HELP with port info. for RUBY 8/20/09

[abouna]

We are a family of four, two adults and two children thinking of taking the 8/20 Ruby Princess from Venice to Barcelona, 12 nights. This would likely be a once in a lifetime trip for us given the cost, but they have a great deal, we can get a balcony for about $5400 or a mini-suite for about $6400, which is less than half price with the current promotion and I can get the flights I need for all four of us on ff tickets, arriving in VCE one day early and leaving BCN one day after. Seems too good to be true, however, it is still quite an expense. Given that we are travel savvy and use these boards to find deals and economical ways of seeing things, how much can we expect to spend on touring at different ports for this itinerary conservatively and using non-ship options? Even at this great price for a summer Med cruise, it will still stretch us. Any thoughts will help.

[Keith1010]

Our first med cruise with the kids was a med cruise on the grand princess.

 

In terms of tours, we would keep them to four hours or less because all of the touring can get to the kids and to the adults. And, some ports you can easily just see on your own.

 

If you can list out your ports of call we can help you with this and point out which ones you can just do without any kind of tour.

 

I think your price sounds great and I wouldn't wait too much longer because the frequent flyer seats could go quickly.

 

Keith

[abouna]

Thanks!

 

Venice (overnight on ship). We will likely arrive one day early and either stay at the Marriott by the airport or one of the Starwood properties in Venice on points so we will actually be two nights in Venice but will be busy transferring to the ship part of one day.

 

Athens (may have a friend there, but suggest anyway).

Ephesus

Istanbul (definitely want to see Agia Sophia and the Souk or market)

Mykonos

Naples/Capri (I will want to see the beauty of this area)

Rome

Florence

Monte Carlo

Barcelona (disembark, will spend one night there somewhere to explore city before going home).

 

Our kids are 11 and 6 and have travelled a lot and are used to walking a lot, they live in New York City.

[Keith1010]

Thanks!

 

Venice (overnight on ship). We will likely arrive one day early and either stay at the Marriott by the airport or one of the Starwood properties in Venice on points so we will actually be two nights in Venice but will be busy transferring to the ship part of one day.

 

Athens (may have a friend there, but suggest anyway).

Ephesus

Istanbul (definitely want to see Agia Sophia and the Souk or market)

Mykonos

Naples/Capri (I will want to see the beauty of this area)

Rome

Florence

Monte Carlo

Barcelona (disembark, will spend one night there somewhere to explore city before going home).

 

Our kids are 11 and 6 and have travelled a lot and are used to walking a lot, they live in New York City.

 

How much you will spend really will vary by what you can do on your own and what you want to see.

 

You could spend lots of money in some of these ports or far less. Some of them are very walkable from the dock while others will take some form of transportation to see. In some cases try to go out for a few hours and have lunch back on the ship and then go back out. There are a few that this will not be possible such as if you want to go into Rome for the day but you can still minimize expenses for lunch.

 

 

Just some thoughts.

 

Athens (may have a friend there, but suggest anyway). If you have a friend there all the better so that they can take you around to see the major attractions such as the Acropolis.

 

Ephesus. You could take a taxi over to Ephesus rather than the ships tour and then purchase your admission tickets on your own. Or you could take the ships tour.

 

Istanbul. This is one you can do relatively inexpensively by mapping out what you want to visit and then doing a combination of walking and taking a taxi. If you need to bring home any souvenirs to friends this is the place along with Kusadashi (above) to do your shopping.

 

Naples/Capri. You could do this on your own. One option is to purchase tickets to take you out to the Island of Capri.

 

Rome. The most economical way to get to Rome is the train. Another option is to take the cruse sponsored transporation. Many times they will have a bus to take you over into Rome and the tour will allow you just to walk around on your own. But even the bus is not cheap so if you want to minimize expenses you could consider the train. Obviously there is so much to see and so little time to see it in. So, pick out a few places.

 

Florence. You will arrive in Liverno. I would recommend seeing Florence and this is one that you will need to do some research on to figure out what you want to see and figure out the associated costs.

 

Monte Carlo (you could see some of the major sites without spending any money here as it is all walkable if you enjoy walkng. This would include walking over ot the Palace, to the nearby Catherdral and over to the outdoor gardens. You can also walk over to the Casino and just not go inside it. It is a beautiful city just to walk and to enjoy all that is around you.

 

Keith

[abouna]

Thanks for the advice!

[chipmaster]

We are a family of four, two adults and two children thinking of taking the 8/20 Ruby Princess from Venice to Barcelona, 12 nights. This would likely be a once in a lifetime trip for us given the cost, but they have a great deal, we can get a balcony for about $5400 or a mini-suite for about $6400, which is less than half price with the current promotion and I can get the flights I need for all four of us on ff tickets, arriving in VCE one day early and leaving BCN one day after. Seems too good to be true, however, it is still quite an expense. Given that we are travel savvy and use these boards to find deals and economical ways of seeing things, how much can we expect to spend on touring at different ports for this itinerary conservatively and using non-ship options? Even at this great price for a summer Med cruise, it will still stretch us. Any thoughts will help.

 

We took similar cruise this past summer with kids and recommend it highly; kids were 7, 12, and 14. It was a once in lifetime for the family!

 

Ports where you can easily do on your own for the cost of public transportation and entrance fees with good pre-planning would be: Venice, Barcelona, Athens, Istanbul, Mykonos, Monte Carlo, and Barcelona.

 

The other ports thru combination of location of the major attractions and or limited public transportation are a bit more challenging.

 

A lot of how much you'll enjoy it will depend on the age and disposition of of your children. August will be very very hot and also crowded at many places and can easily wear down younger children and even the most patient older ones if you don't plan the schedule very very carefully!

 

We did Venice/Barcelona on our own and the others with Private Tours. I don't know what budget you were thinking of for the ports but with Private tours you can probably do all ports for under 150 USD/person/day, some for less then 70/person/day Of course DIY can easily be 1/3 of that cost. Smme of the ports I couldn't imagine compromising the sights for $$$; Rome, Florence/Pisa, Naples come to mind. We choose to book inside cabins to save the $$$$ we budgeted to use for ports but the upgrade fairy did get is windows at the very end. That ended up a very worthwhile trade off as most days are busy port days and nights were recuperation time from the busy port day :D

[abouna]

Well, we did it and booked! Thanks for the encouragement and advice. The Disney Cruise will have to wait for another time.

[Bumpa]

Well, we did it and booked! Thanks for the encouragement and advice. The Disney Cruise will have to wait for another time.

 

I am going on the Barcelona to Venice cruise 7/15 on Ruby.

I have lots of port info and I have most of my tours booked. Also the cruise price has dropped.

email me.

 

bumpa2328 at yahoo dot com

[pmc7704]

I would suggest that you look into private tours for Istanbul and Kusadasi. They are extremely reasonable compared to Italy, and are really worth it.