, on June 22, 2026, never made it ashore.

All cruise ship arrivals planned for Monday were cancelled after the island’s tourist bus operators launched a strike over a controversial new passenger transportation system.

The strike left cruise lines without the buses needed to move passengers around the island, forcing local authorities to cancel the day’s scheduled calls.

At the center of the dispute is Santorini’s new “70-30” passenger distribution plan, which was created by the Municipal Port Fund of Thira and took effect on June 15, 2026.

As previously reported by Cruise Hive, the plan was introduced to reduce congestion around Fira, where cruise passengers traditionally arrive by tender before taking the island’s cable car, walking path, or donkeys to the clifftop town.

Under the new system, approximately 70 percent of passengers continue to arrive through the traditional route serving Fira while 30 percent are directed through Athinios Port and transported around the island by bus.

Local officials have said the change is intended to spread visitors more evenly across the island and reduce long lines at the cable car station during busy cruise days.

Bus operators, however, argue the system was introduced without consultation and creates operational challenges for local transportation companies.

The Santorini Tourist Buses Association told Greek media, the new system is “unfair and dysfunctional without the implementation of [time slots] for the disembarkation of cruise passengers between Fira and Athinios.”

The association also cited the lack of suitable parking spaces for tourist buses, the absence of organized meeting points, and the lack of overall planning that would create serious problems in traffic and visitor service, saying the impact would “discredit the island.”

The strike quickly escalated into a disruption for cruise tourism. Although ships were still able to reach Santorini, authorities cancelled all cruise arrivals.

According to local media, business groups said the cancellations cost Santorini approximately 425,000 euros in lost revenue for the single day.

Cruise Ships Impacted by Shutdown

The cancellation affected multiple cruise ships that had planned calls in Santorini on June 22.

The largest vessel impacted was Celebrity Cruises’ Celebrity Ascent, carrying up to 3,260 passengers, which was scheduled to spend 15 hours in port as part of an 11-night Greece, Turkey, and Italy voyage sailing from Civitavecchia, Italy.

Norwegian Cruise Line’s 2,344-passenger Norwegian Pearl and MSC Cruises’ MSC Sinfonia, carrying nearly 2,000 guests, were also not allowed to disembark in Santorini. Both ships were meant to have full-day calls on the island during their Mediterranean voyages.

Whether bus operators will continue to strike or if local officials will revise the policy remains unclear. What is clear is that the dispute was enough to bring cruise operations on one of the Mediterranean’s busiest islands to a standstill.