Med. Cruise

[happygran]

Hi

If you want to do these ports on a budget and also see something of the local areas ...you can.

 

Naples......it's so easy to get the train to Pompeii or the bus to the Amalfi coast and just costs a few dollars/euros.

 

Villefranche....is a lovely place to visit.....but if you want to go further afield there's a local train which goes along the coast to Monte Carlo.

 

Barcelona.........you dock near to everything and can walk to the Ramblas......although if you want go to the cathedral a taxi is cheap.

 

Florence/Livorno............you can get the train to both Pisa and Florence......I've heard it's very easy, although we took the cruise trip. It's quite a way.

 

Rome......is quite a distance from Civittechaveccia but don't let that put you off. It's very quick and easy to do (and cheap too) by train. We did it without any problems.

 

Have a fantastic trip

Edited March 9, 2014 by happygran

[Jobeth66]

I will absolutely agree on Rome in Limo. We had a group do that from our roll call 3 years ago, and our drivers/tour guides couldn't have been better. They will tailor the tour for you, make recommendations, take you to the restaurants/sites that they go to personally, etc. I can't say enough about them.

 

We had a few stops where part of the group wanted to do one thing and we wanted to do another, and he made sure everyone got to do what they wanted - for example, in Rome, part of our group was doing a Vatican tour, and some of us weren't interested - he dropped the Vatican folks there with their guide, and took us around to see a bunch of other sites.

 

In Barcelona, we liked the hop-on/hop-off, took you to LOTS of places. Sagrada Familia is beautiful, but the line to get in can be very, very long. Parc Guell is very much recommended, but it is a hike up a hill, so be prepared if you do that. (Note there is a great restaurant across the street and to the left of Parc Guell, we had a fabulous lunch there (I had paella at every opportunity in Barcelona!) that was very reasonably priced. (We did have 3 days post-cruise in Barcelona, it's a beautiful city and I'd love to go back).

 

Note - if you do go to Pompeii, take an umbrella. There is absolutely no shade there, and the sun can be brutal.

[kalliekae]

We also used Rome in Limo. Great company!! Don't miss the Vatican or Colliseum tours. You'll love this cruise!

 

As for wine, one of the wineries we visited in Spain did not allow us to take any wine back to the US nor do they export. Too bad because it was the best wine I've ever tasted.

 

 

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[N41EF]

I'm doing these ports on the Liberty of the Seas in July/August. Watching to se what you think...

[krev]

Thanks for all these great recommendations, it's very much appreciated. We've only cruised the Caribbean so if I can of help let me reciprocate. We live in Victoria BC, Canada which is also a cruise port for the Alaska bound trips, again if anyone needs info ask away!

 

 

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[krev]

My first RCCL cruise was on Indy from Southampton. Similar itinerary. We were in Cagliari on a Sunday.... it was closed.... there were massive queues for the Hoho. Suggest a beach day if you're there on a Sunday!!

 

 

 

Being novices we took a RCCL tour around Gibraltar and had a very close encounter with the Barbary Macaques!! Great fun and very interesting. You can probably pick up a private tour for less money. But we loved it!

 

 

 

Barcelona we did on our own. Grabbed a cab at the pier and went to the Cathedral. Then Parc Guell. Lots of walking and wonderful architecture.

 

 

 

Actually I think it would be easier to just link you to my first ever blog.... they got better.... this in the days before I posted pics to the blogs...

 

 

Thank you for the link, I've read your other blogs. You did the exact b2b in the Caribbean as we did on Adventure, you went in Nov I believe and we were Jan/Feb13. Thanks for all the info, should be fantastic

 

 

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[CyberTag]

This post is getting me really excited, we are booked for a 16 night Central Med cruise in Sept. Southampton to Rome and back. Can't wait! Any recommendations is certainly appreciated. We have always booked excursions through the ship but will look into the Rome in limo tours. Our itinerary is Gibraltar, Barcelona, Nice, Rome, Livorno, Cagliari, Malaga, Cadiz, and Lisbon.....whew!

 

 

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Kelly, are you on the Anthem of the Seas? We have this same cruise booked for May!

[cruisy yogi]

You sound just like us! We're 20-somethings who are spending OUR last hoorah before kids on a trip to the Western Med! We'll be on the Serenade in May. Our stops are Barcelona, Villefranche, Livorno, Rome, Salerno, Cagliari, Sicily, Malta, and Palma de Mallorca. We are doing the Cinque Terre from Livorno (ambitious, I know), and a private tour in Rome, but thats all the strict planning we have done. In the rest of the ports, we're just playing it by (a very educated) ear. Have such a good time! And good luck with the baby making! :-)

[krev]

We are on Adventure Sept 12. This is a better thread than our roll call!

 

 

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Edited March 10, 2014 by krev

[divaB]

You sound just like us! We're 20-somethings who are spending OUR last hoorah before kids on a trip to the Western Med! We'll be on the Serenade in May. Our stops are Barcelona, Villefranche, Livorno, Rome, Salerno, Cagliari, Sicily, Malta, and Palma de Mallorca. We are doing the Cinque Terre from Livorno (ambitious, I know), and a private tour in Rome, but thats all the strict planning we have done. In the rest of the ports, we're just playing it by (a very educated) ear. Have such a good time! And good luck with the baby making! :-)

 

When are you sailing? This is our last hoorah also and the same cruise. We sail 5/12.

[cruisy yogi]

When are you sailing? This is our last hoorah also and the same cruise. We sail 5/12.

 

That's the one! We're sailing with 2 of our friends as well. 58 days!

[ace1zoe2]

You sound just like us! We're 20-somethings who are spending OUR last hoorah before kids on a trip to the Western Med! We'll be on the Serenade in May. Our stops are Barcelona, Villefranche, Livorno, Rome, Salerno, Cagliari, Sicily, Malta, and Palma de Mallorca. We are doing the Cinque Terre from Livorno (ambitious, I know), and a private tour in Rome, but thats all the strict planning we have done. In the rest of the ports, we're just playing it by (a very educated) ear. Have such a good time! And good luck with the baby making! :-)

 

Would love to hear about your CT from Livorno trip. We have 2 vans being delivered to the port in Livorno and driving to La Spezia where we will do the ferry one way & train the other way. We will try to fit in as many villages 3-4 as possible while still getting a little if each.

[divaB]

That's the one! We're sailing with 2 of our friends as well. 58 days!

 

 

How exciting! We sailed the med. last year on a celebrity cruise and saw only about 4 other couples around our age. No one seemed to be out and about, I hope there will be more socializing this time around. The four of you will have the time of your life! Hope to see you all around, maybe get a drink one night.

 

 

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[FloGaleRNTX]

Here is a link to Middle-Aged Drama Queen's Med cruise review. It's truly one of the best I've ever read (except for Sailor Jack.....he is just plain funny). I'm not sure if the itinerary is the same, but I am sure she went to

Rome.

 

Enjoy!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1668619

 

Barb

[Trekker954]

Naples, do the versuvius and wine tasting tour!

 

Superb going to top of volcano looking into crater which still has smoking vents!

 

Then onto a private vineyard where you get a meal and various wines to sample!

 

Not being a particular lover of wine I can say they were very nice, bought 3 bottles of rosse.

 

One note is that RCI will take your wine purchase off you when returning to the ship, they will return them on the last evening of your cruise.

 

Enjoy your trip!

 

 

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We all came back from a wine tour in Tuscany with wine in our backpacks or bags and RCL did not take it. Our intention was to bring it home which we did, but it was just one less of a headache to get it returned, so we were all happy they didn't take our wine. I've heard it a little more lenient in the European ports. They will be happy to hold it if you chose to place it on their counter. Or just keep it in your bags when it goes thru the xray

 

Actually my avatar are two of the bottles that we brought back on board with us. ;)

Edited March 14, 2014 by Trekker954

[beckster42]

I know others have already mentioned it, but Rome In Limo is AMAZING!! We had a group of 8 that we put together in our Roll Call. It was a few years ago, but we loved it. It was worth every single penny. Our driver was Mauro and he was great. He picked us up right at the pier and got us to the front of everything. We didn't have to worry at all. We were in a little Mercedes van and stopped quite a bit but we could see a lot from the van too. We were on our honeymoon on our Mediterranean cruise and can't wait to relive it one day!

 

 

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[FlyingFlip]

Rome, Naples, Barcelona, Villefranche, Mersilles, and Florence.

Rome

There are too many "do not miss" spots to hit in a day (or two). You will have to pick. My wife and I went to the Colosseum, Forum, Pantheon and Basilica di San Clemente. That was a full day. Going to Vatican City (including the museum with all the amazing art) would be a separate full day. You could probably spend a week just seeing the things you absolutely should not miss.

 

Naples

We did Vesuvius and Pompeii. An alternative would be the Herculeum (a lesser known city buried like Pompeii. My recommendation would be either Pompeii or Herculeum.

 

Marseilles

We took a boat tour of the Calanques. They're like fjords, but they're limestone cliffs. It was spectacular.

 

Florence

We did a wine tasting in Tuscany (at a winery that grew their own grapes and olives), but I heard amazing things about the Duomo (the main cathedral) in Florence. Miracle Square in Pisa was also very nice. The leaning tower wasn't much to look at, but the duomo and baptistery were very impressive.

 

Barcelona

We spent a couple days here. I would recommend visiting La Sagrada Familia. I've also heard amazing things about the monastery in Montserrat, and Dali's home (both of them are a ways outside Barcelona). I also enjoyed wandering around the Gothic Quarter. My wife loved the Picasso Museum.

 

For wine, I would recommend getting a Rioja (a regional Tempranillo) in Barcelona. As a second choice, I would recommend getting Lacryma Christi in Naples. Both are red wines.

[heatherbelle]

We always do things on our own to save money, as we live in Europe and it is easy to to go back.

 

Google a trip report by Disney Falcon, she did her own Med ports and they saw a lot. Read Drama queens who used tours.

 

If it was my one and only time in the Med which for those travelling long it could well be.

 

I would book myself into the cheapest inside cabin going and spend the money as follows.

 

Marseilles. Grab a taxi at the port to the old port it will cost around €50 return. The old port is lovely to wonder around and in the streets further back you will find lots of lovely cafés. We took a tour on a tuk tuk. Google tuk, tuk Marseilles. It was €90 plus €20 to pick us up at port, we saw quite a bit of the old port area.

 

If you are into churches castles etc, then you need a tour to visit surrounding towns. The port is a long way from anywhere and public transport is tricky.

 

Vilefranche is my favourite port of all. Easy to walk to the train station 10 mins. 10 mins one way and you are in Nice. 10 mins the other way you are in Monacco. Look at the pics on Disney Falcons posts. She has been twice so make sure you read them both. It costs around €10 return each on the train to either place.

 

Livorno - most will head for Florence, either do a private tour to take the ship tour they will do one called Florence on your own, so you can explore at leisure. If doing this book your tickets for museums of interest before you go. Personally we are not into museums, so we headed to Lucca on the train where we hired bikes and then stopped off at Pisa on the way back. For the day it cost us €45 euros. Saying that it was a long day. I recommend a tour if you can afford it.

 

Rome- if you want to see if all do a tour. We went on the train prebooked the Collossuem and rode on the HOHO bus.

 

Naples, my biggest regret. I would do a Rome in Limo Tour and do the Amalfie drive and possibly Capri if you have time. Both times we have been we have done our own thing. Hydro foil to Capri and Hydrofoil to Sorrento. For a private tour for the three if us it was€520. There was no way I was going to pay that. My DH was not interested in sharing tours with others.

 

Barcelona easy to do on your own, very compact, excellent HOHO buses. Best day on the HOHO bus is early on a Sunday morning.

 

Also google toms port guides and search for med cruise reports on here. There are a couple of excellent ones on the Carnival forum.

Edited March 15, 2014 by heatherbelle

[Ken Greco]

We took an excursion to Capri and Anna Capri when we stopped in Naples. The views from the top are amazing and the little restaurants offer great food and drink. We rented a car from Cannes France and drove to Monaco along the coast; a little pricey but worth the experience of living like the rich and famous. The middle and upper roads along the coast bring you to the perfume factories and wineries. We went all out and rented a Mercedes around $140 for the day and you did get noticed when your driving. Enjoy your trip.

[Macbeth09]

We walk everywhere we can on our own, and on a prior trip shared the following stops with your itinerary (from a post I made in 2009):

 

Barcelona – The walk from the port to the Columbus monument took 30 minutes. We walked up Les Rambles then past Casa Battlo and La Pedrera on our way to Sagrada Familia. Because I mistakenly wandered off track, we ran out of time and had to journey back to the port without going inside. I would recommend familiarizing yourself with the metro, which I did not, and you could likely see more than we did in the 3 hours we had available. We made it back by 4:30 and the boat departed on time at 5.

 

Villefranche – We got off the boat before 8 (tendered), walked up the hill and took the bus to Nice (buy the ticket when getting on). From Nice we took the bus to Eze le Village (not sur la bord, and there are no direct lines from Villefranche) arriving a little after 9. We had the beautiful medieval city almost to ourselves for 2 hours wandering the small artisan shops and up to the garden for the commanding view of the Cote d’Azur (worth the 5 euro entry) before stopping at Galimard for perfume (recommended over the touristy Fragonard) and departing back to Nice just as the tourist buses were unloading. In Nice we wandered down to old town as the market was wrapping up and got some socca (must try chickpea crepe) and a basket of strawberries for lunch. After wandering the shops and then the promenade, we took the bus back to Villefranche and the boat.

 

Livorno – We took a taxi (fixed price 20e) behind the shuttles to the train station (don’t take the shuttle, it doesn’t take you all the way and you’ll still need a cab). Easily bought a ticket and followed the signs to our track, where our train departed for the one hour plus trip to Florence. Arriving in Florence, it’s a quick walk across from the station to the main part of town. On our way to the Duomo, we ducked into a small café, where my wife had what she declared the best cup of coffee she ever had. From there we continued to the Duomo (entered) and Baptistry (Gates of Heaven observable from outside). Then we made our way down past Dante’s house to the Palazzo Vecchio where we looked at the copy of David, standing where the original had stood, as well as a gallery of other remarkable statues. Leaving that behind, we walked through the Uffizi courtyard, admiring the local artists’ work intermixed with fake purses and posters, to the Ponte Vecchio, which we crossed and came back. We wandered back to Santa Maria Novella and the train station, where we bought a ticket to Pisa. On the train I second guessed myself, thinking I had taken the wrong route (I hadn’t), and got off in San Miniato, where we waited another 45 minutes for the next train. By this time we had to make our way back to the boat, and unfortunately missed the Field of Miracles and the Leaning Tower.

 

Civitavecchia – The boat docked late, and my wife and I ran to the train station (we were told the free shuttles to the port gate didn’t start until 8, not true), arriving too late to use our pre-purchased tickets to Rome. We waited another 45 minutes for the next train. Because we had lost time, we shifted our itinerary and got off at Ostiense, where we took the metro to the Colosseum (saves time to do this instead of going all the way to Termini). Avoiding all the bogus ticket vendors, tour guides, and long ticket lines at the Colosseum, we crossed past Constantine’s arch to the Palatine, where we got tickets (combined Palatine/Forum/Colosseum) immediately and wandered through to the iron age huts (Romulus’ home) and the houses of Livia and Augustus (which was unfortunately closed). Continuing through to the Forum we wandered down the Via Sacra to see the Temple of Vesta and the Temple of Julius Caesar (where his body was burned and flowers are still placed). There is a remarkable density of things to see in the Palatine and Forum, you need to be quick if you hope to see other sights in Rome on the same day. Back up through the Arch of Titus we continued to the Colosseum, where we were able with our tickets purchased at the Palatine to bypass the long lines and go up and in to the stadium. After exiting we walked south to San Giovanni in Laterno, where my wife said a prayer at the foot of the Holy Stairs (taken from Pontius Pilate’s home and tread by Jesus on his way to be condemned). We then headed back the way we came to San Clemente (3 levels of worship, 11th century built on 4th century Christian, built on 2nd century pagan). We listened to the beautiful choir finish mass, but didn’t have time to stay for the opening of the excavations afterward. We continued past the Colosseum, and stopped for a pizza before resuming our journey past Piazza Venezia and the Don Emmanual monument to Trevi Fountain, where we tossed our coins and stopped for gelato. Moving west we went to the Pantheon, then Piazzo Navona and its fountains before heading north again over the Bridge of Angels to Castel St Angelo. Entering Vatican City we stood in line for about 20 minutes to get into St Peter’s (Sistine Chapel and the Vatican museum are closed Sundays). Afterwards, we stopped for a coffee before wandering down to San Pietro station and the train back to Civitavecchia. Because of our late disembarkation we had to cut Piazza del Popolo, Mausoleo di Augusto, and the Spanish Steps from our trip. Because I wandered off track on the way to Trevi fountain, we missed the Campidoglio. All in all, still a magnificent tour and one of our best if most tiring days.

 

Naples – From the port we walked to the train station, which is exciting as crossing the crazy traffic in Naples is always a risky venture. We wandered through the station until finding the Circumvesuviana section off to the right, where we purchased our tickets and hopped the train to Pompeii Scavi. Arriving in Pompeii we went right a block up the road to the entrance of the ruins on the left. Do not bother to buy any maps on the way, as to the left of the ticket counter is tourist information where you can get a map and guidebook for free. The ruins are big (it was a city after all) and could easily take a whole day or more to see. We hovered in the southwest corner near the entrance, wandering blocks up and down entering various sites, including the house of the tragic poet, to the bathhouse, and out to the smaller amphitheater. The notorious plaster casts of Pompeians reside in the cages of pottery past the entrance and to the left. After satiating ourselves with the tragedy of 79 AD, we grabbed the train back to Naples and walked through alleyways to Spaccanapoli. At the east end on the way from the train station we looked for and found Trianon and ate some of the best pizza you will ever have (remember it was invented in Naples and Trianon has been open since 1921) before matching it across the street with the best tasting gelato we would have on our trip. Walking down Spaccanapoli we ducked down an alley to stop at Capella Sansevero, a private chapel with statuary and marble work you would not believe, including the breathtaking Veiled Christ. Our day near complete, we stopped for what was my best coffee (and I don’t drink coffee) before heading back to the boat.

 

Great trip you have planned. We're doing something similar again, this time with our teens, in the summer.

[nonnie&dgd]

Wow. Great information. Thank you.