ollienbertsmum

This is a picture right at the back of the ship on deck 4:

 

Not quite the place for my morning constitutional.

I've been re-reading this excellent post for a while now, convinced I was going to follow it step by step, but then I realized my time in port (in June) is from 8am to 7pm, which is clearly shorter than the OPs timeframe. Not sure what time I'll have to be on board but the ship excursions appear to come back around 6:15 so I'm assuming I'll need to be on my way out of Rome by 4pm.

 

Is it even possible to do the Vatican on a schedule like this? I really just want to see the basilica and Sistine Chapel, but with my shorter time in port I feel like getting a 2pm timed ticket is too late, and any earlier ticket will cause me to rush through everything else. I'm considering now just going to St. Peter's square to see it, and save the inside of the Vatican for a future trip. Can you easily see the basilica in less time, by skipping the museum altogether?

If you skio the Vatican you will still be able to see the Basilica - and feel that you have had a great visit. We only saw St Peters on our first trip, we did not climb the steps of the dome (still not done that) but we were pretty much in awe of the building. You don't have long, but you will have time to enjoy some of Rome.

The set fare for a taxi from Naples to Ercolano (Herculeneum) and back, with a three hour visit to the ruins, is 70 Euro. You can download the set taxi fares from the city web site here: http://www.comune.napoli.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/IT/IDPagina/6665 (page two is in English)

 

If you choose to take the Circumvesuviana train, the walk from the station to the entrance is one third of a mile, straight down Via 4 Novembre.

I am sure that you could also get a taxi to take you to Herculaneum and then on to Sorrento for less than the 170 euro for the 2 as listed. You are not doing the return journey from Herculaneum. My friend just bargained with the taxi driver and they had one taxi for the whole day and it really did not cost them that much when divided by 4. The taxis are all lined up outside the port ready to encourage you to go with them rather than by train.

We ignored the taxis and reversed the journey that you are suggesting. We took the train to Sorrento and then came back by hydrofoil. We did not go to Herculaneum, but we would have had lots of time to do it. We would have simply left the ship a bit earlier. It was a good trip and we had a great pizza (and limoncello) by the hydrofoil - it was one of the best parts of the trip for me. Hmm I like limoncello.

When you are looking for the local vesuviana train in Naples, look carefully on the map. The first station is nearer to the ship than the main station. It saves a bit of walking.

There were lots of shops at Naples port. I assumed it is because Naples does not have a brilliant reputation as a safe destination so they want to get as much tax from tourists as possible.

Any other suggestions about what to do in the Eiffle Tower neighborhood since we'll have about 3 hours to explore. Restaurants, shopping??? All help in planning is appreciated. Also - what side of the bus driving into Paris is the best side for viewing?????

If you are a Rick Steves fan you will have heard about Rue Cler. It is a great street for foodies to explore and has several good restaurants. I brought back a wonderful cake from there - just the packaging made me excited. You will need to look on a map, but it really is about 10 minutes walk from the Eiffel tower. (I wanna go back to Rue Cler).

I also remember that staying just around the corner from the Eiffel Tower we were near to the Place des Invalides where Napoleon's tomb is. Now it is not the most exciting of Paris attractions, but if you feel that you are in Paris and you want to see something worthwhile but not stray too far from your pick up point, I would recommend it.

I think eurocruiser meant that you could enter the Vatican museums at 12 noon and spend two hours there before having to exit at 2pm to get to the Scavi office. Which does leave you a little more time in the morning. FWIW, I also went to the Vatican museum in the morning before doing a Scavi tour a couple of years ago. I also planned to use the same "excuse" at the shortcut if anyone tried to stop me -- however, no one did, and most of the time that's the case. If you wanted to press your luck a little, you could plan to exit at 2:15 and still have plenty of time -- but NOT if you have to backtrack through the museum.

 

You can do the Basilica after your tour.

 

If it were me, and I had until midnight, I'd focus on seeing the Colosseum and Forum in the morning, grab a quick lunch somewhere, take a taxi to the Vatican museum (having pre-reserved tickets for noon), then the Scavi tour and the Basilica. If you wish, you can then walk (or take a taxi) to Piazza Navona, and walk from there to the Pantheon, then Trevi, then (if you want) the Spanish steps. Somewhere between the Pantheon and Spanish steps you can enjoy a nice dinner. At the Spanish steps, get the Metro to Termini and then the train back to Civitavecchia.

 

It's a lot for a day, but Rome is nice at night, especially Trevi and the Spanish Steps. Try to get to the Pantheon before they close for the evening though (sometime around 7pm).

Cruisemom :mad: You told them what I was going to say !!!

It sounds as if seeing the Colosseum from the outside is a bit mizz but actually you can get quite a lot of old Rome just from seeing the outside of the sights. We had a nice walk from the Colosseum along the Via dei Fori and then explored the Victor Emmanuel Monument in the Piazza Venezia. I think you can also go up around the Capitoline Hill and look down on the Forum. It was 2 years ago and I do not have a good sense of direction.

I do however recall our trip last year. We visited the Vatican first - at 11 am and visited the Sistine Chapel and St Peters Basilica. We took about 2 hours to do that. We then caught a taxi to Piazza Navona because I could see that time was moving on. It hardly cost anything but it did save us time that we used later. We had a pizza for lunch (not hurried) whilst people watching in Piazza Navona and then we walked to the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps, we caught the metro back to Termini Station and we must have got back to Termini by 3.30 pm. Sailaway was at 7 pm.

There were a couple of retail stops on the route but I kept a close eye on my watch and was ready to bail out of the route and if necessary catch a taxi back to Termini whenever I needed. I was not expecting to be able to get to the Spanish Steps but we did and the metro station was right there. You use your train BIRG ticket on the Metro. Just make sure you validate it before getting on first thing in the morning.

It will probably be really nice in Rome later in the day when the day trippers have left. You really do have time to do a good 'scratch the surface' of Rome.

We did this tour as well and once we were dropped off we did the hop on hop off bus tour around the city. Gave a good overview of the city. Would love to go back again

I don't think you can be sure of what time you arrive so booking the Eiffel tower might be a bit difficult - but the queue to walk up to the first level is often much shorter than the lift, and it really is not so many steps. My daughter made us wait for the lift and we watched a group go up the stairs once she saw them get up to the first level she agreed wexshould have gone that way . .. Grrr

You get price adjustments after final, and we don't. That's a nice feature.

We do???? How does that work if we cannot get price drops before ?? I what to know more.

Is this a suggestion or a rule? If I want to ice skate in shorts, can I? I just can't see packing long pants to the Western Carribbean in June for 30 minutes of ice skating. I ice skate in shorts at home, they are not going to keep me off the ice on the ship are they?

I think they would keep you off the ice if you were not appropriately kitted out - and for the ice they consider that you need long trousers. They want to keep injuries to the minimum.

Anyone not wanting to bring long trousers will find plenty of activities on board that they can participate in wearing shorts.

The trick to not becoming a mark is be aware of your surroundings. Don't look like a tourist. Watch how the locals carrry their purses and assume everyone (even well dress businessmen and ladies with babys) are pickpockets. Don't let anyone invade your space. We spend 3 days in Barcelona and 3 in Madrid and had NO trouble at all. But of course we were very careful about our belongings and paid Attention to our surroundings. From what I understand this is something that goes on just about everywhere in the world and most people from the US just aren't aware of their surroundings. As the ecomony tanks this kind of stuff increases. We were told in Hawaii not to even bother locking our car because theives would break the windows to get anything left in the car and then you would have to pay for the repair. Use common sense when traveling leave your fancy diamonds and watches at home. When you go out only take small amounts of money that you might need. Don't walk around with a map in your hands. If you need to look at a map take it out in a store and look at it.

Good advice, but it is still oh so easy to be a victim. I have survived in London, Barcelona, Paris, Rome and Naples, and still managed to be a victim of a purse thief in Malaga which is only 2 hours from my home and actually just before I boarded the ship.

I think it was the taxi driver that stole my wallet, I was aware that he took a while getting the bags out from where I put them on the back seat.

I was being vigilant on the train from where we had left the car, I had looked at every other passenger to see if I could detect a pickpocket, but somehow the taxi driver did not come into the 'potential thief category, especially when the ship suddenly appeared in front of me and I was distracted by my excitement.

I can only be thankful that he was not also interested in my passport because if they had gone, we would not have been able to board the ship!. I had not got very much money either and although the ATM was attempted he didn't guess my pin number.

I am pretty sure that I trust even fewer 'strangers' now, which is a pity, but I work hard for my money and want to choose how to spend it myself.

Kimmy, I haven't done it yet, (planning on doing it soon) but I asked on the Malaga Forum in Tripadvisor, and I've been advised that the train is quicker, cheaper, and easier than the bus.

 

From the Malaga Maria Zambrano Estacion (Train Station) take the

Cernanias train to airport, Linea C1. Trains are :03 and :33 past the hour, duration 13 minutes, 1.35 euros.

 

You can buy the tickets from machines with euros or credit card.

This is what i did last year - to and from the airport (I had parked my car there). It was cheap and easy,

.......although going to the port I managed to have my purse stolen which added to the cost! I had only about £40 in the purse and luckily the passports were not stolen as I am not sure if we would have lost the cruise if we had turned up with no passports :eek:

Just warning you. I actually think it was the taxi driver who stole it whilst taking my bag out for me. It was only later that I recalled that he had taken too long getting it off the back seat.

I was reading this thread by accident. My 'little ones' are one 18 and 20 so I don't worry too much about entertaining them, although I think that the teenage years are harder than when they are young -especially on a cruise when they stay up late at night and then we want to go off on excursions at 7.30 am!

One of mine had a quest to buy a donkey on every trip. I am not sure how it started, it was hard in the baltics but we did it.

I collect postcards from different countries, so on holidays it has been fun sending a postcard home to us as a family, cruises are the ideal holiday to indulge in this. I think it could be fun for the kids to write "We were in......" and look for the post box in each place you visit. It is not exactly expensive so each child could write one. It is great when you get home to watch them arrive. They then have great souvenirs. It really is a question of finding ways to engage them, really it can be so tiring. You sometimes find that the smallest things interest the child - the kitten in the restaurant or the swings in the park. That is the way it is

 

if you are going north from Harwich without going to London, it's likely that you're going to be on a southbound train

Thanks for that Globaliser. Arranging to get to Nottingham from Harwich has really taught me why so many people in UK have cars. ;)

Oh dear, I am going to Manningtree. Along with lots of other stations in my attempt to get to Nottingham.

Can anyone tell me what the big deal is about Manningtree:eek: . Why should I have avoided it? (would have cost a load more to go any other way)