Equinox - Eastern Med. Which ships tours to take and those to not??

[Retired civil servant]

Hi Everybody,

 

We are sailing on the Celebrity Equinox on 10th June and have a big chunk of OBC to use on ships tours. We would like to see the highlights of most ports of call, but don't want go on intensive / long land based tours. We are on holiday and its not an expedition, plus its hot in June.

 

Can those of you that have done this trip before please give me your views on the best tours to give a flavour of the area.

 

In the Caribbean we just used local taxi's at the pier, but Europe is a bit more expensive and different.

 

Hope you can help.

 

Best regards and thanks in advance

Geoff C

Cambridge

UK

[suec12]

In posts like yours, I think it would be helpful to list the ports but at any rate, my first suggestion is to get the guide - Rick Steves Med. cruises - it will have so much helpful info to help you decide which ones you can do on your own and which you might want to do on a tour - either with the ship or small group arranged thru your roll call. For those you decide to DIY, there will be the logistics to optimize your time.

[SixOneTwo]

I would recommend that you take the ship's tours to the cities that are far from the port. For instance, Rome. At the very least, you can book the "on your own" excursion to these cities that get you into town and take you back to the ship with several hours in between for on-your-own touring. This way you can decide how easy you want to take it once you get there. Most Mediterranean tourist cities are going to have lots of choices beyond a go-go-go itinerary, including great places to plant yourself with a coffee, ice cream, meal or cocktail and just relax.

 

Another helpful thing to research is what each PORT is like. Again, I use Rome as an example. Civitavecchia is an industrial port, and while it has some charm, that charm takes some work to find and you're better off getting to Rome proper.

 

I'm a DIY tourist, but sometimes it makes sense based on schedules to book ship excursions. So take a look at the actual time you're in port, how far the attraction is from the ship and if it's do-able with alot of wiggle room to get back on time. If NOT, then take a ship's excursion.

 

Again, we ask you to provide the ports and perhaps we can let you know the answers to these kinds of questions about distance, port "curb appeal" and how much time you need to enjoy each city.

[Devon Lady]

Hi Everybody,

 

We are sailing on the Celebrity Equinox on 10th June and have a big chunk of OBC to use on ships tours. We would like to see the highlights of most ports of call, but don't want go on intensive / long land based tours. We are on holiday and its not an expedition, plus its hot in June.

 

Can those of you that have done this trip before please give me your views on the best tours to give a flavour of the area.

 

In the Caribbean we just used local taxi's at the pier, but Europe is a bit more expensive and different.

 

Hope you can help.

 

Best regards and thanks in advance

Geoff C

Cambridge

UK

 

Hi Geoff - we are on the same cruise, why not join us all on the roll call. It's very active and there are a range of different options people are taking at each port. For example I am using the cruise tour at Santorini - just so we get off the ship earlier and avoid the possible wait problems at the cable car and in some of the others we are using private tours that we have arranged between us on the roll call (Athens and Naples) and some ports we will DIY it and use our feet or taxis (Malta and Mykonos)

 

Anyway, have a look at our roll call

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=38208808#post38208808

 

Devon Lady

[CruisinNole]

Geoff - Agree with you about the long excursions. Here's what ship's tours we took on our Med. cruise last November. I'd definitely recommend both the Naples tour (Pompeii) and the Ephesus tour. The Malta tour was OK as was the Athens tour. My husband had had knee surgery barely 3 months prior to the cruise and wasn't able to walk alot so we chose tours that didn't involve too much walking and were 3 or 4 hours long. If he had been up to more walking, we probably would have chosen different tours in Malta and Athens. We were on the Reflection so I don't know if the tour numbers are the same.

 

Naples- NP03 - Exploration of Pompeii (We had a terrific guide.)

 

Ephesus - KD78 - Ultimate Ephesus (Goes to the Terrace Houses -- not to be missed)

 

Athens - PR05 - Athens Sightseeing and Acropolis (Had plenty of time to explore the Acropolis.)

 

Malta - VT03 - Three Cities and Harbor Cruise (The 3 cities all looked the same but the harbor cruise was nice. Malta is really pretty.)

 

(Just a note on the rug demo on the Ephesus tour. If you don't want to do it, you can leave the tour at that point. The rug shop was close to the ship and in a shopping area. Frankly, I enjoyed it. I was stationed in Turkey when I was in the Air Force and it brought back some fun memories of the shopping experience there.)

 

Dotty

[Retired civil servant]

Hi everybody and especially Devon Lady & Dotty,

 

Some really good suggestions in all your reply's which I follow up.

 

We have driven around Europe and to Italy a few times, but never to Rome & Naples. In just one day, in one location, we don't expect to see very much, just touch the surface if we are lucky.

 

I just hope that those of you that have not been to Italy before are prepared for the high prices.

 

See you all on board.

Best regards

Geoff C

Cambridge

UK

[Onessa]

• 
  

My family and I have done multiple Mediteranean trips (land and sea) and we have had our best times either DIY or with a smaller private tour.

• We have done the "on your own" tours of Rome and Florence with RCCI -- but the Florence tour included a shopping stop for just over an hour at some leather place -- I'd rather have that time "on my own" in Florence. Rome was a direct there and back trip -- no shopping stop.
  
• We once did the full blown Athens tour and the full blown Ephasis tour through the ship -- being herded along with 40 of your bus-mates following a woman waving a hot pink umbrella over her head was not our thing. We returned to Athens to do a completely "on our own" including the train into the city from the port -- and it was great! We timed our visit to the Acropolis between the great crushes from the two ships that were in port and it was just so much better (loved actually being able to see something other than other people and exploring different places at our own pace). In Ephasis our second time, we booked a small group tour with a tour guide through our meet and mingle (7 of us in a passenger van) -- it was great.
  
• At Kotakolon we took a taxi to the Olympics site and did the tour on our own (great signage and since were the first off the ship, we had the place pretty much to ourselves for the first hour. Simiarly took a taxi to Pompeii and Herculeum from Naples one trip (used a "before and after" type flip guide book - it worked great) and on another with another couple booked a driver for an Amalfi Coast drive.
  
• Santorini, both times used the ship's "on your own" tour but made certain that we were on the first tender/bus of the day -- we were the first group in Oia, there is a nice winery tour stop, and then we spend all afternoon in Fiera.
  
• In Rhodes we walked off and used an audio tour I had downloaded to our iPods.
  
• Venice is best on your own (and spending a few days there if possible).
  
• Dbrovnik and Split are great with some research and a tour book.
  

I'm sure I forgot some places (Sicily maybe?) but for us we've had some luck with the "on your own" excursions through the line, the DIY, and small private groups -- not so much with the big organized ship excursions.