Help

[producegirl]

:confused: I AM LEAVING AUGUST 15TH ON THE "BRILLIANCE OF THE SEAS". THIS IS MY FIRST CRUISE OUTSIDE OF NORTH AMERICA. I WOULD LIKE SOME ADVICE ON SHORE EXCURSIONS! FROM WHAT I CAN READ, THERE ARE PRIVATE TOURS THAT ARE AVAILABLE.

1. ARE THEY SAFE?

2. WHAT SITES DO I GO TO , TO FIND THEM?

HERE ARE THE DATES AND PLACES WE WILL BE VISITING

AUG. 16TH NICE/VILLEFRANCHIE

AUG. 17TH LIVORNO/FLORENCE

AUG. 18TH ROME

AUG. 19TH SEA

AUG. 20TH MYKONOS, GREECE

AUG. 21ST KUSADASHI, TURKEY

AUG. 22ND SANTORINI, GREECE

AUG. 23RD ATHENS

AUG. 24TH SEA

AUG. 25TH NAPLES

AUG. 26TH SEA

AUG. 27TH BACK IN PORT AND HOME

 

ANY INFO WOULD BE GREATLY APPREICATED!!

[lord of the seas]

Do you have an adjust button on your font size?

[ctj_57]

Mostly they are all safe. But some times you can get the language problem, because of the European accents.

You have to contact with some of the travel agencies or private guides to arrange your tour before your trip. Otherwise it will be so diffucult to arrange a private tour on your arrival to those ports.

If you need some advises pls. write to my private mail address

ctj_57@yahoo.com.tr

[vjblk]

I can't help with all of your ports but I can tell you what we did in the ones we visited on our Celebrity cruise a few years ago.

 

I had done alot of research on this website as everyone here is very helpful with sharing their information.

 

We decided that private tours were a little too expensive for us. I gave some thought to taking the trains into Florence and Rome but decided we just weren't comfortable with trying to navigate the train system even though it did sound simple. We figured we would just be too tired at the end of the day to try and figure out what train to take back to the port.

 

Here's what we did.

 

In Villefranchde we got off the boat in the morning and walked around some in this quaint little town. Then we later met up with our tour that we booked through the ship. We did a tour that took us on a short walking tour of Nice and then took us to EZE. Short tour that wasn't too expensive but it was a good tour.

 

In Livorno, we opted to take the ship's, "on your own" tour which only provided us bus transporatation to Florence. This way we had the security of ship transportation but could visit Florence at our leisure and see what we wanted to see. We enjoyed that part. We just researched what we wanted to see in Florence and had a game plan for the limited time we were there. Yes, going with the ship's tour probably shortened our time there but that was okay with us.

 

Again for Rome, we took the "on your own" bus transportation. It did sound easy to take the train from the port into Rome but again we wanted the security of going with the ship's transportation. The port is a couple hours from Rome so you have to be prepared to travel some to get there. We did have about 5-6 hours in Rome and that was plenty for us to see what we wanted to see. We decided not to visit the Vatican this time, but did manage to see the Spanish Steps, the Trevi fountain, the Trajan Market, the Pantheon, the Piazze Navona and the Coliseum from afar. We did alot of walking on this day but we enjoyed walking and seeing things along our way.

Again we went armed with a game plan so that we could make the best use of our time.

 

In Naples, we just got off the ship and took a taxi to Herculeum, the other ruins that are closer than Pompeii. The taxi driver stayed around that town long enough for us to tour the ruins and then drove us back to Naples where we went back on the ship and had lunch then got off again to walk around Naples.

 

We didn't go to Greece but that is our experience with some of the ports you are going to visit.

 

I think it all depends on how much you want to see. We figured that we didn't want to cram a bunch of things into each day and chose only some "must sees" in each port. Shore excursions through the ship in the Med can be expensive which is why we chose some of their transportation only tours. They were the right length of time where we didn't get back to the ship exhausted from our day.

 

But if you do alot of research on these boards you can find ways to do it on your own. It all depends on your budget and how much of a risk taker you are as there are always variables when traveling that far from the port. Traffic jams, train strikes etc. can cause delays in your getting back to the ship. The chances of them happening are small but only you can decide if it's too big a risk for your piece of mind.

[JeannyCT]

Do you have an adjust button on your font size?

Very good question :) : capitalized, big and bold - it's hard to read.

 

AUG. 18TH ROME

AUG. 21ST KUSADASHI, TURKEY

AUG. 22ND SANTORINI, GREECE

AUG. 23RD ATHENS

 

These are the places I've been to, I don't know about the others.

Rome: I stayed in Civitavecchia, where most ships dock, because I'd been in Rome before. Most likely you want to go there, which you can do on your own (train).

Kusadasi: the first time we went to Ephesus (local bus, not a tour), it's very interesting; the second time I stayed in Kusadasi and walked around on my own, most likely to places where no tourist had gone before (well, at least no many)

Santorini: relatively small island, walked around on my own, nice island

Athens: walked to the train station, took a train to the city center and walked around there (Acropolis etc.)

 

Most European towns you can do on your own with public transport and a good book. If you want/need a tour guide you should read the posts here, there have been many questions and suggestions and you'll find out if the tour guides mentioned were good or not. Mostly I've read great reviews.

 

As it is your first cruise outside North America (also first time in Europe?) some things may seem strange: behaviour, language, currency etc. Relax and enjoy yourself. Don't have every minute of a day booked with a tour, take time to meet the locals, sit in a cafe or park and watch people walk by.

[Globaliser]

Do you have an adjust button on your font size?

Also, the other thing that is making it very difficult to read your post is that your Caps Lock key is on. Typing a post in ALL CAPS makes it difficult for others who might want to help you, and looks like you're SHOUTING - which is why it's not really good netiquette.

[yfraser]

Hi again...

 

What a coincidence... Before reading this post, I had actually posted over on your roll call board some of my research about the various private tours that we have reserved in the ports of call that we share.

 

I can't help with Mykonos or Turkey, but I can help with information from the other ports of call: Naples, Rome, Athens, and Florence (I posted all that information on your roll call).

 

As far as Santorini, we will be doing this port on our own. Once off the tender, we hope to take the donkeys up the hill. We plan on touring around the village and then taking a local bus to Oia. All rather easy and enjoyable from what I have read.

 

And well Villefranche we have Alain from Dream-tours dot com reserved for the day. He seems rather flexible as to how we plan our day, but in the event we know little of the area, he will plan our day for us.

 

Good luck!