take the excursions or go it alone?

[marwife]

Going on our Honeymoon in a couple of weeks - an 11 day western med cruise on the Century. We would prefer to explore the cities on our own but many of the ports are a long way from the city (like Rome).

 

Looking for some advice from experienced cruisers on which locations we should buy the excursions and which one's we'd be ok just walking into town and exploring on our own.

 

Thanks! Appreciate your help.

 

Provence(Marseilles), France

Nice (Villefranche), France

Florence/Pisa(Livorno),Italy

Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy

Ajaccio, Corsica

Tangier, Morocco

Casablanca, Morocco

Valencia, Spain

[luvtocook]

Just a hint, but you might want to explore the Ports Of call boards for the individual ports and gather your info there! :D There is GREAT info there!!! Happy Honeymoon!

[cruiserJay]

You can always buy the shipboard excursion that allows you to do the city on your own in the cities where the port is too distant, such as Florence and Rome. Some of the more distant tours (ex., Pompeii) are a long ride; booking an excursion through the cruise line guarantees that the ship will wait if you are delayed.

Barcelona is a taxi ride away (though taxis seemed expensive.) Nice, Marseilles are nearby.

[bcirish]

We took our first Med trip this spring and would suggest the following - judge your decisions on the length of time in port. For instance - you will dock in Livorno for Florence and it is about an hour train ride to Florence. Someone suggested to us to take the ship transportation if you want to do the trip on your own. Tends to cost about the same and then as long as you make it back to the ship transportation - the ship will wait for you because if it is late because it is their transportation- you would want to check that out. You will have the same issue with Rome - very doable on your own but there are usually several ships in port in Civitavechia whic is about an hour from Rome by train. We did both cities on our own before we got on the ship and if you opt for on your own there are great on -off tour buses in both locations for about 22 eu per person and they go to all of the sights you would l want to visit. In Rome avoid the bus between Termini and the Vatican - it is called pickpocket bus by many and do watch yourself in Rome and Florence. We were lucky but many people had problems with pickpockets.

 

i would also say if you are a seasoned traveler, most of the ports are fine on your own. There was a great article in National Geographic Traveler recently about doing Nice on your own - my sister in law is there now and took the article with her - had a map and times - looked very helpful. We also made friends with folks on this board and hooked up for some independent trips at some of the ports.

Good luck and congrats.

[hcat]

This is always a personal choice depending on one's style & independent travel skills...we just returned from W Medit on Century & took mostly ship's excursions--we are a not seasoned travelers & lucked out on almost every excursion--no hassle with shuttles to get out of the port area,had great guides, ate well for lunch , had clean bathroom stops, & saw more than we ever could have on our own unless we had pvt tours booked. And BTW it is not true that everyone speaks English!

Esp in Rome & Florence/Pisa, where there is a long ride to the area of interest & so much to see you could be overwhelmed on your own--even just getting there. We had shorter waits on line, lunch included & really enjoyed it. Also a guaranteee that the ship would wait for us if there was a delay...traffic is very congested in most ports.& we completely avoided using trains, public busses etc. Although others find it easy to do we liked the ship's tours--I'd suggest a tour in both of these main ports.

Also enjoyed a ships's trip to Aix en Proveence from Marseille port--too far to get to on our own. In Cannes, we took the tour train on our own from the little park in town but also took an excursionsto Nice & another fishing Village--very nice. Had another great tour in Valencia to the old city & then the Cityof Arts & Sciences (do not miss it!)

We took a tour in Corsica that was boring (Napoleon for 3 hours) so we left it--you caneasily do that port on your own if it's on your trip, & also did Gibraltar on our own--found it dirty & crowded--no bargains...oushy cabbies..

Happy Honeymoon!

[bigwally]

I agree with luvtocook. Sounds to me like you're on the 10/22 sailing. There is a really good roll-call thread going for this sailing that I think you should look in on!

[2serendip]

Nice is a wonderful city to explore on your own -- the Promenade des Anglais and the Market are very walkable; a bus ride will take you to the wonderful art museums in the hills -- no need for tours, and you'd probably have much more fun without them. Marsilles, Civitavecchia, Tangiers and Casablanca aren't good for walking from the ship since the ship is docked in industrial ports. When we were in Civitavecchia last summer, we took a great little ship's excursion to Tarquinia because we wanted to avoid heat and crowds. But Rome is quite accessible by train if you want to do it on your own.