Been to Florence and Rome Previously, what to do instead??

[finallyavacation]

We are on the May 14 RC West Med. cruise and looking to find a different excursions for Florence and Rome. Any suggestions?
This is our first cruise and the last vacation we took (5yrs ago) was to Italy. We did Florence and Rome quite extensively. Has anyone done the wine tasting tour (ship excursion alt for Florence?) Any suggestions on a private tour company for a wine tasting tour? Rome is a really big question. We spent 3 days in Rome before and saw every fountain and major site. Of course this doesn't mean we "know" Rome but any suggestions for an off beat, "Done that", kind of tour? We just want to make the most of that stop.

I am going to look into some of the suggestions on other posts for the other ports but would love any other recomendations on shore excursions vs private tours for Marseille, Villefranche, Barcelona,and Naples!

Thanks!
Joy

[cberge]

There has been a lot posted on this board for all your questions under various topics,and I am sure someone will have a reply for a private tour re wine country.There is also Lucca outside Florence if you did not go there..you can spend a leisurely day there instead of going to Florence,and of course there is Pisa.You can do these by train.I know others have posted in detail tours outside of Rome.Here is a link that may help you with private tours outside of Florence and Rome..
[url="http://www.driverinrome.com/"]http://www.driverinrome.com/[/url]
As far as Marseilles goes I would look into going to Avignon,and Les Baux for the the day either by ships tour or private driver.
Villefranche area you can do on your own by train as far as going to Monte Carlo/Monaco (there is a little train(tourist) that takes you all over there),and you can take the train to Nice as well(see the old city)
.If your do a private tour you could go to St.paul de Vence outside of Nice which is a walled town that is now filled with shops and homes.You could do a cab from Nice as well although it may be on the $$ side.
Barcelona is a city you really can do on your own with the Hop/on Hop/off bus...takes you to all the major sights,but you may want to go to Park Guell by cab as I don't think the bus stops there.Great city to explore.
Naples I can't help you with,but I am sure someone will.
Have a great cruise.

Karen
Ü

[Bruin Steve]

While doing the Med on the Millennium this past August, we opted to skip Florence (wehre we've been a few times before) and took the ship's excursion to San Gimignano and Voltera (I'm assuming RCCL has the same excursions as Celebrity)...It was absolutely delightful...We had a relatively small group of 19...the included lunch was served in the wine cellar of a small Tuscan winery and it was absolutely outstanding...The towns of San Gim and Volterra were both quite interesting and scenic...I'd recommend this tour if you think you've otherwise seen enough of Florence (even though I really can't ever get enough of Florence either)...

For Rome, we took the "Walk in Renaissance Rome" excursion..;.even though we've visited all of the sites included multiple times before...I can still never get enough of the Trevi and the Piazza NAvona...and, to me, it's not a visit to Rome without these...That tour--with 11 passengers in a mini-bus--was the best bargain of all of our excursions at $128 including lunch...But, if you want to see something completely new, there's plenty...Rome has so much to offer, you'd have to live there to avail yourself of all of it...but, you're probably going to have to hire a local guide/driver and figure out an itinerary with him...

As to Marseille, I suggest visiting Arles and Avignon and small towns of the Provence...

For Villefranche, in my book, none of the offered excursions really fit the bill for me...so I let my wife decide...She chose the Nice, Eze and Monte Carlo excursion... I've seen enough of Monte Carlo in the past, so it doesn't really thrill me...I'd prefer going the other way and visiting St. Paul de Vence... but, if you've never been to Monte Carlo, it is worth seeing.

Barcelona: This is start and stop, no? If so or even if not, skip the tours...Buy the AAA Spiral Guide-Barcelona...Visit the Sagrada Familia, Casa Battlo, Casa Mila and Park Guell...then stroll Las Ramblas...DO NOT do the ship's offered "Flamenco Excurusion"-- horrendous!

Naples: We did the ship's 10 hour "Capri-Sorrento-Pompeii" tour and I wholeheartedly recommend it--they had getting to all three down to clockwork (hard to do) and Pompeii and Capri are BOTH places not to miss...And I've heard of folks with private tour guides who couldn't arrange all three into the time alotted...Plus, most private guides are really drivers who can't by law give a guided tour of the ruins of Pompeii...our guide was excellent in explaining Pompeii...

Have fun...

Summit, July 3, 2004: Alaska: 13 night cruisetour