mkaalong

On 8/29/2023 at 3:23 AM, hallasm said:

It is a perfect excursion for someone with walking difficulties.
Book a departure so you have plenty of time - check whether it's a tender or dock.Be at the train half an hour before departure.
Some ship's excursions involve an additional walking- book a round trip from Flåm to Myrdal at Norways Best. Book well in advance as the trains sell out. 

Hello!  This might seem like a silly question, but how can you tell if you will be a tender or a dock port?  I've looked on our cruise info and can't find it  🙂

@Terpsfan1-what did you decide to do? We are in a similar situation, boat docks at 8am and only avaiable time slot is 8:25 am. 😞

wow! WOW!  I just read through ALL 23 pages and thanks for the info, tips, ideas and suggestions!  I am still in the planning stages for our June 2024 cruise, but I have so much info now. THANK YOU!!

On 1/20/2023 at 11:01 AM, tj_shopper said:

We will also be going to Ephesus in May.  Someone on one of my Facebook groups recommended this tour company https://www.bestturkeytour.com/travel-packages/best-of-ephesus-tour/.  I'm still in the planning stages, so I will be checking out this place and https://www.curiotravel.com/.

 

If anyone has done a tour with bestturkeytour, please give us your reviews.  Thank you!

@tj_shopper-I have come across Best Turkey Tour also in my reserach.  Did you find out any additional info or recommendations?  Did you book them? Thanks!

On 2/18/2022 at 10:23 AM, eh24fan said:

Hello all!  We will be in Grand Turk in May on the Carnival Legend.  In the past we have done a dune buggy tour that was tons of fun, but it seems it isn't being offered either by the ship or my usual source for outside excursions.  Has anyone been to GT lately?  Any suggestions?  

This sounds fun!  We leave March 13 and our itinerary just changed to add Grand Turk. I've heard it's beautiful, so I am excited...just need to decide what to do. 🙂  If anyone has any info on dune buggy/ATV private tours, please let me know!  We are taking our 2 boys (ages 20 & 17) with us.

18 hours ago, CruisinCrow said:

 

Try here: https://secure.atlantisbahamas.com/apps/shopping/#/search-results/activities/9a5tvd6zdotg3230z2/1

 

Discover Atlantis is the aquarium pass.

 

Thank you !!! 

3 hours ago, CruisinCrow said:

 

Other than the casino, you can't really tour the grounds of Atlantis without some kind of pass.  The cheapest pass is for the aquarium and it costs about $40.  With that pass, you don't have access to the pools but you can see the aquarium and the Predator's Lagoon, which is outside of the main building so you can see some of the grounds walking to it.  You can spend about 2 hours doing that.

 

While you're at Atlantis, you can also walk next door to Marina Village where there are some nice shops and a lot of gigantic yachts that are fun to see.

Thank you for that info!!!  I looked on the Atlantis website and didn't see any info like that yet!  And I agree with what has been shared above, if there is a cost for something, you should pay it and not look for a way to sneak in somewhere.  🙂 Good info!!

8 minutes ago, hockeymom71 said:

We went to Atlantis through the Comfort Suites. It was expensive, but cheaper than going through RC.

fun!  I've heard about that through research!  Sounds like a good choice  🙂

1 hour ago, sun_lovin!1 said:

mkaalong, My favorite thing to do there is Atlantis.  I have been there probably 6 times.  I just love it.  It's beautiful, the tour is fun and informative.  The grounds are beautiful.  The slides are a blast...and I'm 60 years young!  That being said, snorkeling is one of my absolute favorite things to do at any port.  I've probably snorkeled dozens of times in dozens of locations.  I have not snorkeled in Nassau though so I cannot provide a referral.  I would do some research and look for companies that have really good reviews and go with it!

 

Thank you for that info!!  Regarding Atlantis, that is a possibility for us.  🙂  It is worth it to go just to tour the grounds and not enjoy the water park? What is there to see to just walk around?  And how long would it take?

Snorkeling...yes!  I have some found some companies with good referrals from doing some research already!  So that is an option too!  We don't know if we should just snorkel at CocoKay and do it with our "beach day" OR do it is an excursion at Nassau instead of other sightseeing?  Decisions...LOL!

11 hours ago, PrincessArlena'sDad said:

We did snuba there, and that was a lot of fun. 

 

The pirate museum is walking distance to the port, and only takes a couple of hours. It was nice, but I wouldn't plan my day around it.  That's more of, "we have a few hours left, let's try it."

 

Atlantis is overpriced for what it is.

 

We are thinking of trying blue lagoon in Aug. They have a nice special on our cruise. 

Thank you for that feedback!  🙂

14 minutes ago, hockeymom71 said:

Hi. Sorry, I did not.  I found the same thing you did, good reviews on TripAdvisor, but no reviews on CC.  I emailed them and the price was very good, but I was hesitant because of the lack of reviews here.  I have found that CC has very accurate info.

okay, thank you!  What did you decide to do in Nassau then?  We leave in 3 weeks and researching now  🙂

On 11/14/2019 at 9:46 AM, hockeymom71 said:

Hi. Has anyone done the Cool Runnings Power Boat Adventure?  I've read good reviews on another site, but none on this one yet.

Did you find out any info?  I found it on TripAdvisor, but the website isn't working.    It had great reviews (and some recent ones), so it sounded promising  🙂

On 6/7/2019 at 9:45 AM, sun_lovin!1 said:

I have been to Nassau, on various cruises, 8 times.  I have found something enjoyable to do each time.  I will continue to go on cruises that have Nassau as a stop and will not be one to stay on the ship!  On the last visit, we did a Foodie Tour and it was fun, informative and very filling!

What are some of the favorite things you have done there?  We are 2 couples and I've found info on snorkeling, food tours, Atlantis, private island tours, walking tour...so many options!  We have the whole day there and the other couple is new to cruising, so I want to do something super awesome that's not too expensive  🙂  The husband wants to snorkel, so that might be a main contender!

On 8/23/2019 at 1:55 PM, tlund said:

We found a snorkel, beach and swim with sea turtle tour for our trip to  Nassau on January 14, 2020.  The tour is through Cool Runnings Powerboat Adventures and they get great reviews.  They only do private trips so we would have to book the boat for the day, no matter how many passengers.  We have only 4 so we were looking for another 4 to split the cost.  Here's the website:

 

https://www.coolrunnings242.com/

 

We will be doing the 1/2 day snorkel and beach tour.  They will pick us up at 9:00 at the pier and will drop us back by 1:15.  The cost per person if we have 8 would be $94.

 

Anyone interested??

Hi!  This looks like a great tour and it does get good reviews on Trip Advisor.  Did you end up doing it?  If so, what did you think?  And do you have any updated contact info for them?  The link doesn't work above or the one from Trip Advisor.  Thanks!

Or what did you end up doing?  Looking for snorkeling options for a group of 2 couples for Nassau in Feb. 2020  🙂

I used this thread to make a decision about whether to use ItalyTours and I would like to post my experience!  

We had a delightful time in Rome with ItalyTours with Valerio! He was prompt, courteous and helpful. He did a great job getting us around quickly to the sights to see so many of them. I also loved that he seemed to know the area very well and dropped us off very close to most of the sights, which was appreciated in the heat. Our van was clean, nice and had great A/C!

And a big THANKS to Deborah, our tour guide in the Vatican City, who was AMAZING! She was able to navigate us past all the ticket lines with hardly ANY wait!! The heat and crowds were horrible, but she did her best to make it a pleasant and an informative time :) She was delightful, knowledgeable and super fun!

In addition to the driver and tour guide...the experience with booking with Italy Tours was pretty easy. The VERY thorough emails were great with knowing what to expect. For example, we wanted to see the Colosseum and the email with details on HOW to book it and also HOW to get through the very long lines was SO helpful! After we followed all the instructions to shoot past the lines and make it in, my husband was like...nice job :)  We chose the semi-private tour and I thought it was a great value for what we received!  

13 hours ago, cleobella said:

Hi mkaalong...I'm a bit late with this! We actually just did a ship shore excursion for Pisa and Winery. We did local companies for our busy long days but the ship tour was simple, relatively short (less then 6 hours maybe 4, cant remember exactly) and reasonable. We had a group of about 20 with us. Which was ok because we all spread out at Pisa and broke into small groups at the winery. A nice relaxed break in a busy schedule..and we got great pics !

5

@cleobella-That's fun!  After talking to my husband, we decided to do Pisa and Lucca...a little shorter of a day than going to Pisa/Florence.  Found a company (Papillon tours) that did this excursion and it sounded like a pretty good fit for us  🙂  We will back to the ship in time to rest up, enjoy the evening and be ready for our big day in Rome the next day!

18 hours ago, Hlitner said:

If docking in La Spezia we would not be dragging ourselves 50+ miles (each way) to Pisa.  Personally we would drag ourselves 2 miles to Pisa :).  From La Spezia, if you want a fairly light day, go to nearby Riomaggiore and perhaps to one or two of the other Cinque Terre Villages (all connected by a local train line or small ferry boats).

 

Getting back to Pisa, the only place commonly visited by tourists is the so-called Field or Miracles where you can see the Tower.  So, you see the Tower....and then what?  Other then that one congested tourist area we have never found any charm in Pisa (and we have looked).   My only caution about Riomaggiore and the other Cinque Terre villages are that they are all being overrun with tourists (no thanks to opening up La Spezia as a cruise port).  But when you are a tourist and want to do tourist things you are going to usually have to put up with lots of similarly minded tourists.

 

Hank

Thanks Hank for the tips...it's appreciated!  My husband really wants to see Pisa...so it's on the list.  Good knowing these things though...maybe we will be pleasantly surprised.

Kristina  🙂

On 5/24/2019 at 7:06 PM, cleobella said:

When we did the Western Med we had Rome, Livorno, and Naples right in a row.  Since we were doing full, busy days with private local companies in Naples (Pompei and the Amalfi) and Rome(including Vatican Museum and Coliseum), we opted to do a relaxed, shorter day in Pisa.  We really enjoyed the Tower and the accompanying sites.  Yes, they are not as grand as in other places but it is easier to take them in and you can really take some time to enjoy them.  We paired this with a winery tour and lunch and it was great for us.  I would say choose what you do here based on what else you have organized in the other ports.  If you try to do too  much overall, you won't remember anything and will be tired all trip! You may sacrifice some important sights but prioritizing is key! 

@cleobello-I agree and I am in the same boat!  We are doing longer days, so I am looking into doing something shorter at Pisa.  We are docking in LaSpezia.  What tour did you use?  I've looked at tons of tours, but most only do longer ones...and looking for something shorter.  We are looking at just doing Pisa DIY...how did you see the Pisa sights?  Thanks for any tips!!

What a GREAT thread!!  I don't have a question, just a BIG thanks to Roger and everyone else who has given such great tips over the years!  My 3 boys are doing a coasteering trip, so I was looking for something for my mom and I to do that was fun and relaxing.  We are going to use one of the walking trips that was suggested!  Can't wait to enjoy this beautiful port!!

26 minutes ago, LipstickLeslie said:

 Thanks for the walking tour ideas in Barcelona, the night tour sounds really fun! What else are you doing there? Since this our first trip to Europe, trying to figure out a rough schedule for the first few days has been tough for me. I arrive at 8am and have to wait until 1pm to check into our AirB&B, not sure what to do with that time. I hope the next day everyone will be ready for a full day tour. Then the following I'm thinking of a chocolate tour I found on airB&B (my kids really want to do a food tour but most are expensive and include alcohol:  https://www.airbnb.com/experiences/169232?location=Barcelona%2C%20Spain&checkin=2019-07-03&checkout=2019-07-07&adults=9&source=p2¤tTab=all_tab&searchId=16db6edf-dab6-407b-859a-be641614dcac&federatedSearchId=908a04d4-010e-4c4e-811b-38f86087b6f3§ionId=cc24540b-102a-4836-8b8e-9f82734f210f )

I'm also thinking some beach time since my youngest LOVES playing in the sand still (age 13).

 

This is a great thread! Thanks everyone.

We will only be in Barcelona an evening and a full day.  I received ideas from Rick Steves Barcelona guidebook, Facebook groups (there is one that is called Travel Fashion Girls that is SO helpful!) and just some general research.

So evening we are doing the Runnerbean night tour...and then next day is...

morning-Sagrada Tour (get tickets in advance)

early afternoon-Camp Nou (we are a big soccer family)

late afternoon-Runnerbean Gothic Tour

evening-walk around, Citadel Park, Chocolate Museum, La Boqueria Market..who knows??  Keeping this open  🙂

I've heard Barcelona is an amazing city!  I've heard food tours are awesome and the beach is cool too  🙂  That chocolate tour sounds fun!!

22 hours ago, LipstickLeslie said:

Great thread. This stop has been the hardest for me to figure out. We're a family of three teens - 13, 15 and 17 on Oasis in July (I wish some of you were on my cruise). We've decided to book our own private tour/van to go to Arles and Les Baux. We are either going with https://www.provence-travel.com/ or www.facebook.com/simonsaysprovencetours/ both look pretty good - about 550 Euro for a van/guide for the day. 

 

We're doing Cinque terre on our own, with the train/bus/walking pass. In Rome we booked our private with "Can't Be Missed Tours" so we could do both inside the coliseum and Vatican and in Naples we're doing the Pompeii, Sorrento and Ammalfi coast with www.italytours.eu. In Palme we hired a catamaran for 4 hours (we're also with our parents, so we a group of 9 people total, makes it easier to split up costs for private tours). We'll spend 3 days in Barcelona before the cruise, then afterwards we take the train to Paris for 3 days. It's our first trip to Europe too and I feel like I'm spending HOURS and HOURS researching and booking things.

 

Thanks everyone for sharing, it's nice to read what others are doing with kids!

sounds familiar and some fun excursions!!  This is our first trip to Europe, and we are also going to Barcelona, Paris, and a few other cities to watch some women's World Cup games before/after our cruise.  I AGREE...I feel like planning this trip has been a part-time job since January  🙂  We have 2 boys (18, 15), me, hubbie and my mom...5 total in our group.  Trying to plan some adventurous things in conjunction with ALL the sight-seeing  🙂 And trying to book varying shorter days mixed with longer days.

Here are our ports:

Mallorca-Explora Mallorca-it's an adventure excursion of coasteering 

Marseille-looking at L'Eden boat...great reviews of a private boat company that will take you to see the calanques and swimming

Florence-might just do a short trip to Pisa via a shuttle bus or something

Rome-full day with italytours.eu

Naples-tour of Pompeii with MondoTours (we need to provide our own transportation there).  Recommended by Rick Steves.

Another tip for Barcelona...we are using Runnerbean tours for 2 walking tours.  Found the suggestion on a Facebook group.  They have great reviews...we are doing the Gothic Walking tour & a night time one...fun!!

On 3/31/2019 at 6:50 PM, euro cruiser said:

 

The tram (line #1) has not been operational for several years, it has been replaced (temporarily) by the #151 bus:  http://www.anm.it/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2423&Itemid=260

 

Once the construction in the area is complete the tram is supposed to return to service. 

Yes, thanks for that update!!!

On 3/30/2019 at 12:53 PM, dogs4fun said:

You are most welcome. Here are step by step instructions should you be interested;

http://www.mediterranean-cruise-ports-easy.com/naples-to-pompeii.html

note: we always take the tram (not taxi) to the train station

THANK YOU!!!!!  so helpful! 🙂

On 3/30/2019 at 1:38 PM, gatorchinsky said:

 

I did not.  Still not sure what we will do but at least I know there are a lot of options.

gotcha!  Thanks for the update and reply though  🙂

12 minutes ago, dogs4fun said:

It is incredibly easy to take the Circumvesuviana train - that is how we always get to Pompeii (or Herculaneum or Sorrento). Bonus - it is very inexpensive.

thank you for that feedback!!!