Does anyone ever take tours through the ship on a Med. cruise?

[Travelalot2]

I have been doing a lot of digging on the various sites that us cruisers like to visit and very rarely do I see where someone took a tour through the ship at any of the ports on a Med. cruise. I was thinking of hiring drivers while we are in Italy (Livorno, Rome and Naples), but, what about Greece (Athens, Mykonos and Santorini), Turkey (Ephesus) and the Monte Carlo / Cannes areas?

 

Has anyone taken a tour through the ship that they would recommend while on a Med. cruise?

[critterchick]

We took the ship's tour for the Walk Through Renaissance Rome, and it was a very nice tour. The bus was only about 1/3 full, so we had a manageable group of 20-30 people.

 

If your ship stops in Villefranche Sur Mer, you can easily do Monaco/Cannes/Nice on your own, especially if you read up a bit on what you'd like to see. The tender dock is about a 10-minute walk from the train station, and Monaco is a 10-minute ride, maybe even only 5. Nice is a quick train ride in the other direction.

[dougp26364]

Since it is our first time in any of these countries, all of our tours are going to be RCI tours. Just because the ports forum has a few experienced cruisers that do their own thing does not mean that it is the majority taking the tours, only the majority that post about taking tours. For a first time in any new country where I'm not sure how things work, I'm considerably more comfortable taking the ships tours with the guarentee that we'll be back to the ship in time or else they'll hold it for us.

[tipster42]

Took a tour in Tunis. Not a place to go off on your own. Visited Ancient Carthage, a beautiful blue and white country village and finally we visited a souk. We were warned by our guidenot to point our camera's at the Palace or at any security personnel

.

Part of the souk visit was a tour of a carpet weaving shop where we were given coffee and encouraged to buy a carpet. None of our group did. We left, and after wending our way through narrow streets lined with merchants, we finally arrived at the bus rendevous spot. No bus. We waited about 15 minutes. and one of the passengers who still retained his sense of humor, exclaimed "I told you we should have bought a carpet"

 

On the same cruise, we visited Palermo, Ibiza, Majorca and Barcelona. Used public transportation or taxis. No problems at all. Used rudimentary Spanish or Italian and relied on the good graces of the people. We got to meet people and see places not on the tour agenda. We also saved a lot of money.

[bayjoens]

We went on our first cruise in the Med two years ago and I booked all our town tours except in Athens where we took the ship's tour. By far, our own tours were not only cheaper but they were infinitely better. Our own tours were exclusive so we could be flexible and had a better time taking to our guides/drivers. On the ship's tour, we were a few people on one of 15 buses which was each packed with about 50 people.

 

We didn't tour in Monte Carlo, just walked around. But had a driver and guide in Naples, Livorno, Venice and Turkey. Our Turkish guide, Lale Kasogan, met us at both Kusadasi and Istanbul and was, by far, the absolute best and favorite. You can find her on the internet.

 

Most of the information I got was from the port pages here or from Rick Steves' guide book. Although we loved Lale the best, they were all good.

[navel1ring]

We did RCI tours all but villefranche & were VERY HAPPY

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=100423&highlight=navel1ring

 

Wendy

[harrodsfan]

With a few exceptions we do the ships tours...especially the ones that are basically a transfer with time on your own. It is easy and sometimes if you are a small group even cheaper. We ahve had traffic problems in Greece and Italy and were glad that we had the added assurance that the ship wouldn't leave without us!

[truffles2]

All the tours we took were through the ship and we were very pleased with all of them. Would do it again in a heartbeat.l

[mek]

We were on the Brilliance in June and did a mix of private, ships, and "on our own" tours. Overall, I prefer private tours, but we wanted a short 1/2 day in Livorno and the ship offered a scenic drive to a winery that just fit the bill, and in Naples we wanted to do the Amalfi drive without Pompeii and again, the ship had a great full day tour that was exactly what we wanted. On past European cruises, we've had mostly good tours from the ship with only a few "mistakes", but I've never had a bad private tour.

[caviargal]

I think a lot of it depends on the individual. I never do ships tours and always research the ports ahead of time and figure it out on my own. I do not care to be carted around with other passengers and to have to adhere to a particular schedule. I enjoy the flexibility and spontaniety of doing my own thing.

[johnql]

On my Med cruise, I booked all of my tours thru the ship. No regrets whatsoever.

[fodorspeter]

If I had money to burn, I'd still do most Med excursions on my own. We're the kind of people who are looking for a little "adventure" along with our vacation. I don't mind sailing, eating, drinking and socializing with the other cruise passengers, but I don't particularly want to spend all of my land time with them as well. You really appreciate the flexibility of going on your own as well. If we get interested in step 2 of a planned 5 step excursion; we might just skip the last three. You don't get to do that on a ship's excursion. As far as the "fear" of missing the ship - these private tour operators know the ship schedules and they have their reputation on the line and fear missing the ship just as much as you do. Besides, thats the adventure side.

 

Peter

[Travelalot2]

Right now I am debating on if we need to do a private tour in Rome and Florence or if one of the ship's tours will fit the bill. I have "driveamalfi" scheduled for Naples stop because of the high ratings they have received on this board. But, I'm still debating about Rome and Florence. I had hoped to see a little of Tuscany when we dock in Livorno. Do you get to see any of the pretty countryside on the way to Florence?

[critterchick]

Travelalot2, we took the wine tour in Tuscany, and there was lots of gorgeous countryside on the way. The driver also took a route that took us right past Pompeii. There was one full tour bus, so there were about 40 people, but it really wasn't a cattle car. We got out, had a tour of the winery (it's small), then had time to sample their wines with some cheeses and other local munchies. The trip back was VERY mellow if you know what I mean.:D We brought a bottle of the red back to our favorite bartender on Splendour. I though he was going to cry.

 

There is also a trip to Siena and San Gimignano (I butchered that spelling) that will take you off the beaten track into the countryside.

[PoohUnderstands]

I am normally a chicken when it comes to private tours because of the "will we miss the ship?" syndrome!!! However, with the Med. cruise we are usually in port until late enough where I can tell my private guide I want to be back at a certain time. Like in most ports we leave between 7:00-10:00, yet I will want to be back no later than 5:00 or so and have so put on my reservation. That way we can see alot but not worry if we run into some traffic.

 

There will just be two couples on our private tours and even then, in US dollars, all the private cruises are only $15-35 more per person, well worth the extra few dollars. Plus that is comparing ship's tours for 2005, and they will probably be a few dollars more in 2006 when we go. Since I have already booked my tours, the price in Euros is set. So we will even be better off if the dollar gets stronger to the Euro over the next year!!!

 

So if you can, I definitely would look into private tours. You can usually get an extra couple or two on the meet and mingle thread for your specific cruise. If you can't you can always cancel and go with a ship's tour. Whatever you decide, you will have a great cruise, I am sure!

 

Pooh