Grand Princess Mediterranean Cruise

[canfield]

We are going to Europe for the first time. We are booked on the Grand Princess leaving Sept 1st from Rome. Has anyone been on this cruise? Should we book the tours with the ship or on our own, and if on our own, does anyone have any suggestions?

 

 

Is anyone taking this cruise and leaving from Los Angeles?

 

We also noticed that we get in to Venice at 10:00 p.m. at the end of the cruise and are scheduled to disembark at 6:00 a.m., the next morning. When do we get to see the city?

[klauer]

I haven't been on this particular cruise, but if you want to see Venice, you need to book a hotel (either on your own or a post-cruise package from Princess). Or, if you are leaving late on the debarkation day, Princess may have some type of city tour that ends up at the airport.

 

There is also alot to see in Rome, if possible you might want to get there a couple of days before the cruise leaves.

 

Have fun, I love Italy!

[chasetf]

We are going to Europe for the first time. We are booked on the Grand Princess leaving Sept 1st from Rome. Has anyone been on this cruise? Should we book the tours with the ship or on our own, and if on our own, does anyone have any suggestions? Is anyone taking this cruise and leaving from Los Angeles? We also noticed that we get in to Venice at 10:00 p.m. at the end of the cruise and are scheduled to disembark at 6:00 a.m., the next morning. When do we get to see the city?

We did the same trip last year. My suggestion is give yourself time pre and post cruise. We spent three days in Rome before boarding and three days in Venice after disembarking. You will arrive in Venice late and be getting off early the next morning which means you either do a whirlwind prior to boarding a late flight or do as we did and stay for a few days.

 

In Monte Carlo we did the St James / Nice tour. Great scenery and worth seeing some of France. Livorno I recommend doing the Florence on your own tour from the ship. It is about a 1-2 hour bus ride, but you have plenty of time to see Florence. Naples is a definite pass. Nothing worth seeing so we got off the ship, walked over a boarded a jet boat to Capri. Spent the day there (again great scenery).

 

Santorini you can do on your own. Do ride the donkeys up and the tram down. Kusadasi we did the Ephesus ship tour, again an hour plus bus ride to get there. Mykonos is best done on your own, bus from the dock takes you to town for a nominal cost. Athens is again a medium bus ride from Piraeus, and we did the shp tour which gave us time on our own to visit the agora and walk around.

 

Olympia again recommend the ship's tour to the Olympic site. Corfu we did the trip to the monastery, Achilleion Palace, and old town.

 

I know you will enjoy the trip. Again, I recommend adding days prior and after the cruise to really see and enjoy Rome and Venice. We even threw in London on our way home from Venice.

[chasetf]

oops - double post