Excursions - worth it?

My wife, daughter (age 15) and I are going on our firstcruise with Royal Caribbean around the Med in August and are very excited aboutit! However whilst we do want to see all the different places that the ship isstopping at, it seems the cost of the RC excursions is extortionate! We want tosee the different places but don’t really want to go on a ‘guided’ tour – can anyonegive me any suggestions/ideas as to what I should do?

The itinerary takes us from Barcelona to: Cannes,Florence/Piza, Rome, Athens, Mykonos, Santorini, and Malta. Thanks. :cool:

Welcome to Cruise Critic. All cruise line excursions are extortionate, and yes, you can certainly do it on your own. It just depends on how adventurous you feel about doing it in a foreign country whose language is not English. Get a copy of Rick Steves' Mediterranean Cruise Ports and read how you can do it on your own. He does not cover Malta, so a look in at Lonely Planet might help. Lonely Planet allows you to purchase just the chapters you need online and download them. You have left it a bit late to start planning excursions for an August cruise. EM

We always do at least a couple excursions on each trip, and recently we've gonna back to purchasing them from the cruise line for convenience as their prices and that of private tour operator converge. We choose cruises and budget for them based on enjoying this convenience. YMMV.

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We haven't done a cruise ship sponsored tour in 20 years. There are many private tours available at much more reasonable prices in every port of call. Go to the roll call for your ship and talk with fellow cruisers on your itinerary and also check out the ports of call boards to get more information on ideas for tours. You can also google the ports of calls or look at TripAdvisor.

Here are links to both the Roll Call search and Ports of Call for Europe boards:

https://www.cruisecritic.com/rollcalls/

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=19

Have you checked the Cruise Critic Roll Call for your cruise? There may be people there planning private tours and looking for others to join and share the cost. We find these are usually much better than the cruise line offerings and considerably cheaper.

Be aware that the ship will not be "stopping" in Rome or Florence. They are FAR from the closest port. You will have to arrange transportation at least, if you want to actually get to these places!

My favorite in Rome is a private tour, either with others from your ship or on your own. It IS expensive, but gets you there, and takes you exactly where you wish to go. Check Trip Advisor.

My favorite in Florence is the ship "Florence on your own" tour which is simply a bus ride to a central location in the city. Then, you explore on your own and meet to return. This is a normal ship excursion.

It would be a shame to get all the way to the Med and not see these marvelous places!

You can check http://www.tomsportguides.com for tips on DIY on your Med ports.

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You can check www.tomsportguides.com for tips on DIY on your Med ports.

 

 

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Good info! Thanks.

Lots of good info is available on the ports of call forums. You can do nearly any port on your own given sufficient planning. In both Civitavecchia (for Rome) and Livorno (for Florence, Pisa, Lucca, etc.) there are options to get to your destination of choice by train. Most of the others you list are not far from port. Santorini presents its own problems -- starting with tenders to get to the island, then a choice of how to get up to the top of the cliff (or around the island).

You really need to do the research and have a good idea of what you want to do. Once you've got that, you can post on the appropriate ports of call board and we can help you figure out the best options.

My wife, daughter (age 15) and I are going on our firstcruise with Royal Caribbean around the Med in August and are very excited aboutit! However whilst we do want to see all the different places that the ship isstopping at, it seems the cost of the RC excursions is extortionate! We want tosee the different places but don’t really want to go on a ‘guided’ tour – can anyonegive me any suggestions/ideas as to what I should do?

 

The itinerary takes us from Barcelona to: Cannes,Florence/Piza, Rome, Athens, Mykonos, Santorini, and Malta. Thanks. :cool:

We always book shore excursions on the ship . We know they are more expensive than private tours but we nearly missed getting back on a ship doing our own touring.

Rather than spend money on a balcony we always book an OV cabin and have money for the tours.

I do a combination of both private and ship tours. Decisions are based on how far is port from city, eg Rome, Paris, and how long is the ship in port. Make sure your watch is set to ship time, take your destination guide with Port Agents name and phone no with you and lastly research, research, research so you know what you want to do, how to get there and write down some useful words in local language.

Good luck, these are beautiful ports, lastly don't judge things by what you know, these are different cultures, accept and enjoy this.

We'll occasionally take an excursion through the ship when we're pressed for time in a port. On our upcoming British Isles cruise, we are not doing any through the ship and only one organized excursion in Cork, Ireland. The rest of the time we'll be doing things on our own using public transport. We're fortunate that we have a lot of late departure times--late enough that we'll be planning on being back on the ship several hours before it sails.

Be sure to join the roll call thread for your cruise to find out what others sailing with you are planning. Many folks arrange to take private excursions together. On the roll call for our cruise, for instance, there are many small groups doing tours in all of the ports.

We sailed RCCL through the Med earlier this season. We actually used RomeinLimo for amazing, customized tours of Florence (from LaSpezia) and Rome (from Civitaveccia). There were 4 of us which was the absolute "sweet spot" that made the cost-per-person equal or less to the ship's excursions. We were very pleasantly surprised at how relatively economical private tours were. But with three, the cost of a private service will skew a little higher than ship tours. It still may be worth it, depending on how important maximizing your time in port is. That said, there are other group-tour sources available besides what you can buy on the ship. Some of them are a pretty good compromise. Just be sure (as a PP mentioned) to account for transport from the pier to the actual place you want to see. Check out Viator - it's a great way to research options. And have a great time - seeing the iconic sites of Europe was an absolute dream come true!!

We never do ship sponsored excursions. Far too expensive, often too crowded and lots of wait time while someone in the group is buying trinkets and trash or in the restroom. Small vans can get around faster, and often park in more convenient locations than larger tour buses. Depending on the port stop we will sometimes arrange a rental car and do our own touring.

Our preference is for a private tour or a small tour, say 8-10 people max.

The OP asks if ship excursions are "worth it" and we have the answer...after over thirty years of helping folks who want to do it on their own. "It Depends on the Person." We are convinced that some folks, because of their aversion to risk, really do benefit from overpriced excursions. But for those who have a reasonable risk tolerance, some travel/common sense, a spirit of adventure, and a willingness to do their homework....doing things on your own is very rewarding. In fact, it is what has driven both DW and I to love travel...and have a travel addiction. For us, every trip is an adventure...even when we return to places we know well.

For those that cannot or will not try to do things on their own, a private tour is often a better alternative to cruise ship excursions. The Cruise Critic Roll Call boards are a terrific place to get together with others on small group tours...and also discover what others on your cruise are thinking.

And finally a personal word to the OP. We know all of your ports, routinely do them on our own, and love visiting those places. There is a ton of good information on the appropriate Cruise Critic Ports of Call Boards...on each of those ports. Many of us are waiting to help and answer your questions, give you suggestions, etc. But first, go to those boards, take advantage of the search function, and read many posts about each of your ports. Yes, you can do it....if you have a positive attitude and look at the research as part of the adventure.

And finally a word about Risk. There are some here on CC who tend to focus on various risk factors such as pick pockets, missing the ship, etc. The risk of pick pockets is there whether on a tour or on your own, and can be mitigated by a few simple precautions. As to missing the ship, DW and I have done hundreds of ports (on more then 100 cruises) on 6 continents...on our own...and have never missed the ship. Read the CC boards and you will be hard pressed to find anyone who missed the ship because they were doing things on their own. The few cases we know were folks who were complete idiots....in that they forgot what time they had to be back at the ship, forgot their watch, etc. Fear is the enemy of those who live in fear.... The way to overcome fear of doing things on your own is to do lots of homework and planning (know your options). Knowledge is the best tool we know for the do it yourselfer.

Hank

The more you know about your ports, the better time you can have, and the more comfortable you will be doing stuff on your own. Excursions are VERY pricey..and usually unneeded....get a guidebook! Libraries have them, or you can buy them at bookstores!

We did a taxi tour in Athens. The guy quoted us €120 which we said seems high so he said do the tour and pay at the end what you think it was worth. We ended up paying him more as tour was so good. He was very knowledgeable about Greek history, stopped at a shop and went in to get water for us all and snacks for our children and got us back to the ship in good time.

Rome and

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Barcelona, Valletta (Malta) and Rome all have great hop on hop off buses which are great value. You will have to buy a transfer by bus or train into Rome first though. The other 2 are easily accessible. For Mykonos town you can't beat walking and getting lost in town. You could also grab a taxi or local bus to a beach. For Santorini you can check online at whatsinport.com to see how many other ships are visiting that day. It can be difficult to get up into town. You can still have a great time without going over budget.

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Welcome to Cruise Critic Petbax and congrats on booking your first cruise!

You should absolutely book a few excursions. Some of the ports you are visiting can easily be explored on foot like Barcelona and Malta.

Perhaps you only need to book two or three excursions. I would strongly suggest booking an excursion to the following ports as there are some wonderful places to see that you can only really visit on an excursion.

Cannes, France: There will most likely be an excursion to Nice, Grasse, Eze and St. Paul de Vence. Try and book a trip that includes Vence. This mountain top, medieval village will be one of the highlights of your cruise, don't miss a trip to Vence. The countryside in the South of France is so beautiful.

Florence - Usually you can book a transfer that will take you round trip from the ship out to Florence for the day. These transfer bus trips are not as expensive as a typical excursion and it's a nice chance to explore the charm of Florence.

Mykonos - You can book a half-day tour to the ancient town of Delos. Perhaps a walking tour.

Barcelona - Can easily be done on your own. Take a bus or cab to Park Guell and see the wonderfully, whimsical Antoni Gaudi architecture. Perhaps Royal Caribbean has a transfer tour here.

There are also some beautiful Gaudi buildings in Barcelona the world famous, Sagrada Familia church.

Passeig the Gracia, is one of the major avenues in Barcelona teeming with shops, restaurants and several exquisite examples of Gaudi architecture like the Casa Batlo and the Casa Milla.

Barcelona is a wonderful, vibrant town bursting with atmosphere and color. Visit the markets, Las Ramblas, there is so much to see here.

Pick up a guide book that covers your port stops, do some research. It's always so exciting to finally see these fabled places you've read about.

You might also consider booking a walking tour with a top rated company on tripadvisor.com or with Viator.com.

Jonathan

The ship's tours are market priced. Market Price means that they are bought and sold at an agreed upon price. Obviously enough people buy the ship's tours at the market price, otherwise the ship wouldn't and couldn't sell them at their price.

Many people consider the ship's tours to be too expensive or of low value to them; that's their opinion. Accordingly, they don't buy the ship's tours. They find other options. Maybe they self tour; maybe they find non-ship tours. Alternatively, many people find the ship's tours to be of good value for them. Accordingly, they do buy them. Maybe they prefer not to self-tour; maybe they prefer the convenience of booking through the cruise company.

The bottom line is that the value of any item for sale is different to different buyers. I may consider something good value to me; you may not feel the item is good value to you. We would make different decisions. Which is exactly what a free market is supposed to do! :D

Jonathon's post sets up some good examples of alternatives to excursions. For example, Jonathon mentioned using a cruise ship transfer excursion from Livorno to Florence (and we agree with him on going to Florence. But most cruise lines are now charging nearly $100 for that transfer bus. However, a train from Livorno to Florence (and there are many trains) will cost about 20€ round trip. Add another 20€ per person for sharing round trip taxis from the port to the Livorno Centrale train station.. and you are spending less then $50 per person. And, if you do it properly, the train will get you to Florence before the excursion buses.

And then there is Cannes, France. DW and I will often rent a car which usually costs us less then $100, If we take another couple, the cost gets down to about $25 per person. We can easily drive to all the places that Jonathon mentioned (St Paul de Vence is an old favorite of ours) although we tend to spend more time in fewer places...and take the time for a nice lunch (after all, you are in France which is known for food and wine). There is also an excellent regional train line that connects Cannes to places like Antibes, Nice and Monte Carlo.....for a fraction of the cost of an excursion to those places.

We agree with Jonathon that Barcelona is an easy city to do on one's own. We recommend getting the Rick Steve's guide book (he has several) which is designed to help the do it yourselfer. And in Barcelona, you can take advantage of the decent metro (subway) system for longer distances. They have a really good deal if you purchased 10 Metro tickets at one time...and you can then share those tickets with your partner. While a single ticket would cost you 2.10€....a 10 pack only costs 9.95€ or less then half the regular price!

Hank