Holey Posted September 28, 2009 #1 Share Posted September 28, 2009 Hi all! I hope some nice person can help me. We are sailing on royal carribbean IOTS next year. I know some of the places we are going to stop at are a little out from the port. Do R C do shuttles into the main town? If so is it free like you have on P&O. We would like to explore on our own.:) Any other tips you give me will be well appreciated. Thankyou Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uppitycats Posted September 28, 2009 #2 Share Posted September 28, 2009 Hi all!I hope some nice person can help me. We are sailing on royal carribbean IOTS next year. I know some of the places we are going to stop at are a little out from the port. Do R C do shuttles into the main town? If so is it free like you have on P&O. We would like to explore on our own.:) Any other tips you give me will be well appreciated. Thankyou Generally if you are going off on your own, you will need to get to your destination by yourself, at your own cost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cb at sea Posted September 28, 2009 #3 Share Posted September 28, 2009 Your best resource is a guidebook on your ports....that will tell you where everything of interest is...shopping, beaches, sightseeing....and how to get there, what it will cost, how far away it is..... Libraries have them in the "travel' section, and bookstores have them, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
operafan Posted September 28, 2009 #4 Share Posted September 28, 2009 Hi all! I hope some nice person can help me. We are sailing on royal carribbean IOTS next year. I know some of the places we are going to stop at are a little out from the port. Do R C do shuttles into the main town? If so is it free like you have on P&O. We would like to explore on our own.:) Any other tips you give me will be well appreciated. Thankyou Where are you going? When we did the Med, rcl had pay shuttles into town center for the ports that didn't have free shuttles. Some of the ports had free shuttles, some didn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eandj Posted September 28, 2009 #5 Share Posted September 28, 2009 If you let us know which ports you are stopping at more info could be advised. You also can go to the individual ports of call board to find out where the ship disembarks its passengers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fredr Posted September 28, 2009 #6 Share Posted September 28, 2009 Holey, You should look at the excursions for your cruise and see if there is transportation only provided by the ship for a fee per person, round trip to a central location and you can go from there. RCCL does this in several cities that we have visited. La Serena, Chile was one such port. Also, look at where the cruise terminal buildings are located for each port. You may be able to walk into town from the terminal. Sometimes the port will have a free shuttle from the ship to the cruise terminal at no charge...Mazatlan and Valparaiso Chile are two examples. And...the cruise ship will tell that there is a shuttle to the center of town with little warning. Onviously they want to sell as many ship excursions as possible beofre announcing the shuttle. Please let us know your ports of call and we may be able to provide you with more information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitty9 Posted September 28, 2009 #7 Share Posted September 28, 2009 For the most part, we've found that RCI does not provide free shuttles to towns from industrial ports, and what they charge for their shuttles could be considered a rip off. They wanted $20 per person to take us for a very short 10 minute ride from the dock to the center of a couple of Med cities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holey Posted April 21, 2010 Author #8 Share Posted April 21, 2010 If you let us know which ports you are stopping at more info could be advised. You also can go to the individual ports of call board to find out where the ship disembarks its passengers. Hi their thankyou for your reply! We are going to ...d give u Villefranche Nice Florence Livirno Rome Calgari Seville Lisbon. If you could give us any tips They will be much appreciated Thankyou Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krazy Kruizers Posted April 21, 2010 #9 Share Posted April 21, 2010 We have also experienced the same thing on HAL -- most of the time we had to pay for transportation into the towns. Seems to be all the cruise lines do not always provide free shuttles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Essiesmom Posted April 21, 2010 #10 Share Posted April 21, 2010 Hi their thankyou for your reply! We are going to ...d give u Villefranche NiceFlorence Livirno Rome Calgari Seville Lisbon. If you could give us any tips They will be much appreciated Thankyou Most of your destinations are a long way from your port. Livorno is a commercial port, and at least an hour from Florence. Rome is 90 min from Civitavecchio; Seville is a long way from Cadiz. In Lisbon, you will be docked at a commercial terminal, lon g way from downtown. There might possibly be a shuttle there. Have you checked to see if there is a roll call for your sailing? That is the best place to find out what other people on your cruise are doinf. They will be discussing independent tours and forming up groups to share costs. Also, check out the Ports of call board for ideas. EM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holey Posted April 29, 2010 Author #11 Share Posted April 29, 2010 Hi yes I have but no luck! If you have any ideas, they would be much appreciated. Thankyou Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fredr Posted April 29, 2010 #12 Share Posted April 29, 2010 Hello, I have been to Livorno but we took a very interesting though pricey ship's excursion to the Cinca Terre (well worth the money). Rome, in my opinion, does require an excursion because the port(Civitavecchia) is an hour and a half each way from Rome. Italian trains are very reliable but subject to wildcat strikes (workers simply walk off without notice). Contact Romelimo and ask for Duman. Calgari can been seen on your own. From the ship you walk into the center of the city. Lovely port, and fun to visit. Seville is about an hour or so, one way, from the port of Cadiz. We used the shuttle provided by the cruise line, which took us to a central location and we went on our own from there. This is one of the most interesting and beautiful places in the world. Lots to see and do but go on your own as Seville's sights are close together. DO NOT MISS the Cathredral. Haven't been to Lisbon. Hope this helps, Fred Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alcpa1 Posted April 30, 2010 #13 Share Posted April 30, 2010 In addition, Ville France is a tender port. There are very costly cabs to take you either to Nice, Eze, or Monte Carlo. There is train service to Nice and Monte Carlo, when the train workers are not on strike. The same is true of bus service. Car rentals can be arranged prior to your cruise that are delivered and dropped off at the tender site. Ville France is a quaint little town but probably not worth more than an hour or two of your time. Please go to the European boards to research your options. If you have not already joined the Roll Call for your sailing I also encourage you to do so. Other passengers have great advice and perhaps you may wish to join them in an excursion or two. European excursions are very costly but the majority of your ports are not within close walking distance to the major sites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xxoocruiser Posted April 30, 2010 #14 Share Posted April 30, 2010 Hi their thankyou for your reply! We are going to ...d give u Villefranche NiceFlorence Livirno Rome Calgari Seville Lisbon. If you could give us any tips They will be much appreciated Thankyou No free shuttles for any of these ports. Rome - suggest you take an RCCL tour to ensure that you get back to the ship on time. The port of Civitavecchia is quite a distance from Rome. You'll have the option of purchasing a tour that basically is transportation only. Will drop you off at a point and give you a designated location and time to meet back on the bus so you can tour on your own. However Rome being so large and many places of interest would recommend just booking the Rome city Tour. Livorno - This is strictly a port city of entry for Florence. Nice town but nothing really to see. The key thing here is the day of the week that you arrive. If it's a Sunday, you might want to think twice about traveling onto Florence as most everything will be closed. Particularly if shopping is your main concern. However if Florence is your main goal than and you want to do it on your own, than suggest you take the train from Livorno. Station is just short walk from the dock. Allow yourself plenty of time on the return trip as you don't want to miss the ship. When you arrive in Livorno, there will be private drivers near the dock. They are all very well organizied , have a photo book to show you the tours they can do, will arrange something on the spot to meet your specific needs. I did this with another couple and had the most enjoyable day. Went to Piza and all the other surrounding towns. Went all through the Tuscan region. Stopped at many local places that tourist generally never see. The nice thing about being in a car rather than a tour bus was that many of these town centers were all built around ancient forts that have too small of entrance for the tour buses to enter. Being in a car we were able to get right into town and not have to walk the many many blocks from the tour bus parking lot. Also being in a car with a private driver we were able to customize our tour as we drove. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holey Posted April 30, 2010 Author #15 Share Posted April 30, 2010 Thanks all:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitty9 Posted April 30, 2010 #16 Share Posted April 30, 2010 Hi yes I have but no luck! If you have any ideas, they would be much appreciated. Thankyou I took basically the same cruise as yours on Royal Caribbean. They did not have a free shuttle to any of the cities. For Florence, they had a bus that dropped you off near the Santa Croce cathedral, and you were left on your own, only told to be back at that spot at a certain time to return to the ship. I didn't take that as I chose to take a regular tour, but the bus ride wasn't cheap. Same for the shuttle to Rome---it was quite expensive. When I cruised I believe they called the shuttles "Rome/Florence on Your Own". I highly recommend taking either a private tour or a ship's tour in Lisbon, as the best tourist sites are very, very far apart and cannot be done walking. Nice is a tender port, and I would recommend taking the train to see Monte Carlo. It's a nice ride and Monte Carlo has more to see than the port of Villefranche. I highly recommend a private tour or a ship's tour for Seville, as the port doesn't have much of anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jocap Posted April 30, 2010 #17 Share Posted April 30, 2010 Livorno provides its own port shuttle buses, as you're not supposed to walk through it. Last Oct, the port charged e5 for this (all day, as many trips as you want) service. With P&O, you paid the port conductor at the bus entrance. RCI had 2 ships in, and they paid $12 on the ship, and travelled to the same spot in town. At Civvi, the port normally provides a free bus to the gates. Jo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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