Barcelone-Rome; Rome-Venice

We're doing b2b on these 2 cruises on the Surf in September. They are commonly known as the Glitter & Glam and Italy & the Dalmatian Coast. I know many of you have done these itineraries and I'm starting to do some serious port research and planning. Would appreciate any tips, especially on "don't miss", "don't bother"! We normally do lots of private tours and tend to stay away from WS excursions because we hate busses but if something was exceptional, I'd sure like to know! And if you have any private guides that you'd like to recommend, please let me know. Thanks so much!

Thanks sb44 for the info on trip insurance. We are doing same b2b next May and would be interested in anything you come up with, both Windstar excursions and others.

Jealous of you all doing the B2B run. We were on the Barcelona to Rome leg in May and really didn't want to get off in Rome. It was a very enjoyable trip. As for what to do in port, we did not do any paid excursions. We pretty much just explored each one on our own. First and foremost, be prepared for plenty of climbing. Each of these ports are pretty much surrounded by hills and the prime sight seeing locations are up the hills. Tuckered us out for sure but certainly helped work off the great meals we had on board. Below is short blurb on what we did each stop.

Sete - It was supposed to be Port Vendres but rough seas ( and the only bad weather we had ) sent us to Sete. Since we didn't have a chance to check in to it before leaving, we made due by climbing up to the church at the top of the hill. It was a long haul but a great view overlooking the area. We came back down and wander through the town along the canals that weave through it. Plenty of nice shops and restaurants.

Sanary-su-mer - We hit that on it's market day ( Wednesday ) which was quite large and interesting. We had planned to walk up to a beach area but after wandering through the market stalls, stopping in a local restaurant for lunch and checking out a few other sites, we were happy to get back on board the ship. If I were doing it again, I would have tried to arrange a tour out to a vineyard from here. It could have been easily fit in.

Monte Carlo - Very hilly but there are ways to get up and down the steep hills using escalators. It is also tricky to get around. We got to the aquarium which is phenomenal. Definitely a must do and very close to where the ship docks. We also got to the palace by noon to see the changing of the guard. Not overly elaborate but kind of cool to watch. We also got around to a few of the really pretty gardens. In hindsight, I would have looked in to a hop-on, hop-off bus. Would have been able to get more places quicker. We also went to the casino, which was pretty much a big disappointment. Beautiful inside to look at but not much going on.

Cannes - i can't give much detail on Cannes itself as we met up with a friend of ours from Nice. She took us there and showed us around her town. Very much an insider's view of the town. It's not very far away - about a 25 minute train ride, so if Cannes does provide much to see, that could be an option.

Portofino - Gorgeous spot! We walked up the hill to Castello Brown which provided a terrific overview of the port and then walked down to the church which was fascinating. A quick tour through town and then we were off to the private event. It involved a ferry ride to Saint Margerite and a walk up to this beautiful villa. Wine and food served along with a pesto making demonstration. Cool event

Portofareio - This one took me by surprised. Wasn't sure what to expect but it turned out to be a quaint little port. We walked up to one of the forts then crossed over to the other stopping at Napoleon's house along the way. One thing that we came across by chance was a archaeological dig right at the end of the little harbor. It was an old Roman bath house that eventually became a small fort.

Overall - we enjoyed our self guided tours. I'm sure we missed some stuff but in talking with folks who did excursions, I never felt we really missed anything super special. I hope this helps and if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Thanks so much. I'm in planning stages. Have a guide booked for Monte Carlo for full French Riviera tour. That's it so far. You are more mobile than we are so I have to find ways around that don't include hiking up hills. The spirit is willing but the knees and feet aren't. Some friends did the Canne olive oil tasting tour which they said was fabulous and a MUST. Since we have 15 days on board we'll need to pace ourselves with guides one day, wandering the next. Otherwise we'll come home too broke for the next cruise. Looking at ports with hoho busses as they're a great option.

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We are just back from a land based week in Roquebrune Cap Martin which is between Monaco and Menton.

We walked the coastal path one day into Monaco but were not overly impressed with the place.It was too glitzy,too many high rise buildings and quite expensive to eat or drink there.

If you want something different I would suggest you catch the Zest Ligne bus number 18 which runs along the coast from Nice,through Monaco,Roquebrune and into Menton.

Menton is the last town before the Italian border.It has a long flat promenade leading to the old port with many places to have an enjoyable lunch by the sea.

Thanks for the tip. We'll have a guide with a car the day that we're in Monte Carlo and plan on a coastal tour. My husband has been there before and our intention is to skip the casino, palace, etc. and see the coastal towns.

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You'll definitely want to pace yourself if mobility is an issue. My afternoon routine upon returning to the yacht was some hot tub time and a cold beer. I did find this guy's online guides to be helpful - http://www.tomsportguides.com . It did offer up some help for a few of the ports. Also, we never got to Port Vendres but the little Yellow train looked like a easy way to get around. I goes over to a neighboring town, Coullure as well as up the hill through some vineyards and to a fort over looking the area.

If I had to limit my trip to one climb, I would definitely make it the one up to Castello Brown in Portofino. That really was a spectacular view. And it isn't too bad if you travel up the road. The private event is also at that stop. The villa is up a hill but they do have buses going up to it.

Thanks so much. I hadn't come across the port guide and will do some downloads. I've been looking at excursions for days, both private and Windstar's. I have an immense dislike of tour busses but the private guides there are really expensive so there are choices to be made. We're with you on the hot tub and beer though!

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Have fun!

How do you go about booking a "private tour" in any of the ports?

Is there a specific web site we need to go to?? This is our first Windstar cruise; not sure if we should book any excursions with Windstar or try to book on our own. Just not sure how to go about doing that.

Any recommendations???

Thanks

One way to find tours is to enter the port name on the Trip Advisor web site, click on things to do, scroll down to private tours and check out the reviews. There is usually a link to the web sites of individual providers.

We have used Tours by Locals and have been exceedingly happy. They have a great website easy to navigate. High quality. Barrycat also gave great advise for Trip Advisor. Have a great time.

Just returned from the Legend on the Glitter & Glam cruise (9/4/16). Wonderful time. We booked all our tours for this cruise with Windstar. Were they a bit more costly than what you could dig up yourself? Yes, but booking with Windstar takes some of the hassle and worry away from booking tours privately. With the exception of the tour in Port Vendres which ended up being a long bus ride (the train ride part advertised in the tour description is actually one of those Disney like trailer trams). The tour (only $278.00 dollars for two!) was basically a long bus ride on the motorway followed by a quick walk on the beach, a visit to the bathrooms, a few minutes to shop and then back on your bus via Disney "train" for another motorway ride back to the ship. The rest of the day was now free to shop in town (boring). The beverage plan really paid off on our return to the ship that day (insert smile). The rest of the Windstar tours were excellent and frankly a great value. Every guide Windstar hired for our tours were wonderful, even the lovely gall that got stuck with the Port Vendres shopping extravaganza.

We try to book tours marked 'strenuous' as most shoppers stay away from them. 'Strenuous' tours tend to attract guests that really want to see stuff not buy stuff. We've done the private tour bookings a few times with well known companies and found it sometimes difficult to locate where those tours start. If your ship needs to divert to another port because of weather have fun. Tours booked by the ship are the ships problem not yours. We booked two nights in Barcelona before the cruise and two nights in Rome after the cruise as part of a Windstar package and booked our day tours privately. Windstar made everything easy except they messed up on the description of the Port Vendres package.

Long short? Nice job Windstar. Great cruise!

Thanks for the info and your observations. We are ready to go next week and excited. What other tours did you do? We have a mix of private and Windstar tours booked and would love to know your thoughts.

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In Barcelona we booked an early morning tour of Montserrat (6:45 departure) to beat the crowds and heat - which it sure did. Montserrat is a must do. Most of the other tours we booked could have been done by using the HoHo bus system (Hope on - Hop off) as the lines are not too long now. If traveling is involved to get to a sight not covered by HoHo guided tours are almost a must unless you're hiring a private (expensive) car. Booking guides can be very helpful in pointing out certain details of things you'll see but a bit of research can go a long way in making each site you visit both educational as well as memorable guided or not. In Rome a guide through the Vatican is extremely helpful as there is so much to see that one can easily get overwhelmed. All major sites in Rome on Sunday's are free to the public but that can mean long entrance lines - especially in season. A professionally guided tour through the Colosseum is a must. I'd skip the day tours and book a late night tour (I've done both and the night tours are far more interesting with much smaller crowds and cooler temperatures). Long short, if seeing a site requires a long drive, book a tour from a company like Viatour or similar. If not, your friend is HoHo if you've done your homework.

I am on this cruise in May 2017 . Also doing the previous cruise Spanish Serenade. Any info is appreciated.

We are planning 3 nights/2 days in Rome before the Rome to Barcelona May 20th '17 cruise.

Has anyone who has done similar, got advice, tips or recommendations for:

1. A modestly-priced hotel convenient for sight-seeing?

2. Getting from airport to hotel: how? (preferably cab), cost? time?

3. What to do in two limited days?

4. Getting from hotel to port: how? (preferably cab), cost? time?

'Hoping someone who has done this reads this and answers! :)

We are planning 3 nights/2 days in Rome before the Rome to Barcelona May 20th '17 cruise.

Has anyone who has done similar, got advice, tips or recommendations for:

1. A modestly-priced hotel convenient for sight-seeing?

2. Getting from airport to hotel: how? (preferably cab), cost? time?

3. What to do in two limited days?

4. Getting from hotel to port: how? (preferably cab), cost? time?

 

'Hoping someone who has done this reads this and answers! :)

We stayed at Antica Dimora Delle Cinque Lune, a moderately-priced hotel very near Piazza Navona. It had a lovely rooftop dining area for the (included) breakfast. The only drawback was that the rooms were rather dark. Still, it was such a great location that we would stay there again. We used Rome Chauffeur to get from the airport to the hotel, and from the airport to the port. I don't recall the prices, but it wasn't cheap. We too had only a couple of days and we chose to book a private tour through Miles & Miles for an overview of Rome on our first day. It was expensive, but we thought it was really worth it due to our limited time. We got to jump the line at the coliseum because of the tour.