Been to Nice? Considering 16 nt cruise and need your opinions

[JimAOk1945]

Hi Everyone,

 

DW and I are in the early stages of doing research to plan a European Cruise on the Adventure of the Seas for our anniversary next year. I've already searched the board extensively but have come up empty handed for this particular itinerary.

 

I am hoping to get some responses from experienced cruisers who have either cruised on this same itinerary or have visited any of these ports during the month of September.

 

Also, if you sailed with Royal Caribbean, your experience with the Royal Caribbean cruise terminal would be very much appreciated.

 

Please share your opinions, likes and dislikes, are all welcome. We have never cruised in Europe. Your input is appreciated.

 

The itinerary being considered is below. Thanks in advance.

 

12-Sep Southampton, England

13-Sep Cruising

14-Sep Cruising

15-Sep Gibraltar, United Kingdom

16-Sep Cruising

17-Sep Barcelona, Spain

18-Sep Villefranche (Nice), France

19-Sep Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy

20-Sep Livorno (Florence), Italy

21-Sep Cagliari (Sardinia), Italy

22-Sep Cruising

23-Sep Malaga, Spain

24-Sep Cadiz, Spain

25-Sep Lisbon, Portugal

26-Sep Cruising

27-Sep Cruising

28-Sep Southampton, England

[6rugrats]

Are you asking for information on all these ports? Have you thought about purchasing a guidebook? You may want to look for Rick Steves' Mediterranean Cruise Ports.

[Bet & Peg]

JimAOk1945 ~ of all the ports listed, we've been to:

Gibraltar (do you dock there? how long?) ~ we were there September 2011. About 8 of us grabbed a taxi and did a tour around town, to the Point and up to the Apes and castle - sorry can't remember how much we paid.

 

Barcelona ~ we ended a cruise there and spent 2 additional days - fabulous city! Food Market is wonderful!

 

Villefrance ~ took the train into Nice and fell in love with the city! Last year spent 4 days there post-cruise! Flower Market, great restaurants and beach scene.

 

Rome ~ serious city - had a private tour for 8 that was great!

 

Livorno/Florence ~ took ship's excursion to Tuscany - it was towards the end of our cruise and we were beat! Wonderful day and lunch!!

 

For information on each port, search the threads and you'll find a wealth of information!!!

[Got2Cruise]

We took the AOS round trip Barcelona with many of the same ports. For Villefrance, (Nice), there are many choices. We actually went to Nice and also Monaco from that port on the same day. They are very close together. Eze is another option from Nice.

[cberge]

Not really sure what your qiestions are. There is ALL kinds of info on these boards for your POC's.Since it is your forst trip to Europe I would suggest getting some books(guides or otherwise)from the library and doing some reading which will be of great help to you on your trip.You can also post questions on RCL on their board as you may get more replies from past cruiser's there.It is a good itinery,and should be a really nice cruise.

[heatherbelle]

Villefrance is one of my favourite ports of call, it is stunning port, really beautiful and quite small. You tender for this port.

 

Try googling images of it google ville franche Disney and look at the images. Stunning!

 

From here you can take the train to Nice around 15 mins or the train to Monaco. We went to Monaco, again a beautiful place. We had hoped to visit this year again, but Carnival have cancelled this port and replaced it with Athens much to my disgust. But hey ho, we have never been to Athens, but it is a city port and I like more tranquile places.

 

Barcelona is great, we have just returned from a mini break here. We went to the Gaudi church, spent €23 on tickets, but to be honest not a lot to see for the money, for some reason I was expecting to see a lot more other than a half empty church. Yes it has impressive architecture and stained glass windows, but so does York Cathedral. Anyway, really nice ares of Barcelona to visit are the Olympic Port Area, Barcelonetta. Also the Cathedral area too was nice, very rustic and old style Barcelona.

 

Rome to do it all you need a tour. We did a HOHO bus and I pre bought tickets for the Collosuem, which I enjoyed.

 

I haven't been to the other ports you mention. I know Disney have covered some of the ports on past Med cruises and from trip reports I have read, Vigo and Gibratlar look interesting. malaga will be nice too, with lots of places to visit close by.

 

Try googling trip reports for each port or use the search facility. I always learn loads of info from these and I love looking at all the photos.

 

Cruising in the Med is very addictive too much to see and do that you need to keep going back. If you are sailing from Southampton, I recommend that you stay in London for a few days as there is so much to see and do there, all easy to do on your own as it is a very compact city and you can walk between things or use the underground to get around. We use the HOHo buses when ever we go and if Buckingham Palace is open you must visit this and pre-book your tickets online. I also like the Tower of London, a river cruise and Greenwich and Westminster Abbey. You can usually get discounted theatre tickets too from Leicester square if you like shows.

[JimAOk1945]

Hey everyone,

 

Thanks for all the responses. We are going to do some more research before making a commitment. It's great to know I can depend on CC cruisers to answer my questions.

 

Happy Cruising Everyone! :D