Starting a budget for Med cruise + tours in port

[sharp_cruiser]

Hello! I am new to this board (been on the Alaska board for awhile). I am thinking of taking a Mediterranean cruise maybe in 2009 and am looking for some tips regarding cost.

 

My BIGGEST question is regarding tours in each port. In Alaska, it seems to really enhance your cruise, you need to take some sort of excursion in each port to see the land and wildlife. Is it the same in the Med? Can we just walk off the ship and walk around ourselves? I was trying to look at some websites that specialize in "trips you take on shore" and they are unbelieveably expensive!!! $800 to see Rome in a day? Are there more reasonable choices, or do I just need to plan that sort of budget?

 

Also I believe we will try for April/May or Sept/Oct, due to better cost and fewer crowds. Any thoughts there?

 

I guess lastly I am looking for some tips booking airfare. Is it wise to book 1 year in advance, or can I search for last minute deals? What have you experienced?

 

Thanks for all of your help and I am looking forward to getting to know the members on this board as we begin our cruise search!

[lambs2]

Hello! I am new to this board (been on the Alaska board for awhile). I am thinking of taking a Mediterranean cruise maybe in 2009 and am looking for some tips regarding cost.

 

My BIGGEST question is regarding tours in each port. In Alaska, it seems to really enhance your cruise, you need to take some sort of excursion in each port to see the land and wildlife. Is it the same in the Med? Can we just walk off the ship and walk around ourselves? I was trying to look at some websites that specialize in "trips you take on shore" and they are unbelieveably expensive!!! $800 to see Rome in a day? Are there more reasonable choices, or do I just need to plan that sort of budget?

 

Also I believe we will try for April/May or Sept/Oct, due to better cost and fewer crowds. Any thoughts there?

 

I guess lastly I am looking for some tips booking airfare. Is it wise to book 1 year in advance, or can I search for last minute deals? What have you experienced?

 

Thanks for all of your help and I am looking forward to getting to know the members on this board as we begin our cruise search!

 

 

Hi sharp_cruiser,

Our first Med cruise was in May of 2007. We planned our own shore excursions for Rome, Naples (Pompei), Venice, and Livorno (Florence/Pisa) by using the trains and other public transportation. We did take three of our ship's shore excursions that were low costs in some smaller stops to help vary our experience and also because it is TIRING doing it all on your own and we needed the change of pace. Sometimes on a port intensive cruise it is nice just to "veg" out and follow the leader. But...we saved considerable $$$$'s (actually €€€'s) doing our 'own thing', and we saw far more in Rome, for instance, than any ship tour could possibly accomplish! We were willing to forgo lunch in Rome and just grab gelatos and pizza from sidewalk booths in order to get to see all the major sites on our one day stop!

 

We are now planning our second Med cruise in January 2009, actually 2 back to back cruises for a total of more than three weeks! This time we will be helping to organize some group excursions, hopefully with others on our ship's roll call or else doing our own thing again. We are serious planners and value all the help we get here on Cruise Critic! So ask away...there is some great info on these boards from experienced cruise travelers.

 

May was a great time for a Med cruise. Crowds were not bad at all. We were very fortunate and had almost no rain except for a rainy morning in Dubrovnik, but we got our to the old city early and had the old city wall basically to ourselves (with ponchos on) for almost two hours! Then the tourists started showing up.

 

Some travel agencies are now packaging airfare with Med cruises, so you may want to check on that. We are using Sky Miles for our next cruise flights, so I can't help much there. Good luck with all your plans!

[Susan-M]

I was trying to look at some websites that specialize in "trips you take on shore" and they are unbelieveably expensive!!! $800 to see Rome in a day?

We did our first Med cruise in '05 ... 12 days with 10 ports and were able to do all but one port on our own (Naples). Travel costs for doing Rome on our own were 9 euros each. In addition to that, there are admission fees for sites (e.g. a guided tour of the Vatican @ 29.5 euros). It's much less expensive to do it on your own, but Rome is a one hour+ train ride from the port, so some advance planning and a comfort level with travel in a foreign country is involved.

 

In many ports, the cruise line will offer an "on your own" excursion where just bus travel is provided (a popular choice for Rome and Florence if you don't want to go by train).

 

Another option is to share private tours with others on your roll call, e.g. a private tour of Rome might be 650 euros for 6 people. In addition, there would be costs for admission fees, guides at sites and food.

 

Also I believe we will try for April/May or Sept/Oct, due to better cost and fewer crowds. Any thoughts there?

I think that's a great idea for weather, crowds and lower air fare.

 

I guess lastly I am looking for some tips booking airfare. Is it wise to book 1 year in advance, or can I search for last minute deals? What have you experienced?

It seems rare to get a last minute deal on air to Europe, so booking ahead will likely get you a lower price. On our upcoming cruise, I've booked air with the cruise line as they offered a special rate. Since we want to go a few days early and stay a few days longer, I've arranged custom air with them and it still worked out a lot less expensive than booking with the airline. If you book air with the cruise line, you aren't committed until final payment date for the cruise, and if you find a lower fare on your own, you can cancel the cruise air up until final payment date. (This might vary depending on the cruise line.)

 

Be sure to factor in costs for pre and post cruise stays, especially pre cruise as you'll want to arrive a couple of days (one at the least) ahead to make sure that you get to the ship on time, to get over jet lag and to enjoy the pre-cruise port. If your cruise ends in a different port, you may want to tack on a couple of days there to sightsee.

 

Also, since you are traveling a fair distance, it's a good idea to plan for a 10 day to two week (or longer) stay ... either a longer cruise, or a combination of land/cruise vacation.

 

A book that might be helpful to you is Mediterranean by Cruise Ship, by Anne Vipond.

[CrucianGal]

May is a great time to cruise the Mediterranean. We just returned from a 10 day cruise that started in Rome. The weather was perfect; cool enough to tour without getting overheated. We would start out with a sweater or light jacket and by lunch time we would take it off. There were not huge crowds which we really enjoyed also. I think it is great to combine do it yourself tours with what the ship offers. We did Dubrovnik, Santorini, walking on our own and using the public bus. Olympia and Kusadasi we used private guides as the drives were a distance from the ports. Corfu, Malta, and Messina we booked ship tours. It really just depends how much time you have to plan your tours prior to your departure and if you like to start out early to tour if you are doing it on your own. Some of the sites are a ways from where the ships dock, so if you do it yourself you either have to rent a car or find public transportation. Finding transportation can some times eat up valuable sightseeing time. When we were in Santorini we spent time waiting for a bus to Oia and when it never showed up we hired a taxi. On the way back to Fira we waited in line for a taxi (it was on a Sunday) and only a few showed up for the people ahead of us in line. Out of no where a bus pulled up and we took it back to the ship. So my point is public transport isn't always on schedule. I recommend planning private tours well in advance as the better guides book up quickly. Invest in some good travel books, like Rick Steves or Eyewitness and then you can decide what you would like to see on each stop. Have a great time!

[Crewmates]

Like Lambs2, we are also in the very first stages of planning our second Med cruise. On the first Med cruise (late September of '06), we did all ship's tours. Through friends we met on board and through CC Roll Calls, we found that those that took private tours saw more sights with less hassle than we did on the ship's tours - and did it cheaper. Through the Roll Calls, they were able to hook up and get a small group of 6 to 8 together and hire a guide. It worked well for them. It got to be rather funny when we would run into them in Florence, Pisa, the Vatican and each time they would tell us what they have seen and done and my wife and I would become downcast because the day was almost over and we hadn't done 60% of what they had seen and done. We will try to put together private tours on our '09 cruise (although it may be Athens, Istanbul, Tunis or Alexandria.)

 

We are looking at late September, October or November '09 (or possibly March or April '09.) We like traveling in the off-season. I think it really makes sense in Europe as most Europeans travel in August. You may pay a slight penalty in weather conditions but I think it is worth it. I would rather travel with few crowds and a little rain than sweltering heat and feel like a packed sardine when trying to see the sights - plus, it is cheaper (we virtually had Rottenburg in Germany to ourselves when we there in April.)

 

Airfare - Golly - who knows. It used to be that you would see the best fares about 6 weeks prior to departure but now, that is out the window. Maybe with fuel prices skyrocketing, it is best to book very early before the accounts figure out what the fuel costs may be in the future. But then again, maybe booking air with the cruise line may be the best deal. We did that on our Med cruise in '07 (about 9 months prior to sail date) and beat the airfare our new friends paid (RCL had a deal going on at the time.) This next time, we will be using airline mileage so that probably won't work through the airline (but we will check it out.)

 

That's about all we can offer at this time - except to have fun. It is worth the expense.

 

Richard

[agabbymama]

Hello! I am new to this board (been on the Alaska board for awhile). I am thinking of taking a Mediterranean cruise maybe in 2009 and am looking for some tips regarding cost.

 

My BIGGEST question is regarding tours in each port. In Alaska, it seems to really enhance your cruise, you need to take some sort of excursion in each port to see the land and wildlife. Is it the same in the Med? Can we just walk off the ship and walk around ourselves? I was trying to look at some websites that specialize in "trips you take on shore" and they are unbelieveably expensive!!! $800 to see Rome in a day? Are there more reasonable choices, or do I just need to plan that sort of budget?

 

Also I believe we will try for April/May or Sept/Oct, due to better cost and fewer crowds. Any thoughts there?

 

I guess lastly I am looking for some tips booking airfare. Is it wise to book 1 year in advance, or can I search for last minute deals? What have you experienced?

 

Thanks for all of your help and I am looking forward to getting to know the members on this board as we begin our cruise search!

 

If you want to hire private tour guides, that $800 is definitely what they are charging. I'm doing a lot of Hop on/Hop off buses (Rome, Naples, Pisa, Florence, Athens, Monte Carlo, etc), then will walk on our own in the smaller places (Corfu, Mykonos) only plan to book ship excursions (Santorini and Kusadasi). I don't plan to hire any private guides. We are on a very tight budget and just don't see the need to pay that kind of money.

 

I originally thought we could do this trip for around $4500 pp but it is looking more and more like it will be closer to $5500 pp. We have a balcony cabin on Grand Princess for 12 night cruise, then 3 nights pre-cruise in Rome, 2 nights post cruise in Venice and 1 night in Paris before our flight home. That comes in at around $300 per day for the trip. By far my most expensive vacation ever.

 

I like priceline for airfare, they have a bid your own price. I always start out ridiculously low and move up slowly until my price is accepted. I got LAX to Paris roundtrip non-stop for $550. Then Paris to Rome/Venice to Paris nonstop for $220 total airfare $1150. None of the flights are totally non-stop these days, so you pick and airline and midway point you like, then try to get it reasonable. Princess wanted $1600 for their cruiseair, so I'm happy with my price.

 

So save what you think you will need, then double it. Have fun planning, then taking your cruise.

[FloatYourBoatSince2003]

Hi there,

 

I'm on a Carnival Cruise this October. We booked an inside cabin because there are some great deals to be had and since it is port-intensive we figure the decks will be our balcony the short time we would need one. (We've had both inside and outside in the past and I would rather spend the money on tours - for Europe it's GO BIG OR GO HOME when it comes to seeing the sights.)

 

I'm doing no ship tours - just excursions with fellow Role Call members. I'm glad to hear others recommending the same thing. $800 split 8 ways is $100 a person, which beats any ship tour considering we have the van and driver for 9 hours and can tell him where to go. (Some private tours are more and some are less.) A couple of ports we'll do on our own since one doesn't have to travel far, (Barcelona, Dubrovnik and Venice) so we'll have admission charges and local cabs, but I also have 4 "big" tour days in ports where you have to travel a fair distance from the port.

 

I may do lunch, or I may just grab something on the go if there is a sight I want to see. I did out my detailed budget (worst case scenarios) and I will be spending $7700 for the two of us (deal on inside cabin ($2600 for 2), deal on flights ($1600 for 2) plus about $3500 (for tours, admission, transfers, lunches, incidentals and 1 night pre-cruise).

 

I hope I'm not jinxing myself and we may be in for a bit of adventure foregoing the "safety" of a ship tour, but I really think we'll see a lot. Using public transportation is cheaper - and has it's own charm, but you won't be able to do as much. That's fine too - not everyone wants to cram everything in. It really depends on your comfort level and what you want the most. I just think that if you are smart about it you can save a bundle. BE SURE TO CHECK OUT ROLL CALL of the ship you decide to book - you will learn a TONNE.

[keesu89]

Hi Sharp Cruiser:

We are also in the early stages of planning our second med cruise. The first was a Princess cruise in 2007 (late April and early May). We did a combination of ships excursions and unstructured days on our own. We made this choice because we were newbies and wanted the comfort of taking the ships offerings. Also some of what we chose meant that we had some tour time and some time on our own.

 

In case it is of use here is what we chose and where:

 

Dubrovnik, did on our own, walked the walls and toured old town. This worked quite well

Corfu, took a tour which covered the Achilleon Palace and gave us time on our own in old town. Also good, but we had rather cool overcast weather that day, can't plan for that though!

Olympia, took a winery tour which was reasonable price and we enjoyed it very much

Athens took a tour of the Acropolis, which gave us also highlights on the way and then the afternoon in the Plaka on our own. Highly recommend seeing major sights in the morning,cooler and much less crowded. Although we heard that the crowds were light in May compared to other times the line was building as we were coming down from the Acropolis

Mykonos, Santorini and Rhodes we did on our own, and mostly walking, all worked out fine.

Ephesus we took a tour of the historic site and then took the afternoon on our own in Kusadasi to shop. We had been forewarned about the high pressure rug sales at the end of the tour so we opted to get off the bus and go back to the ship for lunch to avoid this.

Venice we did on our own, the ship provided a shuttle ticket we could use as often as we wanted while in port and once we got to shore we did the rest walking. It was wonderful, an absolute must see stop for us.

Naples, we took a guided tour of Pompeii which included a tour of the winery in operation on the site of the ruins and then and excursion to an operating winery for a wine tasting and for lunch. This tour was more expensive, but abolutely worth every cent. We had a good guide here,and the wine tasting was really wonderful.

 

As for the airfare the last time we took the cruiseline airfare because it was a great deal, this time we will fly on points and the cruise we are taking has overnights in port at the beginning and the end so we are not adding on extra days. Wish we could but you can only do so much.

 

We took a balcony room last time because again a great deal, and we really liked having the balcony for sail away with a glass of wine in hand so will do the same again this time.

 

Hope you find the cruise that will fit the bill for you!

 

Keesu89

[hazeleyes]

Hello! I am new to this board (been on the Alaska board for awhile). I am thinking of taking a Mediterranean cruise maybe in 2009 and am looking for some tips regarding cost.

 

My BIGGEST question is regarding tours in each port. In Alaska, it seems to really enhance your cruise, you need to take some sort of excursion in each port to see the land and wildlife. Is it the same in the Med? Can we just walk off the ship and walk around ourselves? I was trying to look at some websites that specialize in "trips you take on shore" and they are unbelieveably expensive!!! $800 to see Rome in a day? Are there more reasonable choices, or do I just need to plan that sort of budget?

 

Also I believe we will try for April/May or Sept/Oct, due to better cost and fewer crowds. Any thoughts there?

 

I guess lastly I am looking for some tips booking airfare. Is it wise to book 1 year in advance, or can I search for last minute deals? What have you experienced?

 

Thanks for all of your help and I am looking forward to getting to know the members on this board as we begin our cruise search!

 

We just recently came back from our Med cruise. We didnt not book any excursions with the ship. We did everything on our own and saved alot of money by doing it that way. Depending on the ports your doing then you can research each one individually. Below is the link to my review which includes what we did and how much it cost etc. You will love Europe. The cost of everything is very high right now, but you can still do everything on a budget. Happy cruising.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=41704

[agabbymama]

We just recently came back from our Med cruise. We didnt not book any excursions with the ship. We did everything on our own and saved alot of money by doing it that way. Depending on the ports your doing then you can research each one individually. Below is the link to my review which includes what we did and how much it cost etc. You will love Europe. The cost of everything is very high right now, but you can still do everything on a budget. Happy cruising.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=41704

 

hazeleyes,

 

Actual total cost might be nice for the OP, would you mind posting an approximate total figure you spent? The Ho/Ho buses are very reasonable, but I don't see that you included any hotel, food, airfare, transfers etc.

 

I'm estimating around $5500 pp for the complete 18 day trip (airfare, cruise, tips, photos, excursions (3 thru ship, 9 independant walking & ho/ho buses), hotels, transfers, food, souvenirs, etc.

 

FloatYourBoatSince2003 estimated $7700 for 2. I'm amazed they were able to do it so reasonably. While I realize my $2000 for the balcony cabin boosts it up right away, I've tried to cut as much as I can, but after going that far, want to see some of the area while we are there.

 

Hotels in Italy are not cheap. I searched and searched before someone posted a website for hotels run by nuns. But even that is 95 EUR which is around $150 per night for a twin in Rome. So it adds up quickly if you are going to do any pre-cruise or post-cruise nights.

 

There was another thread at one time that had a lot of different figures. But with the search feature not working, it's difficult to try and find it. T

[Jade13]

May is a great time to cruise the Mediterranean. We just returned from a 10 day cruise that started in Rome. The weather was perfect; cool enough to tour without getting overheated. We would start out with a sweater or light jacket and by lunch time we would take it off. There were not huge crowds which we really enjoyed also. I think it is great to combine do it yourself tours with what the ship offers. We did Dubrovnik, Santorini, walking on our own and using the public bus. Olympia and Kusadasi we used private guides as the drives were a distance from the ports. Corfu, Malta, and Messina we booked ship tours. It really just depends how much time you have to plan your tours prior to your departure and if you like to start out early to tour if you are doing it on your own. Some of the sites are a ways from where the ships dock, so if you do it yourself you either have to rent a car or find public transportation. Finding transportation can some times eat up valuable sightseeing time. When we were in Santorini we spent time waiting for a bus to Oia and when it never showed up we hired a taxi. On the way back to Fira we waited in line for a taxi (it was on a Sunday) and only a few showed up for the people ahead of us in line. Out of no where a bus pulled up and we took it back to the ship. So my point is public transport isn't always on schedule. I recommend planning private tours well in advance as the better guides book up quickly. Invest in some good travel books, like Rick Steves or Eyewitness and then you can decide what you would like to see on each stop. Have a great time!

 

We are doing this cruise in July. Did you write a review? We would love to know what you thought. Also, someone on the HAL board was asking if anyone had been on this trip as they were going next month, so if you post anything please do it on the HAL CC forum.

 

I was wondering if you had a BBQ out of Santorini? I heard that's the night it was held last year.

[FloatYourBoatSince2003]

hazeleyes,

 

I'm estimating around $5500 pp for the complete 18 day trip (airfare, cruise, tips, photos, excursions (3 thru ship, 9 independant walking & ho/ho buses), hotels, transfers, food, souvenirs, etc.

 

FloatYourBoatSince2003 estimated $7700 for 2. I'm amazed they were able to do it so reasonably. While I realize my $2000 for the balcony cabin boosts it up right away, I've tried to cut as much as I can, but after going that far, want to see some of the area while we are there.

 

 

 

Don't forget, my trip includes only ONE pre-cruise night (sadly not enough vacation days... and given that I'm leaving my kids at home for the first time ever I figured 13 nights was long enough away.) So your larger estimate makes a lot of sense.

 

My trip will still average about $300 a night per person too. Hiding away in an inside cabin was a tradeoff (for us - it doesn't suit everyone) to stay within budget and be able to go full-force with excursions and the (shared) private tours. Again... not for everyone.

 

Have you tried "Hold Rome"? Some posters on my Roll Call did well with that B&B.

 

I agree 100% with you when you say that once you've gone that far you may as well go for broke (I mean that figuratively of course ;) ).

[Crusin6]

We are a family of 6 and I am budgeting $1500 every time we step off the ship! Private tours, site guides, lunch. Some ports will be lower though, like Barcelona where we will do the HOHO and Dubrovnik where we will just stroll.

 

So in a nut shell family of 6, 3 days pre in Rome, 12 Grand Med with Carnival, non stop Newark to Rome, $30 to 32 grand!!! But planning on doing it again in 2012!:D