Black Sea/ Med. cruise

[Marl]

Has anyone visited the ports of Limassol, Odessa, Sevastopol, or Varna? Did you use the ship's tours, go on your own, or hire private guides? Any info would be appreciated.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Hi, I did a Black Sea cruise in 2004, and did Odessa and Sevastopol. Is Varna in Bulgaria? We did another port there, Nessebur, and quite liked it.

 

Anyways, Odessa is beautiful, kind of crumbling but lovely. Sebastopol is really interesting, with the Crimean war history, and also very nice.

 

In both cases, we did ship's tours--but I think there are lots of local operators, the trick is to find them, can't help there. The big ticket in Sebastopol is the war history, we did a trip out to the valley of Death, on to Balaklava, then to a park in Sevastopol and on to the museum, which has an amazing panorama (like a diaroma) about the war.

 

The Odessa tour was all about music, and some of the palaces in the city--this was a centre of culture that attracted lots of people, and still has a vibrant classical music culture.

 

I would certainly wander around Odessa on my own. And Sebastopol looked fun to wander in too. But both would benefit from a guide, and well-planned itiinerary. They are poor there, so watch your wallet a bit, and be prepared for a few beggars, not a lot.

[Miss Jolly]

Has anyone visited the ports of Limassol, Odessa, Sevastopol, or Varna? Did you use the ship's tours, go on your own, or hire private guides? Any info would be appreciated.

We are going to these exact ports. I have not found anyone on these boards who will be on our ship for this part of our cruise (yes I have started a roll call) and so I am curious as to which cruise you will be on. We will be on HAL Rotterdam in total from Aug 10 - Sept 18.

Jennie

[Marl]

Thanks for the info, Wendy. Yes, Varna is in Bulgaria. Haven't heard much about it.

In Odessa and Sevastopol, were you able to walk from the ship into the cities? Were the tours you selected full or half days? What time of year were you there and what was the weather like?

[Marl]

We are going to these exact ports. I have not found anyone on these boards who will be on our ship for this part of our cruise (yes I have started a roll call) and so I am curious as to which cruise you will be on. We will be on HAL Rotterdam in total from Aug 10 - Sept 18.

Jennie

 

 

We are on the same ship, different sailing. We will be going round trip Athens, from May 2 thru May14.

[Miss Jolly]

Oh well. have a great time. Maybe you'll have some words of advice when you return.

Jennie