BevnKent

Are you by any chance on Seabourn Quest departing Barcelona on May 12 2015 and in Cherbourg on May 21? We are looking for Normandy tour when we are in Cherbourg and would be interested in sharing a tour with others.

many thanks to "real property" for the detailed narrative about the trip down the Croatian coast. Hoping more people post about their experiences. What were your impressions of the Star Pride?? Some have expressed disappointment in the lack of outdoor experience on this ship and a crowded breakfast. Anyone???:rolleyes:

Hope I am not too late to help you. The 4 in my party shared a great tour of Messina/Taoromina with RealProperty, PlaneMad. Sicily with Mario was great and although some reviews said Mario used the 'F' word too much, he did not use it once on our tour -- must have read the reviews. In Rovinj we did the Windstar excursion "Istra Truffle Experience" It was fabulous - great tour of the medieval town of Motovun. Then they took us to an elegant restaurant where we had a multi-course meal of truffles with 2 wines served with the various courses. After, we had time to enjoy the town of Rovinj.

In Split, my husband and I took the Windstar excursion to Krka National Park. Friends had told us that the national parks in Croatia are a must-see and I agree. Our only disappointment was that the weather was bad in May (overcast and slightly rainy) so the water was not the turquoise blue you see in the pictures. Check websites for Krka pics. We got back in time to do the major sites of the city of Split on our own. The other couple we were with chose to do the city tour from Windstar and enjoyed it.

In Dubrovnik, the 4 of us hired a private guide and did a slight customization of one of their standard Dubrovnik tours. I can highly recommend http://www.dubrovnikshoretours.net Co-owner Josip was excellent in setting up the tour and co-owner Stephano was an excellent guide. We were met at the port, taken on a walking tour of the city including walking the wall. Then they took us to the top of the mountain (by car, although cable car is available) - great views. From there we went to the ancient town of Ston for a tour, then to a winery for a private tasting. We then chose to do a seafood lunch in Ston versus having it at the winery. The seafood was fabulous.

In Kotor we did the Windstar walking tour excursion, but I think you can do this on your own. After, we walked along the harbor and had a fabulous lunch at Galion.

Next stop was Messina which RealProperty told you all about. Highlight after that was evening BBQ on deck of Wind Surf and stopping the ship near the volcanic island of Stromboli where we could see the volcano erupting.

We had planned to do Capri on our own but while on the ship decided to sign up for the Taste of Capri and Blue Grotto excursion. I think this was a great way to do it. The Blue Grotto was beautiful in spite of the gloomy weather. At the top of the island each person had the choice of taking the chair lift to the top for great views (our travel companions did this) or do the tour of Villa San Michelle (the option we took). Loved the Villa - very interesting with great views. We then had a wine tasting with some munchies followed by a little time at the port of Capri before returning to the ship.

When we arrived in Rome, we had a private driver take us to Ostia Antica - a terrific ancient site - then on to our hotel in Rome. The driver was arranged for by the private guide we used in Rome for other tours. OUr guide was Barbara Bruno who I can highly recommend, but at this late date I doubt that she is available. If you want to see the Colosseum, it is critical to have pre-arranged tickets and a must are the separate tix for the Hypogeum (underground) and 3rd tier tour which you can get ahead of time only by calling. Also, if you want to see the Vatican an absolute must is to pay for a pre-general public opening tour (prior to 9am). While you will be seeing the Vatican with a lot of other tour groups, it is a thousand times better than what you will see if you wait to do the sites during general public hours. We used ItalyWithUs and had tour guide 'Francisco of San Francisco'. He was so knowledgeable., and we got to see the highlights of the museum, the Sistene Chapel and St Peter's. When we had to circle back through some of the sites to get to St Peter's we were amazed at the cattle-car like environment after the museum, etc opened to the general public. I don't know how they saw anything! While in Rome before the cruise my husband & I wanted to see Pompeii and Vesuvius. Did that via Viatours. They were great.

My husband & I had done Venice before so we just got there the day before the cruise and went to the Peggy Guggenheim museum. Early in the am I took a vaporetto to St Marks and other sites to take pics before the crowds arrived. During those 2 days, we found that the vaporetto pass was good, and we used it to get to the ship at San Bassilio. But the crowds now might be greater, making it much more difficult to get on the vaporetto with your luggage.

Hope all this helps, feel free to contact me at bevhellman@hotmail.com

We are on the Wind Surf May 12 sailing. There are 4 of us. We are just now starting to research shore excursions. Would love to share what we find out. Will you share with us? Also, someone just started a roll call for our sailing. Shall we move the conversation to there?