Summer med cruise with teens, need help w/ excursions

[Bostonpies]

Hi,

 

I am traveling on RCI this July on a 12 day med cruise. We are a family of 4 and my 2 sons will be 13 and 16 years old. My question is twofold.

 

1) We will be in Cannes, Florence, Naples, Rome, Corfu, Dubrovnik, and Venice. I can find lots of things to do in each port, but I'm having a hard time figuring out what will hold my teens interest. The only thing I am sure about doing is hiking up Mt Vesuvius, then going to Pompeii and doing some of the Amalfi coast. They would love the volcano. In Dubrovnik we will walk the city wall. In Venice, of course we will have a gondola ride. But, can anyone out there recommend a shore excursion in these ports that their teens adored?

 

2) How do families of 4 afford shore excursions? I have noticed that both the ship's and the private tours would easily run a family of 4 $500/port. We have 7 ports! I'm fairly travel savvy, but not enough to figure out train schedules or other public transportation in 7 different cities. And sometimes we may want to see the countryside, not the city. Even sharing a private tour seems to cost $500 for a family of 4. Any secrets that I'm missing?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Essiesmom]

The first place to go is the roll call for your cruise. You will find people there arranging private excursions at much more reasonable prices, and they may have ideas for teen friendly tours, too. Lots of experience there. How are you going to have the time to hike Vesuvius and visit Pompeii?? EM

[Bostonpies]

We will have 12 hours in the port of Naples. I believe that I have read that one can hike Vesuvius in a few hours. I'm pretty sure we can do it all in 12 hours.

 

But to your point, even when I look at sharing the private vans with another 4 people, it still works out to at least $100 per person, not including admissions or tip.

[cb at sea]

Involve your kids in the planning process...get a guidebook on your ports---have them read it, and decide what THEY think is interesting! And, a plus...you may find that you don't even NEED to book a ship's excursion...private can be more affordable, or you may be able to do it on your own....but you need information first! Get a guidebook!

[Bostonpies]

I have several guidebooks. Believe me, I'm not finding it difficult to find things I want to do. I was just wondering if anyone out there had done something particularly memorable that they would recommend for a family that I may not have considered.

[epixx]

We have cruised the Med 3 times and the Baltics once with our 2 teens. We have used a combination of ship's tours, private tours, and DIY days. We prefer either private tours or DIY days, because we have much more flexibility that way. If we find something interesting, we can spend more time in that location, or, if we're bored, we can move on. You do not need to be sophisticated to use public transportation in Europe, and I think it's a good experience for the teens. Many people rent a car to "see the countryside," although we have not had this experience. For Cannes, Livorno (I assume this is what you mean by Florence), Civitavecchia (I assume this is what you mean by Rome), and Naples, you can easily take the train to the major sights. For example, last summer the BIRG ticket at Civitavecchia, which includes train transportation to and from Rome and all day Rome subways, cost 9 euros. I suggest you consult the Europe ports of call boards to find out how to manage in each port with public transportation. As for highlights that the teens would not miss, I would say climbing the Tower of Pisa, seeing the real David in the Accademia, and visiting the Vatican. Venice is one of the easiest, because you can just walk off the ship and into town. If you like you can purchase discount multi-hour vaporetto passes for public transportation. The teens loved the glass blowing demonstration in Venice (Murano). Have a great trip!

[Bostonpies]

Thanks, epixx, that is the kind of stuff I was looking for. I was debating whether or not to do the Murano visit, and now I know I should. I didn't even realize that you can climb the Tower of Pisa. I think I will go DIY in Dubrovnik and Venice. I'm so torn between the idea of having a private guide, and dropping all that extra $$$. I think the strict hours set before the ship leaves adds alot of stress, especially when the port is a good distance from the destination, like Civitavecchia.

[boulders]

I'm also traveling with a family of 4 in the Med this summer. My kids are a little younger - 4, 11 and 14. For our two major ports, Rome and Naples, I'm hiring a private guide. Budget is about $1000 per port. :eek: These are the ports where I really want to see what I want to see. I also want the kids to experience these ports. I expect long days. None of us would survive on a ship's tour, never mind by ourselves, so we're going with an air conditioned transportation that we will be able to access when we need to. I also don't need the added stress of making sure we get back to the ship by sailing, so I'm leaving the driving and worrying to someone else.

 

But, for the other 5 ports, we're not going to be so ambitious, going with ship's tours. Not everyone will be going on shore excursions at every port. I let my two oldest choose the excursions they want from a list I made for them. I was really surprised that they pretty much chose all the least expensive tours. :D

 

I'm making sure to do a variety of tour types - history, active, cultural etc. I don't want to get museum'd out. The budget is about $1000 for all 5 ports combined.

[Bostonpies]

Boulders, I like your budget! Can I have some? : ) Between air and the cruise and post Barcelona stay, this has become the trip of a lifetime. It seems like no matter how much I am trying to resist, I will probably end up spending another few thousand myself on excursions when all is said and done. I just need to let go.....

 

BTW, which cruise are you on? We are on RCI, July 02, 12 day med.

[boulders]

We're going on Disney on May 15 for 11 nights. Originally, we were going to be on Celebrity's Equinox in August, but DCL came out with unbeatable deals for May. Since the oldest is not yet in high school and the youngest is gaga over Mickey, I decided to go for it.

 

I went back and forth with the decision for a week or two. Celebrity had a better itinerary. There's a whole thread somewhere around about it. ;) In the end, what convinced me to switch were the Disney shore excursions. I don't know about RCCL, but the Celebrity shore excursions were verrry pricey - $100 and up and were not really the types of things that I want to do. Lots of ruins and shopping which I like, but I like to mix it up a bit, and there wasn't much variety to the choices. DCL has a lot of different, kid-friendly, excursions. Some are in the $200 range, but there's a lot of good ones in the $40-$80 range too. Our ports are different, but in La Spezia, for example, instead of going to Florence or Pisa (littlest one is too young for climbing the Tower anyway), we're planning on going to see a castle where there are dinosaur fossils. One drawback about DCL though is that the shore excursions open up earliest to those with the highest elite status, then several days later to the next tier down etc etc. I'm at the very bottom of the bunch, never having sailed DCL before. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the excursions I want will still be available when I get to book. :o

[MMsteffey]

Highly recommend that you explore Venice on your own -- check the destination boards, look at guidebooks, take the public transportation (gondola ride was HIGHLY overrated and very expensive), go to Murano and Capri via water taxi. Save tour money for another port. We spent the most ($800, family of 4) in Rome to get from place to place quickly and to see what we wanted to see efficiently. We did not attempt the Vatican. If you're planning on climbing the tower of Piza, get tickets now -- they sell out months in advance. 12 hours for your volcano hike will be just fine-- it's not that high! Good luck and have a great trip

[soxfan1495]

I'm also traveling with a family of 4 in the Med this summer. My kids are a little younger - 4, 11 and 14. For our two major ports, Rome and Naples, I'm hiring a private guide. Budget is about $1000 per port. :eek: These are the ports where I really want to see what I want to see. I also want the kids to experience these ports. I expect long days. None of us would survive on a ship's tour, never mind by ourselves, so we're going with an air conditioned transportation that we will be able to access when we need to. I also don't need the added stress of making sure we get back to the ship by sailing, so I'm leaving the driving and worrying to someone else.

 

But, for the other 5 ports, we're not going to be so ambitious, going with ship's tours. Not everyone will be going on shore excursions at every port. I let my two oldest choose the excursions they want from a list I made for them. I was really surprised that they pretty much chose all the least expensive tours. :D

 

I'm making sure to do a variety of tour types - history, active, cultural etc. I don't want to get museum'd out. The budget is about $1000 for all 5 ports combined.

 

This is a very helpful thread for my family. We will be sailing on the Disney Magic on August 18, so I am interested in knowing, Boulders, about what excursions you will be choosing. We have a 10 year old and a 13 year old. They are excited (but the 10 year old might miss the snorkling kind of excursions we enjoyed on our Caribbean cruise last year)... I think both kids will especially like Pompeii and Rome (among other places). What are your plans for Tunis? It is not the most frequently visited port, and I have not read much that is really good as far as excursions there. :confused: Which ship's tour are you taking in Tunis? What have you decided on for your day in Naples? Is your cruise stopping in Corsica and Villefranche, and if so, what are your recommendations there? I am thinking of a ship's excursion in Tunis, and private tours from Naples and Civitevecchia, but I am not sure yet about the other ports. Thanks.

[Kerry's Girls]

One thing we found by accident is that if you know what you want to do, sometimes hiring cab once you arrive can be the least expensive way to go. For our Med cruise we were on a very tight budget and during my year of planning, I never found any driver or tour we could afford for Athens, so though I wasn't thrilled about trying to navigate the subway system with toddlers, that's what we planned to do. Once we got off the ship though, there were quite a few taxis very happy to bargain for a day of touring at about half the cost of bids I'd gotten beforehand. Athens ended up being one of our favorite stops. It helps to know what you want to do beforehand so you can be sure it gets included in your day.

 

There are so many people trying to see ports in the least expensive way possible, it's pretty easy to find loads of information at the ports of call boards here and on trip advisor. We found step-by-step directions to use the train in Rome (including pictures that showed each step from the ship to the station), so I felt confident we could manage it. Again though, it turned out that we were able to hook up with some others at the port and a driver of a van offered to take all of us all day for $40 per adult and $25 per child, and he was wonderful. Our roll call had all together tried finding someone ahead of time and the prices were way too much for all of us, so it was fun that we got to go together anyway by just showing up at the shore.

 

There were a couple ports that were too important to us to leave to chance, so we booked private tours ahead of time - again saving tons of money by getting together with groups from the roll call. A bus of 10-12 people really brings the cost per person down.

 

Where possible, take a cab, bus or train into the center of the city and take the Hop On/Hop Off bus, which is a great way to go at your own pace, and most of the cities have them.

 

Instead of doing all-day tours in every port, choose a port or two where you'll just wander, or just see one thing and then wander. It can be exhausting and a blur to try to see everything in each port, and sometimes the best days are the ones spent without a plan.

 

We also saved a ton of money by bringing our own re-fillable metal water bottles and granola bars, trail mix, cereal bars, etc from home, so we didn't have to a) stop or b) spend $$ every time someone was hungry.

 

Best,

Mia

[boulders]

This is a very helpful thread for my family. We will be sailing on the Disney Magic on August 18, so I am interested in knowing, Boulders, about what excursions you will be choosing. We have a 10 year old and a 13 year old. They are excited (but the 10 year old might miss the snorkling kind of excursions we enjoyed on our Caribbean cruise last year)... I think both kids will especially like Pompeii and Rome (among other places). What are your plans for Tunis? It is not the most frequently visited port, and I have not read much that is really good as far as excursions there. Which ship's tour are you taking in Tunis? What have you decided on for your day in Naples? Is your cruise stopping in Corsica and Villefranche, and if so, what are your recommendations there? I am thinking of a ship's excursion in Tunis, and private tours from Naples and Civitevecchia, but I am not sure yet about the other ports. Thanks.

 

I haven't been able to book my DCL tours yet, since I'm a newbie. ;) For Rome and Naples, I've booked Rome in Limo. They get rave reviews on the Ports of Call boards and they have planned excursions which are specifically kid - friendly. I think the one in Rome is called Ancient Rome + Catacombs and the one in Naples is Pompeii and Amalfi Coast. One of the other families has asked to share with us, so my cost is cut by about 40% for those now. :D

 

For Tunis - ds14 had been there two years ago with his grandparents. He wants to see the ruins again. Medina and Carthage is the tour he picked out. It will only be the 2 of us and only $39 pp. In Corsica, I really want to see the Tortoise Protection Center. In Villefranche, dd11 really wants to do the Perfume Making in Eze, so again, just 2 of us. In Spezia, I'm not too fussy, but there is a tour that is called Lerici's Castle and Dinosaurs. So, $78 for Tunis, $300 for Corsica, $240 for Villefranche and $400 for Spezia. Nothing for Malta as of now, but I'd like to take the Blue Grotto tour.