mikieguns

hi! was hoping someone might be able to offer some tips. we are taking a mediterranean cruise out of Rome with stops in naples, dubrovnik, venice, messina (sicily), barcelona, cannes, and livorno. now is the fun part - the excursions! looking for any adice from some people who may of done this kind of thing before. any help would be appreciated! I am thinking about doing at least one escursion per stop. but as you can imagine, prices are quickly adding up! any tips on which ones may be the best? any possibilities to reduce prices? probably just going to book the carnical escursions. i was just wondering if anyone had any tips and/or experience with the escursions and could make some reccomendations. does it make sense to stay away from the longer all day escurisions? that is kind of the mindset i have had lately. in other words - i figure doing a shorter escursion leaves time to explore a bit on your own. agree? disagree? probably depends on the port!!

worldinabag

Hi

Are these excursions organised by the cruise ship operators? If so they would be very expensive and probably overpriced. You'll find you can do a lot of it on your own very easily. Just reserach this forum. One popular topic for example is how to get from Naples to Pompeii (my recommendation for your Naples stop).

Best wishes for a safe holiday.

ira

HI M,

From Livorno Centrale you can take the train to Florence, have a quick look at the highlights and be back in time for your ship to leave.

From the SMN station, walk SE to the Pzza Unita and take Via S. Antonino NE to the Central Market.

Go up Via Orsola to Via D. Alfani and go right to the Accademia Museum for the David.

Go down Via Ricasoli to the Pzza S. Giovanni for the Duomo and Baptistry.

Take Via Calzaiuoli S to the Pzza Signoria.

Continue on to the Uffizi.

Exit the Uffizi and go W along the river to the Ponte Vecchio.

Continu to the 2nd bridge and go N to the Pzza S M Novella. Go left on Via della Scala to the Farmacia Santa Maria Novella.

Walk back to the train station by way of the SMN church.

Have a nice day.

Train schedules and tickets are at www.trenitalia.com/en

Uffizi and Academia Museum Reservations
The easiest and cheapest way is to call Florence 011 (U.S. international access code) 39 (Italy's country code) then 055-294-883 8:30-18:30 M-F and 8:30-12:00 Sat. Florence time. You will get an English speaking operator and in 2-3 minutes YOU CAN RESERVE FOR BOTH. This is through the reservation service at the Uffizi and costs beyond the normal entry fee only about 3 euro for the service. This is MUCH cheaper than the commercial booking services.
You will not be charged for the reservations unless you use them.

suec1

I have not been on a European cruise but I have been to several of these ports/stops. I have heard the shore excursions can be very expensive. Some of these stops I think will be much more doable on your own than others and it also depends on how comfortable you are with negotiating buying tickets, reading the schedules, etc. From the port of Naples it should not be too difficult to do either a ferry to Capri or a train to Pompei on your own. I think the ferries to Capri will be right there at an adjacent dock. Barcelona should also be quite doable on your own - there is plenty to see in the main part of the city and there is a hop on/hop off bus that travels around to the further out sites. Cannes too and you could also explore more of the coast by train fairly easily I think. Not sure how far Livorno is from Florence. I think alot of it just depends on how comfortable you are navigating on your own. Also if you want to see the maximum amount of sites then the shore excursions will be more efficient but if your travel pace is more....see one or two sites then plop down at a cafe to people watch and soak up the local atmosphere then going on your own makes more sense. Sounds like a great sampler taste of Europe - it will give you lots to think about where you want to go and spend more time on another trip.

luv2cthings

Mikie,

My wife and I did a med cruise on Celebrity two months ago with many of these same stops (Naples, Dubrovnik, Venice, Barcelona, Livorno). We did every port on our own (our cruise also included Athens, Santorini, Civitavecchia/Rome, and Villefranche). As suggested by others, research this forum and other resources on the internet, such as cruisecritic.com, and visit the library. You certainly may choose to do a shore excursion or private tour for the more complicated stops such as Livorno and Naples, or follow the suggestions of others for a do-it-yourself venture. In Naples, we took a hydrofoil to Amalfi, the SITA bus from Amalfi to Sorrento (with a stop in Positano), and a hydrofoil back to Naples. Capri is also very doable on your own.

Dubrovnik and Venice are very easy to do own your own. In Dubrovnik, there is absolutely no reason to pay for a shore excursion. You just need to get yourself to the Old Town, whether by tender, cruise line shuttle bus, or taxi. Walk around on city walls, walk around the town, perhaps visit the monasteries. Be sure to bring your camera, as the Old Town sits up high overlooking the sea, and is absolutely gorgeous!

In Venice you can walk anywhere and see anything the official tours are going to.

Barcelona can also be done on your own; there is a hop-on hop-off tourist bus that you may want to use, and the metro system is among the best anywhere.

Mark

smalti

topping (selfishly)

Intrepid1

As to the Livorno option a great deal will depend on where the ship docks. If it is in the usual place it is a rather long way to the main rail station. The cruise line may offer free shuttle service to a spot in the center from which you can catch a cab (provided you can find one..we just did this two weeks ago and had trouble getting a cab) or a city bus to the train station and from there you can take the train (all of the trains to Florence go through Pisa).

The cruise line may also offer RT transportation to Florence (this seems to cost in the range of $65) without tours, etc.

DOCK

Hi I suggest you go on Cruisecritic or cruisemates and you will find more than enough info to help with your cruise planning. We just returned from a Med. cruise and I got tons of info on those sites. Also have a review on Cruisecritic about ports of call etc.

abram

Naples: we hired Giovanni from tourofitaly for a full day tour of the Amalfi coast, stopping at Amalfi, Sorrento, Positano and ravello. 280 Euros for 6 people.

Dubrovnik: very easy to do on your own. Be sure to walk the city walls with the audio guide.

Venice: visit the destination section of this website for sample itineraries. Include the Doges Palace Secret Ininerary tour, the Ghetto, the Basillica.

Barcelona: the hop-on/hop-off tourist bus has been recommended.

inluvwithitaly

Hi

Concerning Naples, don't waste your time with packed out sita buses, and hydrofoils and trains to Sorrento, Italy is prone to strikes, just last Friday they threatened a full transport strike for 24 hours. Go on a cruise critic board get some other passengers and hire yourself a driver and minivan, they will pick you up and get back you back to your ship before it leaves, you will have a stressfree day enjoying one of the most beautiful coast in the world the Amalfi coast then either visit Sorrento or pompeii. Stay away from capri it is far to busy and in the short time you have it is just to much hard work. We go to Italy alot and have always found www.aptours.it to be very good and affordable.

constant

Are you disembarking finally at Livorno or continuing? The young and fit can handle these public transport options, but as soon as you start adding in taxi rides, a private minibus and driver suddenly becomes a viable option money-wise (and it always is time-wise), especially if you can make up a group of 5-6. For Livorno shore excursions, I can recommend Giovanni Sirabella www.sunflower-tours.com .

Intrepid1

Barcelona is easily done on one's own. depending on where the ship docks, either at the Moll de Barcelona near the World Trade Center (from which you can walk to the bottom of Las Ramblas and the nearby Metro stop) or at one of the other molls from which you can get a taxi to the bottom of Las ramblas and the Metro.

luv2cthings

This is an old post.

francy

if you want have a shore excurion in italy check www.sorrentoprivatedriver.com