Top things to see & do in Rome, Florence, Naples & Venice

[dancing]

I would love some input from others on these ports. We are on Carnival's Freedom May 22 and have decided what we want to do in the other ports but these 4 all seem to have soooooooooo much to see in a day. Any good ideas for a first time visitor.

 

Thanks

[GSPLover]

I would love some input from others on these ports. We are on Carnival's Freedom May 22 and have decided what we want to do in the other ports but these 4 all seem to have soooooooooo much to see in a day. Any good ideas for a first time visitor.

 

Thanks

Ok 'Dancing', you have about 4 months to learn about these four ports and what you would like to see. Get online and Google the port name and start clicking on the links. You will be amazed what you will find. Figure out what is important to you, and plan accordingly.

 

In Rome for one day, take the Ho-Ho (Hop On Hop Off bus from near Termini.) You'll get a good overview - about all you can do in a day! Enjoy your cruise and the ports that you will visit.

[cberge]

There is a wealth of information right here on this board as well as to what people have seen,liked,disliked,and how they got around re train,private,bus etc. Just do a serach on the boad in the search forum using the port names and you will have a ton of info from a lot of sources.

[rebeccalouise]

Rome- the vatican

Florence- the duomo, the ponte veccahio and the pitti palace

Naples- pompeii

Venice- just wander around and take in the older living museum in the world. The whole place is a throwback in time.

[texancruzer]

Well we stayed in Rome 2 nights precruise....but we did pretty much all our sightseeing in one day. We hired a private guide who took us on a morning tour of the Vatican (museums, Sistine Chapel and St. Peters) then took us to a pizzeria for a quick bite and finally taxied with us to the Coliseum/Forum/Palantine Hill for a tour. It was pricey but worth every penny. She kept us from standing in lines, knew all the shortcuts, etc etc. and knew so much about both these sites. We walked from our hotel to the Spanish steps (very close) and to the Trevi fountain but these could be seen by taxi also. To me these were the main sites for our first visit (oh yes we will go back !!!! - we loved Rome !!!)

 

Livorno was a day port for us....we took the cruiselines "Florence and Pisa on your own" tour. Basically they provide the transportation but you explore on your own once there. Our guide gave us history and local area info while driving and a good map. She walked us to the Field of Dreams in Pisa and then we had a short time there to see the Baptistry, the Duoma and the Tower. Then we bused to Florence. Again, a little history etc. and she walked us to our meeting point in Santa Croce square and turned us loose. We had 4 hours in Florence. We walked to the Ponte Vecchio and shopped :D then walked around the area (very neat) to the Duoma and then back to the meeting place where there was a market set up... very festive and we ate there. Then back on the bus to go back to the ship. Long day but fun. Will go back to see the Uffuzi and the Academia.

 

Naples was also a port day. We (along with 3 other couples from our roll call) hired a private tour. We went straight to Pompeii where we had a private guide for a 2+ hr tour. We then drove to Ravello, Amalfi, Positano and Sorrento. We had free time in each place to explore. We ended up in Sorrento where we opted to take the ferry back to Naples instead of driving back. It was 30 minutes by ferry - 1 hour to drive. This gave us a little more time and we also got to see the area from the water. It is just gorgeous.

 

Can't help you with Venice....thats next trip ;)

 

Research as much as you can....figure out what interests you and then list them in the order of importance to you. Sometimes everything just won't fit in one day...... thats why you will probably have to go back :p

[MercedMike]

An excellent way to learn about the top tourist attractions in each port is to read the descriptions of the ship's shore excursions. They normally cover all the five star things to do. Then you just have to narrow it down to what you want, and decide whether to take the ship's tour, an independent guide, or try it on your own.

 

In Rome I sincerely suggest a guided tour. Trying to get about by yourself and even find the attractions, much less navigage the lines, would be a huge job.

 

Florence is fairly easy. It is a major art capital and if you are up on your European art you can have a wonderful time. If you are not, a good guide will fill you in very quickly! Usually you go by the Leaning Tower on the way. You stop, you look, you leave, what else is there to do there?

 

Naples has Pompeii, Herculaneum, and the Amalfi coast competing for your time. You can only do one, maybe two at the most. You have to decide.

 

Venice is an amazing city. You can just stand in the middle of St. Mark's Square and your eye covers so many fascinating things it will keep you busy! First you have to decide -- gondola or no gondola. Of course it is hokey tourist stuff. We loved it!

 

Check out our reviews and pics at http://www.elite.net/~thehalls/med.html and http://www.elite.net/~thehalls/holyland.html

for these ports and several others.

 

Have a GREAT cruise!

[dileep]

read what we did in Naples, Venice, and Florence at

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=665634

[maryrnp]

Hi Dancing,

We are on your cruise. I have been researching for months. I can tell you what I learned and what we are doing. But again, they are just our opinions and what will work for us, so you can decide for yourself.

We are going a night before and staying in Rome. Everyone at cruise critic will suggest if you are going the night before to stay at a hotel in the city center, but because we really don't have much time, and because we are taking private tours, we are going on points and staying at the Sheraton Roma about 5 miles away, on a VIP floor with free cocktail hour and free buffet breakfast. We get into Rome about 10am. We are taking a private cab ride to hotel. Trying to recover from jet lag. Going on a 2hr evening tour that will include Colleseum, Trevi, Spanish Steps,... with dinner. Next morning, taking a private tour of Vatican, Sistene, St. Peters, back to hotel, and then private ride to port. We would rather spend the money on the private tours in Rome than on a hotel, knowing we won't have the time to venture out on our own. This will cover major sights in Rome. Once on the cruise, we are taking all ship tours because we are so paranoid about getting back to the ship when I read many stories of people left behind. However in Venice, we are doing private tours there. First day St. Marks, Castello area. Gondolir ride. Heard it was cheaper just to find your own gondilor away from the major spots. Will be about 100E for group instead of 100E a person. No music but that's okay. Then we plan to stay at Cafe Florian for a drink and soak up the athmosphere and listne to the orchestra. Its expensive but somehting worth doing. Next day private tour to cover Burano, Dorsoduro, San Polo, Rialto, and then back to ship. Only area we won't get to see is Cannargerio, ghetto, but its a little further. But with all of what I just mentioned we will get to see the major sights, and get to see how Venetians live,... Burano, is a lot farther than Torcello or Murano, but we aren't into going to watch glass being made, or more churchs, and Burano just looks fo beautiful.

Florence, we have never been too, so we are opting to do Highlights of Florence and Shopping. This tour will give us the most time in Florence. Naples we had a tough time deciding. If we were there more than one day, we would love to see Pompei, but because we only have one day, we would rather skip the ruins and all that wakling. So then we had trouble deciding between Sorrento and Capri and Almafi. We finally decided on Capri and Almalfi; capri just seems more spectacular. Tour is expensive, but I think it will be great. Messina, we are taking the Taromina and Greek Theater tour as Taromina looks like the most beautiful to see. Croatia, we are doing the Best of Dubronik, seeing that will give us the highlights which is what we want. Barcelona, we were going to go the Monsterett, but after looking at it, just didn't seem our cup of tea, although many people rave about it. We are going to do the Tossa de Mar beach resort. Looks beautiful. And nice change of pace. France, so many of the tours look great. We have decided on the Monacco and Monte Carlo.

What helped me a lot, was searching on google with the name of the place, and also on you tube. Some great videos of all of those places, really helped us to decide.

Why do you call yourself dancing? Just asking, because my husband and I are professional dancers.

Anyway, I hope this helps you. Its good to get different opinions. That will help you decide as well.

[dancing]

Maryrnp

 

Thanks so much for the inf. I too have been doing some searching and trying to decide which of the ports to do a tour on our own to see as much as possible. We used to live in NJ (central) and now live in The Villages, Floirda.

Our tirp is thorugh a great agency that puts trips together and is known for great prices especially for seniors. (yep hate to admit it but we are 60, a young 60). WE will spend 3 night in Tuscany first and then a night in Rome when we get off the ship.

Why dancing. Well I just love line dancing( beeen doint it for 10 years) and it is really big here and I am finally getting hubby to take ballroom classes next month. I really like to dance period.

Hope to meet you on the ship.

Again thanks

[MERLOTCHAMPAGNE]

Maryrnp,

 

Would you mind sharing who have booked your private tours with in Venice. We will be there for 3 day post cruise in Oct 08 and I'm still exploring options for Venice.

 

Thanks.

 

Pam

[maryrnp]

Hi,

Dancing, you keep dancing. It will keep you young. That's great. We are going on the cruise with my parents, my mom is 64 and my dad 75. Yes, I hope we meet up with you as well.

 

Pam, we are using http://www.aguideinvenice.com for our tours in Venice. Have been talking to Fernando. http://walksinvenice.com also read good reviews, but they are charging about the same for an hour less on each tour, so we are going with a guide in venice.

[dileep]

my videos at http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=676512

[tomko2]

An excellent way to learn about the top tourist attractions in each port is to read the descriptions of the ship's shore excursions. They normally cover all the five star things to do. Then you just have to narrow it down to what you want, and decide whether to take the ship's tour, an independent guide, or try it on your own.

 

In Rome I sincerely suggest a guided tour. Trying to get about by yourself and even find the attractions, much less navigage the lines, would be a huge job.

 

Florence is fairly easy. It is a major art capital and if you are up on your European art you can have a wonderful time. If you are not, a good guide will fill you in very quickly! Usually you go by the Leaning Tower on the way. You stop, you look, you leave, what else is there to do there?

 

Naples has Pompeii, Herculaneum, and the Amalfi coast competing for your time. You can only do one, maybe two at the most. You have to decide.

 

Venice is an amazing city. You can just stand in the middle of St. Mark's Square and your eye covers so many fascinating things it will keep you busy! First you have to decide -- gondola or no gondola. Of course it is hokey tourist stuff. We loved it!

 

Check out our reviews and pics at http://www.elite.net/~thehalls/med.html and http://www.elite.net/~thehalls/holyland.html

for these ports and several others.

 

Have a GREAT cruise!

 

Really enjoyed your reviews and pictures. My printer is madly printing out the pages. We are planning on our 2nd Med. cruise in 2009 and definitely want to see Venice and Florence.

Kathy

[MercedMike]

Would you mind sharing who have booked your private tours with in Venice. We will be there for 3 day post cruise in Oct 08 and I'm still exploring options for Venice.

 

Thanks.

 

Pam

 

For two trips to Venice, our travel agent booked us through IC Bellagio http://www.icbellagio.com/. They are a premium company and do a great job, but they are not inexpensive.

 

Check out our review and pics at

http://www.elite.net/~thehalls/med.html

and

http://www.elite.net/~thehalls/holyland3.html

 

Have a GREAT cruise!