Booking an excursion in Nice / Villefrance - have questions

[kmlb]

We are arriving in Villefrance at 9am. There is a tour of Nice that would require us to be back at the boat by 1230pm. Is it plausible to plan to go into Villefrance to walk around and shop and be back on the boat on time? I've never cruised before so I'm not sure how it works, especially in a case where you're not docked. Thanks in advance!

[hallasm]

Answer might very well depend on cruise line and the ability to go on an early tender - I would guess yes - Villefrance is just a small city and being back on the ship 12:30 shouldn't be a problem.

An alternative might be to meet your excursion at the tender pier rather than on the ship - I have done this when I have had excursions in the morning and afternoon - contact the excursion desk when on-board.

I will be in Villefrance April 26 on Liberty OTS - I will be able to give you more details by then.

[mskaufman]

We are arriving in Villefrance at 9am. There is a tour of Nice that would require us to be back at the boat by 1230pm. Is it plausible to plan to go into Villefrance to walk around and shop and be back on the boat on time? I've never cruised before so I'm not sure how it works, especially in a case where you're not docked. Thanks in advance!

 

This is exactly what we did last year. We went to Villefrace in the morning. Had a delightful walk around town and took some pictures.

 

http://markandkareneurope2012.shutterfly.com/pictures/564

 

Just have your times planned out in advance. The tenders mid day were empty and there was no wait.

 

We then went back to the ship for an early lunch. Then we tendered in again for our excursion, which left from the dock. Went to Nice and Eze.

 

http://markandkareneurope2012.shutterfly.com/pictures/626

 

http://markandkareneurope2012.shutterfly.com/pictures/668

[Hlitner]

Villefranche is a tender port (there are no cruise ship docking facilities) and along with tendering comes delays. When your excursion brings you back to the port (at about 12:30) they will drop you adjacent to the small tender pier (where you get your tender back to the ship). At that point you are free to do as you please as long as you get back to the tender pier in time for the last tender (usually that will be about 1/2 hour before your ship is scheduled to depart). My advice would be not to go back to your ship for lunch. Simply walk back into Villefranche and perhaps buy yourself lunch at one of the cafes and enjoy the small town. By not immediately returning to the ship you will save about an hour that would have been wasted just tendering back to the ship for lunch and then having to tender back into town. Each tender ride can take nearly 30 minutes when you factor in waiting for the tender plus the actual tender time. Besides, you are in France which is a country well known for its food and wine. This is your opportunity to sample real French food whether if be a simply Croque Monsieur, perhaps moules et frites, or in this part of France the wonderful and quite unique Soupe de Poissons (fish soup). By the way, DW and are foodies and the version of fish soup served in this part of France is among my short list of things I do not miss when in this region. Missing the fish soup in the Nice area would be akin to missing the moules (mussels) in Honfleur. It just "ain't" going to happen :)

 

Hank

[Vancouver Volleyballers]

Here is a great video resource file on the beautiful French Riviera. Our son is a professional videographer and filmed/produced 19 short films for the "Avid Cruiser" last summer. Sit back and join Chris and Ralph as they spend one month exploring this wonderful area of the world!

 

http://amberpacificstudios.com/2012/...-monster-post/

[hallasm]

Answer might very well depend on cruise line and the ability to go on an early tender - I would guess yes - Villefrance is just a small city and being back on the ship 12:30 shouldn't be a problem.

An alternative might be to meet your excursion at the tender pier rather than on the ship - I have done this when I have had excursions in the morning and afternoon - contact the excursion desk when on-board.

I will be in Villefrance April 26 on Liberty OTS - I will be able to give you more details by then.

It is doable, however it took almost an hour to get from the ship to the pier in Villefrance- 30 minutes quuing for the tender and 30 minutes tendering. There were a quite long que for the tender going ashore and the tendering process was not too smoth - going back to the ship at noon isn't a proble.