Some western med trip advice

[purdypuss3]

We are going on a western med cruise in september, from Barcelona to Toulon villefranche cittavechia louvorno n Naples, I know the port in Barcelona is central to the city but can someone advise to we need to book trips at the two French stops, or any of the others or are places of interest close by. Any help appreciated, oh yeh and is the sea usually calm that time of year

[NorbertsNiece]

Hi, suggest you visit the ports of call boards for places of interest. At Villefranche, which is tendered, you can jump on a bus or train to Monaco; lunch in the Marina, visit the Casino and walk the GP route. Livorno, I can recommend taking the RCCL coach to Pisa and Florence; you will be dropped off to sight see on your own.

[Ashland]

We just did RCI on Liberty western med from Barcelona and used a mix of ship and private...

Taxi from airport to port easy...

Toulon.. shuttle bus from ship into town..DIY

Nice.. ship bus DIY into Nice & Monte Carlo & tourist train up to Monaco

Livorno..ship bus DIY Florence & Pisa

Civitavecchia..private tour with RomeInLimo

Naples...ship excursion Sorrento (DIY) & Pompeii (guided)

Not usually a fan of any ship excursions but this mix gave us a first time look on our own as much as possible without worrying about transportation..The ship offered DIY's guide on the bus gave us an amazing amount of info and history then a time & place to meet..

[dagored]

You should really love these stops. Click on the link on my sig for picts of those stops.

 

We took a RCCL tour in Nice. Went to Eza, lunch, St. Nicholas Cathedral in Monte Carlo, the Palace and finally the Casino. Good tour.

 

In Civitavecchia, we were picked up by "driver in Rome" - Lucca was our guide, had him in Florence also. Great tours. Eight of us, so the price was not bad at all.

Dropped us off right in front of famous places, that busses could not navigate. I would do it again.

 

Naples, we took another private tour, can't remember the name. Six of us in a car, went to Pompeii, had lunch in a Villa overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. WOW??

 

Also went to Greece and Turkey, but that's another story.

[purdypuss3]

Don't suppose you remember your trip company name thanks your pix are fab gonna show my pal when she comes round

[jbond]

We prefer to take tours rather than DIY. You have so little time in port that we want to get the most out of it. We have done both private tours and ship's tours. We have been satisfied with both, but feel that the ship's tour have more knowledgeable guides. I have our photo album that covers Barcelona, Villefranche, Livorno and Civittavechia posted at http://family.webshots.com/album/204703768KfaZBF

[dagored]

Don't suppose you remember your trip company name thanks your pix are fab gonna show my pal when she comes round

 

I had to look this up in the booklets I kept.

 

In Florence and Pisa(Livoorno) we used Driver in Rome - http://www.driverinrome.com

They got us right into the museum, without waiting in line, to see the David.

 

Same in Rome (Civitavecchia). Parked a block from the Trevi Fountain. We were in places the tour buses could not go.

 

In Naples, we used DriveAmalfi. This was great. We had a Tour of Pompei and then visited. Amalfi, Positano, Praiano, Sorrento and Ravello. In Ravello we ate in a restaurant that over looked the Mediterranean. It was great.

 

EDIT: We had these tours set up months in advance. The web site will tell you the procedure. They were waiting for us at the dock in all the ports, which was great for Rome and Florence.

[beancounterbeth]

Purdy, I came across this thread while doing a search to try and figure out what to book for each port. My husband and I are on the same cruise as you. I`m hoping more people join our thread and are interested in booking some private excursions.

[Sequim88]

Different cruise bu many of the same ports. We plan to tour on our own at all the locations except Florence/Pisa and then will do RCI transport only option.

 

Barcelona - Shuttle to Columbus Monument then Metro to Sagrada Familia (outside only) - then taxi to Parc Guell - then walk (pushing wife's wheelchair) downhill to Plaza Catalunya and walk Las Ramblas back to Columbus monument with lunch somewhere along the way.

 

Villefranche - train to Monaco & tourist around then train to Nice for lunch (Niçoise salad of course) and walk the Promenade. - then train back to Villefranche. The Rick Steves Provence book is great for this.

 

Civitavecchia - Our cruise ends there but many fellow cruisers (with carry on bags only) are taking train to Rome. We're planning three days of touristing so can't imagine how to make hard choices for just one day.