9 day on Celebrity Beyond

[Lib0007]

Hi we are sailing on Celebrity Beyond in October Italy, France, and Spain.

 

These are out France ports:   Corsica, Nice and Provence.   Looking at ship excursions that we can wander around and do things on our own, but are any of these ports right at the towns listed, or are they all a drive to get there?   Just wondering if there is anything just off the ship that we could explore on our own.  The excursion explanations don't list how far the drives are.  

 

Thank you.   Any recommendations of "must sees" are appreciated!!  

 

[kburandt]

Same here, following

[marazul]

You have to be more specific.

Corsica is an island.  Which port?

Nice - you will be porting in the next town, Villefranche.  Search for Nice and Villefranche in this forum.

Provence is a region.  Which port?

 

Again, lots of ideas in this forum, but you need to be more precise.  A guidebook and a map can also give you a start.

[DC1andDC2]

On 4/9/2022 at 3:13 PM, marazul said:

You have to be more specific.

Corsica is an island.  Which port?

Nice - you will be porting in the next town, Villefranche.  Search for Nice and Villefranche in this forum.

Provence is a region.  Which port?

 

Again, lots of ideas in this forum, but you need to be more precise.  A guidebook and a map can also give you a start.

@marazul I'm not the OP but we will be on the Celebrity Beyond in September with the same itinerary.  The 3 ports in question are:

Provence (Marseille)

Nice (Villefranche)

Corsica (Ajaccio)

 

[Hlitner]

5 hours ago, DC1andDC2 said:

@marazul I'm not the OP but we will be on the Celebrity Beyond in September with the same itinerary.  The 3 ports in question are:

Provence (Marseille)

Nice (Villefranche)

Corsica (Ajaccio)

 

Marseille -  You will be docked at a commercial port just outside of town.  There will be a shuttle bus to the Old Port area which is along the water downtown.  There will also be taxis and walking is possible although it is a hike.  Marseille is a gateway port to much of Provence so most passengers will be off to other parts of Provence such S Aix, Les Baux, Arles, and even Avignon.

 

Villefranche is a tender port a few short miles outside of Nice.  You can walk to the train station or bus stops if you want to access public transit.

 

Ajaccio - We are there right now (Seabourn Ovation) and are docked right in town.  Everything in Ajaccio is within walking distance.  If you want to go elsewhere on Corsica you will need a tour, rental car, taxi, etc

 

Hank

[marazul]

10 hours ago, DC1andDC2 said:

@marazul I'm not the OP but we will be on the Celebrity Beyond in September with the same itinerary.  The 3 ports in question are:

Provence (Marseille)

Nice (Villefranche)

Corsica (Ajaccio)

 

 

4 hours ago, Hlitner said:

 

DCs -

Hank gave you some good info, as usual.  (Hank - How's your cruise?  Haven't heard much from you.)

 

Marseille is a gateway to some of the most interesting cities in France.  Private excursions help you maximize sightseeing.  Some suggested combinations for first timers are:

Aix and Cassis

Avignon and Les Baux (plus St Remy if there is time)

Arles and Les Baux (same about St Remy)

 

Villefranche is also a gateway.  Suggestions:

Nice (in the morning to see the Flower Market)

then add one of the following:

Eze and Monaco

St Paul-de-Vence and Tourrettes

Antibes and Cannes

 

Ajaccio - enjoy the town.  Maybe add excursions to the country side.

 

You can vary the above depending on your time in port and your interests.

[Hlitner]

Marazul, 27 days on the Seabourn Ovation has been simply wonderful.  Other than having to substitute Gibraltar and Malaga for our two scheduled stops in Morocco (that country still has roadblocks to cruise ships) we have had nothing but fun.  Had a few cases of onboard COVID during the cruise but they were handled by the usual onboard isolation protocols and life continued as usual.  Today we were ashore in Ajaccio where we saw no outdoor masking and only minimum indoor masking.  It appears that many European countries are Over COVID and simply learning to live with the disease (my attitude for over a year).  Folks who want to continue to obsess over COVID still live in their own world but for most life simply moves on.

 

Our ship has been to various ports of Portugal, Spain, France and Italy and we have been quickly cleared at each new port.  Nobody has ever asked for vaccine documents or required testing although Seabourn did test everyone who continued on from Lisbon.

 

On the ship we enjoy our crowded bars and shows.  A few folks are

very COVID conscious and keep to themselves but they probably number fewer than 30 out of the more than 400 aboard.  We do not need to get tested for our Monte Carlo disembarkation nor will we need any testing as we we travel on land to France, Holland, Czech Republic and probably parts of Poland and Germany (during our post cruise

driving trip).  
 

To sum up, it is travel life close to normal for those of us who simply accept COVID as one more aspect of life.

 

Hank

 

[marazul]

7 hours ago, Hlitner said:

 

Hank,

That's wonderful news. I had been wondering how your long trip was going. Can't wait to get back on the Ovation in June.

Have a great land trip. And keep posting. 

[Hlitner]

Finally off the ship and relaxing in our Nice, France hotel.  At the moment there are no COVID restrictions in France except that masks are required on public transit.  No need to show any COVID documents and restaurants are back to normal capacity.  It was a rainy dreary day so after lunch in nearby Old Town, we walked 1 1/2 miles to the Marc Chagall Museum.  I did not that Uber would have cost about 12 Euros for the short drive.

 

By the way, we paid Seabourn $150 for a private car transfer from the ship (Monte Carlo) to our hotel.  A taxi would have cost about 110 Euros but might have been hard to get on a rainy day.

 

Hank

[edinburgher]

 

 

There have been threads on Ajaccio and Corsica before, also multiple threads on Marseille, Nice and Villefranche so the easiest way to get maximum info is to use the SEARCH facility.

 

The search facility is very easy to use. Go to  (this) France forum , but not to your own thread.   Log in, and just below your user name, you will see the empty search box.  Input the word  Ajaccio or Corsica (or both at different times), or Marseille or Nice or Villefranche, tick "on this forum" from the drop down underneath the box, then hit the little magnifying glass.  All previous threads containing that word will appear in the results and you can read them at leisure.  Obviously you only enter one of your ports at a time.

 

Works the same way for ports in other countries too. Simply go to the correct forum for the country your port is in, then do as above.

 

There is also lots of online info for all your ports. Try the usual cruise port info websites for docking info, distances  etc.,,Tripadvisor and local tourist info  websites and anything else which comes up when you internet search something along the lines of"?????"  Tourist Info". or even onlythe name "?????"  In Ajaccio our ship docked in town, so very easy to DIY here.

 

Edited April 25, 2022 by edinburgher