Port Stop Tours

[LynnTH]

Going on Med Cruise in May.  First time to Europe.  Group consists of Me, Husband, Son 24, Daughter 21, Son's Girlfriend 22 then My Brother and SIL.  My son is paying for his and his girlfriends cruise -but we are paying for all the tours/transportation for the 5 of us.  

 

We have some tours set up but don't really want to do a tour at every stop.  Can anyone tell me if there are some stops that are better for roaming around on our own or any suggestions at each port.  

 

We Fly into Rome a few days early.  We have transportation, hotel and tours already set up for Rome.

 

Cruise Stops:

Amalfi Coast - Nothing yet

Sicily - Nothing yet

Santorini - Have Tour set up plus a photo session.  Son is going to propose to girlfriend here.

Ephesus - Nothing yet

Mykonos - Nothing yet

 

The Cruise ends in Athens. We are here for a few days after the cruise.  We have transportation, hotel and tours set up already for Athens.  

 

 

Thanks for any suggestions/info !!  Lynn

[cruisemom42]

Mykonos can definitely be a more "chill" day -- either wander the small town or get to a beach. 

 

Where in Sicily are you stopping?  (Sicily has 3-4 ports).  If it is Messina, a half-day excursion to lovely Taormina would be pretty non-stressful; Taormina is a lovely small town perched high with views and many cruise lines offer a half-day on-your-own tour which takes care of the transportation.

 

At Kusadasi, I highly recommend that you get your party to the Ephesus ruins; they are outstanding. Can be arranged via a private tour or ship tour.

 

"Amalfi Coast" is also a broad area -- which port are you stopping in?  In addition to the famed Amalfi Coast drive, there is also Pompeii (and the smaller Herculaneum), as well as Capri (especially if you are stopping at Sorrento).

 

[LynnTH]

On 12/29/2022 at 2:51 PM, cruisemom42 said:

Mykonos can definitely be a more "chill" day -- either wander the small town or get to a beach. 

 

Where in Sicily are you stopping?  (Sicily has 3-4 ports).  If it is Messina, a half-day excursion to lovely Taormina would be pretty non-stressful; Taormina is a lovely small town perched high with views and many cruise lines offer a half-day on-your-own tour which takes care of the transportation.

 

At Kusadasi, I highly recommend that you get your party to the Ephesus ruins; they are outstanding. Can be arranged via a private tour or ship tour.

 

"Amalfi Coast" is also a broad area -- which port are you stopping in?  In addition to the famed Amalfi Coast drive, there is also Pompeii (and the smaller Herculaneum), as well as Capri (especially if you are stopping at Sorrento).

 

Looks like Amalfi Coast is Salerno.

Sicily is Messina

Someone recommended ephesusporttour.com.  So will probably do something with them.

Mykonos - Will probably walk around and do our own thing.

 

So, that leaves what to do for the Italy stops.

[marazul]

1 hour ago, LynnTH said:

Looks like Amalfi Coast is Salerno.

Sicily is Messina

Someone recommended ephesusporttour.com.  So will probably do something with them.

Mykonos - Will probably walk around and do our own thing.

 

So, that leaves what to do for the Italy stops.

From Salerno you can take a ferry to Positano and Amalfi.  Real easy. Search this board.  Or you can take an excursion to Pompeii. 

 

From Messina do take a transportation only tour to Taormina. If you want to do a little more, take a tour to Taormina and Castelmola.  Messina is a large town and there are a couple of things to do, but it is not that interesting.

 

Don't miss Ephesus.

Edited January 5, 2023 by marazul

[LynnTH]

24 minutes ago, marazul said:

From Salerno you can take a ferry to Positano and Amalfi.  Real easy. Search this board.  Or you can take an excursion to Pompeii. 

 

From Messina do take a transportation only tour to Taormina. If you want to do a little more, take a tour to Taormina and Castelmola.  Messina is a large town and there are a couple of things to do, but it is not that interesting.

 

Don't miss Ephesus.

Thank You. I will research these places!!

[cruisemom42]

You could also take a driving tour of the Amalfi Coast (via ship or private tour) if the ferry timings don't work out for you. Kind of depends on how long your port time is in Salerno.

[LynnTH]

4 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

You could also take a driving tour of the Amalfi Coast (via ship or private tour) if the ferry timings don't work out for you. Kind of depends on how long your port time is in Salerno.

We are here from 7am to 6pm.  We do like to have private tours for our group of 7.  The ships tours don't have many listed for here, unless they add more.  So, looking for reputable tour companies that others have used.  Google brings up so many....

[euro cruiser]

You might want to consider doing a both/and solution, using a car service in the morning to get you out along the coast, but then transitioning to the ferries as the traffic builds later in the day.

 

The ferries don't get going that early in the morning, so it would be an efficient use of your time.

[LynnTH]

1 minute ago, euro cruiser said:

You might want to consider doing a both/and solution, using a car service in the morning to get you out along the coast, but then transitioning to the ferries as the traffic builds later in the day.

 

The ferries don't get going that early in the morning, so it would be an efficient use of your time.

Thanks for the suggestion. Wouldn't have thought of that - pretty sure the ferries don't get stuck in traffic!!

[cruisemom42]

I'm not a big utilizer of private tours so I can't recommend them myself but look for comments on Rome In Limo, Joe Banana Tours and Italytours.eu for starters -- lots of positive reviews. They will work with you once you tell them what you're interested in doing.

[euro cruiser]

If you're considering the both/and solution, I would price out a simple transfer from Salerno to Positano vs. the cost of a tour.  In normal traffic at 7 AM I would expect it to take about two hours (🤯I know, it's only a little over 25 miles, but that's what it takes), which would get you to Positano between 9 - 9:30 AM.  

 

There is only one road that cars can travel on in Positano, in one direction.  Anything more than that must be on foot anyway, so a traditional tour means you'd be paying for the driver to sit somewhere while you see the village.

 

Ferries from Positano to Amalfi begin at 10:00 and there's at least one every hour or so.

[LynnTH]

19 hours ago, euro cruiser said:

If you're considering the both/and solution, I would price out a simple transfer from Salerno to Positano vs. the cost of a tour.  In normal traffic at 7 AM I would expect it to take about two hours (🤯I know, it's only a little over 25 miles, but that's what it takes), which would get you to Positano between 9 - 9:30 AM.  

 

There is only one road that cars can travel on in Positano, in one direction.  Anything more than that must be on foot anyway, so a traditional tour means you'd be paying for the driver to sit somewhere while you see the village.

 

Ferries from Positano to Amalfi begin at 10:00 and there's at least one every hour or so.

Holy Crap - and I thought our traffic was bad!!  How long does it take on the ferry?  I am thinking we may need to do a private tour.  Would like to possibly go to Pompeii and possibly one other place on Amalfi coast if time.

[marazul]

25 minutes ago, LynnTH said:

Holy Crap - and I thought our traffic was bad!!  How long does it take on the ferry?  I am thinking we may need to do a private tour.  Would like to possibly go to Pompeii and possibly one other place on Amalfi coast if time.

The easiest would be going to Pompeii and then to Amalfi and Ravello.  You can take the ferry back from Amalfi.

[LynnTH]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I think we have a plan...

 

Amalfi Coast (Salerno) - Going with AP Tours to Pompeii/Sorrento/Positano

Sicily (Messina) - Doing RCCL Tour Taormina by Land & Sea

Santorini - Going with Skyline Travel for Tour & Photo Shoot (of My Sons Engagement)

Ephesus (Kusadasi) - Using Ephesus Port Tours for Highlights of Ephesus/Shopping Tour

Mykonos - Just going to wander around on our own

 

A few more questions.

 

1.  My brother is a bit apprehensive of using outside tour companies other than RCCL. But seems all the companies I am using are pretty well known and have great reviews. He is just worried about something happening and not making back to the ship on time.  But since we are in our own private groups  - I feel like we are in control of times.  Anyone ever have any issues with this?

 

2.  Is the ship docked at these ports or we tendered in (RCCL Enchantment)

 

3.  Assuming we stay on ships time always. We are starting in Rome.  So, when setting up meeting times with the tour companies I need to take into account the time changes.  Looks like Greece is 1 hour ahead of Italy and Turkey is 2 hours ahead of Italy.  Assuming the tour companies go by their local time when setting up tours - so, I need to be aware of ships time/local time when arranging plans?

 

Thanks everyone for all your help!!  

[cruisemom42]

27 minutes ago, LynnTH said:

1.  My brother is a bit apprehensive of using outside tour companies other than RCCL. But seems all the companies I am using are pretty well known and have great reviews. He is just worried about something happening and not making back to the ship on time.  But since we are in our own private groups  - I feel like we are in control of times.  Anyone ever have any issues with this?

 

Very few problems occur in Europe with well-vetted vendors. They are professionals and know that any bad reviews or experiences could torpedo their business.  For perspective, I've been reading/posting to these Med forums for 15+ years and can only count a scant handful of reports of anyone encountering problems due to a private tour. (And most of these were years ago, lol....)

 

27 minutes ago, LynnTH said:

 

2.  Is the ship docked at these ports or we tendered in (RCCL Enchantment)

 

All ships tender at Santorini. Ship tours are offloaded first, to a separate port, then passengers without ship tours are tendered to a different area where you have to get to the top of the cliff to reach Fira. I advise reading up on the options. The cable car to the top can get quickly overwhelmed with too many people; the only other options are walking the 300 or so steps or riding a mule to the top.  It can take a while. Be sure you understand where to meet your private tour/guide and have a realistic idea of how long it will take to be tendered to shore and then reach the town.

 

 

27 minutes ago, LynnTH said:

 

3.  Assuming we stay on ships time always. We are starting in Rome.  So, when setting up meeting times with the tour companies I need to take into account the time changes.  Looks like Greece is 1 hour ahead of Italy and Turkey is 2 hours ahead of Italy.  Assuming the tour companies go by their local time when setting up tours - so, I need to be aware of ships time/local time when arranging plans?

 

I've not been on NCL but have been on about 12 Med cruises -- never been on one that did not do a time change when entering a new time zone. So the ship time and port/local time have always been the same.

[LynnTH]

4 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Very few problems occur in Europe with well-vetted vendors. They are professionals and know that any bad reviews or experiences could torpedo their business.  For perspective, I've been reading/posting to these Med forums for 15+ years and can only count a scant handful of reports of anyone encountering problems due to a private tour. (And most of these were years ago, lol....)

 

 

All ships tender at Santorini. Ship tours are offloaded first, to a separate port, then passengers without ship tours are tendered to a different area where you have to get to the top of the cliff to reach Fira. I advise reading up on the options. The cable car to the top can get quickly overwhelmed with too many people; the only other options are walking the 300 or so steps or riding a mule to the top.  It can take a while. Be sure you understand where to meet your private tour/guide and have a realistic idea of how long it will take to be tendered to shore and then reach the town.

 

 

 

I've not been on NCL but have been on about 12 Med cruises -- never been on one that did not do a time change when entering a new time zone. So the ship time and port/local time have always been the same.

Thanks for all the info. Very helpful.  We are on RCCL.  I have mostly done Carnival Cruises to the Caribbean and for those we always stayed on ships time.  Just wasn't sure if different for Europe Cruises.  

[tj_shopper]

On 1/12/2023 at 10:43 AM, LynnTH said:

Thanks for all the info. Very helpful.  We are on RCCL.  I have mostly done Carnival Cruises to the Caribbean and for those we always stayed on ships time.  Just wasn't sure if different for Europe Cruises.  

Yes, thank you very much for all the helpful information.  Sounds like we're on the same cruise.  We leave on May 15, 2023.  I am currently in my planning stages also.  Only tour we've booked so far is the stop at Salerno (Amalfi Coast).  We were there in 2019 and toured with Ciro, taxi driver - very great reviews.  On that cruise, our stop was at Naples.  We went to Sorrento, Amalfi and Pompeii on that trip and it was one of the best tours I've ever done.  We booked with him again but not going to Pompeii this time.  We will be headed to Vietri sul Mare, Ravello and  Tramonti with many stops in between for pizza, coffee/pastries and pastas.

 

Funny thing when I saw your location - my BFF lives in Woodbury, MN!  Also have a colleague that lived there but moved to Florida during COVID.  Small world.

Edited January 15, 2023 by tj_shopper

[LynnTH]

On 1/15/2023 at 7:35 AM, tj_shopper said:

Yes, thank you very much for all the helpful information.  Sounds like we're on the same cruise.  We leave on May 15, 2023.  I am currently in my planning stages also.  Only tour we've booked so far is the stop at Salerno (Amalfi Coast).  We were there in 2019 and toured with Ciro, taxi driver - very great reviews.  On that cruise, our stop was at Naples.  We went to Sorrento, Amalfi and Pompeii on that trip and it was one of the best tours I've ever done.  We booked with him again but not going to Pompeii this time.  We will be headed to Vietri sul Mare, Ravello and  Tramonti with many stops in between for pizza, coffee/pastries and pastas.

 

Funny thing when I saw your location - my BFF lives in Woodbury, MN!  Also have a colleague that lived there but moved to Florida during COVID.  Small world.

That is a small world!!  

[lisiamc]

On 1/12/2023 at 4:38 PM, cruisemom42 said:

All ships tender at Santorini. Ship tours are offloaded first, to a separate port, then passengers without ship tours are tendered to a different area where you have to get to the top of the cliff to reach Fira. I advise reading up on the options. The cable car to the top can get quickly overwhelmed with too many people; the only other options are walking the 300 or so steps or riding a mule to the top.  It can take a while. Be sure you understand where to meet your private tour/guide and have a realistic idea of how long it will take to be tendered to shore and then reach the town.

588 steps, almost all covered with donkey poo! We are some of the misguided souls who have walked up them. A very hot, smelly and tiring trek.

[euro cruiser]

4 hours ago, lisiamc said:

588 steps, almost all covered with donkey poo! We are some of the misguided souls who have walked up them. A very hot, smelly and tiring trek.

LOL, very descriptive.