Splendida Shore Excursions

[jspqld]

Will be on the MSC Splendida later this year. On past cruises, we have normally done our own thing while in port however we are considering doing a Ship shore excursion during our Alexandria, Egypt port visit to go off & see the famous Egypt sites. Does anyone know of the cost of the shore exursions on board & has anyone done any of these through MSC before & reccommend the better ones to choose from?:)

[Minty4]

Hi

 

You can view all excursions and prices on their website. I go to msccruises.co.uk and select your trip. You should eventually be offered an excursions tab which will list the excursions and prices in detail.

 

I did hear that there are usually extra excursions available when on board the ship.

 

Here's a link http://www.msccruises.co.uk/escursioni/default.asp?guida_id=53&page_id=1813

 

I hope you find what you want.

 

I'm away on Splendida next week (I'm fit to burst). Enjoy your trip.:cool:

[anne s]

Hope you can help me with my cruise on Splendida in October. Which ports do you think can be done on your own safely. I know that Rome is far in the interior and will probably do the transport only with the Cruise Line, however I am wondering about the other ports , do they have shuttle buses and if not are taxi available. Thanks

[Rhea58]

I am given to understand that MSC offers shuttle buses for a fee at some of the ports. Also you have to pay for port maps from them.

 

Valletta is easy; you can just walk up the hill. Tunis is not.

In Barcelona there are buses.

[buggins0402]

Anne S,

 

You might want to page down for Beausant's review of Splendida. He is from Malta (as is Hat) and they have posted everything you will want to know about that port. Hat also contributes to the Western Med port section for Valetta info - lots of info there. Also look on the CC port pages - everything you need to know for all ports, except Messina.

 

I have not done this cruise - but have been researching the port pages and here on MSC. You easily do Genoa on your own. Barcelona - cheap short transport to city at port via taxi (you could walk it, but it's a short port time). Been to Barcelona so know that is an easy DIY. Marseille - best option looks to be cruise shuttle. AroMondo who frequently posts here has some excellent ideas for a DIY. Messina, city is right there, but not a lot there. DIY to Taormina is difficult, but some have done it. If you want to see Taormina, the ship tour might be the option for you. Tunis - it depends on how much adventure you like - read the port info.

[AWAWAW]

Has anyone had experience with the Rome/Civitavecchia "on your own" bus? I am wondering how slow the process is to get off the ship on the bus and into Rome. [is is a lot quicker to go via limousine?]

Also does anyone know where in Rome the bus drops you off and picks you up.

We head out of Barcelona on the Splendida on Nov. 9th. Planning to do Valetta on our own, the others with MSC excursions and working on Rome on our own once we work out transportation. Probably wil get a tour guide for the Vatican. We have a mixture of adventurous and not so, in our group....we all have to compromise.

[hat776]

Rome is very easy to DIY. The free shuttle takes you out of the Port and the station is about 10 min walk. We stopped at the S.Pietro station for the Vatican. We returned from terminin Main Station.

However, to be fair, we speak Italian and know Rome well.

Buggins - glad you appreciated our posts.

[buggins0402]

Rome is very easy to DIY. The free shuttle takes you out of the Port and the station is about 10 min walk. We stopped at the S.Pietro station for the Vatican. We returned from terminin Main Station.

However, to be fair, we speak Italian and know Rome well.

Buggins - glad you appreciated our posts.

 

Hat, certainly do appreciate your posts. Some of the best information I have found for my cruise planning has been written by you, Amomondo and Beausant.

 

Anne, noticed it was your first post. You might not know that on each board there is a search key. I'm not very techy so it took me a while to figure that out -not that I have it has really helped my research! Amomondo is a very experienced DIY MSC cruiser and land based traveler. I hope she finds this thread, she'll be a great help.

[AmoMondo]

Has anyone had experience with the Rome/Civitavecchia "on your own" bus? I am wondering how slow the process is to get off the ship on the bus and into Rome. [is is a lot quicker to go via limousine?]

 

Also does anyone know where in Rome the bus drops you off and picks you up.

 

We head out of Barcelona on the Splendida on Nov. 9th. Planning to do Valetta on our own, the others with MSC excursions and working on Rome on our own once we work out transportation. Probably wil get a tour guide for the Vatican. We have a mixture of adventurous and not so, in our group....we all have to compromise.

 

We did it 2 years ago on the Opera. All excursion passengers get priority and get off the ship first. I think we had about a 15 minute wait before they let us off to board the bus.Didn't take long to get on our way. Journey time was about 2 hours. they drop you off in a Multi storey car and Coach park that is just about 5 minutes walk from the back of the Vatican, so very central.

 

There are also toilet facilities and cafes in the building itself.

 

Not sure if a limo would be much quicker, as the bus went at a fair rate. It probably would be nicer and give you the fredom to go exacrtly where you want.

 

Friends of ours who worked on the ship regularly did the journey by train and told us it was easy and very reasonable.

[cakeordeath]

Has anyone had experience with the Rome/Civitavecchia "on your own" bus? I am wondering how slow the process is to get off the ship on the bus and into Rome. [is is a lot quicker to go via limousine?]

 

Also does anyone know where in Rome the bus drops you off and picks you up.

 

We head out of Barcelona on the Splendida on Nov. 9th. Planning to do Valetta on our own, the others with MSC excursions and working on Rome on our own once we work out transportation. Probably wil get a tour guide for the Vatican. We have a mixture of adventurous and not so, in our group....we all have to compromise.

 

We are on that sailing too...from Barcelona and are thinking the same thing about taking the bus and then DIY for Rome.