Celebrity Med cruise port travel tips

[sheilauk]

Just a quick and subjective overview of the ports. We don't take ships tours and like walking, this is relevant to the report below:)

 

Marseille. We walked to the port gates and took a local bus in to the City. It is not walkable. There is a shuttle bus and this is the only port I would recommend youn use it. Don't miss the holocaust museum in the old port area, which tells the story of the evacuation of Marseille ( in French )

 

Villefranche. A tender port but no shuttles required. Dead easy and inexpensive to the train to Nice or Monaco.

 

Florence. You will need to take a taxi to the station in Livorno - the ships shuttle only goes to the town square, which doesn't help. It cost 20 euros , but you will be able to share between available.4. The ship had train timetables.

 

Rome. We walked to the station in Civitavecchia, about 15 minutes and an easy sroll. Again train times avaialble at guest relations on board.

 

 

Ajaccio. Ship close to town, 5 minute walk, but town disappointing, so plan to do something here if you can. There is an internet cafe if you want to catch up with home.

 

Casablanca. We walked in, took about 30 minutes, but was along a busy dual carriageway, so you may feel more comfortable on shuttle.

 

Tangiers. Easy 10 minute walk to the souks, so no shuttle necessary. Souks easy and safe to do on your own, you do not need a guide.

 

Both the above ports have different goods in the souks, so if you see something you like in Casablanca, get it, as it may not be avaialble in Tangiers. Also if you use a guide, you will pay around 15% more in the souk, his tip for taking you to certain shops, streets etc. Don't pay the asking price for anything, bargain really hard.

[Literary Lynne]

Thank you so much for these quick and useful tips.

 

Did you go to Florence on the train? I keep hearing about strikes on the Italian trains and wondered if these strikes are so sudden that there would be a chance of reaching Florence and not being able to get back, due to a sudden strike! We are in Livorno for one night only, so it would have to be a one day return to Florence.

 

We went on the train from Civitavecchia to Rome, without any problems, but the ship was overnighting in Civitavecchia, so there was ample time to return, without worrying.

 

:) Lynne

[sheilauk]

Yes we took the train to Florence and didn't encounter any problems. I have heard that there is a chance of strikes, but if that happened you would just have to get a taxi back to the ship, but that's always a risk you take as an independent traveller. There were a number of cruise ship passengers on our train and I would imagine that the cruise line would wait if a numbe of passengers were affected.

[Ardy53]

Yes we took the train to Florence and didn't encounter any problems. I have heard that there is a chance of strikes, but if that happened you would just have to get a taxi back to the ship, but that's always a risk you take as an independent traveller. There were a number of cruise ship passengers on our train and I would imagine that the cruise line would wait if a numbe of passengers were affected.

 

I somehow doubt that they would wait any significant time, because they would have no idea what the reason for the no-shows would be.

 

Having said that, we also mainly used the train, but made sure that we allowed ourselves plenty of time and would have been prepared to take a taxi if there had been any train delays.

 

Regards

 

Roy

[hylasgirl]

No, the ship won't wait. They only wait if one of their own tours get held up.

 

You don't have too much to worry about if you get a train to Florence, as the strikes are almost always planned. If the trains are running for your trip into Florence, they will almost certainly be running for your return. BUT, we still took the train to have us back in plenty of time. We also waited at the station for awhile to get a taxi. They were not plentiful there. Next time I plan to have the bus information just in case. The bus came by a few times, but I just wasn't certain. Next time I will be.:)

 

Take the train! Saved us ooodles! and it was easy.