Going to the Med in June 09

[newbie2468]

We are going to the Med on Holland America next June. We will be going to Rome,Dubrovnik,Corfu,Olympia,Athens,Ephesus,Santorini and Sicily.

 

I am not oppossed to private tours (in fact, I usually do them) but I was wondering if anyone had been on HAL and done any of the tours that were "worthwhile".. If so, what were they and If not, recommendations for tours (or on our own) in the cities above? We are thinking of going with I.C. Bellagio in Rome (but are still checking around for pricing).. prehaps RomeinLimo..

 

Also, Has anyone stayed in the Castle Orisini North of Rome? Looked pretty cool... but it is pricy and a little out of the way...wondered if it was worth the experience.

 

Thanks

 

Tory

[lambs2]

We are going to the Med on Holland America next June. We will be going to Rome,Dubrovnik,Corfu,Olympia,Athens,Ephesus,Santorini and Sicily.

 

I am not oppossed to private tours (in fact, I usually do them) but I was wondering if anyone had been on HAL and done any of the tours that were "worthwhile".. If so, what were they and If not, recommendations for tours (or on our own) in the cities above? We are thinking of going with I.C. Bellagio in Rome (but are still checking around for pricing).. prehaps RomeinLimo..

 

 

Thanks

 

Tory

 

 

We were on HAL Veendam last May. The only port on your list where we used one of the ship's tours was Sicily. We docked in Messina and took their tour to Taomina because the port stop was short and we were afraid to try to get there on our own with local transporation and risk missing the ship. It is roughly an hour each way from Messina to Taormina. The "tour" consisted of basically the bus ride to and from and a guide to get us from the parking lot area up the elevators to the town. Oh yes, and they did provide tickets to us for the Greco-Roman Theater in the cost. A taxi there and back might have been less expensive (don't know for sure) as the only admission that I know of was to the Greek Theater. There are a small museum and church that were free there. The town is a "must-see" IMHO, though, as the views from the Theater of Mt. Etna and the sea are spectacular, plus the little town is adorable.

 

We did Rome and Dubrovnik on our own. Used a taxi to and from the walled city in Dubrovnik and used the train, Metro and buses in Rome on our own.

 

We will be going to some more of the ports on your list this coming January (but on thr NCL Jade)!

[DameAtSeaII]

I can't answer any of your questions. I just wanted to give you my deepest sympathies for having to wait so long. We book our June, 2008 MED cruise on March 25th, 2007. It has been a VERY long 15 months........but now the last 3 weeks are crashing in on us..........the packing frenzy begins. :D

 

Make the best of it and enjoy the ride..........your cruise will be WELL WORTH THE WAIT!!!!!!!

[keesu89]

In May 2007 we did a similar cruise on Princess, and chose a mix of tours and on our own. We did a tour in Corfu (probably could have gone on our own there, but we were newbies and wanted the comfort of a tour). Took a tour in Athens, but chose one with lots of on your own time. Also took a tour at Ephesus, which is a site well worth the tour, but we had a sub par guide with an attitude so it was not the best of the tours we took. Dubrovnik and Santorini were very easy to do on your own, and lovely stops. In Dubrovnik we walked the walls and then did the old town, all very close by and easy to do. In Santorini we wandered through Fira and then had lunch at a little cafe overlooking the cliff and the water, it was wonderful. At Olympia the ship offered a tour and tasting at a local winery which we took. I believe HAL offers the same tour. We found the winery full of atmosphere,and the wine tasting outside with a view of the water was beautiful.

 

Hope this is of some help, if you have more specific questions just ask away!

 

Keesu89

[seapenarth]

We are going to the Med on Holland America next June. We will be going to Rome,Dubrovnik,Corfu,Olympia,Athens,Ephesus,Santorini and Sicily.

 

I am not oppossed to private tours (in fact, I usually do them) but I was wondering if anyone had been on HAL and done any of the tours that were "worthwhile".. If so, what were they and If not, recommendations for tours (or on our own) in the cities above? We are thinking of going with I.C. Bellagio in Rome (but are still checking around for pricing).. prehaps RomeinLimo..

 

Also, Has anyone stayed in the Castle Orisini North of Rome? Looked pretty cool... but it is pricy and a little out of the way...wondered if it was worth the experience.

 

Thanks

 

Tory

 

start posting a little later like april 2009. your post could become ?????:eek:

[San Diego Ellie]

We just got back from a RCL cruise with ports of Dubrovnik (easy to do on your own); Kusadaski (we took a ship tour to Ephesus, and strongly recommend a private guide instead; that was the big mistake of our trip). Cofu was every easy to do on our own, and in Santorini, we walked into a tour office and hired a cab for a couple of hours. There were five of us, and it was 100 euros total for the two hours.

[lovemom]

could you please tell me the name of the cab company? we will be in Santorini late June and we plan to do the same thing. How far is Oia from the port? i think we are in Santorini for 11 hrs. for the day.

 

thanks

[Destin Mom]

Hi newbie. We are on a similar itinerary this July on Zuiderdam. We originally booked ship tours in most of the ports. We then started researching options and found recommendations for private guides which were less expensive than the ship's group tours. We are traveling with 2 young children so flexibility is key, prefer to do things on our own, and wanted to maximize our limited time in port. I did quite a bit of research...haven't taken the tours yet but the overwhelming majority seem to recommend these:

-Rome- romeinlimo seems to be the preferred option on this site. We will do this on our own but have traveled to Rome several times before and are familiar with the city.

- Dubrovnik- doing it on our own

- Corfu- not on our itinerary but have traveled there for a week before, and it is easy to do on your own. We rented mopeds and toured around- had a great time.

- Olympia- we are up in the air on this one currently. The local train times don't work for us. There is a driver named George (email is <georgetaxi@vodafone.net.gr>) that is highly recommended. He was booked already by another group on our ship- for 2009, I suspect you can line him up without a problem.

- Athens- we looked at several tour options and booked Paul with Athens Taxi <athenstaxi@athenstaxi.org> for a full day covering Athens and Corinth. Note that Paul is not a licensed guide so cannot tour the monuments with you. There was a significant difference in price if you wanted a private guide as well. We read that Paul knows as much as many of the guides so figured we would be in good hands.

- Ephesus- we booked a full day with Ekol including the Terrace Houses. Ekol includes the admission fees in their pricing- there is a current thread that mentions you need turkish lira for admittance- I was glad to know I didn't need to worry about having enough lira on me to see the sights.

- Santorini- we are doing it on our own and will take taxi/ cable car/ and/ or donkeys depending on whether or not the kids are wanting to spend the day out and about.

- Sicily- don't know.

 

Of course, there is always a risk of doing it on your own and missing the ship. We are comfortable with that, but not everyone is. Also, we move pretty quickly (and have to with kids) so we didn't want to wait for the buses to fill up, bathroom breaks/ lunch breaks for a large group, etc. Other posters love the group tours and the socializing, security, etc. I know it seems stupid to say (or type:) ) but know what kind of traveler you are when you are looking at excursions. Sure, you can get to Rome via the train, but if you've never been and aren't the best navigationally (like me!), you are probably better off spending more on a tour and maximizing your time. Best of luck with your plans!!