Do It Yourself Ports

Good day everyone. We are considering a Mediterranean cruise this September. We are visiting many ports and would like a balance between cruise ship sponsored excursions, versus walk off the ship and experience on our own. Question is...of the following Ports of call, which are suitable for the do it yourself first time visitor? We are going to: Venice, Dubrovnik, Kotor, Athens, Mykonos, Naples, Rome, Florence, Provence and Barcelona. Which of these ports are we justified in skipping the excursion and exploring on our own? Thank you in advance for the assistance.

Bearing in mind that I have not been to any of these places yet, I think they are all do it yourself depending on your orientation skills and level of comfort. I do mostly diy land vacations where I have lots of time to explore and don't need to worry much if I get lost. I get lost fairly often so my comfort level depends on time to pace myself. As a result, diy is not something I am super comfortable with for a cruise with a pending all aboard. I would spend too much time checking my watch and too little time off the beaten track. So my level of comfort will be much different than someone who is a good orienteer or who has been to the port before. As for helping assess your own level, this is what I have learned from CC and some other port sites. The Rick Steves guides are golden. I'm using one in Venice for diy for two of our three days there. I have read lots of information that suggests Athens Dubrovnik and Kotor are also easily done on your own. One caution about Athens is that the traffic is reported to be very heavy so you have to build that into your timing. I was going to do the HOHO there but I have read on a few sites that these buses are very full and you may have to wait for two or three to go by before you can get on. That may be as much as forty-five minutes, which you don't have on a port day! I hope that bit of information helps

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Thank you so very much. I have heard somewhat the same before, Venice, Dubrovnik and Kotor are better experienced on foot without assistance. I appreciate your response so much,

Good day everyone. We are considering a Mediterranean cruise this September. We are visiting many ports and would like a balance between cruise ship sponsored excursions, versus walk off the ship and experience on our own. Question is...of the following Ports of call, which are suitable for the do it yourself first time visitor? We are going to: Venice, Dubrovnik, Kotor, Athens, Mykonos, Naples, Rome, Florence, Provence and Barcelona. Which of these ports are we justified in skipping the excursion and exploring on our own? Thank you in advance for the assistance.

We have been to all of those places. Easy DIY are Venice, Dubrovnik, Mykonos and Barcelona. Florence and Rome are a distance from port. There are many discussions on how to DIY, but we took a tour. Athens has a HOHO bus, but again we chose to take a tour here.

A major question is if you mean do it yourself as in just walking and or transiting on your own or if you inend to arrange tours but not from the ship. You also should note that some of these ports are not as walk off friendly as others and some Civitavecchia for Rome and Livorno for Florence are 40-50 miles away. That does not mean you cannot do a self planned and guided tour but it does put a train or bus ride into the equation as well.

For specifics I love Barcelona and think you could easily do it yourself. Travel on the HOHO to a variety of sites or do a walking day with 1-2 metro rides to the more distant venues. Do not miss Sagrada Familia and perhaps one of the other Gaudi sites. Walk las ramblas and go into the market. If he is of interest the Picasso museum is worth a visit.

Rome is a greater challenge as the train takes an hour both ways as well as time into and out of the station at each end. It amazes me that both ships and private tours do both Ancient Rome, the Vatican and the Trevi, Spanish steps area in a single day. It has to be a blitz. Personally I would focus on at most one or two of them, my intent this June, and get into greater depth

Naples will put you right in town but most first timers then quickly leave to visit someplace like Pompeii or Capri both of which can be arranged on your own.

I have been to Florence twice and love it, but never by cruise visit. It appears that the train is an easy connection but that getting to the train station from the port requires a little effort as it is not walkable and you cannot just walk out of the port in Livorno which is a large industrial harbor.

Search the boards here as there are lots of good threads

For Naples its easy to DIY to Herculaeneum (Ercolano) on the train, and its not a far walk to the ruins. Same eruption that covered Pomepii, but Herculaeneum was the more "upscale" town, the villas are beautiful and the frescoes are still vivid. There is more shade and hence cooler to visit here than in Pompeii.

My parents did this and had no trouble figuring out which train and where to get off.

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

We have DIY on every port you mentioned with the exception of Provence.

We are going to: Venice, Dubrovnik, Kotor, Athens, Mykonos, Naples, Rome, Florence, Provence and Barcelona. .

Hi, & welcome to Cruise Critic.

Venice.

You need to get from the port to the Grand Canal / St Marks area,

either ................. the un-manned people-mover, then walk across the piazza, then vaporetto (water bus) down the Grand Canal

or .............. 15 mins on ship's payable shuttle boat to near St Marks Square.

Or ............ walkable in mebbe 20 to 30 minutes - if you don't get lost. Which you will :p

Then easy to explore the tourist parts on foot.

Dubrovnik.

You need to get from the cruise berth to the Pila Gate of the walled city, a couple of miles.

Either ship's payable shuttle bus or share a taxi or take a local bus.

The walled city is easy to explore on foot.

Kotor

Sorry, can't help.

Athens.

Cheap express bus or hop-on bus or taxi or ship's payable shuttle bus from the cruise terminal at Piraeus to central Athens, about 15 - 20 minutes. Or 20 min walk to nearest metro station.

Ideally use one of those to go from port to Acropolis, then explore the main sights on foot though not as compact as most city centres.

Same transport back to Piraeus.

If you use the hop-on bus between port & city, your ticket also includes the separate city route. But IMHO the city route isn't great - if you access Athens by one of the other options, don't waste your money on buying tickets for the city route.

Mykonos.

If your ship moors off-shore the tenders will drop you at the little harbour in the centre. If it uses the cruise quay you need transport for the 2 miles to the harbour - ship's payable shuttle, I think there's also buses & some taxis. Town very compact to explore on foot.

Naples.

Herculaneum or Pompeii or Sorrento by train, Pompeii by bus, Sorrento or Capri by ferry.

The only tour that you need (ship's or shared or private) is if you want to visit the Amalfi coast, which can't be done in the time-scale by public transport.

Rome.

Civitavecchia port to Rome by train costs about 12 euros day-return, takes 55 to 85 minutes depending which station in Rome. Then it's tolerably easy to walk with - depending which sights you want to see - perhaps the occasional ride on a metro or local bus (both free with your train ticket) or short taxi hop.

Ship's Rome-on-your-own transfers (might be buses, might be train) are seriously over-priced.

Florence.

Your port (Livorno or La Spezia??) is about 90 minutes from Florence. Train or shared van or ship's Florence on-your-own. Once in Florence, it's easy on foot - except for the big David statue which overlooks the city. Go there by taxi, decide whether you want to walk or taxi back to the centre.

Provence.

Several ports along the coast, you need to be specific.

Barcelona.

Depending where exactly you berth (its a big port) you may want the payable shuttle to the port gate. Gate is close to Las Ramblas, for other parts consider the metro or hop-on buses.

There are cities in the world where hop-on buses make a lot of sense, others where they're a waste of time. Florence & Rome they're a waste of time, their routes are way too restricted by the narrow & choked streets. But not a bad idea for Barcelona.

Shared tours or transfers can be arranged in advance with your ship-mates via Cruise Critic's RollCalls.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=-1&f=34

Plenty of info on your ports & transport etc on Cruise Critic's Ports of Call forums.

Browse them, you'll probably see all you need to know - if not, ask specifis on the appropriate forum

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=-1&f=603

JB :)

We've been to 4 of your ports:

Athens

We took a private tour to the Acropolis area. It included cab transport from Pireaus. We thoroughly enjoyed it as the narration from the guide made the ruins and history more meaningful.

Naples

We've been there twice and DIY both times. We visited Pompeii by train the first time and spent time at castle Nouvo, Piazza del Plebiscito, & Old Town on our recent visit.

Rome

Rome was one of the few "ship's excursions" that we've taken. The tour included lunch and "front of the line" entrance to the Forum, Coloseum, and St. peter's Basilica. We also saw Trevi Fountain amongst other sites. I don't think we could have seen that many sights and the commentary made the sites more enjoyable.

Barcelona

Great transportation system makes DIY very easy. We spent 6 days there and found getting around very easy with a little advanced prep.

We have found that in some of the cities that having a guide - usually try to hire a private guide and add on a few more people, that you see a lot more and learn a lot more. Yes, you can do it yourself but often your nose is in a book or map trying to find things and you end up wasting a lot of time and missing things.

Just another point of few to consider especially if you only have 1 day in port and will not be back.

Have fun - those are all great stops.

Good day everyone. We are considering a Mediterranean cruise this September. We are visiting many ports and would like a balance between cruise ship sponsored excursions, versus walk off the ship and experience on our own. Question is...of the following Ports of call, which are suitable for the do it yourself first time visitor? We are going to: Venice, Dubrovnik, Kotor, Athens, Mykonos, Naples, Rome, Florence, Provence and Barcelona. Which of these ports are we justified in skipping the excursion and exploring on our own? Thank you in advance for the assistance.

What a superb itinerary. The advice you've already had is great, and if it's any help, links to videos of all of those ports are in my signature below. They were all done DIY. All the best, Tony

Naples: IMO, a wonderful place to stay in the city and just walk. Two highlights: The Veiled Christ, a marble sculpture that is stunningly beautiful, and Galleria Umberto, an enclosed arcade. Between those two, strolling without a goal in mind, seeing local churches, homes, and shops, made for one of our all time favorite days.

Aye aye aye lots of planning involved but manageable. There are actually separate threads on each place. As stated some of the ports need transport to the sites of interest. I'm the first to admit I don't want to use public transportation. Others here on CC are very comfortable using public transport or even rent a car and drive from the port to Rome. I also like to see a lot once I get there, so I wanted to go to Pisa and Florence on the same day. Basically do some more research and let folks know how comfortable you are with public transportation.

Thank you. I would not attempt to arrange my own port tours. Mainly asking what ports can we walk off the ship and explore on our own? I kind of want a balance of cruise line tours and exploring the real Europe on foot. I know Rome and Florence are out. I will do the excursions there. So far, it seems like Venice, Barcelona, Dubrovnik, Kotor, Mykonos and Barcelona will be good for self exploration. Probably Rome, Venice, Athens and Marseille are excursions. Question is, what will I miss by going those ports alone?

Thank you so much.

thank you so much for the wonderful information.

I am doing the same cruise in May, although we are going from Barcelona to Venice. I would suggest joining the roll call for your cruise. You will get lots of great ideas there and people will form private tours that you can join for a fraction of the price the cruise line charges and without the big busload of people. That's what we have done for most of the ports.

Mykonos and Dubrovnik we are doing on our own. We are still deciding about Kotor, but it certainly looks easy to do on your own. We will be in Barcelona a few days so are mixing it up between tours and DIY. In Venice we are on our own but are meeting up for a walking tour.

I do not want to use public transportation for two reasons: because I want to see as much as possible in the limited amount of time I have, and because I get nervous about getting lost. I once took the train from Rome to Orvietto on my own (which is lovely by the way). I managed okay but my nervousness about making sure I made it back to Rome put a damper on my enjoyment of the day, so I decided then that I wouldn't do that again.

However, it's pretty easy to form a private tour. There are many operators that are recommended on these message boards. If you go with one that has good reviews you should be fine. Or you can join someone else's tour. However you do it, I'm sure you will have a great time. I have 4 weeks before we leave, and I shall report back!

Purchase timed tickets to various venues to make life easier if you're interested in visiting. In Venice-- Doge Palace and St Marks; in Barcelona-- Sagrada Familia. Dubrovnik take a cab to the walled city and a guidebook with a map and you're fine. I suggest walking the wall and talking the cable car; Kotor is very small we walked the steps. The town is cute a nice place just to relax

Your initial feel regarding Kotor is correct. It's one of those perfect ports for a DIY'er. Combination of a great sail in, a wonderful walkable town right there, and a walk up the hill if you are into an active excursions that you can do without a guide.

We have been to most of those ports and toured on our own. In addition to all the great advice above Google Toms Port Guides. We also made great use of Rick Steves' guides.

Rome trains go on strike at the drop of a hat. Last time I was there they stopped at 3 pm and many people missed the ship.

Rome trains go on strike at the drop of a hat. Last time I was there they stopped at 3 pm and many people missed the ship.

My worst nightmare. That's why I always took the ships "on your own" transfers even though many here on CC said it was a waste of money.

Your initial feel regarding Kotor is correct. It's one of those perfect ports for a DIY'er. Combination of a great sail in, a wonderful walkable town right there, and a walk up the hill if you are into an active excursions that you can do without a guide.

Yes Kotor has a wonderful old town a few 100 yards from the ship. It also has some steps, it's something like 500 or 600 up a hill. It's a bit of work to climb but the views are fantastic.

I'd also suggest booking "free walking tours" when possible. We took two in Barcelona and one in Venice and they were great!

Naples.

Herculaneum or Pompeii or Sorrento by train, Pompeii by bus, Sorrento or Capri by ferry.

The only tour that you need (ship's or shared or private) is if you want to visit the Amalfi coast, which can't be done in the time-scale by public transport.

It's a fairly easy matter to take a standard train to Salerno, then walk a couple of hundred yards to the ferry dock, and take a ferry to Amalfi and Positano. It's about 30 minutes to Amalfi and 30 more minutes to Positano. You can get off in Amalfi for an hour or two, then go on to Positano.

My wife and I took a water taxi from the beach at Positano to the Hotel San Pietro, where we had a nice lunch with a great view.

On the return, time permitting, you can stop at Pompeii. The train stop will be at "new" Pompeii, about a mile from the ruins. After a quick tour of Pompeii, you can take the Circumvesuviana commuter train back to Naples as the station is very near the ruins. Watch your wallet on this train, as it is a favorite of pickpockets, or so I'm told.

Also for Naples it's easy to DIY to Capri