Excursions in the Med

[gnorris51]

:) Hi folks:

 

Recently booked for July 8 (as discussed earlier on the forum) - Never been to these ports before and have not yet received documents including excursions. We were wondering if anyone has info or advice on which excursions are worth booking and which to avoid - also which ports should we venture out on our own. Ports include: Crete, Athens, Gibralter, Malta and somewhere in Spain (I forget) and Messina. All ideas/advice welcome:)

 

Genie and Jim

[Kindlychap]

:) Hi folks:

 

Recently booked for July 8 (as discussed earlier on the forum) - Never been to these ports before and have not yet received documents including excursions. We were wondering if anyone has info or advice on which excursions are worth booking and which to avoid - also which ports should we venture out on our own. Ports include: Crete, Athens, Gibralter, Malta and somewhere in Spain (I forget) and Messina. All ideas/advice welcome:)

 

Genie and Jim

 

General observations.....

 

Cunard trips are expensive and you won't see as much as you would on your own. On the flip side, if you are on a Cunard trip the ship WILL wait for you. There is no guarantee of that otherwise.

 

If the port is a tender port then you will get ashore faster with a tour. The general thing seems to be to get the tours landed, and the rest of the passengers can be punished for not taking one. Unless you're in a Q2 or above, when you breeze past everyone when you choose.

 

Some stops (Rome, for one) involve a significant drive to even get to where you are going.

 

The tour details are on the website for the page for your cruise, and you can see there what is on offer. With adequate planning you should be able to avoid ships tours to a great extent.

 

http://www.cunard.co.uk/CruiseItinerary_Tab.asp?CruiseID=2835&LeftNav=Planner&Active=&Sub=&OB=&Region=12&ShipID=QE2&CruiseDate=7_2007&Duration=&Tab=Shor

 

I've not (yet) sailed in the Med., so can't comment on individual ports from a cruise perspective.

 

Matthew

[Nitty]

:) Hi folks:

 

Recently booked for July 8 (as discussed earlier on the forum) - Never been to these ports before and have not yet received documents including excursions. We were wondering if anyone has info or advice on which excursions are worth booking and which to avoid - also which ports should we venture out on our own. Ports include: Crete, Athens, Gibralter, Malta and somewhere in Spain (I forget) and Messina. All ideas/advice welcome:)

 

Genie and Jim

 

 

We are on the same cruise and received our documents a couple of weeks ago, get on to Cunard so you can study the tours.

 

Nitty :o

[Norfolk Brit]

:) Hi folks:

 

Recently booked for July 8 (as discussed earlier on the forum) - Never been to these ports before and have not yet received documents including excursions. We were wondering if anyone has info or advice on which excursions are worth booking and which to avoid - also which ports should we venture out on our own. Ports include: Crete, Athens, Gibralter, Malta and somewhere in Spain (I forget) and Messina. All ideas/advice welcome:)

 

Genie and Jim

 

We've just returned from QM2 in the Med. Your destinations are different apart from Gibraltar, where we took the morning 1.5 hour Cunard tour to see the apes, then stayed in the town and shopped in the afternoon (the pick up point for the ship's tenders is about 5 minutes walk from the town centre). This worked well for us. Be warned that everywhere is pretty crowded, and we were there in early May, and that the rock is swarming with coaches and taxis.

[dak]

We normally do our own thing in the Med, unless there is a very good reason to take the tours. You can usually negotiate a very good deal with a taxi driver who will take you where you want to go for as long as YOU want.

A good example is Piraeus where 4 of us took a taxi from the dock. We got a visit to the gardens at the Royal Yacht Club of Greece, very informative tour around Athens, visit to the old Olympic stadium (my son got to do the "Chariots of fire" thing), visit to the Acropolis and She-who-must-be-obeyed even got to some Hellenic jewellery shops. The taxi was an air-conditioned Merc (very welcome at the height of summer!) and evrything was done according to our timetable. All for less cost than a tour for 2, which offered less! His tip was well deserved.

 

Other ports may be treated similarly.

 

David

[gnorris51]

General observations.....

 

Cunard trips are expensive and you won't see as much as you would on your own. On the flip side, if you are on a Cunard trip the ship WILL wait for you. There is no guarantee of that otherwise.

 

If the port is a tender port then you will get ashore faster with a tour. The general thing seems to be to get the tours landed, and the rest of the passengers can be punished for not taking one. Unless you're in a Q2 or above, when you breeze past everyone when you choose.

 

Some stops (Rome, for one) involve a significant drive to even get to where you are going.

 

The tour details are on the website for the page for your cruise, and you can see there what is on offer. With adequate planning you should be able to avoid ships tours to a great extent.

 

http://www.cunard.co.uk/CruiseItinerary_Tab.asp?CruiseID=2835&LeftNav=Planner&Active=&Sub=&OB=&Region=12&ShipID=QE2&CruiseDate=7_2007&Duration=&Tab=Shor

 

I've not (yet) sailed in the Med., so can't comment on individual ports from a cruise perspective.

 

Matthew

Thanks so much - went on the site and viewed the tours. It was a great help in our travel planning.

 

Regards,

Genie

[gnorris51]

We are on the same cruise and received our documents a couple of weeks ago, get on to Cunard so you can study the tours.

 

Nitty :o

We didn't book until last week so I expect it will be sometime until documents arrive but the website was helpful

 

regards,

 

Genie

[scottjeanne]

We are also on the July 8 cruise. We have booked a private driver in Athens, who will do all the sights in Athens as well as drive out to Cape Sounion.

 

We have a driver in Malta which covers Valetta (Grand Master's Palace, St. John's Cathedral, Upper Barraka Gardens, Triq Republikka), Mdina and Rabat, and the Marsaxlokk Fishing Village.

 

In Crete, the driver is taking us to the Palace of Knossos and the city of Hraklion and the historic museum. It covers the cathedral and the open market in the Venetian Port.

 

In Marmaris, I would like to take in a Turkish bath, but I can find no information out about them.

 

In Sicily, we have a driver taking us to Mount Etna-all the way to the summit (extra cost and subject to weather conditions) and to Taormina.

 

In Malaga, I want to see the Alhambra. It does not seem worth the money to take the ships excursion ($372 for 3 of us). I do not believe we need a tour guide. To rent a car is cheap-$65 for the day, but I have been discouraged from doing so on the other threads. If you are interested in doing it on your own, you do need to acquire tickets in advance.

 

In Gibraltar, my daughter and I will probably snag a taxi tour at the dock. My husband is interested in the "City under Siege" tour offered by Cunard.

 

If anyone is interested in these tour guides or wants to join us, it could be fun.

[pnhmrk]

In Marmaris, I would like to take in a Turkish bath, but I can find no information out about them.

 

Turkish baths tend not to operate during the height of summer - it's just too hot. You might find that one of the baths at a top hotel is still operating but it will just be for tourists.

 

In Malaga, I want to see the Alhambra.

 

Granada is a good three hours from Malaga by coach and is worthy of more than the few hours you'll get on a Cunard tour. Malaga itself is well worth a day - there's a hop-on hop-off sightseeing bus that will take you around all the major sights - don't miss either Gibralfaro Castle or the Alcazaba (a Moorish palace).

 

In Gibraltar, my daughter and I will probably snag a taxi tour at the dock. My husband is interested in the "City under Siege" tour offered by Cunard.

 

Don't take a Cunard Tour in Gibraltar - everything is within walking distance (some bits are further than others but I have walked to all the sights).

[noddie11]

We went to Kusudasi on QE2 4 years ago about the same time of year and there were turkish baths open then. I wasn't brave enough to go then and wasn't sure if sexesw were separated, but I may be interested in joining you Jeanie if we can sort it out.

Debbie

[Nitty]

We went to Kusudasi on QE2 4 years ago about the same time of year and there were turkish baths open then. I wasn't brave enough to go then and wasn't sure if sexesw were separated, but I may be interested in joining you Jeanie if we can sort it out.

Debbie

 

I would too, Glenn can take Ittybitty for a walk around while we all go, if you dont mind! What do you wear in a turkish bath? I dont know anything about them.

 

Nitty :o

[gnorris51]

We are interested in the Crete trip if you can fit two more in:) Otherwise I expect we will take the Cunard Tour.

 

Genie and Jim

[gnorris51]

I would too, Glenn can take Ittybitty for a walk around while we all go, if you dont mind! What do you wear in a turkish bath? I dont know anything about them.

 

Nitty :o

Turkish baths are unbelieveable - Jim and I didn't actually take one while in Turkey but I did experience it once in turkmenstan (1993) - This guy Ivan dressed in a oversized diaper (excuse the description) was from the old USSR now working at the hotel - it was $10.00 lasted about an hour and a half - While laying on a huge marble flat stone - basically he scrubbed your body / massaged and repositioned virtually all of your limbs - pour copious (sp) amounts of water over you while seated in a marble nook then wrapped you a huge towel and seated you in a lounge type chaise. It was all very steamy but my only thought was how to replicate this experience at home - Jim's answer was to get Ivan a visa:)

 

Alone for the treatment but once you are towel wrapped you do see other toweled covered people - both male and female. I assume this is pretty much the same in Turkey - all I can say is don't miss it - you seldom will feel so good.

 

Genie

[whereintheworld]

When we were on the QE2 Med cruise we enjoyed doing a 1/2 day tour into the countryside organised by Cunard. They were always back at the ship by 1pm in time for lunch, then we were able to walk or ride the shuttle bus into the port city for the remainder of the day. Others seem to find using local tours easy enough as well, so I'm sure a similar 1/2 day tour could be arranged with them. The benefit of this arrangement is that we can get to see the differences in each country which are more apparent out of the cities (which are often similar) and traditions change slower in country areas. Then after lunch, which we have paid for in our cruise price:), we still have time to see the architecture which is the main thing that makes each city different. I do not enjoy shopping, so do not have to find time for this. In Rome we did the full day tour with Cunard as the port is too far away.

[scottjeanne]

Thanks for all the help. I think we can sort out the Turkish bath for those among us that would like to.

 

How can we research it? I have googled it and taken outdated books home from the library, but only one book-a diary more than a travel book, mentioned it. She wrote a detailed account of her experience and it sounded great-if a bit intimidating. I will keep looking, or maybe I will have towait until we get there (not something I am good at)

 

Jeanne

[Nitty]

Turkish baths are unbelieveable - Jim and I didn't actually take one while in Turkey but I did experience it once in turkmenstan (1993) - This guy Ivan dressed in a oversized diaper (excuse the description) was from the old USSR now working at the hotel - it was $10.00 lasted about an hour and a half - While laying on a huge marble flat stone - basically he scrubbed your body / massaged and repositioned virtually all of your limbs - pour copious (sp) amounts of water over you while seated in a marble nook then wrapped you a huge towel and seated you in a lounge type chaise. It was all very steamy but my only thought was how to replicate this experience at home - Jim's answer was to get Ivan a visa:)

 

Genie

 

Not sure I,m up for a big strange man in a nappy rubbing me! :eek: Maybe I will see when we get there what its like.

 

Nitty :o

[gnorris51]

Not sure I,m up for a big strange man in a nappy rubbing me! :eek: Maybe I will see when we get there what its like.

 

Nitty :o

It's the strangest thing - you really don't care who is rubbing you because you are totally out of your element - I can't explain why but I know this was not something I would normally ever do but looking back I chalked it up to what my mother use to say - "I rather be sorry for something I did than for something I didn't do" :) and I wasn't at all sorry.

 

Genie