Advice on Shore Excursions

[RubyKay1]

Hello! We're a family of 8 (including grandparents in their 60s to a baby who will be 13 months at the time of the cruise in Aug 2024). We will be on a 10 night cruise on the Celebrity Constellation. Our ports will be Trieste, Zadar, Split, Dubrovnik, Kotor, Brindisi & Salerno (starting in Ravenna & ending in Rome). We have plans for Venice and Rome but would like to do 2-3 excursions in the other ports. Could you please recommend which ports could be done on our own and which might be better on an organized tour? This might be highly subjective so perhaps the question is if you've had a memorable / exceptional excursion at any of these ports that you would highly recommend, we'd love your recommendation. We would definitely like to do an excursion in the Amalfi coast.   

[CDNPolar]

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

 

You might get better response to either post this in the Celebrity forum or search to see if there is a roll call for this cruise.

[John Bull]

Hi, and welcome to Cruise Critic,

 

Split, Dubrovnik and Kotor are easy to DIY.

 

Split. A 10 - 15 minute walk from the ship's berth along the waterfront takes you to the old city, the major site here is the Diocletian's Palace  - it's worth reading-up before you travel. Alternatively there are tours available on-spec alongside the ship, or take a tour or local bus to Trogir.

 

Dubrovnik. Your ship berths a couple of miles from the walled city - there are taxis and local buses. Easiest but poor value (though it's only a few $) is ship's shuttle buses to the Pila Gate (listed in some places as Pile Gate) then walk thro the gate into the old city.

Unlike many other walled cities, Dubrovnik's wall is complete - climb the steps near Pila Gate & walk the entire wall back to where you started, or if that's too much you can go back down about halfway round. Complex & interesting, and great views. There's a fee, I don't recall the amount but not expensive, payable by card, or by cash in euros (Croatia's currency changed to the euro a couple of years back). There are a couple of watering holes partway round. Go up the wall early, there's little shade and it can be very hot later in the day.  

The city gets very crowded with visitors, probably the best place for a reasonably quiet break is one of the cafes / bars / restaurants by the waterfront.

A short but steep up-hill walk from the walled city (shortest is via the Buza Gate) is the lower cable-car station to take you to the top of Mount Srd - wonderful panoramic views of the city & coast, and a great place to chill-out behind a tall cold beer. On one visit we negotiated a taxi from the port up the narrow winding road to the top station, then the cablecar back down.

 

Kotor.

A long & wonderful sail-in - if you're as lazy as us, the sail out is just as wonderful. 😏

The pier has only room for one ship, some ships moor off-shore and you are tendered to the same pier. The pier is just across the road from the lovely little old city - little lanes and historic buildings, very interesting, very compact, easy walking, plenty of shade, plenty of watering holes. Excursions by boat & hop-on buses are offered at the pier or in the underpass under the road outside the port gate.

 

Venice is accessible from either Ravenna or Trieste. I'll hazard a guess that you'll spend time there before boarding in Ravenna.

Trieste is an attractive city & only a few yards from the cruise berths. Much more modern than places like Kotor and Dubrovnik, I'll guess it's 19th Century, and great architecture for that period.  

 

Salerno. We've visited the area but not Salerno, I'll leave others to fill in the details, but consider

- the Amalfi coast. By ferry from Salerno to Amalfi or Positano, then local bus back to Salerno. If you go as far as Positano it's a long up-hill walk to the bus route on the coast road, so consider a ferry back to Amalfi, where the coast road comes down to the harbour. If time permits. a local bus from Amalfi up to Ravello for by far the best panoramic views of the coast.

Bus tours don't go into Positano, they're not permitted. "Positano" on a bus tour means just a photostop on the high coast road 😟. That's one reason why its best visited by ferry

 

- or from Salerno to Pompeii (I think it can be done by train). 

 

Zadar might be difficult. Krka Nat Park is about an hour away, might be offered as a ship's excursion. We were disappointed with Krka - it involves a pleasant little boat trip from Skradin to the attractive waterfall which features on every promotional photo - but that's about it. A second boat trip on the lake above the waterfall isn't possible on a port-of-call visit to Zadar.

The coast road by rented car is attractive, we've driven the whole length of Croatia on it, but it's perhaps not suitable for a one-day DIY visit.

 

You'll get more information on the Ports of Call forums.

From the main menu click on Forums. 

Select Ports of Call Europe, then "other Mediterranean ports"

On that forum, in the search box that's set into the blue banner at the top, type a port (eg Dubrovnik), leave "this forum" as it is, and click on the little spyglass at the end of the search box. Give the magic a few seconds to work and it will bring up all the posts which mention the place. If you do that you get https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/?q=Dubrovnik &quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=149

 

Do the same with other ports, and in the Italy ports forum for Ravenna and Trieste.

 

If there's anything else you need to know about the ports, post on one of those forums.

 

All the ports are in Euroland - get just a few euros for the occasional time that you need to use cash, but credit cards (Visa & Mastercard) are very widely used, even for small purchases. Amex and D/C aren't widely accepted.  Take at least two cards in case for whatever reason one doesn't work.

For a purchase, before you sign or PIN or just swipe, check that the amount is in EUROS. Some will alter the charge to the currency of your card "for your convenience"🙄. Insist that they change it back to euros - this allows you to confirm that what you're being charged is the same as the price sticker / menu  and you will get far far far far far far better value by allowing your card issuer to convert rather than the poor conversion rates used by local businesses.

If your home currency isn't USD, same applies to your on-board account - cruise lines are just as guilty about poor exchange rates.

 

Great itinerary, Celebrity is a great cruise line.

Enjoy

 

JB 🙂

Edited May 19 by John Bull

[Essiesmom]

Try not to over plan your ports.  You have chosen the hottest month for a Mediterranean cruise and the hottest locales.  And August is the month when Europeans take vacation, so venues will be crowded.  My practice when visiting a new port is to take the ship tour that gives an overview of the location, and only a half day.  And don’t try to do everything as a group.  Not everyone will be interested in the same things.  EM

[RubyKay1]

Amazing information and advice! Thank you so so much! 

[DeclanAllen]

Ports like Kotor, Zadar, and possibly Trieste are very walkable and eignen sich gut (are well-suited) for independent exploring. You can visit historical sites, enjoy local cafes, and browse shops at your own pace.

For Split, Dubrovnik, and Salerno (especially for the Amalfi Coast), organized tours can be helpful, especially with a baby and grandparents in tow.  Tours can handle logistics, provide transportation, and offer insights from a guide.

Edited May 23 by DeclanAllen

[RubyKay1]

Thank you @DeclanAllen! 

[Mum2Mercury]

No specific help for these ports, but I strongly suggest you NOT pressure everyone in the group to do something together.  The grandparents and the family with the infant will probably have very different interests /needs.  Smaller groups will be easier all around.  Let everyone make their own choices for excursions, then come together for dinner and share what you did that day!  

[Host Kat]

On 5/18/2024 at 9:30 PM, RubyKay1 said:

... We're a family of 8 (including grandparents in their 60s to a baby who will be 13 months at the time of the cruise in Aug 2024)...

 

Hello @RubyKay1 and welcome to the Cruise Critic message boards!

 

Perhaps something in the following Cruise Critic article from last year will be helpful: How to Plan a Group Cruise

 

The following article is about cruising with friends, but some of the information can be the same for family: 7 Tips for Cruising With Friends

 

The Cruise Critic website and message boards are both great resources for new as well as experienced cruisers and we are so glad you found us! Please feel free to browse the Cruise Critic Community categories list of the various forums. I suggest you put the link in your Favorites for quick and easy access in the future. Please read a few threads in the different forums to get a feel for what each forum is about. Make sure you read any pinned threads (aka Stickies) on the top of the first page of threads in most forums. You will find very important instructions or information there.

 

Also, be sure research the Family Cruises forum. Lots of information there from your fellow Cruise Critic members regarding sailing with family.

 

Hope this will be helpful and glad to have you aboard Cruise Critic!

 

Happy sails,

 

Host Kat

 

[broadwaybaby123]

You also need to think about the people in the group and the amount of stamina they have. Can the kids handle a tour and if they can, will they only be able to do one tour per port? If the tour has a lot of walking involved, could they and the older folks in the group handle it?

[SPacificbound]

On 5/18/2024 at 9:30 PM, RubyKay1 said:

Hello! We're a family of 8 (including grandparents in their 60s to a baby who will be 13 months at the time of the cruise in Aug 2024). We will be on a 10 night cruise on the Celebrity Constellation. Our ports will be Trieste, Zadar, Split, Dubrovnik, Kotor, Brindisi & Salerno (starting in Ravenna & ending in Rome). We have plans for Venice and Rome but would like to do 2-3 excursions in the other ports. Could you please recommend which ports could be done on our own and which might be better on an organized tour? This might be highly subjective so perhaps the question is if you've had a memorable / exceptional excursion at any of these ports that you would highly recommend, we'd love your recommendation. We would definitely like to do an excursion in the Amalfi coast.   

 We have done private tours in Zadar, Split, Dubrovnik, Kotor and Rome, and many other places with Tours By Locals. We have always had a good experience. with them. 

[donaldsc]

On 5/24/2024 at 5:57 PM, Mum2Mercury said:

No specific help for these ports, but I strongly suggest you NOT pressure everyone in the group to do something together.  The grandparents and the family with the infant will probably have very different interests /needs.  Smaller groups will be easier all around.  Let everyone make their own choices for excursions, then come together for dinner and share what you did that day!  

 

This is the best and most useful response of any that you have gotten so far.  !!

 

DON