Own private Shore Excursions Mediterranean

[JoTreacy]

Contemplating a Seabourn Mediterranean Cruise in 2019.  Is it possible to arrange your own shore excursions either prior to the cruise or on arrival at a port?

Will there be private  local tour operators on the wharf with whom passengers can make their own arrangements for tours.  This will be in the Mediterranean in July or August. Thank you

[Husky61]

On our last Med cruise we booked nothing but private excursions.  We had a driver, a guide and just the two of us for all of our excursions.  Very nice.

[CruiserBruce]

Yes, it is definitely possible...people do it all the time. See the Ports boards here:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/8-europe/

 

where it is discussed daily.

 

Getting vendors at the dock is not as common in the Med as other locations. You should plan in advance.

[Heidi13]

Without knowing which ports you are visiting it is a hard question to answer, especially as ports for Rome and Florence/Pisa are about 40 to 50 miles from the cities.

 

Personally, I research the ports for points of interest and then find local tour operators, booking them in advance. 

[GeezerCouple]

We've had good luck finding 'things to see' and also tour guides/drivers using TripAdvisor.  We've also re-read the Roll Calls for similar cruises, to see what they had been arranging and discussing.

 

We just read the reviews VERY carefully, and we make absolutely sure that we are in contact with the actual guide to arrange exactly what we hope to see (often helped with the guides suggestions).  We do NOT sign up for "groups" on a website without personal email exchanges to verify what we'll be doing.

GC

[JoTreacy]

Thank You for your advice.

J

[John Bull]

21 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

 

 

Getting vendors at the dock is not as common in the Med as other locations. You should plan in advance.

 

 

Hi Jo,

Heed Bruce's words.

It depends very much on the ports, but shared tour generally aren't available on-spec at the pier and fixing a taxi at the pier for anything other than a simple transfer to town centre will be expensive as well as pot-luck on the driver's standards of English, background knowledge and willingness to be a "guide".

 

So if you want a tour, book in advance. 

If you want a distant private transfer (eg Livorno to Florence, or Civitavecchia to Rome), book in advance.

But also consider ho-ho buses in some ports, local trains or ferries in others.

And check the cruise's RollCall for others seeking tour sharers.

Some ports you can DIY without guide or transport.

 

You do need to research, but it'll be very rewarding.

Start with the ports-of-call boards linked by Bruce.

 

JB    

Edited December 23, 2018 by John Bull

[JoTreacy]

Thank you for the information

 

Jo

[Essiesmom]

Get a copy of Rick Steves' Mediterranean Cruise Ports and read about what there is to do/see in the time you have in port, and how to DIY if desired.  EM

[crystalspin]

Look into SPB tours for your specific ports:

https://www.spb-tours.com/

They may group you with others, or send a van for just you! A van came just for us at Livorno for a tour to San Gimignano and Siena. Since it was just us, the driver offered to take us (at additional expense) to a family-run winery for a several course lunch with different wines per course. The whole thing came in well under the ship's tour of the two cities with self-purchased lunch.

 

We have had minimal success with HopOnHopOff buses from ports (while great satisfaction when staying in Barcelona and Dublin). This is because you get off the ship and so do 1000 other people, and that's without other ships in port!

 

Our most serendipitous "tour" was in Dubrovnik, when we hailed a cab to take us to Old Town to get on the tram... the driver offered to take us to the top (the tram was not the point of the trip after all) with several photo stops and wait for us to take pics at the top, and bring us back to the Old Town -- for less than the cost of one person's tram. And he filled us in on what living in the city was like, no less!

[LHT28]

6 hours ago, crystalspin said:

Look into SPB tours for your specific ports:

https://www.spb-tours.com/

They may group you with others, or send a van for just you! A van came just for us at Livorno for a tour to San Gimignano and Siena.

 

I thought  SPB  just did Baltic ports ??

Where did you see the Italy ports  on their website  or do you need to ask?

[dogs4fun]

Another vote for the Rick Steves book - contains lots of great info for Med cruisers. Rick also offers free audio guides in many ports (ex: Florence, Rome, Naples) which you can download and DIY - you can download these tours to your smart phone. https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/audio/audio-tours

As previously said, finding shared tours in some ports is next to impossible - recommend booking in advance from ports wherein you are quite a distance from the city/site you wish to visit.

[Essiesmom]

5 hours ago, dogs4fun said:

Another vote for the Rick Steves book - contains lots of great info for Med cruisers. Rick also offers free audio guides in many ports (ex: Florence, Rome, Naples) which you can download and DIY - you can download these tours to your smart phone. https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/audio/audio-tours

As previously said, finding shared tours in some ports is next to impossible - recommend booking in advance from ports wherein you are quite a distance from the city/site you wish to visit.

And you can print out basic maps to go with those audio tours.  We used them in Rome, Venice, Florence...EM

[diane.in.ny]

As suggested, go to the Ports of Call part of the forum and you'll find recommendations for guides there.

 

In Italy, we have used Rome in Limo. They have a great touring site where you sign up for a tour and then post the link to your Roll Call to ask others to join you (and make the tour cheaper).

 

We have done private tours at almost every port of call in the Med. Those we haven't, have been DYI