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Posts posted by SouthernUSAGal
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On 1/31/2024 at 6:11 PM, Joanne G. said:
There is no “best” excursion in any port. We all have different interests, budgets, and energy levels. But I’ll share what a friend and I did in some of the ports you’ll be visiting. We were on Celebrity, but it’s likely NCL will offer similar excursions.
We explored Mykonos without an excursion. We just walked around the main town, shopped, had lunch in a waterfront restaurant, and had wine later in another waterfront restaurant. A relaxing day. But if I visit again, I think I would take an excursion to Delos.
For Naples, our travel agent told us not to miss the Amalfi coast, and my friend wanted to see Pompeii. So we picked a long, full day excursion that went to both places. It was a memorable, if somewhat tiring, day. Lunch at a lovely restaurant on the coast was included.
Santorini can be challenging, due to the tendering and the potential overcrowding if several ships are in port. We took an enjoyable excursion to Oia and a winery, and it ended in Fira with time on our own before returning to the ship, taking the cable car down to the tender dock. We had no problem as our ship was the only one in port that day. Based on recent reports with multiple ships in port, the wait for the cable cars can be very long. Read up a lot on this port before deciding on what to do.
From Messina, we took an excursion to Taormina that was transportation only, and we had several hours on our own to walk around the very picturesque town.
Check out the ports of call boards and ask questions there. Do some research beyond Cruise Critic, such as the Rick Steves Guide to Mediterranean ports. He usually promotes making individual plans rather than ship excursions, but his guidebooks have useful information about the main attractions that can help you decide what looks most interesting to you. NCL likely offers excursions to the most popular sites in all the ports. General guidebooks, meaning not cruise related, can also provide good information. I check out everything my local library has on places I plan to visit.
I can’t help with the other ports. Have a great cruise, and do plan on some time in Rome before or after.
Great advice!! I appreciate your feedback.
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On 1/30/2024 at 2:47 PM, DCGuy64 said:
We did a very similar itinerary last November on the Breakaway. When is your cruise, BTW? We ended up having to skip Athens and Livorno due to bad weather, so just keep in mind that rough seas might come into play (there were lines of furious passengers at Guest Services). We did an excellent excursion in Malta that featured ancient ruins, which my wife is a huge fan of. I can't comment on the other ports, since either we missed them or we had privately-booked excursions instead. Have a great cruise!
Our cruise is first week of June. Appreciate your feedback! 🙂
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Hello all. This is our first time out of the country on a cruise. I really need advice on which shore excursions are a must, preferably through the cruise line, and which ports you would recommend not doing an excursion. There are just too many to pick from, and they seem to have limited reviews posted online.
Any advice/recommendation would be appreciated. Thank you!
Below is our itinerary:
NCL Epic Shore Excursions -- WHICH ARE THE BEST??
in Norwegian Cruise Line
Posted
Reading through your experience has me so excited. Thank you for your feedback 🙂