Question about booking private shore excursions

[Jridou]

I'm about to book the Royal Clipper - Venice to Rome for August, and I noticed there's no port times listed on the itinerary.

 

The brochure (?) claims this is because we'll be sailing in so it depends on the wind. But ill be traveling with 3 teenagers - very well behaved, well traveled teenagers before anyone gets on my case;) and I'd like to have a few active excursions planned ahead of time. Is there anyway to guess? Do I call excursion operators & tell them Royal Clipper & they'll know?

 

Thanks in advance !

[MSN-Travelers]

I'm about to book the Royal Clipper - Venice to Rome for August, and I noticed there's no port times listed on the itinerary.

 

The brochure (?) claims this is because we'll be sailing in so it depends on the wind. But ill be traveling with 3 teenagers - very well behaved, well traveled teenagers before anyone gets on my case;) and I'd like to have a few active excursions planned ahead of time. Is there anyway to guess? Do I call excursion operators & tell them Royal Clipper & they'll know?

 

Thanks in advance !

 

Wow! That's a tough one. Our first cruise on RC was a bit of a surprise in that we encountered that same thing as you . . . no hard arrival times.

 

Another thing we enountered was the size of the ship. It is so small, compared to the BIG ships, that it tends to "drop the hook" in locations well away from the established mega-cruise ship passenger infrastructure.

 

I like to pre-plan/pre-book independent excursions too and gave up when we found out that the ship was rarely stopping at dock facilities that had all the usual stuff you encounter at the typical cruise ship port.

 

I do think you will have to contact independent tour agencies and see if the are flexible enough to service RC passengers that arrive when they happen to arrive.

 

Enjoy!

[cruisingbarb]

I emailed Star Clippers and got an itinerary with times listed. You might try that. You can always advise the tour operator that if you're going to be late you'll call them.

[Jridou]

Thanks for the advice. I went ahead and booked it today :)