Do-It-Yourself Shore Excursions

[trubey]

I first found Cruise Critics when I was about ready to take my first cruise and wanted to find out if I could get to Rome from Civatavecchia on my own.

 

Since then, I've become a regular visitor, but what I notice, is both repetition of questions in the "Europe" section and the simultaneous inability to find posts I remember seeing.

 

 

So, what I was wondering, is if we start some new threads for each port, we might get pretty comprehensive coverage. I'm doing this as a poll to see if I am the only one here who thinks this might be useful.

 

 

Susan

[winewanderer]

I responded "great suggestion". Having not been to any of the places on our Liberty Transatlantic except Rome, I would like to hear all suggestions for doing ports on my own.

 

This is the only way DH and I explore ports. In 40 or so cruises we have taken maybe 2 organized excursions, we truly hate them. We find out about a city's transportation and how o get around on our own, for us more it's more adventurous and fun.

[jhannah]

Hey, Susan. Hope you and Lane are doing well! I like to do both ... ship excursions and on-your-own. It depends on the port and how far we want to go from the pier. Our general rule of thumb is that the farther away from the ship we plan to travel, the more inclined we are to take a ship's excursion. This is simply a little "insurance" in case a vehicle breaks down or traffic snarls make the return to the ship impossible before departure time.

 

We also enjoy touring the ports of call on our own. Most European cities have excellent mass transit systems. Some are easy to navigate on foot. We have also used local tour operators/guides.

[trubey]

Yes, Jim, this is exactly why we need to share this information. I agree with you 100%. I am finding the most difficult (and often most crucial) part of making a tour decision is learning the distance from the port to the center of each city.

 

 

As for the sites away from the center of the town, sometimes people have discovered inexpensive public transportation or taxi service to the same areas. On the downside, this doesn't give you the assurance of making it back to port on time and there have been tour lectures it would have been a shame to miss.

 

 

I have been on some absolutely awful tours and some wonderful ones. But I would still prefer to make my decision based on other cruiser's knowledge rather than the cruise line excursion booklet.

 

Looking at this "Europe" board and seeing everyone requesting to be e-mailed information made me think of another good plan. Consider posting your writings on free web sites (e.g. Yahoo). And you can put together a simplistic web site just using a word processor. But for the main part, I like the bulletin board format because I like the feedback and the way we each build on each other's ideas.

 

Susan.

[Andym]

Jim,

I totally agree. The same thing seems to be discussed over and over again. Perhaps we could raise a post called Barcelona, where people could put tips, hotels, excursions ets and then repeat this for each place, Rome, Florence etc.

 

What people need to understand about the med is that some of the places visited are quite a long way from the ports, Rome, Amalfi etc and the cruise does not differentiate between private drivers/guides and doing it on your own. If , and every year someone is, you are late, and not on a ships tour, then the ship says goodbye and sets off without you.

[marp109]

I'm new to this site and spent 2+ days reading all 34 pages of postings about Europe! So that I could remember what I saw and not repeat the research, I started a Word document and copied anything I found helpful into it. Now it's all in one place! We don't go until Sept. and while I seem already addicted to researching as we do our own excurisions, I don't want to miss one bit of useful info from someone who's been there, done that. The info may be a bit jumbled as I did it as I found it but what fun to sort it out.

[ClaudiaF]

I agree and thought that it would be easier to get info if this site ws broken down into major places. Posted the question to the powers that be of CC and they said they were going to do that but alas?

Anyways, we love to do it on our own,. Ususally hiring drivers in all the ports to take us to see in far less time what the ship is seeing in 3 different tours

;-) With own driver can cover so much more and if you stumble on a place you love can stay longer .

Agree that the farther from the port you are planning to go is a very big consideration.. so should plan accordingly.

[Leejnd4]

I think this is a great idea. I see that you've already started these port-specific threads. And to help future members best utilize it, there should be a "must read" announcement at the top of the board that gives some best-practices suggestions, including doing a thread search for "Do-it-yourself [your port]". That way, even when nobody has posted in one for a while, they don't fall into oblivion because they're not on the first page.

 

Interestingly enough, so far most of the do-it-yourself threads you started are on ports I'll be visiting on my upcoming May cruise!!

 

LeeAnne

[HowardB]

It's interesting to me what the phrase - "doing it on one's own" means to different people. To me it means going without the services of a guide/driver/ship excursion or any other sort of organized/paid services. Of course, it may or may not include a (point-to-point) taxi ride, and certainly other transportation options, but I fouc on the "OWN". I am not syaing that it is wrong to use any of htese services, or even tht it is wrong to interpret the phrase to include those services. I am just saying that I find the different interpretations to be interesting.

 

I suppose my interpretation stems form the fact that I do not like organized tours or being led around by others....therefore I see a ship tour or any other organized thing (hired driver/local tour guide) as really the same boat (pun intended)

[Leejnd4]

Interesting interpretation. My opinion is that, for the purposes of this board, "on your own" would mean anything that doesn't involve using the ship's excursion. At least, that's how I envision that these threads would be of the most value to cruisers.

 

Many of us are in the process of researching our destinations and deciding what to do there. When you first start such research, the only options that you know about are the ship's tours. These threads can give us information about ALL the other options available to us, including private guides (and who the best ones are), taxi availability, car rentals, bus/train service, and touring by foot.

 

Re private guides, I do not see them as falling in the same category as ship's tours at all. Keep in mind that, with most private guides, YOU tell them where you want to go, they are not leading you around by the nose. They are simply there to provide you with the easiest method of transportation, while entertaining and enlightening you with information and details about the sights that you wouldn't otherwise get by walking, training, or driving oneself. Of course, you can buy yourself a good guidebook and read it while on the train or taxi and probably save yourself a bundle, and at some of the ports I'll be visiting, that's exactly what I'm going to do. But there are other ports where I'll be hiring a highly regarded local guide to pick me up at the pier, drive me to exactly the sights I want to see, and tell me fascinating stuff about the region that I wouldn't necessarily find anywhere in a book.

 

Compare that to boarding a ship's tourbus. Not the same thing, I should think. :)

 

LeeAnne

[shoshona2]

Hi Susan,

 

What a great idea to post "Do It Yourself Excursions" for some major ports. I know every time we go on vacation, I go to this board, Fordors and Frommers to pick up some more insight into making our vacations even better. Another good source is Ricks Steves' series of books on Europe. We had his Scandanavian book with us on our cruise to the Baltics and did almost all the ports by ourselves except for St. Petersburg where we used Red October.

[SheilaNC]

I agree, I've spent hours trying to find info on the ports that we will visit in October. having a city by city board (or having software that lets you sort alphabetically) would be ideal. Great idea

[trubey]

I have now started four of these Do-It-Yourself threads--choosing the ports that will be on my next cruise. If others want to do the same, please go ahead. I thought it would look pushy if I added a ton of them myself.

 

I still can't understand the logic in giving "Key West" its own section and all of "Europe" getting one section. Or maybe there should be a section for all Do-I-Yourself touring and including world-wide ports. Anyone here have any influence? I'm just a beginning cruiser with too much time on my hands.

 

susan.

[Leejnd4]

I still can't understand the logic in giving "Key West" its own section and all of "Europe" getting one section.

susan.

Tell me about it! Europe is rich with so MANY different and diverse port stops, many of which are far more complex than any single one of the Caribbean ports. To have Europe all lumped together seems the same as having just one board for all of the Caribbean. There are far fewer ports in all of the US than there are in Europe, yet they give New Orleans it's own board. Is New Orleans any more complex than, say Rome, that would justify it's having its own board? Bizarre.

 

Anyway, thanks for starting these threads -- I may go ahead and pop a few more on there for the ports I'll soon be visiting.

 

LeeAnne

[SheilaNC]

Trubey,

I may be a bit dense, but where are the threads that you started? I've been using CC for a long time but still have trouble navigating around and finding the threads I've seen before. Duh!

 

Sheila

[trubey]

They are all in the "Europe" section with the heading: "Do-It-Yourself . . . "

 

Susan.

[Mike Andrews]

I would agree,we like to visit most ports under our own steam or with the use of a private driver and find that most mediterranean ports are fairly easy to navigate with superb local transport connections in most ports.Do not discount the "on your own" tours which give you transport into the city centres allowing you to tour at you own pace.

[cruisingmimi]

Hi all,

 

Absolutely fantastic idea! I go nuts trying to remember where I saw a particular post about Med tours, etc. and find myself spending needless time scrolling through the posts to find what I am looking for. I sometimes do a search for info but it doesn't always come up w/ what I want.

 

I have started a cut and paste myself of info on tours, ports, etc. in a Word document and add to it as I see something I may need.

 

I think it would be soooo helpful if the European boards could be broken down by the ports of call or tours in the various ports. I agree that it is very repetitive sometimes with the same postings. E.G. we are going on Eastern Med cruise and I am gathering info now on what to do, tours, etc. Perhaps info could be cross-referenced because not all the cruiseline ships do the same itinerary but do visit some of the same ports. Maybe the "do your own tours" and the info on tour companies or drivers could be categorized also so it's easier to access the info when you're ready to do bookings.

 

These boards are so fantastic and an amazing source of information. I do feel it could be easier to access the information you are looking for.

[CamelliaCity]

I have now started four of these Do-It-Yourself threads--choosing the ports that will be on my next cruise. If others want to do the same, please go ahead. I thought it would look pushy if I added a ton of them myself.

 

I still can't understand the logic in giving "Key West" its own section and all of "Europe" getting one section. Or maybe there should be a section for all Do-I-Yourself touring and including world-wide ports. Anyone here have any influence? I'm just a beginning cruiser with too much time on my hands.

 

susan.

 

Where are they? I'm looking for Do it yourself- Rome, Spain, Portugal. I don't see Rome. :D But...I'm also the one that never noticed that the little 'blue' balls next to our names turned 'green' when we were online;) I think what you're doing is GREAT(now, if I can just find Rome)

Thanks

[Leejnd4]

Camillia, there isn't one for Rome yet. So far there are do-it-yourself threads for Athens, Cadiz, Venice, Ponta Delgada, Arrecife, Agadir, Canary Islands, Naples Pompei and Amalfi Coast, Barcelona, Casablanca, & Funchal. I have a few more I'd like to start, to help with my upcoming cruise.

 

One thing that should be mentioned is, if someone is going to start one of these threads, you have to title it "Do-It-Yourself" including the hyphens, and the search needs to include the hypens as well. This way you can search for this specific phrase, and all these threads will come up first. Without the hyphens, it can't do an effective search on those three words.

 

LeeAnne

[trubey]

LeeAnne, you must be as much of an organization fanatic as I am. And I'm glad to see someone else taking the initiative. I probably should not have used the hyphens, but I didn't think far enough down the line.

 

My new concern is that when the board authorities made and moved postings to a new sub-forum called British Isles and Western Europe (specifying just French cities) they didn't seem to remember that there are perhaps a dozen destinations in Portugal and Spain. So, they've stayed in the general "Europe" section. I've been trying to wait patiently to see what will happen next. I am an American, but have lived in the Azores (5 plus years)—see "Do-It-Yourself Ponta Delgada"—and would challenge most Americans to locate us on a world map. But since I have to fly two hours east to reach the continent, I would call us Western Europe.

 

 

susan.

[Leejnd4]

Trubey, actually I figured you did the hyphens on purpose, because the whole concept wouldn't work without them! If you try to do a search on the words "do it yourself" without hyphens, the words are just too common and appear in virtually every thread, so it can't search on them. So, whether you meant to or not, you set it up the only way it works! :)

 

I'm a little confused about the Western Europe thing as well. Personally, I think that a separate board for "Mediterranean" would have made more sense, as it's clear which ports are on the Med. I think that the board they just created should have been limited to the British Isles and left out the Western Europe part. I also think it would be great to have a separate board for the Baltics, as these are also a specific set of ports without any confusion.

 

LeeAnne

[sydney777]

Leeanne, don't know how to use board, had a question for you, how do i do this.Cindy sydneyalice@aol.com

[Leejnd4]

Cindy,

 

To search this forum for threads of interest to you, all you have to do is find the search option. Look at the top of the list of threads -- the darker blue row at the top, on the right where it says "search this forum". Click on that, and it will give you a place to enter in the words you wish to search for. If you want to know about Rome, just type in Rome, and it will bring up a list of all the threads that contain info about Rome. To narrow it down further, include other words in your search, such as "hotels" or "airport transfer" or whatever it is you're interested in.

 

To search for the do-it-yourself threads, simply do a search on the words do-it-yourself. Be sure to include the hyphens, or it won't work. Good luck, and let me know how it goes!

 

LeeAnne

[travelingmcmahans]

I like this... husband and I did Baltics totally on our own, except for a private guide in St Petersburg, and would never consider a ship tour. We travel independently all over Europe, but it is more difficult to get good cruise do-it-yourself info than it is general travel info. Most books (like Rick Steves) don't addres cruisers.