Stuck on Capri?

[taxmantoo]

Has anybody ever taken the ferry/hydrofoil from Naples to Capri and then not be able to come back to Naples because of rough seas?

Even if you are on a cruiseline-sponsored excursion, you still cannot get back so there is no difference then between ship excursion or private excursion.

What happens? Does the ship still leave if 100 or 200 people are missing in action?

[dbh62ark]

When I was in this area of Italy on ground trips and other cruises, the ferries ran when the seas are rough, but the hydrofoils don't. But I am interested to see the responses of other board members because this is our plan for the day when we sail in May, and I know weather conditions can change during the day. I figure if nothing else, I can bribe someone to take me by boat back to Naples, but obviously that won't work in a small boat if the weather is bad.

 

Donna

[NAS-KARR]

Yes...like Donna, I'm interested in the answer too in prep for an 08 day trip also.

 

CIAO,

[Paul S]

I was staying in the area last September. My wife and I had put off going to Capri till the end of our holiday, then on the day we went the weather was awful.

 

We took the ferry from Sorrento to Capri. It was extremely rough, and I'm a poor sailor. We arrived and disembarked in really heavy driving rain. However, by the time we returned the sea had calmed down a bit.

 

Earlier in the holiday we had gone by train to Naples to visit the National Archeological museum. On leaving the museum we walked down to the port, having great problems finding the ferry stand. When we eventually located it we were frustrated to find that the ferries/hydrofoils back to Vico Equense (for our hotel) and onward to Sorrento were not running because of heavy seas, even though they looked OK to us.

 

I can't speak for the Naples-Capri run, but it seems that in rough seas you would at least be able to get back to Sorrento, then take the train to Naples.

 

Paul S

[dbh62ark]

Thank you, Paul.

 

Donna

[Host Karen]

We, too, were planning to visit Capri on our 2008 cruise and I had concerns about the weather affecting our travel plans and leaving us stuck on the island. This is one case in which I may consider a ship sponsored excursion so I can be assured that someone else is responsible for making certain we get back to the ship!

 

Thanks for sharing your experience.

[slineberry528]

We are going on the voyager in July and my mother wants to go to Capri. Everything we have read from the ship tours, has heavy walking in it. Is there something you would suggest that would be light walking?

 

Thanks

[tom_uk]

Probably not. The nature of Capri is that although small it's very hilly, has very narrow & winding roads, and in many places the roads are closed to vehicles anyway.

 

However, you can get up to Capri town (not Anacapri) via a funicular from the port (Marina Grande), and many of the roads/footpaths around Capri are fairly level and easy-walking. Capri town is interesting to walk around, if only to gawp at the Beautiful People, and you can walk about a kilometer on good, fairly flat footpaths to the south of the island to the Gardens of August where there are seats with stunning views to the south.

[Hlitner]

A great question. We have been to Capri numerous times (both on cruise port days and on our own land trips) and love the place. We have never experienced bad seas, but than this would be very rare in the summer months when the Med is generally calm and clear. As to Karen's comment I would only add the following. In more than 25 years of cruising (and doing land trips) to the Med we have never heard of anyone missing a ship do to being trapped on Capri due to high seas. As to the cruise ship tours, they use the same hydrofoils to Naples as all the other tourists. If an independent traveler can't get on a hydrofoil, neither can a cruise ship tour. Sudden bad weather is very rare in the spring, summer, and fall tourist season and one should always be aware of the weather forcast. Personally, we would never consider going to Capri in lousy weather simply because this is an island for walking, and this is not a good thing in rain. One advantage to "doing our own thing" is that we would not even bother boarding a hydrofoil if the weather was lousy (we have always had great weather when in Naples).

 

Hank

[slineberry528]

Thanks for all of the comments.