Ship Excursions or On Your Own

[I-love-cruising]

My husband and I will be going on Regal Princess in May on the Eastern Mediterranean cruise. Ports include Corfu, Istanbul, Mykonos, and Athens. As this is our first time to the Mediterranean, we are not sure whether to join the ship's excursions or go on our own to explore the ports. We want to get the maximum experience at each port. We don't speak Greek or Turkish ~ the ports are completely foreign to us. What is everyone's thoughts?

[busmech]

Get Ricks Steves Med. Cruise ports. You can do all of them on your own. It does depend on what you want to do. I did the ships tour on Mykonos for Delos then had a few hours to walk around the town. Istanbul try to take a night cruise it is very nice, they have light shows on their bridges. Enjoy it is a lovely place to visit.

[I-love-cruising]

Thank you so much for your ideas ! Do you think it is safe to wander around Istanbul at night on your own for exploring or better off with the ship night excursion?

[busmech]

Did not walk around at night. During the day had no problem.

[LHT28]

A lot of people in those Countries speak English unless you are going into the back hills you probably will not have a problem with language

 

Many Greeks come to Canada in the winter to work in the Greek restaurants :D

We met a waiter on Rhodes whose uncle owned a restaurant it Toronto where he worked in the winter months

[Donder1]

Do Mykonos on your own. Easy and safe to walk around. Very small area. Or email St. John Resort. They will meet you and take you to their resort.

 

Athens? Istanbul? I'd do either ship or private. Check out costs. In Athens, we did the Plaka and Acropolis with a ship tour and did the Bazaar and Blue Mosque in Istanbul with a ship tour. If we went to Istanbul again, we would do it on our own. We would not so Athens on our own.

[John Bull]

All are easy enough to explore DIY, no need to speak the languages because plenty of folk speak english, but of course you won't have a guide who can provide you with background information, history etc.

 

Corfu. There's a bus every ten minutes from the port gate to town centre, about a ten-minute drive costing about €2. Plenty of fellow-cruisers will be using it. Town has a couple of castles but it's mainly for shopping & people-watching.

 

Istanbul. Take the tram, it's quicker than by car or bus as well as silly-cheap. Plenty of folk on a couple of our cruises complained that their ship's tour was a waste of time, they were stuck in traffic most of the time. The trams have their own dedicated part of the road, no delays. Again, many of your fellow-cruisers will be doing the same, many will have done it before & know the ropes. Tram runs one block back from the cruise berths, crosses the Golden Horn over the Galata Bridge and up the hill to Sultanahmet for Blue Mosque (Sultanahmet Camii), Hippodrome, Hagia Sophia (various spellings), Roman Cistern, etc. Walk back down the hill if you want to visit Topkapi Palace, then cross to walk down through the Grand Bazaar (Kapalicarsi) & on to the Egyptian Bazaar (aka Spice Bazaar) which takes you back to the Galata Bridge. From there, tram or walk back over the bridge to your ship.

Tram costs something like 2.5 TL flat fare per journey, you buy a token from a machine at the tram stop (TL only, but it does give change & instructions are in English). Probably an ATM between ship & tram stop, or if not some shops sell tokens & accept euros. Note the name of your tram stop (will be one of three, depending where along the quay you are berthed).

If you want to take a cheap ferry ride (Sultanahmet side of Galataa Bridge) up the Golden Horn or Bosphorus or across to Asia you'll also need TL, but there are also tourist boats which accept euros. Definitely get at least some TL, it'll make life cheaper & easier.

 

Crime in Istanbul is low, evenings no problem provided you are sensible about what you wear/carry & where you go. The areas I've mentioned are fine.

 

Mykonos. You'll either be tendered right into the town harbour, or you may berth at a cruise quay about 1.5 miles away - in which case ship's overpriced shuttle is simplest. Very easy to DIY explore on foot - in fact it's impossible by car. Or if you're into ancient Greek sites, you may want to take the ferry across to Delos.

 

Athens. You port at Piraeus, about 8 miles from central Athens.

Cheapest way to get to Athens is by metro, but its a 20 min walk to metro station. Just a few euros each.

Or by ho-ho. Two ho-ho operators, little difference between them, all-day is about €20 - that's cheaper than ship's transfer & more useful/flexible. They both operate two routes, one between port & city & one around the city.

Or by taxi. Agree a price before you get in, can be reasonable cost if you share a full taxi.

However you choose to get to Athens, go to the Acropolis first to avoid the crowds & the heat (yes, even in May).

 

No worries

 

JB :)

Edited December 28, 2013 by John Bull

[I-love-cruising]

Thank you for the advice !! Great ideas !

[dorisis]

Get on the roll call for your ship and the date you are cruising. Fellow passengers often have private tour info.

[maryann ns]

I agree that you can tour Istanbul and Athens on your own. We had Rick Steves guide books and lots of information from here and Trip Advisor. We felt very safe walking around Istanbul in the dark.

[Taxguy77]

A lot of people in those Countries speak English unless you are going into the back hills you probably will not have a problem with language

 

Many Greeks come to Canada in the winter to work in the Greek restaurants :D

We met a waiter on Rhodes whose uncle owned a restaurant it Toronto where he worked in the winter months

 

Famous last words! :D

 

DW... Everybody in Hong Kong speaks English. Result, taxi driver finally called dispatch to understand the name of the Hotel!!

 

Both of us.... English is required in the Netherlands schools. Result, asked 4 people if we were on the right direction to a famous restaurant. Finally found a table of young men having some beers after work who said yes and pointed it out down the street.

Edited December 30, 2013 by Taxguy77
sp

[Nebr.cruiser]

We toured several of those ports on our Med cruise. Since we normally don't do ship tours, I researched ahead of time (Rick Steves book, as mentioned, is good) and also joined private tours organized by others on our roll call.

 

We used the same private company (I organized this tour on our roll call) in both Istanbul and Ephesus; very good. Since we were there overnight we walked over the bridge the next morning and walked around the streets and market on our own.

 

We did a private tour with a group from our roll calls in Athens, which was great.

 

On Mykonos we walked the 1.5 miles or so to the town. Easy and scenic walk, but it has some hills and some areas where there isn't much space to walk on the side of the road. The town area is charming and easy to navigate on foot.

 

For the most part, language was not a problem--we were in areas used to tourists, though.

 

We find that we can usually get much smaller, personalized and less expensive tours than the ship offers.

[trish1c]

If you are otherwise experienced international travelers, the savings by booking independently is worth it. If you are not, stick with a ship sponsored excursion for the peace of mind.

 

 

Basically, my rule of thumb is that if you can fix your own problem, no matter what arises, you have the wherewithal to book on your own. Otherwise pay for the convenience of not having to deal.

[EvilBanker]

Athens. You port at Piraeus, about 8 miles from central Athens.

Cheapest way to get to Athens is by metro, but its a 20 min walk to metro station. Just a few euros each.

Or by ho-ho. Two ho-ho operators, little difference between them, all-day is about €20 - that's cheaper than ship's transfer & more useful/flexible. They both operate two routes, one between port & city & one around the city.

Or by taxi. Agree a price before you get in, can be reasonable cost if you share a full taxi.

However you choose to get to Athens, go to the Acropolis first to avoid the crowds & the heat (yes, even in May).

JB :)

 

SO and I just returned from a land vacation to Athens, and wanted to add a little here to John Bull's spot-on information.

 

All the signage in the "tourist zone" in Athens is bilingual, including the metro (which we found fast, clean and comfortable). The people were at the least bilingual.

 

Were you to take the metro from Piraeus (current fare is, I believe, €1.20 each way), getting off at the Acropolis stop would put you right around the corner from the new Acropolis Museum (€5 entry). The entrance to the south slope of the Acropolis is directly across the "pedestrianized" street from that, where you can buy a ticket good for just about everything in Athens for €12. You do want to get there as early as possible to avoid the crowds - we had no problem with an 9 AM arrival, but when leaving around noon, the lines made us wonder if they were giving out something free and we'd missed it. :eek:

 

The street onto which the metro exits is chock-full of tourist spots (souvenir shops up the hill and cafes down), but if you go another block down and one over, there's a charming cafe/restaurant named Smile which offers really good value and free wi-fi that actually works. The owner's wife is originally from Chicago and it's family run (and the baklava is to die for).

[bonsai3s]

All are easy enough to explore DIY, no need to speak the languages because plenty of folk speak english, but of course you won't have a guide who can provide you with background information, history etc.

 

Corfu. There's a bus every ten minutes from the port gate to town centre, about a ten-minute drive costing about €2. Plenty of fellow-cruisers will be using it. Town has a couple of castles but it's mainly for shopping & people-watching.

 

Istanbul. Take the tram, it's quicker than by car or bus as well as silly-cheap. Plenty of folk on a couple of our cruises complained that their ship's tour was a waste of time, they were stuck in traffic most of the time. The trams have their own dedicated part of the road, no delays. Again, many of your fellow-cruisers will be doing the same, many will have done it before & know the ropes. Tram runs one block back from the cruise berths, crosses the Golden Horn over the Galata Bridge and up the hill to Sultanahmet for Blue Mosque (Sultanahmet Camii), Hippodrome, Hagia Sophia (various spellings), Roman Cistern, etc. Walk back down the hill if you want to visit Topkapi Palace, then cross to walk down through the Grand Bazaar (Kapalicarsi) & on to the Egyptian Bazaar (aka Spice Bazaar) which takes you back to the Galata Bridge. From there, tram or walk back over the bridge to your ship.

Tram costs something like 2.5 TL flat fare per journey, you buy a token from a machine at the tram stop (TL only, but it does give change & instructions are in English). Probably an ATM between ship & tram stop, or if not some shops sell tokens & accept euros. Note the name of your tram stop (will be one of three, depending where along the quay you are berthed).

If you want to take a cheap ferry ride (Sultanahmet side of Galataa Bridge) up the Golden Horn or Bosphorus or across to Asia you'll also need TL, but there are also tourist boats which accept euros. Definitely get at least some TL, it'll make life cheaper & easier.

 

Crime in Istanbul is low, evenings no problem provided you are sensible about what you wear/carry & where you go. The areas I've mentioned are fine.

 

Mykonos. You'll either be tendered right into the town harbour, or you may berth at a cruise quay about 1.5 miles away - in which case ship's overpriced shuttle is simplest. Very easy to DIY explore on foot - in fact it's impossible by car. Or if you're into ancient Greek sites, you may want to take the ferry across to Delos.

 

Athens. You port at Piraeus, about 8 miles from central Athens.

Cheapest way to get to Athens is by metro, but its a 20 min walk to metro station. Just a few euros each.

Or by ho-ho. Two ho-ho operators, little difference between them, all-day is about €20 - that's cheaper than ship's transfer & more useful/flexible. They both operate two routes, one between port & city & one around the city.

Or by taxi. Agree a price before you get in, can be reasonable cost if you share a full taxi.

However you choose to get to Athens, go to the Acropolis first to avoid the crowds & the heat (yes, even in May).

 

No worries

 

JB :)

 

...Outstanding post. Reading your post genuinely felt like I was doing it again. Great information.

 

Note: This is the type of post that attracted us to Cruise Critic.

Med Cruises: Although I have backpacked all over Europe over 35 years ago, I am still truly grateful to all the experienced members here...most specially Hhiltner, eurocruiser, JB, cruisermom, just to name a few. We have found true experts we can rely on for every part of the world...Thanks to all. :)