It's not just about me :)

[michaeleds]

We are cruising on RCL from Barcelona, then to Naples, Rome, Florence, Nice and Toulon in France... I'm traveling with my family of 4 with the two children being 14 and 19... I've been thinking of all the things I want to do but now realizing not everyone will want to visit Art Museums...

 

As a family we all enjoy History... and I know that My family would enjoy more things like Castles, Gladiators, or maybe a military museum or maybe a Roman Soldier Museum... maybe we could split it up a bit and visit a castle that would have both art and historical information around Roman Soldier's life. Thoughts????

[Bobal]

We did the same cruise in October 2008 when our sons were 15 and 16. In Naples we visited Pompeii which they both thoroughly enjoyed. From Villefranche we went to Monaco and took a look at some of the Grand Prix routes then climbed up to the castle. We didn't go in, but it would be a really pleasant place to sit outside if some of you did.

 

We felt Florence was too much of a trek unless we were to really do it justice and visited Pisa instead - teens love photos holding up the tower :rolleyes:. Again it would be a nice place to wander round if some of you wanted to go inside. We didn't go to Rome on that trip as we'd had 3 days in Rome with our 16 year old earlier in the year. On the trip to Rome he most enjoyed the Colosseum and the Forum, we went into the Basilica in St Peters but not the museums.

 

On that cruise we visited Palermo instead of Toulon so can't advise on that.

 

We will be doing the same cruise without kids this year and intend to do some more 'cultural' stuff. :)

[financialgrl]

Just off Ruby Grand Med cruise and had some of your ports. We did Barcelona on our own a few days precruise and lots to see here (wander the Rambla, Segrada Familia, Miramar overlooking the city, Montserrat, etc). We also had stops in Florence, Rome and Naples (very long and tiring days). Look at where you are on Mondays - seems a lot of stuff is closed on that day of the week and many of the tours end up being substitutions. We were in Florence on a Monday and I agree, here I wished I'd have only done Pisa - it's not over an hour from port and was something that added a "fun" element from all the churches and ruins one ends up seeing.

 

Another thing I did was book less hectic tours the second part of the trip - tours that visited sites in the morning with a cruise portion in the afternoon (i.e., Pompeii in morning with a boat cruise down the Amalfi coast in the afternoon, and Topakopi Palace, Blue Mosque in the morning and a boat cruise down the Bosphorus in the afternoon in Istanbul). I realize you are on a different cruise completely but it is definitely something to think about if it is an option. I travelled with a 20 y/o very fit, thin niece who is used to walking all over college campus with no car last year and even she agreed that the very port intensive cruises made for pretty long exhausting days. She told me she was so glad I'd not doubled up the activity with overly long walking days the second part of the trip to give us a breather. Just something to think about.

[ollienbertsmum]

You can always split up for part of the days in some of the ports. Nothing worse than dragging around tired teens.

 

I found ( and some of my friends who have had teens on cruises) that the teens had a blast at night and then were really tired during the day. I end up thinking that we are all on vacation - so if they want to sleep through the river cruise so what! They did liven up when the russian tour guide found them vodka samples in the shops :rolleyes:

 

If they are really tired and want to stay on board so what !! So they are missing some wonderful sights - but at least they will be happy to see you when you get back on board.

[chipmaster]

Everyone needs to decide how to juggle the varied interest of a family that spans generations.

 

IMHO sometimes its good to force the issue a bit and stay togather as a family. Its a given interests are different but family time is priceless and sometimes we end up doing things that my DW loves far more than the rest of us, but in hindsight the most special thing about them was that we shared the time togather; YMMV.

 

Castles are neat but far and few between. I'd make every effort to visit one on your cruise. Gladiators, not sure about that, unless you are talking a show/movie, we didn't see any during our trip :D

 

14 and 19 are almost old enough to let them go do something alone, not sure I'd be fully comfortable letting them DIY in port unless they are very mature and responsible and have strong interest seperate from your plans in port.

 

Good luck.

 

We are cruising on RCL from Barcelona, then to Naples, Rome, Florence, Nice and Toulon in France... I'm traveling with my family of 4 with the two children being 14 and 19... I've been thinking of all the things I want to do but now realizing not everyone will want to visit Art Museums...

 

As a family we all enjoy History... and I know that My family would enjoy more things like Castles, Gladiators, or maybe a military museum or maybe a Roman Soldier Museum... maybe we could split it up a bit and visit a castle that would have both art and historical information around Roman Soldier's life. Thoughts????

[ORCRUISER]

I did a very similar trip with my granddaughter last year and she did all the "regular" sites with me. I'm sure she'll see those sites again but I wanted her to get a good overview. We did Pompii, Sorrento and Positano; in Rome we did a basic tour...Pantheon, Vatican including Sistine Chapel and Museums and St Peters, Trevi, Spanish Steps; Liverno did Pisa quickly as a photo op then Florence. We did all these with RomeInLimo including private tours at Pompii and Vatican. In Nice we did the flower market Eze, and Monaco. Don't remember the company but it was a private tour. We shared with others we met on the roll call on cruise critic. We didn't do Toloun. In Barcelona we stayed right on Las Ramblas and did hop on hop off tour for two days and walked around on our own.