Shore excursions

[lottee]

We are sailing on the Queen Victoria in September and visiting Venice and Athens, two places we have never visited before. We normally use the local transport to get around, is this advised or would we be best to go on an organised excursion? Any tips on how best to see either of these places would be appreciated.

[Host Sharon]

Welcome to Cruise Critic

 

In Venice I personally would opt for the free shuttle and wander around DIY (with good map). There are plenty of back streets in which to eat away from the main (and overpriced) tourist haunts. On the other hand if you really want to visit the Doges Palace etc, you can at least bypass the queues on an organised tour.

 

At Athens it depends how confident you are using public transport as the ships berth at Pireaus which is about 30 mins away from Athens. You can often do an Athens on your Own tour - where the coach will drop you off and pick you up but you are free to epxlore on your own, otherwise a tour can be the easiest way of seeing a lot in a short time.

[Mysticalmother]

We are sailing on the Queen Victoria in September and visiting Venice and Athens, two places we have never visited before. We normally use the local transport to get around, is this advised or would we be best to go on an organised excursion? Any tips on how best to see either of these places would be appreciated.

 

Hi Lottee

Can't help much with Athens - we went on (P & O) shore excursions to the Acroplis etc as the ship docks a fair way from the centre, then did our own thing for the afternoon and caught a shuttlebus back to the ship.

 

But Venice is easy to do by yourself. It is actually much smaller than people think and as long as you are happy to walk around you can see a lot. Get yourself a day pass for the Vaporetti, the water buses - they are frequent and there are lots of different routes an you can hop on and off as you please with a day pass. The island of Murano, where they make the famous glass is well worth a visit (on the waterbus) but I would suggest you go there in the morning (Unless you are overnight in Venice?) as you can sometimes have a bit of a wait for a return bus. Not sure what the arrangements are for geting from the ship to the city itself as I don't know where you will dock (some ships use tenders) - we actually stayed in Venice earlier this year rather than visiting it from a cruise ship. But I would imagine there will be some kind of shuttle service or you will be close enough to walk in. Do make sure you have a good map if you are going to walk around - although you won't be far from the main attractions it is easy to get a bit lost around the maze of back streets! But those back streets are well worth wandering around, especially for finding bars, restaurants off the main drag - they will be better and cheaper than those on the waterfront and in the main squares. Unless you have money to burn, or are an incurable romantic, don't bother with a gondola - they are horrendously expensive and you can see just as much by walking or water buses. Hope you have a good time.

[cruiser1955]

Hi Lottee

 

I was there in April on QV. We docked at the new cruise area and Cunard provided a shuttle boat to near St Mark's Sq. If memory serves me, it was $20 return and ran throughout the day on a first come basis.

 

Queues were very long to most attractions and this is where you can gain from being on an excursion as you may well bypass the queues. I booked the full day Venice excursion but it was cancelled due to insufficient numbers. Did the Dogues palace, St Mark's (unable to get in due to flooding and Pope's forthcoming visit) and gondola ride. The gondola ride was as part of a party of 6 and was not that good an experience. If you want to do a gondola ride, try and negotiate your own gondola which should be around €80 for around 40 minutes based on what others told me.

 

I found food and drink prices more reasonable than in Rome.

 

Make sure you are up in time to watch the arrival into Venice - probably around 07:00. You get some great views of the canals, St Mark's, etc, which are on the starboard side.

 

Have a great trip

[bkecky]

We are sailing on the Queen Victoria in September and visiting Venice and Athens, two places we have never visited before. We normally use the local transport to get around, is this advised or would we be best to go on an organised excursion? Any tips on how best to see either of these places would be appreciated.

 

I can't say much about Athens but I had two days in Venice on the QV last September. I don't know whether it was because the second day was disembarkation day but there was no shuttle bus and you either had to take a water taxi or the water bus. The water taxi was extortionately priced and I had to wait a long time to actually get one. So I would certainly recommend taking the water bus if you are docked outside the city and there is no transport provided. I found Venice very easy to get around and see everything without taking an organised tour. I just had a little guide book and did everything myself.

[msk68]

I have always and will always use George the Famous Taxi driver for all my trips to Greece. I have never had a moments worry and have felt safe with him or any of his guides.

 

Famous George

 

Our last trip we actually got George himself. He's somewhat of a celebrity in the tourguide set - sorta felt like royalty all day long ;)