Excursions in Rome, Florence,Messina

[dancing]

Has anyone done Excursions in these cities through the cruise line? If so which ones and how did you or not like them. It seems so many especially Florence is just going by places not actually going inside.

Many thanks

[Longin2cruise]

Our scheduled stop for Florence was on a Sunday. From previous experience, I knew that Sundays were not a good day because of the tremendous crowds. We took the Beautiful Tuscany tour, going to San Giamano & Voltera. They are both lovely medieval towns & we enjoyed the tour very much. A delightful lunch at a farm house was included in the tour.

[direfun2000]

Has anyone done Excursions in these cities through the cruise line? If so which ones and how did you or not like them. It seems so many especially Florence is just going by places not actually going inside.

Many thanks

 

 

You might have better luck on the Ports of Call section of this board.

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[Kempa]

I know Rome and Messina.

 

Rome on your own: if you are docking in Civitavecchia, you can take the commuter train that is about a quarter mile from the dock. It will take you into Rome. You can get off at Roma Termini (main station) or Roma San Pietro (close to the Vatican). It is much, much cheaper than the ship's buses. You can buy the train ticket in the Civitavecchia station. They are used to tourists.

 

Messina: this one is a little harder to do on your own. You should visit Taormina and the Etna volcano. I took this one on the cruise's tours.

[terri910]

Has anyone done Excursions in these cities through the cruise line? If so which ones and how did you or not like them. It seems so many especially Florence is just going by places not actually going inside.

Many thanks

This past may hubby and I sailed the Carnival Freedom in the Mediterranean/Greek Isles. In most of the ports of call, we arranged for private tours (together with a group of fellow cruises we 'met' on the sailing's Roll Call right here on Cruise Critic), and only in one port did we take a ship's excursion (Ephesus). In every other city, our private tours (of 14-15 people) cost us less than a comparable ship excursion, and we had much more flexibility. In Ephesus, there was no significant savings by going on a private excursion and the ship had an excursion that included what we really wanted to see.

 

Honestly, Ephesus -- even though we loved Ephesus and the Virgin Mary's House -- was the worst tour of our trip. Big group, not a great tour guide....

 

We did Florence (and Pisa) and Rome on private tours, and would really recommend that you try and find some fellow cruisers that are interested in taking similar tours...then do a little research online and find local private tour operators. You may be able to get the same (or better) tour at a much better price!

 

Have fun!

[redskin80]

Messina, we did the Theatre with the tour of the Volcano. It inlcuded lunch.

 

In Florence we did the City tour that inlcuded Pisa, which included the tour that we got to go up to top.

 

The ship docks at a port which is used for cargo and you pretty much have to get some type of tour, as you are about 45 minutes or more away from anything.

 

I have several posts on the site about our Med Cruise. Just look up posts under my ling Redskin80

[LRene]

We've done the Med twice - on Carnival. I would say...lf you can meet up with others on your roll call, NEVER do a ship tour. I would also say, if you don't have a group to tour with and you're not familiar with foreign travel, you SHOULD do a ship tour.

 

Rome....I could be a tour guide in Rome at this point. We've spent so much time pre and post cruise that I know the city really well. If you are not doing a pre or post cruise stay (and I don't understand why someone wouldn't), you might consider a ship tour. Otherwise, it's an easy city to get around in and very navigatable either on foot, by metro or by bus.

 

Florence - I would recommend a tour to either Pisa/Florence or to Tuscany. You can't do both in one stop. Either one are equally wonderful. I would recommend for your first trip to the area....do Florence and Pisa.

 

Messina -I agree do a tour that includes Mt. Etna and Taormina. There's really nothing else there of much value to see. The cruise line does a reasonable tour of this area. This is one of the only tours that our price was comparable to the ship.

 

I've done the Grand Med itinerary and Greek Isles/Turkey itinerary and we never did ONE Carnival tour. I was lucky enough the first time to meet others on our roll call and arrange tours together. On the second tour, it was a Cruise Critic group and I was the group leader. We had excellent tours put together by members of the group. Don't understimate the power of the people you are cruising with! They could become some of your best friends. :)

[skuttduck]

I have done two Europe tours and both times I did them through Carnival on the ship. We were on the same cruise as Terri910. Hello fellow Mellow Yeller! :)

 

I didn't have anything to complain about, maybe just a minor annoyance.

 

First off, looks like you would be doing the Grand Mediterranian Cruise, and flying into Rome. Rome is worth seeing on it's own. If you can arrive a day early to explore I would recommend it. Otherwise you can do what we did, and just the Rome at a Glance. There isn't much to this tour other than getting out and going inside the Basillica, but you can do a bit of sight seeing to wet your appetite for Rome.

 

If this is your only chance to see Rome do that, however the full day tours of Rome that are offered on the Greek Isles tour are much better. We did Rome and Catacombs. The minor annoyance on this was that you can't photograph anything in the Catacombs. However, walking down amongst the ruins in the Roman forum was really cool, as well as getting to go out among the Colloseum.

 

We did Florence and Pisa when in Livorno. Gotta love the Gelato there in Pisa. It seemed Pisa was a bit rushed for us, and it surprised me that Pisa was in the middle of a cornfield. (At least it seemed that way) I liked that tour, and on the second cruise this past year we did the Essence of Tuscany. That was by far my favorite tour! Florence is really cool too, and if I go back I may want to go just there!

 

Messina, Mt. Etna and Taormina. Nice tour, and John says to make sure you get a cannoli there. We did and am glad we did! I liked this tour. Nothing really huge stands out from this tour though other than the gift shop at the top of the mountain that was spared from a Lava flow.

 

Oh yeah, Star Wars Episode 3 where Anakin became Darth Vader was filmed during Mt. Etna's eruption. So that might be of interest for you.

 

That's a wonderful cruise and I highly recommend the Europe itinerary to anyone!

 

Hope that helps.

[beachbum789]

In Rome it is easy to take the train from the port to Rome. If you buy the BRIG ticket it is good all day and covers round trip train and the Metro. It may also cover the buses in Rome.

[RoanokeHoo]

We did the Florence/Pisa tour through Carnival. Great!! Wish we had had more time in Florence but we hit the highlights and when we compared notes with our friends who did it on their own, it seems we saw things they were not even aware of. So glad we went to Pisa.

 

We added 2 days in Rome at the end of our cruise so we knew we would have a little time to see it on our own. However, we were in Rome in mid-July and if we hadn't booked Carnival's tour that included the Vatican, we would never have made it inside. It was pricey for sure, but it was an after hours tour and my husband and the tour guide were the last 2 to walk out of the Sistine Chapel. How cool is that? Just priceless.

[BillnJo]

Im Florance we rented a minivan off the dock there were 3 couples and the cost was 240 for the day. We saw alot of things the excursions did not. Also it was nice to shop and not have to carry everything we bought all day, just left it in the van. Locals know where to eat and other things that make this the way to go