Karysa

I think that some of your ports could be enjoyed in 1/2 a day. Look into the cable car in Dubrovnik. Kotor is beautiful and the town is lovely even for a short visit. You might find it more restful to sleep in and avoid the morning rush at the buffet and start your day a little later. I am not familiar with all of your ports but I would suggest that you skip just walking around in Messina and instead take a tour to Taormina as the ride and town are beautiful.

We are using Shore Excursions Group. We are in Messina from 8-6 and chose the excursion that covers a tour in Castelmola, a visit to the open theatre and free time in Taormina. The tour lasts 7 hours. We have used this company in the past and have always been satisfied.

Yes 3.5 hours would be enough to see Taormina in the way that you described. I would suggest that over the bus or train due to the extra travel time.

Thanks for the replies. I found a private operator that offered a longer excursion than those of the cruise company so I booked with them. The idea of the taxi was to make it a more go with the flow day but I gathered from reading the replies that the likely hood that it would end up being a carefree day was going to be slim so I decided to go with a tour. Thanks again for the help. I am really looking forward to the day now that it’s all set so that’s certainly worth something.

Thank you Hank, I would honestly think that this is a perfect port for catching a taxi back and forth to Taormina as that seems like where many people go during their time in port. We are not interested in renting a car and would do a booked excursion with free time in Taormina first as we are looking for an easier DIY day without the need to find parking and a gas station to fill up before returning to port.

Thanks for the replies. We have been to Taormina on a ship excursion in the past. We would rather just go via taxi. Getting off the ship and getting a taxi and not gathering in the theatre and marching to a bus basically just for transportation and having a set time to leave, are precisely the reasons that we would rather just taxi there and back on our own. I’m hoping that others who have done a DIY trip via taxi at a busy time of year will share their experiences.

We have many excursions booked for our June cruise and are looking to do a couple of DIY days. Would getting a taxi at the port in Messina to go to Taormina be easy? Would a return taxi from Taormina be something that we could get when we are ready to return? We really are hoping to just wing it for the day but would consider a booked excursion with free time in Taormina if getting transportation on the day would be problematic. We are not interested in taking a train or bus, just a taxi. Thanks for any help that you can offer.

Hi our port was changed since we booked the Celebrity Reflection back in September and I am scrambling to find a tour share that we can join. Please let me know if you are looking for 2 more for your tour. I have posted on the roll call board already but it was suggested that I post over here as well as not everyone on the sailing who is on cc joins the roll call. Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions.

Does the VOS always dock in Pointe Seraphine when porting in St Lucia? I’m trying to arrange for a tour pick up and need to provide pick up/drop off location. Thanks 😊

I’m having difficulty finding a non cruise-ship catamaran tour that includes Diamond Falls. We have done this at least twice in the past but can not seem to find one for our port day in March. Thanks for any suggestions.

Another great suggestion. Thank you 😊

Thank you for this suggestion.

Thank you so much. I have CAA. I will give them a call.

I booked on line and called Celebrity since I could not purchase insurance on line.

Was this recently? I booked yesterday and could not book on line and today I called and was told that they only sell to US cruisers. Thanks

No that’s news to me. I figured it would be a cruise line by cruise line thing and that is why I posted here. We haven’t cruised since 2019 so I haven’t had to deal with getting insurance that would cover covid issues and just relied on are Credit card insurance. Thank you very much for the information I will make my way over to the insurance forum. Have a lovely day.

Since purchasing travel insurance is not permitted through Celebrity by website or phone I was hoping that you would share the name of the company that you use. Many thanks in advance!

I think Maho is worth seeing especially when several large jets are coming and going. If it’s very busy leaving Maho you can always just walk to the taxi stand about 5 minutes away by the Pharmacy on the Maho Entertainment strip. Walk past the Driftwood Boat Bar on Maho Beach and follow the sidewalk until you see the pharmacy across the street.

Me to. First trips post March 2020 were back in Nov 2021 and end of March/April. Lat cruise was Nov 2019 though and nothing booked yet. My nephew is currently on a cruise so I thought that I would check the boards and see what’s going on. Pretty quiet still on the Ports of Call boards it seems. I was at Le Galion on my last visit and it was still very, very quiet. No one on the beach.

You could taxi to the Cul de Sac and take the ferry to Pinel Island. It only takes 5 minutes or so.

Many people have done Anguilla by ferry on a 10 Hour cruise day but booking a 9 hour non-cruiseship excursion would be risky in my opinion.