crystaltips99

I've done this excursion twice and both times we were dropped and picked up at the same place, a parking area alongside the river outside the Supreme Court building, close to Ponte Umberto I. Its an easy walk to the Spanish Steps and the Vatican from there, but I got the Metro to the Colosseum. Hope this helps your planning!

I've done Rome On Your Own twice now, and both times we have been dropped off and picked up on the north side of the river just outside the Supreme Court, just by the Ponte Umberto I.

She might be old but she's in good nick - I was impressed with how well-maintained she was when I sailed on her in June, and my cabin was lovely.

I'll admit that Celebration isn't my favourite, I think because of the size (I've always preferred Majesty because it feels less cramped on board to me) but I have no complaints, the size of a ship is just a case of personal preference. The staff were outstanding, the food and entertainment were both consistently high quality, and I had a great holiday. On a smaller ship disembarking is definitely easier, especially at tender ports.

I think the clientele have been a little older on the ex-UK sailings over the summer, but as you are on a Caribbean cruise I'm sure there will be a good mix. I'm in my 40s and met plenty of people of a similar age.

I can only speak for Venice, but I've been there twice and never done an excursion. If you're okay with a little walking then DIY is fine!

You can walk from the cruise port to St Marks Square but I've not done it personally, I hear it takes 45 - 60 minutes. The two ways I've travelled there are the fast vaporetto from the cruise port straight to St Marks Square (more expensive but quick), and via the Grand Canal. To do this you need to follow the signs on the pavement to the people mover (lots of people will be going that way), then get the people mover to Piazzale Roma, and from there get a vaporetto down the Grand Canal to St Marks Square - you get a good view of the classic sights this way and go under the Rialto bridge.

To get back I walked from St Marks Square to the Rialto bridge (there are signs on the buildings so its easy to do), and got a vaporetto from there back to Piazzale Roma.

In terms of sights you can book the Doges Palace online in advance, for the Basilica and the Campanile you need to queue on the day but both queues moved quickly when I was there.

Hope this helps!

I think that there were some classes advertised in Cruise News, some were free and some had a charge of around £5 as I recall. I didn't go to any of the classes but I did use the gym quite a few times - it isn't huge but it has treadmills, bikes, cross trainers and a few weights machines, and it opens out onto the deck with the adults pool so you can go in the whirlpool afterwards!

The show team sometimes do dance classes in High Spirits in the afternoons which aren't particularly intensive but are good fun.

Elmsliebev - that's a fantastic tip, thanks for that!

I've done a few cruises on my own, all with Thomson - on Spirit I booked the most forward single cabin there was and whilst it was a little juddery it didn't stop me sleeping. On Majesty I've had an inside on deck 6, and an outside on deck 8 - the inside was small but great, the outside was much roomier (an outside plus I suspect) but a bit wobbly when we hit rough seas, being higher up!

In terms of the social aspect, it definitely varies by cruise - not all solo travellers with come to the meet ups as a rule, but on some cruises you find that you get a good turn out and people continue to meet throughout the week, on some people will come to the organised meets but do their own thing otherwise. I guess I'm somewhere between the two - I like the social aspect of cruises so I quite like to turn up to dinner on my own and meet new people.

Everyone I've met on cruises so far has been lovely, whether solo, in a couple or a family group. And the social hosts / hostesses have all been great as well. I would say it was worth giving it a try, maybe just for a week if you're not sure.

I did Rome On Your Own 2 years ago, and I'm planning to do it again this time - you can never see everything in a city the size of Rome but I like the flexibility it gives!

We were dropped off near Ponte Umberto I, and from there I managed to walk to the Spanish Steps, see the Keats museum, walk to the Pantheon, and then walk up to the Vatican (which I'd pre booked before we left). The Vatican and St Peters took the whole afternoon, to be honest.

This time my plan is to attempt the Colosseum & Forum, the Trevi fountain and the Pantheon (again) - I'm hearing bad things about the queues at the Colosseum so I'll be booking that online in advance in an attempt to save time!

You're right, 10 hours is a daunting prospect, but its because of the journey from Civitavecchia. With the journey being 90 minutes you have a slow start to the day, and the chance of a nap on the way back (which a lot of people were doing), so it takes the edge off it a bit. I found Rome pretty easy to walk round but I'm considering using the the Metro this time, depending on where we get dropped off.

Hope this helps!

Hi

I've done the bike tour in Kotor, you ride out along the "fjord" for a few miles to a cafe with a private beach, and then cycle back the same way. It's almost entirely flat, only one short incline as I recall, and was a mix of pavements, pathways and very quiet roads.

It was a bit shorter than most of the rides (in fact they ran it twice the day I did it, once in the morning and once leaving at lunchtime), and was flagged up as an easy trip - I hadn't been on a bike for a few years beforehand and I was fine!

It's not far at all - you could walk it in 30 - 40 minutes if you were so inclined but both times I've been there have been buses running from the port to the town, for something like 1.5 euro each way.

Once you've gone through the port building you start walking across the car park to the port gates, and there is a bus stop about half way across where the shuttles to town stop. Some seem to go to the Liston, some to the old town, I never worked out the difference but if you pick up a map onboard when you check in you'll be fine.

I took the Linea 1 bus to and from the port when I did my first cruise, and it was really easy, so I'd recommend it.

I also can't recommend the Oceanagrafic, and the whole City of Arts and Sciences, enough - it was absolutely AMAZING!

Hi

I went to Bozcaada earlier this year, I did the Troy excursion and really enjoyed it but I appreciate that sort of site isn't for everyone.

You tender across to what I suspect is the only town on the island, its small but quite pretty, they had a craft market on which I think they probably do each time a ship visits. There was a castle just next to the port that gave some good views across the harbour and to the ship, and there were quite a few cafes and bars around the harbour.

You'd probably struggle to fill a whole day, but as its a tender port it might take a while to get off the ship anyway and you could definitely while away a few hours looking around.

Hope this helps!

I took a Lonely Planet city guide for Istanbul with me, as I was going there twice, and I used that rather than the ship map there - the ship map for Istanbul was a bit too small-scale for independent exploring IMHO and didn't have the tram stops on, and as Kruzseeka says those are invaluable when you DIY.

I went into the Blue Mosque but as Kruzseeka says you only get to walk through a portion of it - its free to go in, I had to queue for maybe 15 minutes to get in. You have to pay to get into the Hagia Sophia and it has some scaffolding up inside for renovations work at the mo, but its still a lovely building.

For Mykonos I just used the ship map and it was fine.

Yep, it was probably high twenties when we were there on June 12th - definitely needed the sun cream!

Hi Bob

As I'm just back from the Spirit I can let you know what I did, to see if that helps you decide - disclaimer being I like to do quite a bit of walking onshore!

In Istanbul I got the local tram from Tophane to Sultanhamet, 4 turkish lira each way. From Sultanhamet you can quickly get to the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sophia, the Basilica Cisterns and the Topkapi Palace, and it's maybe a 10 minute walk from these to the grand bazaar. I had considered walking into town, or back from town, but on both visits we docked at a different port to the one I expected, we were docked next to Istanbul Modern which is a little further out.

In Odessa you can walk straight off the ship into town by walking up the Potemkin Steps, and it's very easy to explore on foot using the ship's map.

In Mykonos we had free shuttle buses, that you got timed tickets for from Destination Services the day before, these dropped us close to the main town. From there I just explored the town, and went to the windmills and Little Venice.

We visited Bulgaria not Romania so I can't help you with that one.

In terms of excursions the Odessa ones got decent reviews from the people that I met on board. The full day Istanbul excursion got better reviews than Easy Istanbul as far as I could tell.

Hope this helps!

Hi Toon

I'm just back from the Spirit and we were in Odessa 10 days ago - I didn't do an excursion but those that did gave pretty good feedback.

I decided to try and DIY, as I often do, and it was easy to do - the port is right at the bottom of the Potemkin Steps and once you reach the top of those you're right in the old town. There were some mini trains and small open sided vehicles at the top of the steps offering tours, but if you're okay on your feet its very much walkable with the map from Destination Services.

I didn't know what to expect from Odessa but it was a revelation - absolutely beautiful Georgian style buildings, and the cathedral is beautiful. Plenty of shops and cafes to visit and the prices are VERY cheap - you can change currency in the port building but be warned, they will only exchange Euros or US dollars, not sterling. There are ATMs as soon as you get into town if you'd rather do things that way, I also suspect some shops would take euros.

Hope this helps, and enjoy your day there!

Hi Pennypony28

I've not been to all of your ports but I'll help where i can.

Venice - definitely DIY-able if you are okay with a bit of walking, you can get the express vaporetto from the cruise ship dock direct to St Marks Square, or you can walk to the people mover which takes you to the Grand Canal, where you can get the normal vaporetto to St Marks. I've done both, you see more of Venice the second way but the first way is quicker and has less walking. In St Marks Square you have the Basilica, the Doges Palace and the Campanile which easily fill the morning, after that I walked to the Rialto Bridge (an easy walk and signposted but involved steps and bridges) and got the vaporetto and people mover back from there.

Split - when I went there you could walk to town from the dock, took less than 10 minutes I would say, then you can look around the old town and grab lunch or a drink in the main square (which had good free wifi when I was there)

Dubrovnik - I got the local bus from the port to the Pile Gate (cost 1.5 kuna I think) but I believe you can get a taxi for about 10 euros which would be cost effective for a small group. The entrance to walk the walls is at the Pile Gate, and you can walk to the cable car station from the old town, but both involve plenty of steps - the old town itself is very flat though and has shops, museums and cafes

Zadar - when I was there the ship docked a little way from the centre but there were shuttle buses, you had to buy a ticket but it was reasonable as I recall. Its an easy walk around the town from where the shuttle drops off, and there's enough to see to fill a morning, for sure.

Hope this helps!

Thanks for that write up Cowbag - I'm on Ancient Wonders on June 15th (doing a B2B with the Black Sea) and I was wondering if I would have enough time to see Bozcaada if I did the Troy excursion, so you've answered my question for me!

I've had so many good tips from this forum for my cruises that I've been trying to "give back" recently by posting on threads, so I'll add to this thread when I get back if I can find any information about travelling independently while I'm there - with it being June they might be gearing up for high season.

Thanks again for the help

Hi Pezzers

No vehicles of any sort in Venice I'm afraid! When I visited you could get a express vaporetto (water taxi) from where we docked direct to St Marks Square - when you are there you could see St Marks, Doges Palace and the Campanile (bell tower) with very little walking. I suspect that would work out a little cheaper than doing Venice On Your Own from the ship. The express boats stop at the top end of the dock where the ship docks, if you follow the people walking to the people mover you will see where they stop and you can buy tickets there.

I don't recall seeing HOHO in either Split or Zadar - as Mazzarooney says the old town in Split was an easy walk from where the ship docked. In Zadar there were shuttle buses from where we docked to the city centre, and you could see the sights without doing much walking from there.

Hope this helps!

If you're worried about time then Parc Guell is probably a good bet - as it's a park not a building you don't really have to queue to get in, and your husband would probably be able to get a close look at the mosaics.

You can get there from the HOHO but the walk from the bus stop is up a reasonably steep hill, so not ideal if you have any mobility issues.

La Pedrera is lovely but also gets busy, but nothing like as busy as the Sagrada Familia!

If you're not fixed on seeing some Gaudi then the main food market, La Boqueria, is a really good experience - its just off La Rambla, has loads to see and some cafes for drinks and snacks.

Whatever you choose I'm sure you'll have a great day!

Have a great time Flopsy - I'm off to join the Spirit on June 8th and I'm definitely starting to get excited as I do my port planning!

Don't worry too much - I get a bit stressed in very tight spaces, and also in crowds, but I was absolutely fine. Some of the staircases are smaller because of the age of the building, but in the rooms themselves the size of the group means that you have enough room to have a good look around.

Thinking about it, nowhere in the Doges Palace was particularly cramped, the busiest part was crossing the Bridge of Sighs but as the bridge is so short you are only crossing for a brief period. I think that they control the admissions so that it doesn't get too busy inside.

Hi Jakanne

I did the secret itineraries tour of the Doges Palace the first time that I went to Venice and very much enjoyed it. The tour takes you to the upper level of the palace to rooms that aren't on general access - you get to see the court room, the cells where they held Casanova, and learn a lot about Casanova and the Venice of that time.

There are some small staircases to climb, so it probably isn't ideal for someone who has mobility issues (or indeed someone who suffers from claustrophobia), but you're in quite a small group so you don't feel too closed in, even in the small rooms. You can stay in the palace as long as you want to afterwards so I arrived in time for the tour, then stayed on and saw the rest of the palace afterwards - I think I booked the 11a.m. tour to make sure I had enough time to get there from the ship.

I'd definitely recommend it if you're thinking about going to the Doges Palace anyway and are interested in doing something a bit different.

In Dubrovnik you need kuna to walk the walls, go on the cable car and get the local bus from the port to the city, but the shops and cafes took euros in the main.

In Koper and Kotor it's euros which makes life a lot easier!

As Dave says, the outside singles are the 3 rear-most cabins each side of decks 8 and 9. Hope you enjoy your cruise!