Port information please

[BJC]

Hi there,

We are booked on the Azamara Journey’s Med Cruise in mid October from Venice via Koper, Split, Dubrovnik, Bari, Sorrento, Rome, Monte Carlo, Provence (Marseilles) and Barcelona, and I must say we are a little disappointed in the cost of Azamara’s Shore excursions some of which are 40% more than they were for this cruise last year, when we looked at and decided to book this cruise.:(

So what we want to do where possible is to do our own thing and walking tours where the points of interest are to be found within the “old city” as it appears to be in the likes of Dubrovnik.

Unfortunately I have not been able to find out where cruise ships normally dock, and what it is like getting into town, so far Koper is the only one I have found where the ships dock alongside the old city walls and is but a 500M walk.

Can anyone shed any light on any of the other Ports, other than for Rome where we have been previously and know about, and Barcelona where we will take advantage of a Shore Excursion with a Hotel drop off on completion?

Also Sorrento where we are tendered, however if anyone can tell us if the tenders will drop us anywhere near the Isle of Capri ferry terminal that would help please?

Finally are there any good internet sites that one might find good information on “doing your own thing” shore excursions that we could look at please?

Many thanks in advance.:)

Regards, Bruce

[gosport11]

try this site www.medcruise.com it should list most ports in the med :cool: :)

[katiebeth]

Dear Bruce,

 

I have to agree with you on the shore excursions, not only are they expensive, they are rather uninspired (IMHO) and very limited in terms of choices. The excursions offered thru Celebrity on European sailings are far far more extensive and varied.

 

We are on the June 21st sailing on Quest Athens to Rome and will be doing more excursions on our own and thru private tour companies than normal. Azamara's advertising indicated that they would be offering full "immersion" and more unique type excursions, but I am not seeing this at all. They look very "run of the mill" to me ......unless over course you want to pay over $1600.00 for a hot air balloon ride of Tuscany!! (LOL)

 

They also have a shore excursion out of Sorrento that I was considering (Exclusive Amalfi Coast Ravello and Postiano, but I am having a hard time discerning what is exclusive about this excursion. The description says that you board and air-conditioned motorcoach. At least with Celebrity, the exclusive excursions offered used mini-vans and smaller groups. There is also no indication if or where lunch will be provided. There is a symbol next to the excursion (fork and knife) which usually indicates that food will be provided. However, the description offers no clue as to where that may be.

 

Anyway, the good news it that the service onboard, as well as the food, seems to be terrific and a step above that on Celebrity. Since we have always been very pleased with the service and food on Celebrity, I think we will be in for a real treat on Azamara.

 

Thanks to gosport11, I will be looking at http://www.medcruise.com to get some ideas.

 

Happy Sailings,

 

Nancy

[englishlee]

I was in Sorrento in June. The tender dock is in the same area as the ferry terminal for ferries / hydrofoils to Capri, maybe 400mtrs.

 

Monte Carlo is a small place anyway and so if you dock you'll be beneath the old town, it's quite a steep walk though. I usually walk through the gardens to get there as it's less of an uphill struggle. You'd be a 40-45 minute walk to the Casino etc. If you're into F1 then it's interesting to walk the F1 circuit which of course is a street circuit. If you tender then the tender pier will usually be next to where the ships actually dock so the same instructions apply.

 

In Marseille I'm pretty certain that you'll dock in the commercial docks which are way out of town (I've never docked anywhere else), you'll either need to catch a shuttle bus if there is such a thing, or a taxi. From Marseille centre you can catch trains quite easily further afield if you want to.

 

Regards

Lee

[katiebeth]

Dear Englishlee,

 

We are considering doing Monte Carlo on our own. I do understand that it is a rather steep uphill climb from the dock and an equally challenging return downhill.

 

You had mentioned that you walk thru the gardens as it is a little more manageable. Are the gardens difficult to find? Where are they in relation to the dock?

 

Any info. would be greatly appreciated.

 

Nancy

[Susan-M]

A good site to obtain info for some ports on where the cruise ships dock and what there is to do in the area, along with links to doing excursions on your own: http://www.europeportreviews.com/Venice.htm (see the index on the left side of the page for other ports.)

 

The Cruise Critic Europe/Mediterranean board is also a good source of info.

[Donray]

Attached is the link to google map that show the pier at Dubrovink.

 

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&saddr=42.660932,+18.085610&daddr=42.643272,18.108001&sll=42.647313,18.0968&sspn=0.023264,0.039997&ie=UTF8&ll=42.663141,18.083282&spn=0.011629,0.019999&t=h&z=16

 

It is a little over two miles to old town (walled city). Very nice walk and some good views on the way. A little uphill going their. We were 66 and had no problem walking. Lot of steps in the wall city.

[englishlee]

Nancy (KatieBeth)

 

The gardens are more or less immediately in front of you as you leave the port area where the ships and tenders dock. Instead of turning right and following the marina walkway into the town, instead cross the car park, then cross the road at the first opportunity and if I recall correctly the gardens will be right in front of you. It takes some time to walk through them as they 'switchback' to get to the top, but it's very pleasant, there are great views, shaded spots to stop and rest, and seats as well.

 

Monte Carlo is very walkable. Even though there are steep hills over much of the city there are escalators and elevators in many places that take you up the hills, especially in the area around the railway station. So you could travel to Nice etc.

 

Taxi's (and most other things) are expensive.

 

Lee

[BJC]

Many Thanks to you all for the information provided, however there are still some POC’s I’m having problems getting good information on.

Some more information on the port of Monaco and the climb up through the Gardens to Monte Carlo, with a pointer to a map would be very much appreciated, if that is possible please?:)

It is rather sad that Azamara and Celebrity do not make available the Port Guides and Port Explorer Information leaflets that Princess and Royal Caribbean Cruise lines do, with their little maps and really helpful information.

And yes I know they make them available on board just before you get there, but that does not help making a decision on what to do and or which shore excursions to take, especially when they encourage one to book early.

If I was to look at this in a more cynical light one would have to say that they might be apprehensive about providing too much information which may lead to more passengers “doing their own thing” rather than opting for an expensive shore excursion, but I could be wrong.:rolleyes:

Once again many thanks for your invaluable help.

Regards, Bruce

PS. To Gosport11, I was there from Aus in 69 at Dolphin doing my Submarine training, lived in Dolphin2 over the road from Haslar, and remember fondly the “Widows Hop” at the Mecca! ;)

[englishlee]

BJC

 

There is a map available on the Monaco Tourist Board website but it is too big to add as an attachment. The link for the map is: http://www.visitmonaco.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.viewPage&pageID=322

 

The ships normally dock or tender to the harbour arm next to point of interest 27 on the map.

 

The entrance to the gardens is opposite number 27. Alternatively if you walk towards point 15, a 5 minute level walk away there is an elevator that will take you up to the old town, I'd forgotten about this option but we used it to come back to the ship after visiting the Oceanographic Museum.

 

Hope this helps, but let me know if you need any further info.

Lee

[BJC]

Good morning Lee,

Many thanks for the map site, just what I was looking for and with it being large scale I can easily see the paths through the gardens, which will be a big help.

Regrettably Azamara want $49US each for a shore excursion consisting of a public bus ride to the Princes Palace Square, a walk around and then a bus to the Casino for a 10 minute photo opportunity!

It’s not that I’m cheap, but I can think of better things to spend my $120AU on!

Unfortunately for Azamara because of the spiralling costs of their Shore Excursions, right now I’ve managed to put together enough information such that there will only be two or three of our ten Ports of Call where we will used Azamara’s Shore excursions, Barcelona being one, because we will take advantage of their hotel drop off at the end of the cruise and shore excursion, and Civitavecchia because it is so far from anywhere, the rest we will do our own thing!

Would appreciate any other recommendations on other POC, we like to get amongst the locals as well as see the sights, that way your views on a POC are not slanted towards the typical Tourist haunts or activities, gives you a better feel for the possibility of a shore based holiday in the future.

Regards, Bruce

[gosport11]

try this site it gives you an idea about prices www.viatour.com ps the navy has long since left gosport now only hms sultan and colling wood in fareham,dolphin 2 is now a musem i think,haslar is due to close next year

[englishlee]

Hello Bruce

 

We did Sorrento and Capri last year (we were actually staying in Sorrento for a few days). Capri is easy to do from there as there are frequent services from the port area where the ship tenders into, you will need to book tickets though (which can usually be done on the day) as on days when cruise ships call it can be very busy so make the ferry ticket desk your first port of call when you get ashore (no pun intended). Personally I didn't really like Capri, it was REALLY busy (we were there in June) and the place was heaving with tourists, the queue to catch he funicular was huge (a wait of approximately an hour). Instead we caught a local bus to Anacapri which was a little less crowded, it was cheap but boy was the bus crowded! If I went back to the area again I probably wouldn't go back to Capri unless I had the time to spend a night or two there - too many tourists in too small a space. To catch the bus as you come off the ferry / hydrofoil, walk to the end of the quayside and turn right, the bus station (small) is about 100 metres away. FYI there are also shipping companies that do coastal day trips to places like Amalfi from Sorrento, I didn't do them so can't comment, but you book them in the same area as the ferries to Capri. My personal favourite trip in the area though is to visit Pompeii.

 

As far as Rome (Civitavechia) is concerned. The last few times I've not bothered doing anything apart from stroll the promenade as I've done the day trip to Rome thing a few times. It is very simple to catch a train to Rome from Civitavechia I've done it several times without a hiccup. As you get to the port gates you take a right, it's then a 20-30 minutes walk to the railway station along the promenade. Trains are frequent and cheap and you can buy a ticket which covers the rail fare to Rome plus tube travel in the city. Bear in mind that C is a large port and you might dock some distance from the port gates. Here is the link for Italian Railways http://www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html

 

Hope this helps, incidentally Barcelona is a great city, one of my favourites in Europe. If you plan to visit one of the 'Gaudi houses' get there as early as possible or else they get hopelessly crowded. We got there about 20 minutes prior to the official opening time and because there was already a queue for entry they opened a little early. Also Parc Guell is worth a visit.

 

Regards

Lee

[tgg]

As far as Rome (Civitavechia) is concerned. The last few times I've not bothered doing anything apart from stroll the promenade as I've done the day trip to Rome thing a few times. It is very simple to catch a train to Rome from Civitavechia I've done it several times without a hiccup. As you get to the port gates you take a right, it's then a 20-30 minutes walk to the railway station along the promenade. Trains are frequent and cheap and you can buy a ticket which covers the rail fare to Rome plus tube travel in the city. Bear in mind that C is a large port and you might dock some distance from the port gates. Here is the link for Italian Railways http://www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html

 

Hi Bruce,

 

As described above, getting to Rome by train is a piece of cake. The walk took us 20 minutes to the train station and there were lots of people from the ship doing the same thing. When we were in Civitavechia in November, it cost about $9.00 US for the train ride round trip - and it gave us access to the busses and subways in Rome all day. We made good use of the subways because the traffic in Rome is dreadful and the subway service is swift. At that time Oceania was charging approximately $95 for a roundtrip bus ride in to Rome with no tour at all.

[Viennese]

The Shoreexcursions are quite expensiv! We did all our Tours on our own. Barcelona is a bit to Walk. Possible to get a taxi to towncentre. But the Infos are many times wrong. Sometimes they annonce a shuttlebus where you dont need one. Then they try to charge $8.-for the Shuttlebus. Its a bit curious. In Dubrovnik you have to get a taxi for a short drive. But you will need your strenght anyhow to walk along this beautyful City.

[gosport11]

sorry poor link try this www.viator.com graham

[BJC]

Hi there Lee, Gosport and others,

Once again many thanks for the good info, it’s all very helpful, and interesting to hear about the RN leaving Gosport.

An interesting sidelight, I was on the RN Submarine Ocelot in 69, when the QE2 sailed out of Southampton on her maiden voyage to NY, and “for exercise” we put six Mk8 torpedoes into her, and sent a photo of her in the cross hairs of the attack periscope to her Captain who sent an open invitation to the crew to visit him in the QE2’s Wardroom at any time they were in harbour together.

Lee, many thanks for the tips on Capri, we will be there in late October so hoping for less tourists, isn’t it always the case that you go on holiday and all these B... tourists are there spoiling it for you!!!;)

Tgg thanks for the info on Rome, however having spent a week there after our last Med cruise, we are going to head into the Etruscan countryside to Tuscania, a village that stands on the top of a rocky hill overlooking the Maremma region, for some olive oil and wine tasting.:)

Speaking of queues, in Rome we went to see the Sistine Chapel got there about an hour before it was due to open and the queue was about 2 miles long at that time in the morning and this was mid May, goodness knows what it would have been like later on in the season!

Anyway we opted out and went the St Peters and got straight in, also climbed up to the roof, 368 steps if my memory serves me right, just about killed us but the view is simply stunning, the one thing I couldn’t get over was the Souvenir and Coffee Shops on the roof, and the only public toilet in Rome that we didn’t have to queue for!:p

Lee one other question if I may, what would you recommend we do in Marseille is it a place we can do our own walking tour of, or should we opt for a bus tour to see the sights, as you have already indicated it is a bit out of town where we dock, or should we go to say Cassis, although that is an hours bus drive in both directions which takes 2 hours out of your 4 hour excursion, any recommendations would be much appreciated?

Kindest regards, Bruce

[englishlee]

Bruce

 

I've been to Marseille a couple of times and it's an OK sort of place to wander around. There is nothing spectacular to see, but enough sights to keep you busy for the better part of the day if you're not too fussy. Last time we were in Marseille we had planned to catch the train to Aix en Provence but there was a rail strike so we couldn't. Next time we visit we will probably do that.

 

The cruise shuttle bus usually drops you off next to the main tourist information office next to the harbour front so it's quite central. It's also about a 10 minute walk to the railway station from there. Here is French railways website http://www.sncf.com/en_EN/flash/

 

Hope this helps let me know if you need more info.

 

Lee

[BJC]

Good afternoon Lee,

Decided what to do in Marseille, having read up a bit we have decided to do the Ships half day Shore Excursion to Aix-en-Provence, which sounds like a lovely place to stroll around.

Opted for the ships SX, as they say the best way to get there is by Bus rather than Train as it leaves from the bus station, which is next to the railway station about every 15 minutes, however cost of either a taxi or a shuttle from the port to the bus station, and a return ticket each comes to about the same as the Ships SX, and at least you get the services of an English speaking guide.:)

So that has just about sorted out the shore excursions for us for this trip, just under six months now, which seems such a long time but it will soon be upon us, and we are so looking forward the trying Azamara and the small ship experience again, having done a couple of cruises in Asia on the Superstar Gemini which is even smaller at only 20,000T, a bit of a difference from Galaxy and Infinity.

Anyway thanks again for your invaluable assistance.

Kindest Regards, Bruce

[englishlee]

Probably a good decision Bruce.

 

We've not done Azamara yet, but plan to so in Feb/Mar 2010 we're just waiting for the Asian itineraries to be released. We've got three future cruises booked at the moment (I have to plan in advance otherwise I'd never get away from the office). Nov 2008 Oceania Lisbon-Rio, May 2009 Regent (Voyager) Iceland - UK, and last night booked Oct 2009 Vancouver - San Diego with Celebrity (on Mercury). All very different lines and differing size vessels.

 

Hope you have a great cruise later this year, let me know if you need any more info my direct email address if you need it is leegeorge at clover-george.com

 

Say hello to Perth for me, been three or four years since I was last there.

Regards

Lee

[goody1]

Hi Bruce,

Regarging your POCs, my wife and I were in Bari in 2004 on a Costa Cuise. To be honest its a bit of a let down. I cant remember what excursions were offered, we just went to a nice Restaurant, had lunch and returned to the ship.

BTW we have friends who live in Warnbro, Rockingham who we've visited 3 times.

LOVED!! the wine tours on offer especially in Margaret River. Also enjoyed the submarine tour in Fremantle.

[NorthernLite]

Great choice of Tuscania as a side trip. You HAVE TO visit the church of St Peter just outside town. The rose window is encircled by signs of the zodiac; there are full relief dragons chasing dogs down the front walls and insets on either side of the main entrance that include Atlas holding up the Esrt and the two faces of Janus. Inside at the rear behind the main altar is a depiction of the last judgement meant to scare the beewillies out of illiterate peasants back when. Noone has quite dated the structure. There are Etruscan tombs across the street. I believe the restaurant we found so great and very local was Il Gallo. Viterbo is nearby and also a small gem.

 

I second going to Anacapri if you go to the island. We spent a week in May of 1985 in a small hotel in Capri and even then ran back to the pool and a siesta when the first tenders pulled up around noon. Funny how back then high season began, and hotel prices doubled, the first of June. Now it's mid-April..

[BJC]

Hi there Northernlite and Goody1,

Thanks for the shore excursion information, we have now booked the ones we want to do using the Ships excursions, including the Tuscania olive oil and wine trip, which we are looking forward to.

We haven’t book many of the ships excursions, rather we have opted to do our own thing, especially where the interesting places to visit, like the old cities, are close to where the ship docks and transport is not an issue.

Also I believe you get a better feel for a place if you get out and walk about and mix with the locals, visit their markets, walk into a deli with hams and sausages hanging from the ceiling and be offered a taste of cheese, Palma ham, or a Kalamata olive, anyway we are looking forward to it.:)

By the way Goody1, before I got busy at work I used to be a Guide on the Ovens at the Maritime Museum in Fremantle, once I finally retire I will take it up again, it was good fun spinning a yarn or two to the people you take around, and the all marvel at just how a bloke of my size could get into such a small bunk, I tell them I was much smaller back then!:p

Glad you got down to Margaret River mind you the Wine down there is a bit expensive, we normally head further south east to Mt Barker, just as good and 30% cheaper!

Mind you we were in Vancouver a couple of Cruises ago and walked into a Bottle Shop in Davies Street and found they were selling Goundry’s Cabernet Merlot from Mt Barker cheaper than we purchased it from the Cellar Door a couple of months before, so purchased a couple of bottles and took them on board Infinity for our Alaska Cruise.

Regards, Bruce

[rsfriedm]

Hi Bruce,

 

We are also on that cruise and I've been doing some research. I may also book the same excursion in Marseilles. I'm going to take a train and a good guidebook into Rome, Koper and Split can be done on our own with some advance homework. I'm thinking of wandering through Sorrento with Rick Steves info and wandering through Venice with info I picked up online. Think we need an excursion in Bari. Dubrovnik I'd love to get a small group together, the city is a walk but I've read several reviews that make me believe private taxi tours aren't too expensive and can be excellent. I've checked roll call and yesterday there was one post so there are atleast three cabins of us. Perhaps we can email and design a few tours of our own.

 

Rochelle

[tory707]

BJC...We are on the same cruise as you. I have taken many cruises over the years and I would highly recommend not booking through the ship. They get a kick back on everything they book and it is way over priced. For example, in Sorrento for less than the price of 2 people on the pompeii & Amalfi coast including Amalfi/Ravello/Positano & sorrento we highered our own tour guide. He will pick us up at the ship, take us to everything mentioned above in a new Mercedese Benz. The only thing xtra we have to pay for is enterance into Sorrento which is euro 11 pp. It is going to cost us euro 300 for the entire day 8-6. We are now in the planning stages for Rome...We are going to set up a train ride to Rome euro 9 pp each way then we have a guide...hope this helps