Ncl epic west med excursions

[Crivan]

this is our first time cruising in Europe. Naples Rome Florence nice Palma. Looking for feedback on excursions we are a little overwhelmed.

[Vertigirl99]

My family and I used Viator to book our excursions. Much better value for your dollar than through NCL and most are with a private driver as opposed to one of the load up on the bus with 40 other people trips. You will find you're packing it in at each port anyway, as there is much to do and see, and most of the destinations you will want to visit are an hour away from port. Think about what's most important to you, and take it from there. We ended up doing 3 excursions:

 

Naples - Sorrento, Positano and Pompeii. While the coastal cities were very lovely, traffic made it so we had little time to appreciate them. Pompeii was worth the visit and our tour guide was a fountain of info. In hindsight, I would have prbably just booked Pompeii tour for the morning and then took time to stroll around Naples on my own.

 

Rome - Rome in a Day - we saw EVERYTHING we possibly could in about 9 hours, and had time for one hour lunch. Vatican (skip the line passes - there's a line for that, though! HAHA) Pantheon, Colosseum, St Peter's Basilica, Trevi Fountain...Pretty amazing, but exhausting.

 

Cannes - we booked a half day catamaran trip w/lunch and had a blast. Very relaxing, delicious food. Free use of kayaks, paddleboards, and we swam in the ocean off the boat. Truly a delight.

 

After that, we were glad we booked nothing further. Pisa, you can take the train and go say you saw it. Palma, there is great shopping, so worth it if you want to stop in for a few hrs. We chose to relax on the ship since we had to disembark the next day in Barcelona.

 

Hope that helps a bit! I will say this: Having never been to Europe before we had a great time and planning to go back to Europe on foot, so we can spend a few days in Barcelona and a few days in Rome enjoying the people and the food. Less touristy and more relaxed.

[Crazy planning mom]

this is our first time cruising in Europe. Naples Rome Florence nice Palma. Looking for feedback on excursions we are a little overwhelmed.

 

My advice is to get your embarkation port 2 days beforehand to get over jet lag and experience that city.

 

In Rome, we used Rome Cabs and they were excellent.

http://www.romecabs.com/shoreexcursions/civitavecchia/

 

In Naples, we did an excursion that went to Pompeii and Capri. Capri is gorgeous.

 

The Epic usually stops in Cannes not Nice. You can take an excursion to Nice from Cannes.

Or, You could just walk around Cannes. https://travel.sygic.com/en/map/cannes-printable-tourist-map-city:408

 

Please also check out the Europe port of call forum.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=603

 

You should join the rollcall for your cruise and see what other people are doing.

https://www.cruisecritic.com/rollcalls/

[Sauer-kraut]

A little overwhelmed???!!! NOOoooo.....

Cruise Critic has a SUPER board for Europe .. its found under PORTS OF CALL and you will find subforums for the Med, Italy, Spain (your Palma stop) and everything in between!

 

You will find it located here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=19

[shamrock58]

My advice is to get your embarkation port 2 days beforehand to get over jet lag and experience that city.

 

In Rome, we used Rome Cabs and they were excellent.

http://www.romecabs.com/shoreexcursions/civitavecchia/

 

In Naples, we did an excursion that went to Pompeii and Capri. Capri is gorgeous.

 

The Epic usually stops in Cannes not Nice. You can take an excursion to Nice from Cannes.

Or, You could just walk around Cannes. https://travel.sygic.com/en/map/cannes-printable-tourist-map-city:408

 

Please also check out the Europe port of call forum.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=603

 

You should join the rollcall for your cruise and see what other people are doing.

https://www.cruisecritic.com/rollcalls/

 

Who did you book the Capri excursion with?

[caneable]

You can get to Florence by train as well but need a little care. Take the shuttle in to Livorno then cross over the road and turn left down that street. There’s a newsagents sells tickets for the train to the station. Brief walk from Florence station to city centre about 10 mins.

Cannes is an interesting walk around especially up the hill to the fort. Also bear in mind Monaco and Monte Carlo are just an hour away on the train and very affordable. Get an early tender if poss but there are plenty of train websites with timetable and prices. One word of warning, don’t consider upgrading to first class for better seats. We did and then there was no first class on our train!

Palma - shuttle is expensive but town is a nice walk including Cathedral and lovely balconies everywhere.

Barcelona. Easy HOHO bus. 3 different routes so do your homework. If Sagrada Familia, Gaudis unfinished cathedral is on your to sees then get a taxi straight there. Crowds can build up and eat your time waiting.

Marseilles not my favourite place but if you take shuttle a “Little Train” departs from nearby to the church overlooking the city

Rome, you can get a Tuscany Bus Tours coach into Rome from Civitavecchia for $35 but you get no guide. Probably not best choice for first timers but handy if you just want to see Vatican and surrounding area.

If Rome or Barcelona is your embarkation port then give yourself three days to get over jet lag and enjoy either of these two great cities.

[Csand]

My advice is to get your embarkation port 2 days beforehand to get over jet lag and experience that city.

 

 

 

In Rome, we used Rome Cabs and they were excellent.

 

http://www.romecabs.com/shoreexcursions/civitavecchia/

 

 

 

In Naples, we did an excursion that went to Pompeii and Capri. Capri is gorgeous.

 

 

 

The Epic usually stops in Cannes not Nice. You can take an excursion to Nice from Cannes.

 

Or, You could just walk around Cannes. https://travel.sygic.com/en/map/cannes-printable-tourist-map-city:408

 

 

 

Please also check out the Europe port of call forum.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=603

 

 

 

You should join the rollcall for your cruise and see what other people are doing.

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/rollcalls/

 

 

 

Great info!

 

 

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[reaton]

We just returned from this cruise. Here are the observations/recommendations that I noted (I promise there’s excursion info in there somewhere):

I get the feeling that some of these observations were particular to this cruise because it was in the Med. If you have any questions, please let me know and I’ll be happy to help.

 

Use an atm on land to take out any Euros you need in cash (or use your no international fee credit card to make on land purchases). Wow that was a great exchange rate!

 

We used italytours.eu for tours. One small group (Pompeii) and 2 private. The private tours were about equivalent in price to the ship tours. THEY WERE AMAZING! If you have the money available, book the private tours. Our guide at the Vatican was super knowledgeable and able to tailor the tour to our interests. We arrived back at the ship in plenty of time. These companies live and die by reviews. Do you think if they made people miss their ships, that they would be able to stay in business? Do your due diligence, read the reviews, then make an informed decision. Don’t just go with the ship tour because they have to make it back in time.

 

People (especially Women) tended to dress nicely for dinner. I was excited since I had WAY overpacked the dresses, and dresses at all venues for dinner was definitely in the majority.

 

I brought two bottles of wine from home for our anniversary. I tried (more than once) to pay the $15 corkage fee, and was completely unsuccessful. I wouldn’t count on this, just an interesting observation.

 

There were stands set up at each port that allowed you to pay to bring bottles on board at each port (just not embarkation). This was interesting because it was not something I’d ever seen before.

 

I always had my water bottle on me during excursions. They never cared if it was empty or full when reboarding the ship at a port stop.

 

The staff is amazing. Everything good you read here about them is absolutely true.

 

I understand tipping always causes controversy. We frequently left a dollar for a drink, or a few dollars after a meal. It was greatly appreciated.

Please and thank you also go a long way. I include this because it was sometimes lacking, and it’s sad given the hard work and dedication of the staff.

 

 

 

 

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