NCL Newbie- Just booked a 14-night European cruise on the Jade

[dos equis]

Hi Everyone :)

 

I just booked at 14-night western European cruise for May 2009. It will be my present to myself for completing graduate school and also for my 24th birthday present. I'm going with my best friend, who also just graduated, and we are VERY excited. We got an inside room for $699 each, and $150 each in shipboard credit, which seems like an insanely good deal to me!

 

I have one major concern that I'd like your input on. A lot of the cities on the itinerary have the the major city nearby the port listed, and then the actual port city listed in parenthesis. for example... on my cruise:

 

Florence/Pisa (Livorno)

Rome (Civitavecchia)

Granada (Malaga)

Seville (Cadiz)

Paris (Le Havre)

Brussels / Brugge (Zeebrugge)

 

 

So how do we actually go about getting into the main city? I've looked up the distances, and some are really far... like La Havre is 2 hours from Paris with a pretty expensive train ride. Does the cruise line offer any shuttles into any of the bigger cities, or do you have to pay for it? I understand paying if you want to go on a ship sponsored excursion, but what if we want to just walk around the city for the day on our own? Will we be able to tag along in the shuttle (doubtful, I know...)?

 

How much can I expect to spend to just get into the cities? Alternatively, would it be worth it to just explore the port cities themselves, for the day, or does everyone just go to the main attraction city? I have zero experience/knowledge with Europe so like I said, I'm very excited but I'm also really nervous. I'm hoping some of you veterans have some good advice on how to get where you want to go once you step off the ship.

 

Thanks so much!

 

-Jamie

 

 

[martinchem]

These are always problems for me too.

[dark star]

hi jamie, of those cities you list the citiV to rome is the easiest. costs about 5.5 euro each way. drops yoy in termini rebeni which is the main train/ bus station in rome .it's also where the metro intersects, so you can get to all the main sites easily.

the only exception to this is going to either st peters or the vatican museum. for that you need bus no 64.

i'll look up some of the other ports, but to say granada is a fair way from malaga. hope this helps some

davy.

[dos equis]

hi jamie, of those cities you list the citiV to rome is the easiest. costs about 5.5 euro each way. drops yoy in termini rebeni which is the main train/ bus station in rome .it's also where the metro intersects, so you can get to all the main sites easily.

the only exception to this is going to either st peters or the vatican museum. for that you need bus no 64.

i'll look up some of the other ports, but to say granada is a fair way from malaga. hope this helps some

davy.

 

 

Thanks for the info Davy. I've been doing some research too and it looks like Pisa is fairly easy to get to from Livorno, which is a relief. Bummer about Granada, I'd love to get to see the Alhambra Palace! Hopefully NCL will have an excursion for it.

[Dukegirl5577]

Hopefully NCL will have an excursion for it.

 

I'm sure they will.

 

As for your question about getting to tag along on the NCL shuttle even if you're not on a tour. No, they will not allow that. The tour bus is for the people on the excursion. If you want to find your own way into the city to do your own thing, you'll need to make those arrangements yourself.

 

Have a wonderful time! I've been to Europe several times (7 different trips, including a 4-month study abroad in France during which time I traveled to many other countries on the weekends), but never on a cruise, simply because of the far distances from the ports to the major cities.

[rudeman]

We took all NCL excursions and there is one to alHambra. They also have one to Seville but we had friends on board who did take a train there (I'm pretty sure).

 

You MUST get to alHambra in Granada and Seville - by hook or by crook.

[Dukegirl5577]

You MUST get to alHambra in Granada and Seville - by hook or by crook.

I agree. Particulary on Sevilla. WONDERFUL city. My fave in Spain, by far.

[dark star]

Thanks for the info Davy. I've been doing some research too and it looks like Pisa is fairly easy to get to from Livorno, which is a relief. Bummer about Granada, I'd love to get to see the Alhambra Palace! Hopefully NCL will have an excursion for it.

 

glad to be of help jamie, yes pisa is a doddle to get to from livorno.

seville , yes the train is possible. are you going to head for brugges or brussells?. public transport in belgium is excellent.

[calmac]

Take a look at the ports of call board here on CC. You want the Europe, Med board http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=234

 

NCL will have excursions from the ship to the main city with time for you to "do your own thing" but these tend to be fairly expensive compared to public transport. You can see what excursions are available for your sailing by logging in to http://www.ncl.com (you need your 8 digit reservation number).

 

You might also want to have a look at your roll call, also here on CC. You might find other people on your sailing who have set up private tours and have room for another couple of people. These types of tours often work out fairly reasonably priced.

[chrisandem]

When you arrive in Civitavecchia, I would skip the ship excursion and take the train to Rome. NCL will provide a bus from the ship to the entrance to the port. From there, the train station is a 5 - 10 minute walk.

 

The train that you get on in Civitavecchia has a stop that is a 5 - 10 minute walk to St. Peter's Basilica. There is also another train stop in the middle of the city.

 

If you plan to tour St. Peter's Basilica, the Vatican, and the Sistine Chapel, I would dedicate at least 4 hours. The Vatican museum is expansive.

 

Here is an informative post with more information:

http://www.cruisemates.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3436503

[sottovoce]

Pisa is a short train ride from Livorno. A shuttle from the dock will take you to the center of Livorno, where you can catch a bus to the train station. From the Pisa station its about a 15-minute walk to the leaning tower--and the much more amazing cathedral.

[cruise4usnow]

Jamie,

 

Sign up for your ship's roll call and try to arrange group tours with some other cruise critic (CC) folks rather than the ship. Rome is easy to do on your own via train - a long line of cruisers will likely be headed that way! You may wish to do something closer than going in to Paris.

[dos equis]

Thanks for all of your help! I really appreciate how knowledgable everyone is on this board. :)

[garycarla]

Strongly suggest you get over the your Roll Call and to the Ports of Call. See notes in the link below.

 

You have signed up for a great trip. You will get a wide range of opinions on booking tours. We tend to do our own, even in cities far from the ship.

 

No matter what, the cruise fare that you got the great deal on will the be the less expensive part.

[CruisinEurope]

congrats on your cruise and your accomplishment of Grad School!

 

I was just on the Jade and in some of the same ports that you will be visiting.

 

my review is in my signature, and I've included bits in there about what we did at each port, and who we used for guides.

 

ENJOY your cruise!! :D