bratsandbeer

sinverguenza Loved what you wrote!

hotzim

You should book a repositioning cruise that has lots of days at sea and is usually quite a bargain to boot. There is a huge difference when you move up the food chain and I expect you will enjoy your fellow cruisers more and will feel less like cattle being herded than you would on larger ships. The other thing I would look at is which ports tender and which dock. Tendering is the biggest pain.

anita63

Interesting perspective Sin...so, I'm reading between the lines when I ask, "do you get off at each port?" LOL

I think we're sticking to a relaxed pace and walking the nearby streets from where we dock. The only exception is I found a tour guy who will pick us up at Marseille and take us to the Chateauneuf de Pape wine region for a taste and a quick look around Avignon. It's a private tour so we're in control of time.

Ellen, I found my 'personal' tour guide by googling what I wanted to see followed by the word tour guide. For example, I wanted to go to the wine region and googled "chateauneuf de pape private tours" and a whole list comes up. I then go down the list and see which ones 'look' decent enough and then cross reference their names again in Google to see if tour name comes up in Trip Advisor or Fodors or something like that. Once I get my short list, I email those people who I found on line and ask their opinion and THEN I email the tour guy...whew! Pretty lengthy process, but I've never been burned that way.

Percy

ellen56

Some of the tour guide are from recommendations from friends....so now you know they are good.

Other tour guides ( mostly this )I find by using the Internet as most of them have websites.

I have never booked a tour guide and been disappointed .!!!

When I was going to Tallin Estonia I booked this guide over the Internet and via e-mail.

But before I would arrive in Tallin I was going to be in Helsinki Finland several days before coming to Tallin.

So I asked my Tallin Tour guide if he knew of anyone good in Helsinki.

He said ( get this ) " I will take the early morning ferry from Tallin and meet you in Helsinki when your cruise ship arrives and tour you around Helsinki."

Our cruise ship and our Tallin Tour guide arrived within 10 minutes of each other !

So you do meet some nice people.

Of course it is more costly doing a tour in Helsinki ( or anywhere ) with a tour guide...BUT I see a lot more.

I am sure others find a tour guides in about the same manner....either from recommendations on Fodors or own their own.

Percy

sinverguenza:

me too...love what you wrote.