Every summer the Aegean fills with cruise traffic, and a handful of islands take most of it. Santorini and Mykonos now charge cruise passengers a special levy in peak season, and travellers who want the islands without the crowds are looking at a different way to sail: fewer passengers, smaller harbours and slower days. This guide looks at what that choice means in practice, from ship size and port rules to wind and cabins.
What counts as a small ship
There is no single official definition. The specialist operator Responsible Travel splits small ship cruising into three groups: the smallest vessels carry 2 to 30 passengers, medium ships 30 to 100, and the larger ships in the category go up to about 200. Compare that with Santorini, which according to AFAR received 1.3 million cruise passengers on roughly 800 ships in 2023, an average of more than 1,600 people per call. The difference is less about luxury than about scale.
Scale changes the whole day. A ship with a few dozen guests can anchor in a bay, bring everyone ashore in one or two trips and leave when it suits the route rather than a crowded port schedule. That is the core idea behind a boutique cruise: a small vessel, a low number of guests per crew member and itineraries built around quieter places such as Koufonisia in the Small Cyclades.
Why Santorini and Mykonos changed the rules
Santorini has about 25,000 permanent residents on 29 square miles. Its cruise arrivals grew from 980,771 passengers in 2019 to 1.3 million in 2023. AFAR notes that the island’s sustainable load has been put at around 8,000 cruise visitors a day, yet peak days reached 15,000, and about 17,000 people came ashore on 23 July 2024.
Greece responded with a per-passenger levy that took effect on 1 July 2025. Calls at Santorini and Mykonos cost 20 euros per passenger in peak season (June to September), and AFAR reported lower rates of 12 euros in April, May and October and 4 euros in winter. Other Greek ports charge 5 euros in peak season, 3 euros in the shoulder months and 1 euro in the low season. CruiseMapper reports that cruise lines are expected to absorb the charge within their fares and that the money goes to infrastructure, port maintenance and environmental protection. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has framed the issue as seasonal, saying that some destinations have a significant problem during certain weeks or months rather than Greece having a structural overtourism problem.
Where smaller ships make a difference
The practical benefit of a small ship is access. Responsible Travel notes that the smallest ships aim for the smallest bays, including the littlest islands in Greece, and that they can visit remote places while bringing extra income to communities that rarely benefit from tourism. Instead of timing your day around tender boats and the cable car up to Fira, you might swim off an anchored boat in the morning, walk into a harbour village before lunch and spend the evening somewhere with no pier for large ships at all.
Delos is a good example of what a slower Cycladic route can include. UNESCO, which listed the island as a World Heritage Site in 1990, describes it as the mythical birthplace of Apollo, one of the principal sanctuaries of the ancient Greek world and, after 167 BC, a free port that grew into a leading commercial centre of the Hellenistic Mediterranean. The whole island is an archaeological site and sits a short boat ride from Mykonos, so it rewards an itinerary that leaves real time for it.
Plan around the meltemi
The Aegean summer has its own wind. Britannica describes the etesian wind, known in Greece as the meltemi, as remarkably steady and says it generally dominates the Adriatic, Ionian and Aegean seas from about mid-May to mid-September. It tends to be strongest in the early afternoon and can drop at night.
On a small vessel you are close to the water, so ask how the operator plans for windy days. Do they have sheltered anchorages as alternatives, do they sail early in the morning, and how often do they change the route? It also helps to look at the calendar: the levy on Santorini and Mykonos is lower outside June to September, and late spring or October can mean quieter island streets.
Choose your cabin with care
Space is the trade-off. Responsible Travel warns that on the smallest boats you need to be comfortable living shoulder to shoulder with other guests, and that quarters below deck can be cosy. Medium ships may add a writing desk, a wardrobe and a private washbasin, while the larger small ships often have observation decks, bars and lecture rooms, with cabins that range from singles to quads.
Because cabins vary so much between vessels, look at the layout before you pay. Deck plans help, and some booking platforms now offer 3D virtual tours that let you walk through a cabin and the public decks on screen. Check where the cabin sits on the ship, whether it has a window and how much storage there is for a week of island hopping.
Questions to ask before you book
- How many passengers and how many crew are on board?
- Which stops are docked and which use tender boats?
- Are port levies, including the Santorini and Mykonos charge, already in the fare?
- What is the plan if the meltemi closes a planned anchorage?
- Which excursions, meals and drinks are included, and which are extra?
- Does the route include at least one island that large ships do not visit?
A small ship is not automatically better than a big one, but in the Aegean it answers a real problem. With levies on the busiest islands and more attention on crowding, choosing a smaller vessel, a well-timed date and a route with quieter harbours is one of the simplest ways to see the Greek islands at their own pace.
Sources
- AFAR, Can a New Cruise Tax Save Greece’s Most Popular Islands From Overtourism? https://www.afar.com/magazine/greek-island-santorini-to-charge-tax-for-cruise-passengers
- CruiseMapper, Greece rolls out €20 cruise levy for Santorini and Mykonos. https://www.cruisemapper.com/news/14919-greece-rolls-out-cruise-levy-santorini-mykonos
- Responsible Travel, What is a small ship cruise? https://www.responsiblevacation.com/vacations/small-ship-cruising/travel-guide/what
- Britannica, Etesian wind. https://www.britannica.com/science/etesian-wind
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Delos. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/530/
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