Shore excursions.....stay on the ship... Hmmm???

[dugxfresh]

In making our shore excursions for the April 7th Voyage ... we came up with a big dilemma; trying to balance days off the ship with days on the ship.... I was wondering; when you do a shore excursion for say 10 hours 2 or 3 days in a row..all you want to do after that is to stay on the ship and relax..... how do you balance your excursions?

[NCCruzQueen]

After 2 or 3 days of long tours, it might be nice to rest up. You can take the ship's shuttle into town and just walk around. It might be good break from long grueling tour days. Don't wear yourself out. Enjoy your cruise.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Oh golly, that sounds like the Monte Carlo to Venice, right? Looks like a real killer, port-wise, especially with Florence and Rome. Not sure what I'd do, assuming you haven't been to any of the ports before; I'd want to see it all, but know it would be exhausting.

 

Perhaps Sarande would be a day to stay aboard. Or at Katakalon you could forego Olympia and just stroll around the town, I've heard it's nice.

 

I would hesitate to suggest missing Rome or Florence, but can't imagine foregoing Sorrento, since it's a place I really want to see. Of course, if you've been to Rome, you might want to take a miss there. Maybe Taormina is a place where you could choose to just stroll around from the ship??

 

Sounds like a wonderful cruise, especially at that time of year, no crowds or heat.

[Travelcat2]

We are big on half day excursions. This gives us time to relax on board or take the shuttle into town. We found that when we do daily, long shore excursions, we are too tired to enjoy the ship. When we pay for a luxury cruise, it's nice to have time to enjoy the cruise part:-)

[San Jose King]

Here's what I would do, and guess what , we are on the same cruise and the one following it.

The ports on this cruise are terrific. The excursions were pre booked using the web in record time. If you have not already made your choices do them now. And, if they are not available, ask to be put on a wait list.

If by some chance you are too tired to go on any of the excursions you can always cancel beforehand. It will be a great cruise.

[OrpingtonT]

I wish there were more tours, at least one at each port, for people of limited mobility.Most of the descriptions say something on the lines of "this trip involves some walking on rough surfaces". Perhaps a small minibus around the surrounding area could be laid on. On the second half of our next cruise there is absolutely nothing we could go on unless we make private arrangements.

 

We will get off (and by the way, the Regent staff are wonderfully helpful in manhandling a wheelchair down and up the gangway) and have a wander around any flat area just to make a change from being on board.

[dugxfresh]

Thanks for such wonderful information; yes the cruise is the Monte Carlo To Venice... I already made my shore reservations; full day tours in Florence; Rome and Capri; then a breather and then it seems all the tours I have are usually 4 hour tours... I wanted to have a few days to take advantage of the ship and just hang out and enjoy rather than running everyday.... striking a balance sometimes on a port intensive trip is tough.

[Emdee]

I am on that cruise as well.

 

I have full days for the first four days - Florence, Rome, Sorrento and Taormina.

However, we are just taking the bus into Florence and will spend the day with friends who live there. I havent been to Sorrento or Taormina - so need to see both.

 

I have decided to stay on board at Katakolon as we have been to Olympia before. The second half seems lighter as the days are not so long. I may cancel my evening 2 hour walk of Dubrovnik and do it on our own when one can just meander and enjoy the moment.

[ChatKat in Ca.]

We walked around Duvrovnik - we broke away from our tour so we could see the charming old town. Katakalon is a charming little town to walk around for an hour or two and then have lunch in one of the little cafes on the harbor. The scenery is very sweet.

[tallship]

I am on that cruise as well.

 

I havent been to Sorrento or Taormina - so need to see both.

 

 

Emdee - have been to Taormina several times in the last two years, you will enjoy it. Try the granita at Bam Bar and check out the street full of ceramics. Taormina can be done in less than 2 hours.

[Hambagahle]

We are on the same cruise. Since we live within 5 hours drive of Tuscany and were in Rome for 10 days a couple of years ago we decided to treat the Livorno and Civitavecchia port days as "sea days". However I have already warned my husband that I am not, definitely not, doing any laundry on those days (or at all for that matter!!)!!

 

We will most likely get off in Livorno, go to the centre of town, and come back.

 

After that we have planned half day excursions with the exception of Capri where the excursion is longer but we get time to go and have lunch somewhere. I really do not like full day excursions as I find them too tiring. We are also not going ashore in Sarande. Albania is not high on my list! And in Venice we are just planning to go to Torcello for lunch. But i am really excited about seeing Corfu, Kotor and Dubrovnik. We have never been ashore in the Adriatico, except for Venice, so all this will be new to us!

 

I just hope the weather warms up. It is still much too cold here and yesterday in Monaco it was only 11C.

[dugxfresh]

The weather better warm up; I was really hoping to use the pool... even if its warm enough to just sit out and have some drinks at the pool...

[Wendy The Wanderer]

The weather better warm up; I was really hoping to use the pool... even if its warm enough to just sit out and have some drinks at the pool...

 

Oh, there's always the hot tub! Lucky people!

[dugxfresh]

Thanks Wendy! thats right! almost forgot...

Plus regent can bring you drinks to the tub!

[Emdee]

Forgot about the hot tub will remember to pack suits

[alidor]

Alot of people would probably consider this a dumb move, but when we were in St. Petersburg last summer, with the 3 days in port, we didn't take any tours that middle day. Considering the tours were free, it probably didn't make any sense, but we thoroughly enjoyed the no plans day! Even though we arrived Copenhagen a few days early and caught up on some jet lag, by the middle of the week we were tired. The ports were wonderful and we wanted to see them all. We took tours the first day in St. Petersburg and 2 tours the last day, but enjoyed the "time off" and the ship (it was a vacation after all) on that middle day.

 

We learned quite a bit about Russian history on our first tour (and some advanced reading). On that middle day, the ship ran the movie, Dr. Zhivago. Hadn't seen that in decades and it was enjoyable to view it in the actual city where the story was based. Some of the events in the movie were actual and we were in some of those areas the day prior and heard reference to events that came up in the movie. Kind of first hand experience and it was terrific!

 

I think we enjoyed the rest of the cruise a little bit more as we caught up on some rest and just had time to catch our breath.

[Dreps]

Just keep in mind, that if you don't have a special visa, you cannot even get off the ship on the middle day to wander around.

[silkismom]

We got an email that the tour we booked in Sarande had been cancelled, so we will finally have a day just relaxing. I just hope we survive Florence, Rome, Positano excursion & Taormina before we can relax.

[RachelG]

On our Baltic cruise, my husband met a man who had not stepped off the ship the entire cruise. Apparently, his wife was the one who loved to travel, so he came along but just stayed onboard and read books all day.

[dugxfresh]

The first 3 ports are extremely "port intensive" with full day tours in each one; I think after that the next day I would stay on the ship.. and I was going to do the Olympia and Zorba event which is only 4 hours--- then maybe another day off...