Celebrity shore excursions?

[West Windsor girl]

We are going on the Celebrity Millennium this summer from Venice to Barcelona. Has anyone had experience with Celebrity shore excursion? We have loved Seabourne and Silver Sea shore excursions, but have been disappointed in Oceanias. ANy thoughts? Would we be better off doing Rome on our own?

[greywolf19]

We are going on the Celebrity Millennium this summer from Venice to Barcelona. Has anyone had experience with Celebrity shore excursion? We have loved Seabourne and Silver Sea shore excursions, but have been disappointed in Oceanias. ANy thoughts? Would we be better off doing Rome on our own?

 

 

We loved the Kusadasi [Ephesus] and Mykonos [Delos] the tour people were real pro's and well versed [just be careful in Kusadasi .. they love to stop at carpet places to try to sell you ....]

Dubrovnik ,, take the shuttle to the old city and walk about .. it's the best

Naples .. tours for Pompeii or Herculeum are so so depending on the tour person .. but you get a taste of the place

Civitevechia [Rome] .. we did 'Rome on Your Own' and had a ball walking about, did not bother with the vatican as it is usually a mad house and you can lose 2-3 hrs in a blink .. just get a good local map .. most sites are well marked

Livorino [Pisa/Florence] .. We did 'Florence on Your Own' .. another great walk about town .. just get a good local map

Ville France .. you can walk about the lower town or walk up to the bus and take it either Nice. Eze or Monaco for about 1.3 Euro .. a bargin

Barcelona .. a great walk about town .. just get a good map .....

 

**** although some people 'brave' it in Italy and take the trains into Rome or Florence I prefer the security of the Bus, i.e. knowing the boat will wait for the tour bus but not for delayed trains !!

 

it's a great cruise .... have a ball

 

wolf

[hybrn8]

Sister-in-law and I were on an Oceania ship last May (HATED IT largely because of the way the destinations staff ran their shop) and we had similar ports.

 

In Greece, she took tour of Delos - I didn't want to stand in the blazing sun to look at old rocks. Watch it on Discovery or National Geographic and spend your time wandering around Mykonos (darling little town near where the ship anchored).

 

In Livorno, we planned to take taxi to train to get to Lucca. We were shocked/saddened/irritated to learn that the ship had docked in some military port area and no private taxis were allowed in. SO, we did a last minute re-group and did Florence on Our Own. It was okay but be aware that Florence is crazy busy. People everywhere!!! Long day.

 

Our cruise ended in Rome but we used (3 times) the services of a driver there named Stephano (more info about him can be found in the port section of these boards). I would suggest you seriously consider contacting Stephano and seeing what type of day trip he can arrange for your group. Others have noted that he gets folks to wait in the Vatican line and then he (or one of his polite and very courteous drivers) drops you there when it's time to enter.

 

When I was on another cruise to Croatia, we docked within city bus ride of old Dubrovnik and just traipsed around the walled city and took in the sights. We also had a guided tour included in our cruise which took us to some other areas but thought old walled city was most appealling.

 

Barcelona is a neat city and a stroll thru the area called The Ramblas is most pleasant. There is a hop on/hop off bus which you can use to get about and jump off when you are ready. Be prepared for longgg siestas there and try not to miss any of the Gaudi buildings.

 

We docked in Sorrento for Pompeii so cannot comment on how easy/difficult Naples is to navigate.