Book through your cruise planner in advance and check exactly how much beach time each excursion includes.
Royal Beach Club Santorini is a cruise-excursion beach club on the island’s southern coast, in the Vlychada area, below pale volcanic cliffs beside a black sand and pebble beach. It is run by Royal Caribbean and designed as a bookable add-on through the cruise planner, so you arrive as part of an organised excursion rather than walking in off the street.
Food was the highlight for us. The Greek buffet covered salads, fish, souvlaki, gyros and filled pitas, and the frozen Greek yoghurt at the end of it felt genuinely local in a way that surprised us. Cold mint-scented towels and a welcome drink were waiting when we arrived. Loungers, umbrellas, towels, showers, changing facilities and Wi-Fi are all included, and draft beer, house wine, soft drinks and coffee come with the excursion too. Speciality cocktails and bottled drinks cost extra, and your ship drinks package does not transfer here.
There is no pool, and the black gravel shoreline is uncomfortable underfoot, so bring water shoes if you plan to swim. We visited after a long day in Oia and Fira, and the three hours we had to eat, rest and swim felt about right. It suits cruise passengers who want somewhere to decompress at the end of a sightseeing day rather than a full beach day from scratch.
Our takeThe Greek food alone makes this worth it after a long day on foot in Oia and Fira. Bring water shoes: the shoreline without them is a regret.
Royal Beach Club sits in the Vlychada area on the southern coast of Santorini, below pale volcanic cliffs facing the Aegean Sea.
Our Mediterranean summer aboard Celebrity Xcel took us from Athens to Barcelona, with Santorini, Mykonos, Ephesus and Valletta along the way. We loved the ship and the itinerary, although the intense July heat and busy school-holiday crowd made it a slightly different Celebrity cruise from the one we had expected.