Italy Land Tour vs. Med. Cruise - Your Opinions

[iancal]

We like to cruise but we would not consider a cruise in Europe unless it was part of a larger land vacation. We are independent travellers. We typically travel for 4-5 weeks and usually spend a minimum of three or four nights in each location. Everyone is different. For us, cruising in Europe would take away a lot of the great experiences that we have had staying in small pensions, hotels, and agritourisms and the wonderful people that we have met in these establishments.

[MarleneAm]

Lynne: as a woman who travels alone, I also recommend, based on my personal experience, CLUB ABC or Grand Circle Travel for your first trip to Italy or Ireland.They both have websites so you don't have to find old brochures. The reasons 1) You don't have to worry about major travel arrangements which is a great relief 2) they both rely on REPEAT business from savy travelers 3) they don't lose or strand people 4) they pay attention to feedback from their travelers 5) they allow for meals outside the group 6) the people who travel with them are nice, well behaved adults and the groups are not larger than 40. GCT had a wonderful Amalfi Coast and Tuscany trip I took in 2007, but they have changed the Tuscany part which now does not hit the great spots. CLUB ABC has always specialized in Italy, so they have a variety of trips. They

are both much more affordable than Tauck or Perillo. I think that a land trip will be more fun and give you a much more Italian experience and certainly more authentic Italian food and gelato.

[iancal]

We have spent a fair amount of time in Europe-on independent land tours. We did do one Crystal cruise many years ago but it was a business related reward cruise. I would recommend one of the tours if you are uncomfortable with independent travel. Knowing what we know now, I think that we would feel 'cheated' if we took a cruise in Europe...cheated in the sense that we would not get the experience we anticipated. Eating, sleeping on the ship and doing day trips would not do it for us and we would miss out on the best 'parts'. Just our opinion.

[slidergirl]

This is actually the same decision we're trying to make. Originally we were going to do one of Magic's summer cruises, but then started looking at the time in ports and decided it was not enough. Plus, with a cruise you pay for all meals, but with the Italian ports you would need to pay in Italy to eat lunch and dinner. Plus, in order to be sure you didn't miss the boat, you would need to pay for the tours too. When we started looking, and then it seemed we would not get to enjoy the ship that much, we decided to check into a land tour.

 

We're leaning to renting a villa/apartment in 2 places with 5-6 days in each. That way we can hit the major sites. Right now leaning to Rome and Sicily.

 

I'd love to do a Mediterranean cruise someday, but for next summer I think the land tour will be best.

 

 

One nice thing about a land vacation, especially if you do the villa rental; market-based dining! Go to the local market and pick up some salumi, formaggio, veggies, fruit and wine. Easy meal - lay out the stuff and just go at it. I went to Europe with 2 friends this past spring. We usually ate a lunch at a restaurant or something like that while we were out exploring. We'd stop at a market on the way back to our place. Dinner took a long time - we'd just sit at the table, nibbling, and talking about what we did that day and what to do the next. It was one of my favorite things about the trip!

[iancal]

Another benefit to a land trip is that you will be able to see cities at night-this is often not possible when travelling by cruise ship. Florence is a different city at night...it is magical. The same can be said for Siena. Dubrovnik is a wonderful city. It looses some of it's appeal when there are four or five cruise ships in port. But on those days, after about 5PM when the cruisers depart, the city changes. The lights come on later in the evening and the city seems very different to us. You will loose out on this, eating off the street, lingering for three hours over dinner in a family run trattoria.

 

If you are not certain, take out a map of Italy. Circle the places that you would like to visit. Then determine how far these are from the nearest cruise port. Deduct this travel time, plus some extra for just in case, from the time that you have in port and then see how much actual time you will have in those cities/areas. You will find that much of your time is either spent on board ship or travelling to and from your desired venues. This is only valid if you want to tour..some people just enjoy the shipboard experience. The cruise line goal is to have you spend the maximum number of hours on board so you can spend money or have you take cruise line excursions. It is all about revenue for them.

[MomtoCCC]

All this talk has me re-thinking the cruise idea and doing a land vacation instead. We would probably need to limit the trip to 10 days or so.. maybe 3 cities for 3 nights each? Problem is that there is so much to see... hard to pick which 3 areas to visit...

 

Rome for sure..

Venice?

Florence/Tuscany area?

Amalfi Coast?

Bologna area?

 

Not sure I'd really want to rent a car for the entire time.. seems like it is easy to get around on trains ...

 

Kellye

[iancal]

Trains are a snap. We never use rental cars for intercity trips. Last year we trained to Cinque Terre, then trained to Florence. We rented a car in Florence in order to spend time in Tuscany...outside Siena on an agristourism.

 

Since you cannot do all of Italy in that timeframe, and want to do Rome, my recommendation would be to pick a few places north or south and spend time there. Do some research. You could easily train from Rome to Florence (three hours or so), spend time there, then rent a car and tour Tuscany. Then train to Venice or Cinque |Terre for a few days and gradually make your way back to Rome by whatever means you prefer. Or...go south and see Naples, Sorento & Amalfi coast, and perhaps Sicily.

 

If this is your first visit, a good tour may be your best option depending on your personal likes/dislikes and comfort level. Try to avoid those larger hotels that cater to North Americans in favour of smaller, family run hotels and pensions.

 

We often get an open jaw ticket, ie fly in to Rome and fly home from another city. It can sometimes save us a day or so of backtracking depending on our itinerary. It only makes sense if the price difference is reasonable.

[MomtoCCC]

Trains are a snap. We never use rental cars for intercity trips. Last year we trained to Cinque Terre, then trained to Florence. We rented a car in Florence in order to spend time in Tuscany...outside Siena on an agristourism.

 

Since you cannot do all of Italy in that timeframe, and want to do Rome, my recommendation would be to pick a few places north or south and spend time there. Do some research. You could easily train from Rome to Florence (three hours or so), spend time there, then rent a car and tour Tuscany. Then train to Venice or Cinque |Terre for a few days and gradually make your way back to Rome by whatever means you prefer. Or...go south and see Naples, Sorento & Amalfi coast, and perhaps Sicily.

 

If this is your first visit, a good tour may be your best option depending on your personal likes/dislikes and comfort level. Try to avoid those larger hotels that cater to North Americans in favour of smaller, family run hotels and pensions.

 

We often get an open jaw ticket, ie fly in to Rome and fly home from another city. It can sometimes save us a day or so of backtracking depending on our itinerary. It only makes sense if the price difference is reasonable.

 

Thanks for the suggestions... I'm currently thinking of either flying into Rome and stay for a few days, then train to Florence for a few days (rent the car like you suggested for day trips) then train to Venice and flying home from there... OR would you reverse the route?

[iancal]

If you are planning day trips from Florence I would suggest that you leave Florence, tour Tuscany, and stay in one of the hill towns or in an agritourism for a few days. It is a pain in the neck to have a car in Florence. You cannot take your car into the inner core...if you do a fine will be tacked onto your Visa bill in a few months. Also beware of photo radar outside of Florence, especially on the road to Cianti. If you are driving behind locals, break when they do! There are photo radar signs but you can easily miss them. Failing this, rent cars by the day only and return at night, that you you won't have to pay for overnight parking which is sometimes as much as 20E. I see no reason to reverse the route, I do not think that it really matters. IF you are an art lover, you can make reservations at the Uffizi and the Academia ahead of time via phone or internet. Depending on what time of year you plan to go this can save you a few hours in line. Ditto for Borghese in Rome.

[Hlitner]

Regarding the prior posts comment about having a car in Florence it is true that driving (and parking) in Florence can be a real pain...especially since most of central Florence is in a restricted ZTL (big fines if you stumble into a ZTL). However, we have driven to Florence on several visits and found a favorite hotel (Hotel David) which is just outside the center, within 20 min walking distance to the main tourist center, and has free parking. It is also easy to get to the Hotel David without going through (or near) the ZTL. Hmmm. wonder if managment will buy me a glass of wine for this plug (they actually have a free wine hour :)

 

Hank

[Adsmama]

I do have to say that driving in Italy is a different experience to say the least... I felt like we were part of Nascar or something...

[Hlitner]

I do have to say that driving in Italy is a different experience to say the least... I felt like we were part of Nascar or something...

 

Now that is certainly true. We have long thought that the Italians are some of the crazist drivers we have seen anywhere in the world. But, that being said, we also think they are about the best drivers. Over all the years and thousands of miles of driving in Italy we have only seen one major automobile accident. Now as to motorcycles, we have seen too many of those in accidents.

 

Hank

[maryann ns]

Drivers in Europe are well trained and good in tight places. They tend to concentrate on driving. You cannot eat and drink coffee or talk on a cell phone and drive.

 

We learned from a local in Florence to ignore the motor bikes and scooters. Just keep to your steady pace.

[Hlitner]

Well, we have an old answer we give when asked about Italian roads. We explain that the 2 lane roads actually have 4 lanes. There is the left lane, the right lane, and the two lanes that are simply the two painted stripes in the middle. Those two middle lanes (about 6 inches wide) are for the motorcycles!

Hank

[dabear]

To really see and experience Italy I would recommend a land vacation and possibly use trains between cities (the stations generally are in the middle of town vs distant ports or airports). We also are independent travelers that do not like regimentation. What we usually do is book either an independent tour (hotels and intercity transportation sometime w or w/o tours) or just book hotels, etc on our own. . Then we can tour with a local company, a private tour operator or on our own but w/o being with a group & see what we want, when we want and skip the manditory stops at stores or factories that give kickbacks to the travel guide. PS we've driven in many countries but I do not recommend it in Italy..

[iancal]

It's odd. We have never had any issue driving in Italy. As long as you stay in your lane (and not the passing lane) or don't daudle at the lights, and ignore the scooters, you should be alright. Driving has improved. We can remember crisscrossing Italy about thrity years ago in our VW van....two lane roads suddenly became three lanes as some driver went down the middle or the shoulder. We have not seen this for some time. We were also warned that Portugal had the worst driving accident stats in Europe but we did not find any issue with them. I think one of the keys is to have a good map and a passenger who is a good map reader and who watches for the signs. The roundabouts are a snap when you get used to them.

[Can'tstopcruising]

I didn't read all the posts, so I don't know if anyone mentioned Smartours. I know lots of people who have used them all over the world and were happy. Quite reasonable.

 

Did you mention how long you would be in Italy? On your own, you can park yourself in a few places and take day trips. That's what we love to do.