AvisonNewbee

Flatbush flyer, thanks for the information.\

We have already booked the cruise, so I don't quite understand why you are talking about starting and ending in Rome, we specifically chose against this as we wanted smaller/quieter cities to stay an extra day in.

The issue I have with 'biting the bullet' and going with the cruiseline tours is we will not get to go INTO anything - in the fineprint it says if the line to get in is longer than 45 minutes, instead of going in we just look at it from the outside, which I think is a huge waste of $1000.

Hey all!

My fiancee and I booked our first cruise for our honeymoon in May and I am having a difficult time with booking shore excursions. The ones offered by the ship seemed to be VERY expensive (especially in Rome!!) so I am looking for suggestions on what might be worth the money vs. cheaper alternatives.

We are sailing with Royal Caribbean and these are our ports:

- Leaving from Barcelona (we have a free day here if suggestions for things to do here)

- Cannes (Monte Carlo), France

- Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy *** here is where I am having the most trouble. We would like to go to the colliseum and the Vatican, and there are tours not offered by the cruiseline that offer 'skip the line' so that you can see both attractions, but no way to get from the ship to Rome, and the ones offered by the cruiseline provide transportation but no 'skip the line' option and therefore we won't have time to see both I don't expect.

- Amalfi Coast (Salerno), Italy

- Catania (Sicily), Italy

- Zadar, Croatia

- Ending in Venice (we also have a free day here if suggestions for things to do here)

Thanks so much!!