First trip to Europe, Need HELP
 

We are taking a cruise that starts in Rome and ends in Barcelona. The port stops are: Sorrento,Sardinia, Florence, Portofino, Monte Carlo, Provence and Mallorca.
We will be spending 2 nights in rome and 2 nights in Barcelona. I've pretty much worked these 4 days out, except for Resturants.
The question is, should I look to book tours through the cruise ship ($$$$$) or do you suggest we do the port stops on our own? What about reservations for the museums and such.
How much should we pay for transportation to these places when we get off the ship? (4 people) Will there be realible car services at the ports? Anything special at these stops we should see? So far, We booked Residenza Antica in Rome, and Top Hotel Ramblas in Barcelona.
Just a stab in the dark. We don't leave till Sept., so I could change them.
I really would appreciate any and all info and tips you could give me.
Thanks!

You might do better to re-post this with a new message headr mentioning that you "want info on tours at port stops on a Mediterranean cruise, versus do-it-yourself".

Best wishes,

Rex

Hi cre,

One of your stops is Florence?

In case your ship actually stops in Livorno, it's about 1 1/2 hr by train to Florence from Livorno Centrale.

Schedule at www.trenitalia.com/en.

I suggest you check out cruisecritic.com. It's a forum I found to be really helpful when I planned a cruise. You can post your question there or you just do a search on your different ports of call and see what tours people arranged on their own and through their cruise ship.

And Provence, to my knowledge, is an area, not one particular place.

Here's a link to an old thread on buying excursions on a Med cruise. It's not the same stops as yours but some are similar & it has some useful info for you.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...mp;tid=1352180

You should also look on cruisecritic.com where you may find others who've taken your exact cruise & can provide advice.

Thanks for all the advice and links.
I'm new at this and have been on this site and all your wonderful links since 6AM
Who cares if there is no food in the house or its a mess, and I skipped work today. I'm just blown away by what you guys know and where you've been.
Rex, I will take you advice and repost questions one at a time.