What the Santorini and Mykonos cruise fee costs you this autumn, and when it drops

If your cruise stops at Santorini or Mykonos before the end of September, Greece charges €20 for every passenger who goes ashore; from 1 October it falls to €12, and from 1 November to €4. Every other Greek port charges €5, €3 and €1 across the same three seasons. The charge is officially a “sustainable tourism fee”, introduced in July 2025 to ease pressure on the most crowded islands, and it is unchanged for 2026. It is levied on the cruise line, not on you directly — but lines are increasingly passing it straight to passengers.

The fee, season by season

The same stop costs five times as much in August as in December. The schedule has three bands, and the popular islands pay four times the rate of everywhere else.

For a family of four on a late-September sailing that calls at both islands, that is €160 in fees. The same itinerary a fortnight later, in October, is €96. That arithmetic is ours; the rates are as reported by Euronews and Cruise Industry News.

Who actually pays it

The cruise company is billed, and more of them are billing you. Lines declare their disembarkations on a digital platform and pay quarterly; port authorities can refuse future calls to a line that does not. How that reaches the passenger depends on the company. AIDA Cruises, for example, now adds the fee to shipboard accounts for bookings made after 1 August 2026, and other lines have warned guests about it. The one reliable way to avoid it at a given port is not to go ashore there.

Check your booking terms for the phrase “port taxes” or “government fees”. If it is included in the fare, you have already paid; if it is listed as extra, expect it on your final bill.

Santorini has also changed where you land

Most tendered passengers now come ashore at the old port below Fira, not at Athinios. The Municipal Port Fund of Thira ruled that only 30% of passengers arriving by tender may land at Athinios, down from 40%, with the remaining 70% sent to Ormos Fira. Local authorities tied the decision to civil-protection measures adopted after the island’s 2025 seismic crisis, to keep clear space for emergencies. For passengers that mostly means the cable car or the famous steps up to Fira, rather than a road transfer from Athinios — so allow time.

How much is the Santorini cruise fee?

€20 per passenger per visit from 1 June to 30 September, €12 in April, May and October, and €4 from November to March.

Do cruise passengers pay the Greek fee directly?

No, the cruise company is charged, but many lines pass it on to passengers, for example through shipboard accounts or as a listed port fee. Passengers who stay on board at a port are not charged for that port.

Is the Greek cruise fee the same in 2026 as in 2025?

Yes. Cruise Industry News reports that the tiers introduced in July 2025 remain unchanged for 2026.

Sources: Euronews, 21 July 2025, on the Greek sustainable tourism fee; Cruise Industry News, August 2026, on the 2026 rates and AIDA’s billing, and 13 June 2026 on Santorini’s tender limits. Example totals are our arithmetic. Check with your cruise line for how fees apply to your booking.

Cover photo: Diego F. Parra via Pexels (Pexels License). Section photos: ΧΡΗΣΤΟΣ ΜΙΧΑΛΑΙΝΑΣ via Pexels (Pexels licence); Mike Kw via Pexels (Pexels licence); K via Pexels (Pexels licence).