Shore Excursions - Carnival Freedom Med.

[ehogan]

We did only ship (Carnival Freedom) shore excursions on our March 14 Eastern Med. trip. Thought some of you might like a review of the tours we took:

 

Naples:

 

Herculaneum - this is a short 4 hour tour that was quite interesting, Herculaneum is better preserved than Pompeii, but is much smaller and for me did not have quite the same impact. A good tour, but if it is your first time, Pompeii or the Amalfi Coast is a better choice.

 

Rhodes:

 

No tour here, the ship docks within five minutes walk of the old town, and you can easily do this on your own. It is a short walk up the hill to the Palace of the Grand Masters (6 Euro). Lots of interesting small shops, I really liked the table linens offered. There are also some great coffee shops.

 

Izmir (Ephesus) Ephesus and Terrace houses

 

Excellent tour, with a very knowledgeable guide. The guides with Sea Song Tours (who ran the shore excursions) have to study for two years for their licences and they know the history of the site inside out. We took the Ephesus and Terrace Houses tour. I really recommend the tour that includes the Terrace Houses, you get to see remarkably well preserved interiors of the houses of the well-to-do here. The Mosaics are wonderful.

 

Istanbul Istanbul with Lunch at the Topkapi Palace

 

This was a good tour, but I wish we had chosen the tour that did not include lunch. There is just too much to see in Istanbul for the limited time we had there and lunch for 1.5 to 2 hours just takes too much time away from other things you could do. The lunch was quite mediocre anyway. The tour included the Topkapi Palace, Haia Sophia and the Blue Mosque with a short time available in the Grand Bazaar (we skipped out on the carpet presentation). I was disappointed in the Grand Bazaar, but that kind of craziness is not really to my liking - lots of vendors in your face and you really have to haggle to get anything resembling a good deal. Probably something you have to see once in your life, but for me it was a mere "check off my list" place.

 

Athens - Athens city tour and the Acropolis with a stop at the Plaka district

 

Only an average tour that included a stop to see the Parthenon, a drive around downtown Athens with very limited time in the Plaka district for shopping. We wished for much more time than the 1/2 hour we had in the Plaka. Some say you can do Athens on your own, using the Metro from Pireaus.

 

Katakolon - Olympia

 

Many would say that Olympia is just a pile of rubble, but it is a beautiful place with a real sense of history. You would need I guide here to get anything out of what you see. There is a very small but excellent museum here as well. I think this tour is worthwhile rather than just spending time in Katakolon for shopping. The prices in Katakolon were ridiculous (as an example, some olive oil body lotion I purchased in the Plaka was three times the price in Katakolon).

 

Livorno - Portovenere and Lerici

 

We did this tour out of Livorno because we have been to Florence and Pisa before. Most of the others in our group were also looking for an alternative and loved the towns. They are located at the south end of the Cinque Terre and have encouraged us to take a trip to this area in the future. The tour included a ferry ride to Portovenere from Lerici. The lunch included in the castle was average, we left as soon as we could for some free time in Lerici. Unfortunately, the timing of the tour could have been improved because they planned free time for the time period all the shops are closed for lunch. There was a lovely cafe in the piazza that served excellent capuccino and gelato. It would have been nice to shop and then have lunch, there was also a lovely farmer's market in the piazza that we noticed before we got on the ferry.

 

Rome: we did not take a tour here since we had spent three days pre cruise in the city. We did take a private tour "Rome at Twilight" with Through Eternity tours that was excellent.

 

Hope this is helpful

[Almagetty]

Thanks for your review! We'll be in some of the same ports this summer and its always wonderful to get "fresh" news from the ports!