?'s for Jade E. Med cruisers

[sk84fungirl]

I will be on the RT 12-day out of Barcelona next April (2011). I am interested to hear previous or upcoming cruisers thoughts around the ports. What ports would you recommend DIY? The same applies to the ports best for NCL excursions. I am currently using several avenues for research and would like to include your feedback.

 

Thanks...:)

 

• Barcelona, Spain
  
• Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy
  
• Piraeus, Greece - Izmir (Smyrna),Turkey
  
• Alexandria, Egypt
  
• Malta (Valetta), Malta
  
• Barcelona, Spain
  

[Turtles06]

We did this cruise last January -- it was fantastic! We did not take one single NCL excursion ("pay more, see less"). We did a great deal of research on the Ports of Call threads and identified private tour operators that had received a ton of great reviews and used them in Rome (romeinlimo), Athens (Paul's Taxi), Izmir/Ephesus (Ekol tours), and Alexandria (overnight in Cairo with Ramses tours).

 

We did Malta on our own -- very do-able as you can walk right into Valletta from the pier, or hop on a HOHO bus (which we did) for a tour around much of the island. For all of the private tours, we hooked up with different small groups we met through our Roll Call; our groups were a max of six and we were able to move quickly.

 

I can't say enough good things about romeinlimo, Paul's taxi, or Ekol. Our Ekol guide in particular was fantastic; she made the ruins of Ephesus come alive for us. It was the single most enjoyable day of the entire trip. You'll find plenty of info about all of these operators, and others, if you do searches on the Ports threads.

 

We spent three days in Barcelona on our own before the cruise. It's a very easy city to get around in (walking, Metro) and certainly one you can "do yourself."

 

This cruise was an incredible adventure; I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

[cabincop]

I have been at Malta 3x's and I have to say the first time I went, we got the horse drawn carriage. You can get them for a good deal. For 2 hours they take you to the gardens the bell tower and any other place you ask them to. Then they drop you off near St John Co Catherdral. I really enjoyed it. They also will bring you to a place for lunch if you ask

[sk84fungirl]

Thanks so much! Both of these are great ideas.

 

Our roll call has some things going on as well, but I always like to do my own research and then decide. I rarely book cruise excursions. I am definitely going to check into the things you listed and save them under my FAV folders.

 

I appreciate your input.

[Sauer-kraut]

We stayed in Malta for a week last year. You can do anything on the busses there. Just walk up to the main area where the fountain is, that is bus central there is an info booth and you will be told which bus goes where. VERY EASY and cheap.

 

I would reccommend going to Mdina it is a walled city and no traffic inside. There is a museum just outside the gates where a Roman Villa was excavated and it is interesting. Some of the mosaics were beautiful and you can see the foundation stones, under the plexiglass floor. Easy to get to by bus.

 

In Valetta its a walking city, nice stuff to see so you can spend most of a single day there.

 

Have fun

[sk84fungirl]

...and am so excited. The cruise is a little over 6 months out, and I hope to really have semi-solid plans for each port by the end of this year.

 

I first joined this board when researching my AK cruise. As always, the posters give great advice. HOWEVER, I did not take action on some of it in time!!! I recall wanting to use a certain tour operator and they were booked. I then attempted to get a particular excursion through the ship and it was booked!!! :eek: So I definitely have some lessons learned. I research as early as I can in order that I can reserve my space for the things I really want to do.

 

At this point, I have reserved a space through my roll call with nile blue tours in Egypt. Now that I have Egypt down, need to work on the others.

 

Thanks for your help as I am sure I am not the only one that will benefit...;)