Mediterranean cruise in August, places to visit.
 

We're a family of four with two kids ages of 5 and 15. We will take 7 N mediterranean cruise visiting Kotor, Santorini, Athens and Katakolon. Departure port is Venice. Please help us with places to visit at these ports.

Do you know that the cruise company will offer a variety of excursions at each stop. Have a look at your cruise itinerary and the excursions that they offer.

If you want to get more info from fellow cruisers, then have a look at www.cruisecritic.com and check the "roll call" for your cruise where people will post questions and ask if any other passengers want to do an excursion outside of the cruise line.

I ditto Rubicunds suggestion, go to the Roll call and sign up. We did that several yeats ago and met up with people who were organizing tours, who had done med cruises before, and it was a fantastic way to see the sights. We had a plans for every day, and it was much less than going through ship tours. I highly suggest you do this.

You can also consider flying into Venice a day or 2 earlier and spending some time there on your own. You will have much to do there just walking around is a memorable experience in itself.

Prepare for major heat so I'd suggest planning morning excursions and afternoons back on the ship by the pool. As an earlier poster said, cruise critic / your roll call are great for connections and tour planning. Also you may want to buy or get from the library Rick Steves Guide to Med. ports - very good resource for do-it-yourself exploration and logistical concerns.And do try to add some extra days to Venice or if you have time,maybe even the Italian Lakes at the beginning or end. Have a great trip!

Rick Steves's book mentioned, <i>Rick Steves' Mediterranean Cruise Ports</i> tells you which port you can do it on your own and which are better done as organized shore excursions due to logistics issues.

When you debark at Santorini PLEASE DON'T be tempted to allow your children to ride the poor abused donkeys up the cliff! Please ride the cable car instead.

Katakolo is the port of Olympia, at Santorini and Kotor you will just have to go from the boat to the town (which are the main attractions) whereas Athens doesn't need any comment (take a taxi from the cruise port if you have no time to walk to the bus stop; the metro station would be too far away anyway).