Celebrity Reflection Western Mediterranean Cruise
 

Depart 9/11/2017 out of Rome. Looking for excursion or sightseeing advice for stops in Nice/Villefranche France, Barcelona Spain-have 2 days, Ibizia, Malaga & Cartagena Spain and Gibraltar United Kingdom.

We didn't book tours for Nice or Barcelona. Used public transport/taxis and had a great time exploring vieux Nice and Barcelona city center.

We were in Barcelona on a huge public holiday, Gaudi buildings and Sacgrda Familia were mobbed but had seen them on a previous trip.

Friends took the ship's basic city tour and saw more than we did as they went to a lookout point and down to the harbor built for the Olympics.

Before committing to any tours, those provided by the ship or otherwise, take in to account the day of the week and any local holidays. The ship's tours range from mostly drive-bys with a few stops to very focused activities such as the Alhambra to very active things. Note the Alhambra is fascinating but LOTS of walking.

We've been on about 8 celebrity cruises and have used their tours in Istanbul and Athens. For comparisons, see what people are talking about on cruisecritic.com. You may find people looking to share a taxi tour or fill a small van for a private tour.

Thanks for the reply. I am on the roll call already for my cruise on Cruise Critic.

In Villefranche we cabbed it to Monaco. Pretty cool.

The SF is a must IMHO. The lines will be long but for a good reason. Its simply other worldly.

Returned from this 3 weeks ago. Villefranche- we took the train to Antibes for the day, 30 minutes, easy to do, having been to Antibes we wanted to return.

Gibraltar, booked a walking tour thru the ship, it was a waste of time and money. Had a horrible guide who didn't usually do this tour and 'didn't want to bore us with dates or facts'???? Only interested in telling us his work history on Gibraltar, our 2.5 hr tour was 1 hr 15 minutes. It's very easy DIY port, about 15 minute walk from the ship and other than going to the top of the rock it's quite boring.

Cartagena, again we did a walking tour offered by Celebrity. This could very well be another DIY as not lots to see or do other than visit the fortress but nice for enjoying a coffee or drink in a cafe and people watching.

Malaga, we had a small group tour with people we connected with them cruise critic. Excellent visit to the Alhambra and some time on our own in Granada. It was a fairly long day but we started early and our tour of the Alhambra and Generalife Gardens was very interesting. Definitely a highlight of our trip.

Barcelona, we did the HOHO bus the first day but due to traffic didn't feel this was a great alternative. We had visited Barcelona for nearly a week 2 years earlier so had already visited most things we wanted to do. Lots of nice places to have an evening out. Day 2 we visited La Boqueria market and ambled along La Rambla. Totally agree, if you've not been before, the Sagrada Familia is a must see but if not on a tour that goes INSIDE, pre-purchase your tickets!!!! Someone mentioned their tour only showed the outside of SF, IMHO it would be such a waste not to visit and see the entire SF.

Ibiza, we had a private tour to some of the smaller towns on the island which we found interesting. Afterwards we just walked Ibiza, had lunch and drinks and took a taxi back to the ship.