Feeling Overwhelmed!

[Karennella]

We did a mixture of ship's excursions, private excursions and wandering around ourselves on our cruise last year. We actually really enjoyed the ships's excursions and sometimes they are the only practical way to go. That is especially true in very small centres which are currently being overwhelmed with big ships and don't have the infrastructure to allow people to make a lot of choices.

I think of Cairns in Nth Queensland as an example. People want to go out to the reef privately or ask will there be many cabs etc waiting for their arrival. No, not if the ship is large and has to tender to a suburb north of the city. Cairns is a relatively small city in a very large and empty state.

If I am in Cairns I like to be very flexible as I have been there many times. But if I am in Europe I am going to places I will never see again then sometimes the ship excursions offer me the best option.

[LondonTowner]

First of all any holiday we have whether it be a cruise or land holiday is booked because we have identified the places as those we would like to visit. We never go away to Southern Europe in July/August as it is too hot and busy.

 

Once we have decided where we want to go, then I start researching what we would like to see or do in the destinations.

 

If we are on a cruise then I read what the ship excursions are offering. I read CC and Tripadvisor and the relevant tourist office websites. If places are difficult to reach by public transport then I look at local tour operators. We hardly never book ship excursions.

 

Well, I wouldn't consider any of the port's of call that the OP is visiting as dangerous.However, as seen by recent events all over the world anything can happen anywhere at any time. Having said that, it wouldn't stop me travelling to most places and particularly not anywhere on this itinerary.

[Hlitner]

Yes this is very much how we feel, and thus why we have decided against ship excursions. We are definitely on the "less is more" side when it comes to vacationing.

 

Some options are quite amazing from a cost point of view. Just consider Civitavecchia to Rome. Cruise lines will often charge around $100 per person for just a bus transfer to Rome. But you can buy a basic "BIRG" train ticket for about $14 that includes round trip train (from the port city to Rome) plus unlimited all day's use of Rome's public transportation system. A couple quickly saves around $170 in a single day with this simple tip. In other ports a cruise line might charge $40-$60 per person for a simple "walking tour" where a guide takes a small group, by the hand, and walks them around part of city. But with a little homework, and a visit to the local tourist office (where there are usually some excellent free maps and guides) you can easily accomplish the same thing (or more) on your own.

 

If you want to visit Capri (from the Port of Naples) you can simply walk over to the ferry terminal (less then a 10 min walk) and buy a ticket on the same high speed hydrofoils used by the tours...and save lots of money. Of if you want to tour Pompeii you can take an inexpensive train (or a bus) to the ruins, pay the small admission fee (less then $15) and guide yourself through the ruins. If you decide you would prefer a guided tour you can join a small group tour at the entrance to the ruins. These tours used to cost about 10€ per person and are darn good tours. When you total the cost of the trains, admission and guide it probably would cost about $30 - $35 per person..compared to cruise line excursions that cost at least twice that price.

 

Hank

[LondonTowner]

In addition to what Hank has just said, these days in many cities you can do free walking tours. You just pay the guide what you want and normally no more than 10 Euros pp for one that has been very good.

 

I think 10 Euros for a guided tour of an archaeological site is about the norm. Many museums also have free guided tours in English included in the entrance price.

 

When you start to compare the DIY costs against cruise ship excursions you soon realise what a huge saving you can make.

[chinita415]

Good advice already. My first European trip was a month long EuroRail pass hostel hopping trip after grad school. It was a blast. But good to travel with some funds these days.

 

Do look at the cruise excursions to get an idea of the possible options and do it DIY.

 

Also not all ports and excursions are made equal. For our upcoming Western Med cruise next week, I decided to splurge on a private tour from Marseille to see Arles/St Remy/Le Baux because it would be impossible without renting a car ourselves. The cheaper DIY version was train to Arles. But the port isn't close to the train station and we wanted to see more.

 

You will definitely want to come back to explore more on a land based trip. Barcelona is a great extension.

[euro cruiser]

these days in many cities you can do free walking tours. You just pay the guide what you want and normally no more than 10 Euros pp for one that has been very good.

Yes but everyone should understand two things about these "free" tours. First, you get what you pay for - your guide may or may not know what they are talking about and unless you've done research yourself, you won't have any idea if you are getting facts/information or entertainment. Second, the reason that many of these tours are free is because the primary job of the guide is to upsell participants to the paid tours operated by their company. You can certainly ignore the pitch but recognize it for what it is.

 

What these free tours are good for is getting physically oriented to a new city. In this context they work well in places with relatively compact historical centers but are not very helpful in larger, more spread out cities.

[LondonTowner]

Chinita415

 

A few years ago we stayed in St Remy for a week. It is a lovely area, you will enjoy it.

 

Eurocruiser

 

We did a free walking tour in Berlin and the guide was excellent and knew his stuff. I don't remember any pressurised selling, but we are old enough to make our own decisions anyway. My friend has done these tours in a number of European cities and has always been satisfied with them and she used to teach tourism at a college.

[wheezedr]

You have been given some good information by experienced cruisers so I would like to add some general tips gathered from our touring. Among others we did 21 days on the med in May.

1. If you plan a multi part day, e.g. Florence and Pisa from Livorno, always do the distant part first so that as the day ends you are heading back towards port. That puts you closer on your return if something untoward happens.

2. Don't overdo it. People try to say they have seen everything in a city like Rome and then just run around without focus. Pick an area to emphasize. You will enjoy what you see more and give yourself a reason to return.

3. Always have plan B. Our train to Rome was delayed for an hour and then skipped certain stations. Knowing what was important to us, DW and I agreed on what to drop in our plans to still get the most out of a shortened day.

Good luck with your plans

[chinita415]

1. If you plan a multi part day, e.g. Florence and Pisa from Livorno, always do the distant part first so that as the day ends you are heading back towards port. That puts you closer on your return if something untoward happens.

.....

3. Always have plan B. Our train to Rome was delayed for an hour and then skipped certain stations. Knowing what was important to us, DW and I agreed on what to drop in our plans to still get the most out of a shortened day.

Good luck with your plans

 

#1 reminded me to say... I assume you have travel insurance as well? I have never had to use it but several people in my travel party have in the past. Missing the boat is not as disasterous on the Med itinerary as others but it certainly can happen if you DIY or go with a non cruise sponsored tour. And other hiccups can happen too.

[George C]

We also did Barcelona day tour , great half day tour under 50 a person with a group of 10

[Host Bonjour]

Hopefully by now along with your reading OP and the wonderful advice you've received here from our members, you're beginning to feel more relaxed about planning your port stops.

 

Like you and many here, I felt the same way when my first Europe visit was fast approaching, also with multiple stops - lots to read and process! Ultimately what happened as I received tips, articles etc., as I read and absorbed things I realized I began to feel like I was already ON a bit of an escape or holiday. Just the planning started to become exciting and fun - when I allowed it to be ;)

 

Think about it - you're reading about and looking at photos of amazing places, deciding what to see - wonderful things to be passing the time with, far better than the ordinary things most of us tend to read - well, except for Cruise Critic :D

 

Embrace the planning - the start of it - yes, a big deal. Now you're armed and ready; have a ball! :)

(Think of what a pro you'll be on your next visit to....anywhere when the planning phase comes up!)

 

Thanks to everyone (grazie!) as always for the outstanding participation. Things are about to get exciting here....board upgrades on deck, there is a test forum now live with a special post from Laura: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/announcement.php?f=215&a=468

We think you'll love it.

[Cornishpastyman1]

Our cruise leaves on April 1st. This will be our first time to Europe. We depart from Barcelona and stop at Marseille, Monaco, Livorno, Rome, Naples, Crete, Athens, Zadar, and Venice. I decided not to do the ship sponsored excursions because they are SO overpriced. I got Rick Steve's guide and have been reading it non-stop for the past 2-3 days, plus reading articles online. And I'm already SUPER overwhelmed. The details of every city's transportation options, not to mention sights and restaurants are just bombarding me. How do you all deal with this? I kind of feel like I'm just spinning my wheels.

If you want a few visuals I try and make short videos of every port I visit and from 3 Med cruises have done some for all but Crete and Zadar, which can be found from the links below. All the best - you will have a wonderful time. Tony

[#eurovirgin]

Thanks everyone! I've gotten some good advice here, which I will go back through to double check. I'm starting to feel better now.

[Cassicruiser]

We're on the cruise 2 after you! Best advice I can give you is to either join your roll call, or at least read through your roll call. Judging by your dates and ports, it looks like you're on the Spirit so your roll call is here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2264576

 

There will most likely already be people organising independent tours, or just asking for and giving general advice. You could also look at our roll call leaving 23 April as you have very similar ports, which has masses of advice if you can be bothered wading through. I have organised 1 and joined 2 tours in different ports, and chatted at length about other options, and DIY transport options in some ports.

 

Hope this helps :)

[mcatmcat]

Our cruise leaves on April 1st. This will be our first time to Europe. We depart from Barcelona and stop at Marseille, Monaco, Livorno, Rome, Naples, Crete, Athens, Zadar, and Venice. I decided not to do the ship sponsored excursions because they are SO overpriced. I got Rick Steve's guide and have been reading it non-stop for the past 2-3 days, plus reading articles online. And I'm already SUPER overwhelmed. The details of every city's transportation options, not to mention sights and restaurants are just bombarding me. How do you all deal with this? I kind of feel like I'm just spinning my wheels.

 

I now got what you mean , its so easy to plan a Caribbean cruise than Europe. I also noticed that there is so much info about the caribbena port of call compared to europe.

[George C]

Barcelona is good for the budget , when we 1st arrived we went to a little tapas place across from our hotel and ordered 2 amstels lights, I thought it would coat 10 euros or more bill came and the charge was just 3 euro's for the 2 beers

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Good advice about using a spreadsheet to keep track of what you're doing in each port. Have categories for the cost, and transportation, etc.

 

Also good advice that "less is more". You can't do it all, and you can exhaust yourself very easily. Look at each port and see if there's one that perhaps you could skip, and make it a sea day, or just walk off the ship and go for a walk.

 

For the "big" ports, like Livorno, Rome and Marseilles, think about what you want to see and how it's best to accomplish that. Florence is a long way from the port, and it will be a "flying visit" at best. Rome as well. If you're comfortable on your own, think about taking the train. Then plan your day carefully. The cruise line "on your own" excursions sometimes are good value here, since they drop you off and pick you up. For Rome particularly, choose 2 or 3 things that you want to see and concentrate on that. For Marseilles, if the budget is limited, then probably a tour of Provence is out of reach, not sure what to suggest.

[euro cruiser]

Good advice about using a spreadsheet to keep track of what you're doing in each port. Have categories for the cost, and transportation, etc.

It's also important to note closing days and times, it makes no sense to build a plan around visiting a site on a day it's closed or at a time when it's closed (many churches in Italy close for several hours in the early afternoon).

[LondonTowner]

Many museums in Europe close on a Monday.

[thebigbluesea]

When I was on the Mediterreanean Cruise, I did take the ship excursions because it was easier, but I can see how much can be left out, and how customizing it has it advantages and disadvantages.

 

But one thing stood out for me when I was on them. The TRAFFIC!!! it can be horrendous on the streets and on the highways. Just be aware of that when doing your own planning, so that you make it back in time to the ship! and don't forget to account for some time to go through screening again in the port, before boarding.