Hello Fellow Travelers!
My fiance and I are travelling on a 20 day cruise in July. We are 25 & 26 and are experienced travelers. Many of the places we have not been to, however, so we are wondering whether to take a cruise excursion or do it ourselves! We are very comfortable taking public transportation so if it is somewhere where we can take the metro to the sights, we can easily do that. But, we are not sure where there are the long travel that would require taxis and such. The itinerary is below and ANY advice is greatly appreciated!!! Thanks so much! Craig and Meg
*Sail from Civitavecchia (Rome), 5:00pm
*Livorno (Florence/Pisa), Italy 7:00am 8:00pm
*Monte Carlo, Monaco 8:00am 5:00pm
*Barcelona, Spain 12:00n overnight until the next day at 11pm (I have been to Barcelona so feel comfortable going on our own there)
*Palma de Mallorca, Spain 9:00am 6:00pm
*Sea Day
*La Goulette (Tunis), Tunisia 8:00am 5:00pm
*Palermo, Sicily, Italy 8:00am 5:00pm
*Naples, Italy 7:00am 6:00pm
*Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy 7:00am 5:00pm
*Sea Day
*Dubrovnik, Croatia 8:00am 6:00pm
*Kerkira, Corfu, Greece 9:00am 7:00pm
*Katakolon, Greece 7:00am 2:00pm
*Thira (Santorini), Greece (comfortable here as well)
*Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey 7:00am 7:00pm
*Piraeus (Athens), Greece 8:00am 6:00pm
*Sea Day
*Messina, Italy 7:00am 1:00pm
*Debark Ship Civitavecchia 7:00a
Mediterranean Cruise
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If you go to cruisecritic.com you will find a wealth of information regarding touring on your own. It is under Ports of Call on the Forums.
That said, DH and I have been on a Med cruise that stopped in Athens, Corfu and Katakolon.
In Athens we used the metro and buses to go from Piraeus to Athens. Very easy to get around on your own. We were in port the same amount of time. We were able to tour the Acropolis, Syntagma Square, National Archaeological Museum and the Plaka area. Just make sure to give yourself at least an hour to get back to the ship from downtown Athens.
In Corfu we rented a car and drove all over the island. Had a blast. We also rented a car in Katakolon to drive to ancient Olympia. We arrived before the tour groups and had the place almost to ourselves. As we were ready to leave, there were hundreds of people on tour buses arriving.
We never take ship sponsored excursions. Not only are they expensive, but you are treated like cattle.
As for Greece i couldn't agree more with BarbAnn..
No need to take any of these excursions, being on your own is much more fun, as you can spend your time where and how you like.
The city of Corfu is a magnificent old city, and it will take a couple of hours to see all of it, using a car is a good idea to drive around the island, but it will be almost impossible to find a parking space in the city.
Katakolon is a place where there is nothing to do, renting a car is the only possibility to get to Olympia or drive around in the area.....
Finally it takes an hour from Piraeus to the center of Athens, where possibilities are endless... if you would like to visit the Acropolis, best thing is to go there as early as possible to avoid the heat....
Do it yourself and this is a great website for Italy
http://www.ftroute.com/ItalianTrains.htm
Your biggest "problem" is going to be Livorno. The ships typically dock in an industrial port area and the BEST way to get from there into the city..and more importantly, to the train station (to go to Florence/Pisa) is to GET A TAXI. Don't even THINK of trying to get to the station using public transport...I've done it and it is more of a hassle and a big time-waster.