Highly Recommended Excursions - Grand Mediterranean

[VacayAddict]

We are booked on the Vista for its Spring 2024 Grand Med sailing from Rome (Civ.) to Trieste and are interested in feedback on highly-rates excursions - either Oceania’s or private. If you’ve got recommendations I’d love to hear from you!

 

Thanks!

[Izzy'sMoms]

You need to post dates and the ports that you are visiting to get help here 😊

 

[VacayAddict]

19 hours ago, Izzy'sMoms said:

You need to post dates and the ports that you are visiting to get help here 😊

 

Thanks. I was just hoping that those who had taken/were familiar with this particular itinerary might chime in about any standout, excellent excursions they had done. 

[GeezerCouple]

18 minutes ago, VacayAddict said:

Thanks. I was just hoping that those who had taken/were familiar with this particular itinerary might chime in about any standout, excellent excursions they had done. 

 

As Izzy'sMoms suggested, you'll really need to post your specific itinerary if you want those with specific experiences to make suggestions other than "try Google!".

 

There isn't any "this particular itinerary" that is the same for all Med voyages, even those with the same number of nights or the same departure and end ports.

 

I can assure you that we wish there were "exact repeats" more often. 🙂   

We had what was, for us, a PERFECT itinerary in the Med on Oceania several years ago.  MIL got sick a few days before our planned flight to Europe... and we had to cancel the cruise and additional land trips we'd arranged before and after.  We can do the land parts anytime (and we've already taken care of one of them).  And we can do *some* of those ports, but even with 2 or maybe even 3 cruises, aside from more overlap than we would like, there's one port that is very seldomly included, and it was near a very specific destination I was hoping to show DH, who had never been there.

 

That cruise was sold out quite early; I still wonder why O doesn't repeat it!

 

Just copy and paste the destinations.  Most other CC members aren't going to try to guess which cruise you mean *and* then go look it up to find the ports.

 

GC

[VacayAddict]

42 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

As Izzy'sMoms suggested, you'll really need to post your specific itinerary if you want those with specific experiences to make suggestions other than "try Google!".

 

There isn't any "this particular itinerary" that is the same for all Med voyages, even those with the same number of nights or the same departure and end ports.

 

I can assure you that we wish there were "exact repeats" more often. 🙂   

We had what was, for us, a PERFECT itinerary in the Med on Oceania several years ago.  MIL got sick a few days before our planned flight to Europe... and we had to cancel the cruise and additional land trips we'd arranged before and after.  We can do the land parts anytime (and we've already taken care of one of them).  And we can do *some* of those ports, but even with 2 or maybe even 3 cruises, aside from more overlap than we would like, there's one port that is very seldomly included, and it was near a very specific destination I was hoping to show DH, who had never been there.

 

That cruise was sold out quite early; I still wonder why O doesn't repeat it!

 

Just copy and paste the destinations.  Most other CC members aren't going to try to guess which cruise you mean *and* then go look it up to find the ports.

 

GC

Ok will do! Thanks!

[Hlitner]

It is, indeed, a fabulous itinerary which is why we also booked that cruise (but starting from Miami).  We have been to those ports (on land and sea) many times and most ports have lots of options, depending on your own wants/needs.  DW and I seldom take tours/excursions since we are long time DIY folks.  But you will want to do a lot of homework and looking on the CC Ports of Call boards is always a good starting point.  Many folks will use a combination of cruise line excursions, private tours, anhed DIY depending on the port and their own comfort level.  As an example, in Istanbul, DW and I will likely just walk out of the port and use the tram (which moves faster than most of the car traffic) across the bridge to the major tourist part of town (think Blue Mosque, Topkapi, Grand Bazaar, etc).  In Malta, many first time visitors will want to go to Mdina for part of their day...which can be done by public bus or tour.    Marseille is essentially a gateway port to much of southern Provence and there are tons of options.  Once could simply take the train or bus up to Aix en Provence, perhaps do a tour of the Luburon, maybe go all the way to Avignon, etc.  In fact, we have spent weeks in this part of France and have yet to do it all!

 

The one port where I will strongly suggest a private tour is Kusadasi (Ephesus).  There are quite a few excellent private tour operators in Kusadasi, and they will often charge much less than the cruise line excursions to deliver a lot more for a much smaller group.  We have done Ephesus on a large cruise line excursion (Princess), DIY (used public transportation and a long hike from town), and on a private tour (we hired a car/driver and excellent guide all for less than a cruise line excursion).  We really got the most out of our private tour (it was just the two of us with our guide).  Although this will be our 5th visit to Kusadasi (we have even rented a car and explored the region) this is port where we always find a lot of joy,

 

Hank

[PelicanLvr]

Two names to check into further:

 

Romeinlimo - Highly rated on these boards for private tours from all Italian ports. We used them in Livorno.

 

Walks of Italy - Has ability to get you into sites after hours or sites closed to the general admission public.  We have done their "pristine Sistine" tour which is access to the Sistine Chapel before the Vatican Museum opens.  Also did after-hours at St. Marks in Venice and access to the "floor" and gladiator areas of the Coliseum.  All outstanding experiences. 

 

Enjoy planning.