Binda Posted March 6, 2005 #1 Share Posted March 6, 2005 :) Hi: We are new to Oceania and the Insignia. We will be taking the Sept.8 cruise in the Meditteranean and wonder if there is anyone who could tell us what is the best thing to do about excursions. We are not that agile (hope to be in better shape by Sept.) but really want to see all that we can. I appreciate your input. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KCruisin' Posted March 6, 2005 #2 Share Posted March 6, 2005 We took a Med cruise on Regatta in Sept. It was our first cruise on Oceania (our 4th cruise) and first trip to Europe. We did all shipboard excursions. We found all but one to be good to great. The excursion in Marsailles was just plain awful. We are not athletic but in pretty decent health and had no trouble on any of the excursions. However, there is a lot of walking - up and down steep hills as well as climbing lots of steps - not all even and railed. There were several older people on these excursions who ended up waiting in the bus on some trips, so be careful and know your limits. We are going again in April and this time are sharing a few private tours - which we have never done before. We loved the ship, crew and food! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClaudiaF Posted March 7, 2005 #3 Share Posted March 7, 2005 We took a Med cruise on Regatta in Sept. It was our first cruise on Oceania (our 4th cruise) and first trip to Europe. We did all shipboard excursions. We found all but one to be good to great. The excursion in Marsailles was just plain awful. We are not athletic but in pretty decent health and had no trouble on any of the excursions. However' date=' there is a lot of walking - up and down steep hills as well as climbing lots of steps - not all even and railed. There were several older people on these excursions who ended up waiting in the bus on some trips, so be careful and know your limits. We are going again in April and this time are sharing a few private tours - which we have never done before. We loved the ship, crew and food![/quote'] By hiring private drivers you will be taken up close to where you want to go.. large tour buses can not always get into the main areas ( so you would have to walk )plus with own tour /driver you will see more at your own pace.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARTGRL Posted March 7, 2005 #4 Share Posted March 7, 2005 If you don't mind a bit of research, try to do so and travel on your own. You would be surprised as to how easy it is. Get a feeling of the things you would like to do in port, create a day-trip itinerary for yourself, and go guide hunting- or just take a cab into whatever town you're headed for. Go for it!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Binda Posted March 8, 2005 Author #5 Share Posted March 8, 2005 Thanks for your suggestions. Do you know if you are able to hire a tour guide before hand or would we wait until we reach the port and than find one? As you can tell, this is definitely new to us but I sure appreciate all the help.:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClaudiaF Posted March 8, 2005 #6 Share Posted March 8, 2005 Thanks for your suggestions. Do you know if you are able to hire a tour guide before hand or would we wait until we reach the port and than find one? As you can tell, this is definitely new to us but I sure appreciate all the help.:) Beforehand of course! If you tell us where you are going we can give you some driver suggestions. There are many who people on these boards use over and over again. It is never too soon to book with them, ( by email) as the good ones book up! ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Binda Posted March 8, 2005 Author #7 Share Posted March 8, 2005 Thanks again for your help. We are taking the Meditteranean Cruise and the ports are: 1. We start out from Venice 2. Dubrovnik 3. Corfu 4. Sorrento 5. Amalfi 6. Rome 7. Bonifacio France 8. Florence 9. Portifino 10. Monte Carlo 11. Province and end in Barcelona. We haven't booked any extra days before or after but after reading some of these messages we probably should have. Anyway this is the itinerary and any help will once again be very appreciated. Binda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juju45 Posted March 14, 2005 #8 Share Posted March 14, 2005 how do you get private drivers??? Please e-mail: jheller127@aol.com. Will be on 8/25/05 Insignia Cruise Lisbon to Venice. May thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juju45 Posted March 14, 2005 #9 Share Posted March 14, 2005 Beforehand of course! If you tell us where you are going we can give you some driver suggestions. There are many who people on these boards use over and over again.It is never too soon to book with them, ( by email) as the good ones book up! ;-)[/quote New to this.. Will be on the Insignia cruise -- Lisbon to Venice 8/25/05 -- if you have any drivers suggestions for any of the ports -- please advise. My e-mail address is: jheller127@aol.com Many thanks...:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joan24 Posted March 14, 2005 #10 Share Posted March 14, 2005 Binda, We're have the same itinerary in May. We've booked the following guides: Sorrento: Marcello--marcellomaresca@tin.it Civitavecchia: Claudio--claudio@limoinrome.com Monte Carlo: Sylvie--sylvie.di.cristo@wanadoo.fr Marseille: Louisette--info@taxidurand.com Barcelona: Angie--taxiinternacion@terra.es Good luck and have a wonderful cruise. Joan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Binda Posted March 15, 2005 Author #11 Share Posted March 15, 2005 Thanks so much for all the great information and e-mail addresses. Hope you have a great trip and look forward to hearing about it when you get back and settled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClaudiaF Posted March 15, 2005 #12 Share Posted March 15, 2005 Binda,We're have the same itinerary in May. We've booked the following guides: Sorrento: Marcello--marcellomaresca@tin.it Civitavecchia: Claudio--claudio@limoinrome.com Monte Carlo: Sylvie--sylvie.di.cristo@wanadoo.fr Marseille: Louisette--info@taxidurand.com Barcelona: Angie--taxiinternacion@terra.es Good luck and have a wonderful cruise. Joan Would "ditto" on the people Joan has mentioned ;-) and I've added a few we think gave us exceptional service too! She didn't post the websites of these terrific people so here they are: Sorrento/Amalfi coast- Marcello http://www.seesorrento.com Rome: Claudio ( excellent) http://www.limoinrome.com/home.htm Marseille ( Saint Paul de Vence, Aix )- ( Louisette) http://Http://www.taxidurand.com for Barcelona we like http://Http://www.barcelonataxi.com (they do transfers and private tours and are super!) for Monte Carlo/ Monaco and all of the area there Alain and Jean Marc at dream Tours are fabulous!!!! http://Http://www.dream-tours.com P.S. someone asked how you book these private tours.. very easy just email them about what tours you like they will give you prices for the dates you give them..If you like what they say book w/ them All of them accept cash at the end of the tour ( US dollars or Euros, but ask which they prefer).. They all use Mercedes vans that hold 6 plus driver comfortably -so if you can get friends from your cruise ( or these boards to share the cost it works out great)... have fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClaudiaF Posted March 15, 2005 #13 Share Posted March 15, 2005 PS. for Venice you can do on your own also with Dubrovnik..although you may need to take a taxi to the walled town from where your ship docks( very inexpensive) for Corfu there are taxis at the dock or you can email Dominick at this email) he is the manager of the taxis there or somethhing like that ( but seems to be the guy in charge) and he can email you all of their tours. taxi116@in.gr for Florence and also tours from Livorno dock and all over Tuscany Max at papillon services! Also Mercedes van. http://www.papillonservice.com/index.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mzs Posted March 17, 2005 #14 Share Posted March 17, 2005 We are considering a Barcelona to Athens (or reverse) itinerary for November, 2005, and we would be very interested in doing our own excursions. Can someone tell me how far the following cities are from where the ship will dock: Barcelona Provence Monte Carlo Florence Rome Naples Messina Valletta Athens Our primary concern is having to get to any of these cities before beginning an excursion if the ship is not docked anywhere nearby. Any help would be very much appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClaudiaF Posted March 19, 2005 #15 Share Posted March 19, 2005 We are considering a Barcelona to Athens (or reverse) itinerary for November, 2005, and we would be very interested in doing our own excursions.Can someone tell me how far the following cities are from where the ship will dock: Barcelona Provence Monte Carlo Florence Rome Naples Messina Valletta Athens Our primary concern is having to get to any of these cities before beginning an excursion if the ship is not docked anywhere nearby. Any help would be very much appreciated! The dock in Barcelona is about a 20 minute walk ( long) to Las Ramblas ( which is the "main" area .. from the port you can taxi or there is a bus/shuttle that goes to the ship ..the cost is something like 3 EURo p/p for a round trip ride ( save your ticket as you need it for the return).. it will drop you off on the Las Ramblas.... from there you can grab the hop on hop off bus to see all of it ;-) Provence? What city? Monte Carlo.. ship docks right in the harbor there Florence ( is the port Livorno?) or? Rome ( Civitavecchia?) about 1 hr 30 minutes to Rome .. there is a train near the port or arrange your own driver Naples- very close to town. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARTGRL Posted March 24, 2005 #16 Share Posted March 24, 2005 need guide for shanghai, okinawa, seoul, kobe, kyoto! thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blumb Posted October 4, 2006 #17 Share Posted October 4, 2006 Binda,We're have the same itinerary in May. We've booked the following guides: Sorrento: Marcello--marcellomaresca@tin.it Civitavecchia: Claudio--claudio@limoinrome.com Monte Carlo: Sylvie--sylvie.di.cristo@wanadoo.fr Marseille: Louisette--info@taxidurand.com Barcelona: Angie--taxiinternacion@terra.es Good luck and have a wonderful cruise. Joan Hi Joan. We leave next week and go to these ports. We're already booked with dream-tours.com for Monte Carlo but haven't finalized plans in the other ports. Since you've completed your trip I thought I'd ask if you recommend any of these tours or can add any more information. Anything would be helpful. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsrc Posted March 22, 2012 #18 Share Posted March 22, 2012 By hiring private drivers you will be taken up close to where you want to go.. large tour buses can not always get into the main areas ( so you would have to walk )plus with own tour /driver you will see more at your own pace..claudia ..we will be on the aug 23 cruise from rome to barcelona...we r interested in hiring a taxi with english speaking guide....we would like to seethe countryside of tuscany and in the port of marseille...we would like totour provence...any suggestions in how to find a guide...we r notinterested in heavy walking..more interested in riding....thank you we will be on riviera ship redsrc@aol.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoHoHo Posted March 22, 2012 #19 Share Posted March 22, 2012 claudia ..we will be on the aug 23 cruise from rome to barcelona...we r interested in hiring a taxi with english speaking guide....we would like to seethe countryside of tuscany and in the port of marseille...we would like totour provence...any suggestions in how to find a guide...we r notinterested in heavy walking..more interested in riding....thank you we will be on riviera ship redsrc@aol.com You've done a good search, redsrc to find this old thread. There are other sections to these boards that you will find helpful for the answers you are after. One is on the Port of Call section. You can post questions here about specific areas and those in the know will help you out. Also there is a section called Roll Calls. This is where fellow CC posters who are on the same cruise meet up, share info about this specific cruise and often arrange private tours and look for others to join them. This is a link to your cruise: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1386955 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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