Buffy

Cruising to the Med. for the first time & need some advise on shore excursions. Is it better/easier to just go with what the ship has to offer or is it safe & easy enough to do on your own? Shore excursions from ship look real expensive. Cities we'll be visiting are Rome, Florence, Monte Carlo & Barcelona.<BR><BR>Any comments/advise would be appreciated.<BR><BR>thanks<BR><BR>

homer

Land excursions are expensive. They are for your convenience. They let you enjoy a cruise without plannning stuff.<BR><BR>If you are concerned about money, maybe you should save up a few more bucks and then go on your cruise. That way you can enjoy it more without worrying about the fees for excurions.<BR><BR>If you have never been to europe before, then it sounds like you will not be equipped for arranging your own land tours yourself and you might be better off with just going with what the ship offers.

Paul Therault

Excellent advice.<BR><BR>

Paul

Buffy, yes it is easier to buy the shore excursions, but they are very expensive and they isolate you from the culture and people you are trying to experience. Just returned from the Splendour cruise that it looks like you will be taking & did all of our own excursions...took the train, bus, etc. My wife and I loved it. Much better than being carted around in a bus with a bunch of other Americans. We did it on our own pace & saw exactly what we wanted to see.<BR><BR>Just do a search for "excursions" and a lot will come up. I asked the same question as you and got loads of helpful advice. You won't regret it.

Mandy

Buffy, I always research each port, figure out what I want to see and how much time it will take, and then look at the cruise excursions. <BR><BR>It's worth taking the excursion if it is difficult or expensive to get transportation to a particular location, it allows you enough time to really see the sights, or it is particularly beneficial to have a tour guide provide details of the sights.<BR><BR>For instance, Florence: the ships dock usually in Livorno, and it's pretty convenient to take the train to Florence. The ship's excursions by bus park about two miles outside of the city and then you have a long way to walk, plus they may not allow enough time to see what you want in Florence (of course, one day is not enough anyhow!).<BR><BR>Monte Carlo is easy to see on your own; however, it is expensive to get a car and driver to see other towns.<BR><BR>We usually do a combination of self-tour and ship excursions and have rarely regretted going with the ship's tours.

Paul

Rome is also easy to reach by train (assume port is Citivetchia..sp?). Also, Monte Carlo is on train line and can easily reach Nice and new Eze (have to take a van to the top to see old Eze). Buses along the Cote d-azur also run frequently and are easy to use. <BR><BR>Have a sense of adventure and do it on you own! It was our first European trip too and we were fine. Just need to do a little research, and as mentioned earlier, if you do a search on excursions, you'll find plenty of threads. Do the same search on the Europe forum...and do searches on the specific towns and you'll get more helpful advice. For Florence, reserve museum tickets ahead of time. Good luck.

Peter

Buffy - I can tell you from personal experience that you'll need to "save up a lot more than a few dollars" to take the ship's excursions than to do the same thing yourself. Take my word for it that you'll save the equivilent of the price for the cruise itself by spending the time to research the ports and plan your own excurions using public transportation like trains and hydofoils. On the cruise I was on, they wanted over $300 apiece to see the sights of Florence and we did it for less than $100 for the four of us. Same museums, same churches, same shopping and had a great lunch. <BR><BR>Disregard the advice of Homer and Paul - they support the views and interests of the cruise lines who get percentages of the excursions from the "independent" agents.

anniel

Buffy, <BR>If you do sufficient research and have the confidence, seeing places by yourself is OK. However, do bear in mind that Citivecchia..or however it is spelt! is a long way from Rome. Be sure you get the train times correct and know exactly what you want to see in Rome. Also that you get back well before the ship sails. I have never done the excursion to Rome as I have spent hols. there before, but it was an extremely long day for the passengers who went. Excursions can be very worthwhile depending on the expertise of the guide. I have to say I have learnt more about places I have visited by going with a guide rather than wandering around by ourselves.<BR><BR>really it is a case of personal choice, although I do think many excursions are very overpriced and the cruise lines must be making lots of money from them.

KAC

Also look into private tours if you are worried about navigating on your own in a particular port. Search the web and look for reviews and company websites. They can be more expensive or cheaper depending on who you go with and the amount of people you have. Most charge by the cab not by the person so it is much cheaper to have 3 or 4 people instead of 2. The nice thing about a private tour (usually in an A/C mercedes sedan) is that you get to do what YOU want to do and you don't have to wait for everybody else to get on the bus and off the bus. Plus at some ports cars can travel on narrow roads that a bus can't. Less walking and waiting = more sightseeing time.

lyn

We are going on a second Med cruise and we do a combination of ship tours and on our own. I think it is easier to take the ships bus to Rome and Florence but we decide where to go and book our own museum tours. Barcelona has a tourist bus that covers the same sights as the ships tour, but we are going to Monserrat this time. Monte Carlo has a variety of options - if you want to go out of the city you will have to decide if you want to drive or use public transportation or take tours. In Naples, we hired a private guide for an all day tour, but in Athens we will use the ships tours. Venice is a toss-up. You really have to do some research and decide what you want to see, and how much of the logistics you want to hassle with!

Paul Therault

<BR>Anniel also gives good advice. If you listen to Peter you may miss the ship and then you have the adventure of a lifetime.<BR><BR>Paul

Chris

Buffy,<BR>I am also going on a Med. cruise for the first time. A poster on this site gave me very valuable info a few months ago on exactly how to do the excursions on your own. If you add it up, you will save hundreds of dollars by going on your own, and it sounds easy to do. If you would like, I can forward you the info.<BR>Chris

Peter

Buffy - listen to Chris. You will save hundreds of dollars and you won't miss the ship. Paul continues to echo the cruise line threat geared to scare you into using their excursions for which THEY will make the hundreds of dollars you could save.<BR><BR>My personal experience in the Med and friends of mine who now have two cruises over their suggest that travel in Europe is actually easier and more reliable than most anywhere else I have been. With proper research, you can design your days in Europe to suit your individual taste and pocketbook. You'll do the things that interest you, when you want to do them and for how long.

Bob

"they wanted over $300 apiece to see the sights of Florence and we did it for less than $100 for the four of us. Same museums, same churches, same shopping and had a great lunch"<BR><BR>$25 EACH, Peter get real, where was your great lunch? Mcdonalds?<BR><BR>I have done Florence many times and yes, you can do it cheaper than the cruise lines charge, but it will cost you much more than $25 a person

Peter

Well Bob - the train was about five dollars apiece round trip and lunch was about $45 total for a great spaghetti meal for two of us, some fettechini for my oldest daughter and some sort of pizza for my youngest. Not gourmet, but very good - oh, got a bottle of wine included. The restaurant was just around the corner from Ponte Veechio (sp?)bridge (northeast). Also included the twenty each way for the taxi to and from the train station. Ok, so its a little over $100 - sorry.<BR><BR>So Bob - when you did Florence by yourself and it cost you "much more than $25 apiece" what did you do and how much did it cost?