shuttle bus

First time cruising with TUI/Marella in 2 weeks time.Does cruise company run shuttle buses from port to town centre. If so what is their normal charge or are we best using local service. Ports are Marseille, Valencia and Cartegena. Other 2 ports we have excursions booked.

Any advice appreciated

First time cruising with TUI/Marella in 2 weeks time.Does cruise company run shuttle buses from port to town centre. If so what is their normal charge or are we best using local service. Ports are Marseille, Valencia and Cartegena. Other 2 ports we have excursions booked.

Any advice appreciated

 

The ship docks in Cartagena a mere 5 minutes walk from the town centre so no shuttle bus required.

 

Last year in Marseille and Valencia a shuttle was provided by the ship at a cost 5 Pounds return per person.

Many thanks for your response Campolady

We have just begun to do port research for the same itinerary mid-April and shuttle buses were going to be our question too, so this was a really helpful Q and A. Thank you.

 

Marseille Port is some way from the city so £5 pp return (or was it one way?) is reasonable. Where in the city was the drop-off/pick-up point , were there long queues at the port and at the pick-up point, and how often did it run?

 

Valencia. Same questions. Where in the city was the drop-off/pick-up point , were there long queues at the port and at the pick-up point, and how often did it run?

 

Thanks in advance.

We have just begun to do port research for the same itinerary mid-April and shuttle buses were going to be our question too, so this was a really helpful Q and A. Thank you.

 

Marseille Port is some way from the city so £5 pp return (or was it one way?) is reasonable. Where in the city was the drop-off/pick-up point , were there long queues at the port and at the pick-up point, and how often did it run?

 

Valencia. Same questions. Where in the city was the drop-off/pick-up point , were there long queues at the port and at the pick-up point, and how often did it run?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

The fares were return - they may have gone up a Pound this year.

 

You need to purchase tickets the night before at destination services (no cash payment, the cost goes on your on board account). Morning tickets for the outward - port to city - journey are timed at half hourly intervals starting at 9.30 a.m. and continuing to 12 noon meaning they only allocate the number of seats available on each coach therefore no queues; tickets for departures after 12 noon are not timed and you just get on the shuttle whenever you want. Coming back you obviously return to the shuttle stop whenever you want not at a set time so there may be a few people waiting but, as buses run so frequently, you won't be delayed long. We have used the shuttle buses in many ports over our 11 cruises and have never had more than a 5 minute wait but we do generally return to the ship earlier than most people and there may be more queuing at peak times.

 

The bus drops you about a 10 minutes walk from the seafront centre of Marseille near the fort. It was too far for my husband to walk so we just got on the little train that goes from nearby and took us around the main points of interest; to be honest Marseille is the port we have least liked on all our cruises but that is just our personal opinion and may be due to the fact they packed so many people on each bench of the little train that the journey was very uncomfortable..

 

We have been scheduled to dock at Valencia three times and on the first two occasions bought shuttle tickets - each time bad weather prevented us from docking and the fare was automatically recredited to our on board account. When we finally did manage to dock at Valencia last year we didn't use the shuttle as we went on a Marella trip (Lladro factory and city centre) so, sorry, can't tell you where that drops off in the centre.

Edited March 19, 2018 by campolady

Thanks Campolady. You can always be relied upon to answer queries. Very helpful to know they are usually arranged the evening before docking.

 

I just left this an extra day or two in the hope that someone might give the actual names of the drop off locations in both Marseille and Valencia.

 

Anyone?

 

Alternatively, Scapaflow, would you be able to add the info to this thread when you return? Would help others too.

 

Has anyone used the public bus from Valencia port instead of the shuttle?

Campolady, the twice you could not get into Valencia, where did you go instead or was it an extra day at sea?

 

Thanks.

Campolady, the twice you could not get into Valencia, where did you go instead or was it an extra day at sea?

 

Thanks.

 

We went to our next port of call - Cartagena - a day earlier than planned and had an over nighter there.

Thanks Campolady. You can always be relied upon to answer queries. Very helpful to know they are usually arranged the evening before docking.

 

I just left this an extra day or two in the hope that someone might give the actual names of the drop off locations in both Marseille and Valencia.

 

Anyone?

 

Alternatively, Scapaflow, would you be able to add the info to this thread when you return? Would help others too.

 

Has anyone used the public bus from Valencia port instead of the shuttle?

 

 

Will certainly try and get as much info as possible Edinburgher

In Valencia it drops you 2 mins from the centre,just where the shops start there is a nice church in the square,and you can get on the tour bus just off that .the buses run regular so you get back on it where it drops you off

Because we are not doing shorex in either, all info is useful for our planning, so many thanks to everyone who replied with really helpful info for both ports.:)

Because we are not doing shorex in either, all info is useful for our planning, so many thanks to everyone who replied with really helpful info for both ports.:)

 

Thought this may be of interest to you Edinburgher https://shorebee.com/en/spain/valencia/from-valencia-cruise-port-to-valencia/shuttle-bus

The bus drops you about a 10 minutes walk from the seafront centre of Marseille near the fort.

 

Destination services made a total mess of our drop off and pickup arrangements - we were dropped off at the old fort, however, on return the pickup had had to be relocated in the city because other large cruise lines were using the fort.

 

Only found out when we made our way back to the fort bus stop and had to trek back into Marseilles. Nobody from the ship at the fort to advise, it was MSC staff who kept us right.

 

Fortunately we were heading back an hour before the final scheduled bus - shudder to think what type of drama scenario would have occurred if we'd gone for the last service !!!

 

Thomsons refunded the shuttle cost - and had to deflect a barrage of criticism. I suspect the local bus company were also complicit in this shambles.

 

BTW - if tempted to go for the Hop On Hop Off bus - don't - unless you like gazing at rooftops in Marsellies, it's not a user friendly HoHo experience, it has 3 and 4 story buildings for large parts of the route.

 

Anyway - as above, Cartagena is an easy walk off the ship.

 

Can't mind much about Valencia - but the HoHo was OK.

I looked yesterday hoping Scapaflow might have added the Marseille drop-off location as we leave on Sunday, but nothing so far. I don't see much point in adding it once we are home as all the other itineraries appear to go to Toulon rather than Marseille.

 

WeeCountyMan, we read your post with interest and thank you for the warning. It was really bad of Thomson/Tui/Marella to change the location for the shuttle return to the ship without warning, and even worse, that there was nobody to advise passengers when they arrived expecting to find the shuttle bus. To have to rely on staff from a different cruise line was a "low" even for them.

 

Our experiences with them over the years have taught us that although they do some things really well, they can also do some things really badly, and this was one time they did badly.

 

Thanks to the warning, have had to spend some time today researching alternative means of getting back to the port should they do the same to us. Annoying to have to do that, but better we have the info with us just in case.

Our experiences with them over the years have taught us that although they do some things really well, they can also do some things really badly, and this was one time they did badly.

That mirrors our experiences of Thomsons. Have been clients since the Middle Ages for hotel packages, and for around 10 years for cruises - customer services ranges from abysmal to excellent. The problem is you never know which to expect, and when it's bad, it's awful.

 

About 20 years ago we stayed in a hotel in Greece, the Thomsons rep was a man in his late(ish) 30's, very competent and professional. Normally it's 19 year old girls who are still learning the ropes.

 

When we got home I wrote to Thomson's HQ commending him - received a "sorry to hear your were so disappointed with your hotel representative" reply !!! Fortumately I had copied him into the original, so when I responded to Thomson's nonsense he was in no doubt that we had raised no complaint.

 

That is indicative of Thomsons.

 

There's no reason not to get the shuttle into Marseilles, forewarned is forearmed - just make sure the destination services people confirm that the drop off and collection location are one and the same.

Still on holiday so just got this email notification. Marseille the drop off point is very close to the harbour. Didn' get the street name but outside world trade centre. The cost was £7 per person.took about 20 mins to get into centre .the buses were frequent

Scapaflow, thank you SO much for that. Really kind of you especially as you are still on holiday and likely using precious WiFi minutes. We are only sailing for one week, you are enjoying a longer trip. Hoping it has gone well and that you enjoyed the places you visited.

 

Really pleased with your Marseille info, and hoping our shuttles will drop off in the same location as it could hardly be much closer to the Old Port and to a choice of transport....and let's hope they also pick up at that same location!

The problem is you never know which to expect, and when it's bad, it's awful.

 

So true! I bet you could run a complete thread on "Things Thomson/Tui/Marella got wrong!"

 

Would be an interesting read.;)

So true! I bet you could run a complete thread on "Things Thomson/Tui/Marella got wrong!"

 

It's the lack of joined up thinking that you find with Thomsons that irks me.

 

Different departments that don't talk to each other, for example, and give conflicting advice etc.

 

Or the repeated erroneous information on luggage allowances.

An update on the Marseille shuttle buses.

 

The shuttle cost has increased to £7 pp, (same price in Valencia)

 

Ours ran to and from Fort St Jean/MuCEM rather than the WTC which is a better location, although from Fort St Jean/MuCEM it is a nice enough walk along one side of the Vieux Port, and in the opposite direction, close to Le Panier and the Cathedral Major.

 

We think this was because there were two other ships in with us, and when we passed the WTC later in the day, the parking area was full of shorex city tour buses from all three ships which were parked possibly when their groups were doing a short walkabout.

 

Princess was using the same shuttle bus location as Marella.

 

It means that pax won't know which of the two locations they will be dropped at until they actually arrive at the parking area. If quiet possibly WTC, if busy, Fort St Jean/MuCEM.

Edited April 25, 2018 by edinburgher

I don't think many will be surprised to read that the Marseille shuttles were a bit of an issue to say the least. The shuttle buses were coaches holding somewhere between 50 and 60 pax. We were lucky as we were waiting downstairs at the gangway exit and came off as soon as the ship was cleared. We went directly to the one and only shuttle bus which was waiting. It filled very quickly and we left a few minutes later. We saw no other shuttle buses at that time and there were already other pax waiting for the next one.

 

So far so good, but when we arrived back at Fort St Jean/MuCEM for the return to the ship, the Marella queue was already long. We waited and waited, watching the Princess shuttles arriving and leaving regularly, sometimes two at once. Eventually one Marella shuttle appeared. We didn't make it on so continued to wait and the queue was getting longer and longer. People were asking if they could go back on Princess shuttles but were told "no". Eventually two buses arrived. I don't know how many were left behind still waiting.

 

The couple in front of us and the couple behind us both told us that they waited quite a bit over an hour to leave the ship in the morning. They said (and I do not know how accurate this is as it is "hearsay") that the queue had stretched back to the ship, up the gangway, and through part of the ship. They said the Captain came to see what was causing the queue and told the shorex team to get it sorted immediately. He then apologised to pax. More shuttles arrived and eventually they got into the city.

 

We heard the Captain apologise to all affected pax during his pre-sail announcement and he promised it would not happen again.

 

We don't know what happened in Valencia as we didn't buy shuttle tickets there as there are two public buses within a two minute walk of the port.

 

Tip: If you are taking a Marella shuttle anywhere, try to leave the ship as soon as it is cleared.

Also read post #20 on previous page.