Excursions in the Mediterranean

[Shoobie1124]

Hello Cruisers! We are looking into booking our first Mediterranean cruise for the summer (Grand Mediterranean on the Regal) and I am interested in some of the excursions. The last time I travelled in Europe I saw many of the same cities on my own - and did MUCH more in one day than what the typical excursion includes.

 

Has anyone found that they spend too much time in one place instead of seeing as much as possible?

 

Also, I am new to the boards - can anyone direct me to the board that would tell me which excursions are not to be missed or if there are better options booking independently vs. princess.

 

Thanks!

Gillian

[-Lew-]

Welcome to Cruise Critic...

 

You should check out the Roll Call for your particular cruise where you'll meet others cruising with you.

 

To find the Roll Call for your cruise: click here, then click on the [name of your ship] Roll Calls, then search the list for the embarkation date of your cruise. Click on it for your Roll Call.

 

Enjoy your cruise...

 

Lew

[katisdale]

I take some private and some cruise sponsored excursions. We are doing the Grand Med cruise next July on the Regal and the ship's excursions are not yet listed. However, we have found that our interests and the interests of our fellow cruisers do not always mesh. Just as an example, we are not shoppers but ship excursions almost always provide some sort of "shopping" activity. If the shoppers then take a long time to return to the bus that does take away from the time available for other activities. The more expensive "connoisseur" excursions tend to be more to our liking. My advice is to not worry so much about the time but to pay special attention to what is scheduled. If you can mesh your desires to what is offered you will be much happier.

[Steviewonder1]

We did the Eastern Med in October last year. Just after tourist season and the weather was perfect and not hot. All of the ports will be excursion intensive, that meaning that most every tour will start as soon as folks can get off the ship. The last thing you want to do is Pay someone $70 to take you to the center of one of the towns and let you do your own walk back to the ship. We did primarily private tours with a max of 8 in private vans. They were wonderful and we did not feel like we were a bunch of herded cats being led thru town. Also in many of the towns the big busses cannot navigate the narrow streets that a private van can. You then have to walk an extra 6-8 blocks to the activity point being presented. There are many private tour companies that will do the same tour and same routes that the Ship's tours do, but it will be faster and you will in almost all cases get lunch in a local restaurant with local food. We did not get any lunch break on the two ship's tours we did. And lastly, get on the board for your ship and cruise date here on CC and see what may already be going on.

Good Luck and The Eastern Med is not to be missed.

[yliebert]

I take some private and some cruise sponsored excursions. We are doing the Grand Med cruise next July on the Regal and the ship's excursions are not yet listed. However, we have found that our interests and the interests of our fellow cruisers do not always mesh. Just as an example, we are not shoppers but ship excursions almost always provide some sort of "shopping" activity. If the shoppers then take a long time to return to the bus that does take away from the time available for other activities. The more expensive "connoisseur" excursions tend to be more to our liking. My advice is to not worry so much about the time but to pay special attention to what is scheduled. If you can mesh your desires to what is offered you will be much happier.

 

I know you have done the Baltic. We are doing it on princess this coming July. Please share your experience with excursions. My DH will be using a scooter for the first time and I'm not certain which excursions and which companies will work best for him. YOu can answer here, on the diabled forum or on the Emerald Princess Roll call for July 26.:confused: I will monitor them all

Thanks

Yoletta