Which Mediterranean Port to explore on our own???

[Lambo62]

A little background. We are going on our first cruise and it is a 7 night mediterranean. We are leaving from Barcelona, our ports include Naples, Civitavecchia, Livorno, Cannes, and Marseille.

I am a planner but at the same time, being our first cruise I am tempted to go the "safe" route and use the ship excursions. Having said that, I am also exploring other tour companies like romeinlimo etc.

My question today is, I you had to pick one port to explore on your own, ie, find transportation (train) and the sites on your own, which one would you recommend and why. I will probably book something for Rome but I am hoping to plan at least one excursion on our own.

Thoughts?

 

Thanks you

[iancal]

We would tend to either book them on our own or join a group (see roll calls) that is arranging a private tour for a number of people. The tours will be better, they will be less crowded, and probably less expensive if that is a concern.

 

There is not much in Livorno. Most people get on a train, or take a tour to Florence, Cinque Terre, etc.

[euro cruiser]

Cannes and Marseille can be easy on your own if you stick to exploring the towns or going to the beach (Cannes).

 

The difficult part of these itineraries is hitting the three Italy ports in three days. Each are intensive with lots to see and do; Livorno and Civitavecchia require a bit of travel to get to the cities (Florence and Rome), while in Naples the cruise port is right in town. Therefore, Naples can be simpler to handle DIY, depending on what you want to see and do.

[bluebelle]

I would second Cannes or Marseilles. In Naples you can get a Hydrofoil frm the port across to Capri which is great! Not a lot to see in Livorno - we hooked up with a few others and got a taxi to Florence, spent a couple of hours there and then he picked us up and took us to Pisa for an hour or so. That worked well!

[KirkNC]

I would also say Cannes (never been to Marseilles).

[Mexfolkart]

Do Cannes on your own...Marseille is a great port for joining others on your roll call and going to Aix en Provence or some of the other parts of provence which are quite charming. Livorno go to Florence if you've never been and Civitavecchia go to Rome if you've never been. Take a highlights of...tour..either fron the roll call or the ships tour.

Sherry

[cleobella]

In Naples you could grab a cab to the train station. Then take the train out to Herculaneum (or Pompeii but it is farther). Herc. is only about 30 minutes away by train. After spending the morning at the ruins you could come back to Naples and grab a taxi to the Archaeological Museum, then return to the ship. In between, you could grab a Pizza for lunch. There are lots of good posts that will give you specific and easy directions to get to Herculaneum and the Museum.

[trabeler]

I'll second the suggestion to do Naples on your own. Pompeii is very easy to get to via train and you can walk to the train station (or take the tram) from the cruise terminal. Very straightforward and the train runs often. When doing a port on your own, you want to have a lot of options for return travel... nothing is worse than stressing all day because there is only one or two return trains.

 

Rome is also fairly easy to do on your own, but Florence a bit more difficult due to the transportation logistics. In the past, we have done all the cities on your itinerary on our own except Florence, because we wanted to see both Florence and some of the Tuscany countryside.

[CathyCruises]

That's funny. In that whole list, the one I would always do on my own by train is Rome! So easy to get the train, and so much to see when you get there! Lots of info on these boards about how to do it.

 

Naples is also easy to DIY--we went to Herculaneum (could have done Pompeii just as easily) then on to Sorrento by train, then took the ferry back to the port/ship.

[BeachChica]

Can Florence be easily done on own with a quick photo stop at Pisa or is it best to just get a tour there that will easily take us to the major sites?

 

Thank you! :)

[euro cruiser]

Can Florence be easily done on own with a quick photo stop at Pisa or is it best to just get a tour there that will easily take us to the major sites?

It's quite easy to go to Florence by train from Livorno on your own. Adding a stop in Pisa takes up quite a lot of time, so I would suggest leaving this for the trip home. That way, if you are running short on time, you can eliminate the quick photo stop.

[winncruiser]

diy in Cannes if you are happy to stay in Cannes for the day, which is beautiful, but if you would like to go to Nice and/or Monte Carlo also, then you would need a tour/driver

 

diy in Marseille if you plan to stay in town for the day, otherwise you would need to book something (driver/taxi/guide) to take you to Aix-en-Provence.

 

Book a driver in Naples to take you to The Amalfi coast...gorgeous!

Book drivers/take tour to Florence and Rome.

 

just my suggestions

[Ashland]

On our western med this past August we did a combination of private (Rome with RomeInLimo) & ship offered DIY at our other ports..The DIY offered easy guaranteed transportation, a guide onboard the bus that gave lots of info and a pre-arranged time and place to meet up for the return to the ship..No stressing out about public transportation schedules for our first visit to these ports...Made for an easy visit..

[rlse9]

Rome is a very easy on your own day, the train station is a short walk from the port and once you're there it's easy to get to all of the main sites with a combination of walking and public transportation. There are so many sites to see and depending on your tastes you might want to spend more at some than others would and less at some of the sites. Rick Steves has good audio guides available for the major sites that are helpful.

 

Naples could be a good option for an on your own day or not, just depending on what you want to do. Some places like Mount Vesuvius and Amalfi aren't easy to get to on your own while places like Herculaneum and Capri are easy to get to on your own.

 

Livorno isn't quite as friendly since it takes more time to get from the port to the train station and if you want to fit in both Pisa and Florence it could get tight time wise.

[tom_uk]

From Marseilles there will probably be excursions to towns inland, e.g. Aix en Provence. If you stay in Marseilles, you can visit the Vieux Bassin (the old port) and wander round that. There are lots of restaurants and bars in that area. Note that you'll probably dock a few miles away from the old port, so you'll probably have to pay for the shuttle bus to get into the central area.

 

Cannes will be similar, except that you will be tendering into the port. There will be excursions to inland places e.g. St Paul de Vence, but you can also stay in Cannes itself and explore Le Suquet, the old town. Again, there are restaurants in that area.

 

From Naples you can do various things - take the hydrofoil to Capri or Sorrento, or take the Circumvesuviana train to Pompeii. There will also be a full set of excursions, including the choices listed above plus others.

 

Civitavecchia and Livorno are more difficult. There's little in either of these towns themselves - they are simply the ports for Rome and Florence/Pisa respectively. It is possible to use public transport to get from the port to the major cities, and there is voluminous advice on here as to how to do it. But in these ports you may prefer to do an excursion of one sort or another.

 

I've visited of these ports several times, and have blogged while on those cruises. Here are some blog entries:-

Naples: several visits - here are blog entries from 2009 (we went to Capri) and 2007 (we went to Sorrento). Here's another blog entry explaining the layout of Naples cruise port.

 

Cannes: We were there in 2010

 

Rome: we've been there a couple of times, and this one from 2010 is the best blog entry.

[BeachChica]

Thanks all for the great info!

 

WinnCruiser - we are definitely interested in seeing the Amalfi Coast. Who did you use when you were there? We are considering a tour with AP tours that visits Pompeii, the Amalfi Coast, Positano and Sorrento. Then we would take the ferry back to the ship.

[bobalink]

Thanks all for the great info!

 

WinnCruiser - we are definitely interested in seeing the Amalfi Coast. Who did you use when you were there? We are considering a tour with AP tours that visits Pompeii, the Amalfi Coast, Positano and Sorrento. Then we would take the ferry back to the ship.

 

Good choice. We used AP Tours this summer for our Amalfi Coast day.

 

We opted not to visit Pompeii to spend more time in Amalfi, Ravello, Positano, with the most incredible stop for lunch at the cliff side restaurant, Trattoria La Tagliata.

 

You may find this thread helpful:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=31544732#post31544732

 

Enjoy your visit to the Amalfi Coast, it is beautiful!

[Lambo62]

What a great response to my original question. Thanks so much. Everything is up for interpritation, and I appreciate the various opinions. Still researching, and pricing and hoping to connect with some other couples in the roll call to split some private tours.

After reading all these replies i might get adventurous and try TWO ports on my own :)

Thanks again.

Lambo