Touring by rental car

[Newt]

Have any of you who've cruised a lot rented a car in port and just took yourself out into the countryside or to nearby towns? This is what I'm used to on land based travel, but didn't know if it's a hassle arranging from dock. It sure is a lot less expensive - just wondering if anyone's found this to be a good alternative to ship tours or tour sharing. Thanks for your input. We're sailing 8-25 on Lisbon-Venice trip and some ports for us don't warrant a full blown tour with guide, but we'd certainly be amenable to chatting with you about sharing...email is windrift73@comcast.net.

[marilynfaye]

Dear Newt:

 

We did it once and had a great day. We were on an Orient cruise that docked in Le Havre. We were not interested in going into Paris for just a few hours, and we had spent a week driving around Normandy a couple of years before so we had been to Honfleur and the Beaches . . . all fabulous. So, we prearranged to rent a car in Le Havre and drove north along the coast, stopping in little towns and villages. Our plan was to get to Dieppe and return to Le Havre by a different route. We cut the trip short, however, for fear something would happen and we would literally "miss the boat". People thought we were crazy for taking the chance, but it really was the highlight of the cruise.

 

Marilyn

[mike35]

On a recent Istanbul to Athens cruise we booked rental cars in three ports and had a wonderful time - saw the things we wanted to see at our own pace, stopped for photos when we saw something interesting, ate at great out-of-the-way spots. Rental rates were inexpensive. But be forewarned - very few automatic tranny cars available! I hadn't driven a stick for 30+ years, but it came back to me after a few "jerky" starts:D

 

Mike

[SeaCCruiser]

>> we booked rental cars in three ports <<

We are doing the same itinerary IST-ATH in '06, and I was wondering in which ports you rented cars. We only rented a car in Santorini one time, but it was great.

[mike35]

We rented cars in Mykonos, Corfu, and Katakolon (to drive to Olympia) - no hassles, nice reasonable "stick shift" compacts. Corfu has the windiest roads we've ever driven on, but we saw some beautiful countryside and lovely villages, where we bought olive oil and native honey.

 

Mike

[meow!]

Corfu has the windiest roads we've ever driven on ...

 

That must depend on the day ... when we were there in April last year, we didn't remember much wind!

[mike35]

Hmmm - ain't the English language great? By "windiest", I didn't mean to imply that it was windy, but that the roads had numerous switchbacks, curves, etc.

 

Hope this clarifies!

 

Mike

[meow!]

Thanks for the clarification!

[drwong]

Just make sure the rental agency will arrange for a pick-up and drop-off at the pier. We had to leave one passenger behind because she was late getting back to the ship after returning her rental car to the airport location!

[ClaudiaF]

Wouldn't think of doing it from a port for say Rome or Athens ..or any place such as that , because of the traffic and parking situation you have to deal with.

Smaller town like Corfu that Mike mentioned would probably be okay.