Less Expensive Excursions Anyone?
 

My family (two teens, two adults) will be taking a once in a lifetime Mediterranean Cruise at the end of March 2007 with Carnival. We will be visiting Rome, Naples, Florence, Greek islands, and Turkey. I want to be able to take them on all the excursions, but it looks like a helluva lot of money, esp for four people! I want to give my kids this cultural and historical experience, especially since who knows when and if we'll ever get to go again, but I don't want to go broke doing it! Does anyone know of any less expensive alternatives, keeping in mind cruise time limitations, transportation, and language barriers?
Thanks!



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With a little research you should be able to tour major European cities on your own. I've never encountered a significant language barrier. Before I go I learn basic words and phrases (hello, thank you, yes, no, wonderful). The biggest question is going to be how far will you dock from the cities you visit; ship transportation into town should not be too expensive. Have fun! The best part of travelling is meeting people from wherever I visit.

We done tive European cruises with two sons and almost never take the ship excursions. For four people it is far too expensive and most will not meet your needs. I give you the quick summary and you can e-mail questions.

1. Research each port thoroughly via local library, DVDs. Rick Steves, etc. Develop a list or priority for sites at each port

2. First off the ship and head to the local TI to book local tours, tour guides, etc.

3. Consider hiring a taxi driver with good English for a tour.

4. Always have the mind set that we will see that next time. Makes it easier to skip something BECAUSE you can not, will not be able to see everything.

5. Grab from applies, rolls, etc. from the ship so you don't have to stop for lunch.

6. If you want other tips, write.

Agree wtih above. We did the Med tours on our own and saved a ton of loot too. Do some research, assess what interests you most in each port, disembark, grab a cab, cut a deal and go. There will be many private cabs and tour operators just waiting for customers at each port. Bear in mind the USD is relatively weak vs. the Euro but compared to the ships offerings you will save alot.

We are booking a Pisa trip with Luca from Hills and Roads. [email protected] We used him when we were in Rome March 2006. He and another guide took us through Tuscany to Florence. We are using him again when we go on a cruise that stops in Livorno. He is charging us $32 Euros per hour for 2 people ($40 per hour for 4 people plus $60 fee to travel to Livorno. We've been to Florence so he is taking us to Pisa, Lucca and wine tasting.

We have booked a private tour in Turkey with a travel agent that specializes in Turkey. 3 girlfriends used her and were so happy with Turkey that they are planning a trip back. Engin is her name and her e-mail is [email protected]
She is giving us a rate of $80 per person for private guide, lunch and entrance fees.

You might want to look at www.cruisecritic.com
There are cruise specific chat threads where others may have already contacted local tour companies and are looking for additional members.
These are typically less money and often preferable to the cruise lines' offerings.
Buen viaje.
M

Try Luca or Claudio.....We used them both and they are amazing. Check out the tour guide discussion on this site.....and you will find out information about Claudio. Marilee

I am leaving on a cruise May 30 and have been doing extensive research on the tours because personally some of them sound useless and expensive - think it comes from years of watching cruisers get off the ships in the islands and pay for unnecessary tours. Hence I have been looking for more efficient alternatives. One helpful site is portreviews.com. It lists all of the ports and information which would help you make some of your decisions. For example - Florence is 90 miles from the dock and Rome is 50 miles from the dock - not a good one to walk to town! But on the other hand in Santorini ships tender you to the shore where you have a choice of a donkey ride a walk uphill for about 45 minutes on the donkey trail or a cable car. Hmmm!
I have found that it gives you enough information that you begin to understand if it is a port to do on your own - in some ports that is great while others you will definitely want a guide or at least ship transportation to the destinaiton - I have told that if you use their transportation then they have to wait for you- maybe some else can clarify that for you. Good luck.

The last statement is true. If using the ship's excursion and transportation, the ship will wait. If you are on your own, the ship does not wait. On two different occasions have actually seen people standing on the dock waving (begging, hoping ?) as the ship pulled away. When on your own, don't be late.

I will play devil's advocate. If this is a once in a lifetime cruise, bite the bullet and go on ship excursions. FAR less stress. Things to consider: if you are late getting back to ship on your own, you're out-o-luck. They will wait for their own excursions. You don't know who you are hiring! We went on an excursion in Monaco once--had a great time at the famous casino and walking around. Folks who went on own had an hr late train and were very disappointed in the TIME they lost. Language barriers aren't a big deal in continental Europe, but in Turkey and the Greek Island, you might find out otherwise. Turkey borders Iraq, did you know that? I wouldn't go off on my own there period.
The excursions we took in France and Italy were WONDERFUL. We had terrific meals included with all the wine we could drink in Italy. Be sure to do the Amalfi Coastline, btw. I had to use a little xanax as I fear heights, but it was amazingly gorgeous.
I think it's a LOT safer and easier to choose from the list. I would get the teens in on the decisions, however. I remember my surly kids at that age!
:-) Good luck and have an amazing time.

WaldrenLover is not the devil's advocate -- just the other side of the coin. Everyone has different priorities when traveling. That is good -- otherwise it would be pretty dull. No single decision is perfect as all decisions have trade-offs or compromises with your priorities. Obviously, WaldrenLover puts a lot of value in convenience, security, comfort etc. And ship excusions provide that. AND sometimes you need that.

To be independent of ship's excursion you do need a sense of adventure and willingness to roll with problems. Having said that, we have never had a bad experience with local tours. But we don't go in blind either. My early post describes our approach or prep for each port. Security has never been a major concern for us because we believe that most area are safe. Turkey would not bother us because Irag is over a thousand miles away and that border area is Kurdish.

Beside the expense for four people associated with ship excursion, our problem with them is the hurry up and wait syndrome along with herding a bunch of cattle and not being able to do what we want to do. And with two teenage sons, that was a big priority for us. If just traveling by ourselves it might be different but two kids add a whole different level of complexity.

Do a mix. You don't have to commit to every excursion in advance. Do a couple early in the cruise and see if you like them. With some exceptions most excursion do not fill up. Do some good advance planning for a port, and try it independently and see if you like that.

There is no one perfect solution to your question.