Ship Bus Shuttle in Med Ports?

[chrismch]

For those who has cruised the Med with HAL, which ports offer bus shuttles to town and their approx cost? Their cruise shore ex brochure does not show that at all. Our cruise has multiple stops in Spain, Portugal, Italy & Greeece as well as Monte Carlo. Don't want to list them all, but I'm sure other Med cruisers would love the info for their ports as well.

[jtl513]

For those who has cruised the Med with HAL, which ports offer bus shuttles to town and their approx cost? Their cruise shore ex brochure does not show that at all. Our cruise has multiple stops in Spain, Portugal, Italy & Greeece as well as Monte Carlo. Don't want to list them all, but I'm sure other Med cruisers would love the info for their ports as well.

I can't answer your question because we didn't take any shuttles in the Med, but I'm mainly posting to bump up your thread to top!! :) The HAL shuttles we took in the Baltic ranged from $3 to $5 each direction. I don't think you need any shuttle at all in some ports, like Monte Carlo, Naples, and Palermo.

 

Also, I suggest you read and/or post on the appropriate Ports of Call section of CC:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=5

[Fblack]

We took a number of shuttles on our last HAL cruise. Some were offered by the ship, some were provided by the cities. Some places had no shuttles, or they were very expensive. Marseilles was the only place we went that had a free shuttle. Livorno had a small fee. Athens had none. Monte Carlo had none. Rome only had a shuttle through the pier area. Barcelona had a shuttle. Tell us what stops you will make for more details.

[arlenez]

We took a number of shuttles on our last HAL cruise. Some were offered by the ship, some were provided by the cities. Some places had no shuttles, or they were very expensive. Marseilles was the only place we went that had a free shuttle. Livorno had a small fee. Athens had none. Monte Carlo had none. Rome only had a shuttle through the pier area. Barcelona had a shuttle. Tell us what stops you will make for more details.

 

Hi:

 

Where does the shuttle in Barcelona take you to?

 

Thanks,

Arlene

[HalfMoonHenry]

Hi:

 

Where does the shuttle in Barcelona take you to?

 

Thanks,

Arlene

The port has a bus that costs 4 Euros round trip last Spetember. It took you from the terminal to the end of the port near the statue of Columbus. You pick up the bus in the same place. They seem to run continuously. Just be sure you get on the right bus because there are a number of terminals and each bus goes to a different terminal.

It is a very long walk to the entrance to the port. The bus is a bargain.

[EGCruisers]

I have the same question for the ports we will be stopping in: Dubrovnik, Corfu, Santorini, Katakalon, Piraeus

[CoconutFish]

Santorini is tender to area where you can ascend to the town by walking up, riding a donkey or taking the cable car. No shuttles.

[Koshlong]

Hi! I'm interested in EGCruisers' ports, and Dubrovnik, Kusidasi, Messina, Palermo, Naples, Livorno, Tunis, Palma de Majorca???????

 

Thanks for any help!

[jtl513]

Hi! I'm interested in EGCruisers' ports, and Dubrovnik, Kusidasi, Messina, Palermo, Naples, Livorno, Tunis, Palma de Majorca???????

 

Thanks for any help!

In Palermo and Naples the dock is right "downtown" - no bus needed unless you're going to see any of the sights that the ports are most noted for. In Naples I would highly recommend HAL's Amalfi Coast excursion. I would suggest that you not just stay in the Livorno area unless you've been to Florence too many times already.

[Cruzin Terri]

Hi! I'm interested in EGCruisers' ports, and Dubrovnik, Kusidasi, Messina, Palermo, Naples, Livorno, Tunis, Palma de Majorca???????

 

Thanks for any help!

The ship docks outside of town in Dubrovnik. You can either take a city bus or the HAL bus ($15) to the center of the city. HAL bus runs continueously while the ship is in port..

Kusadasi--You are right in town but need transportation to Ephesus.

Messina--you are right in town. There is a trolly that runs to the train station right across the street from the pier. tickets are very chap.

 

Livorno--This is the only place where we took the HAL transfer to Florence. All my research indicated that it would waste a lot of time to get the bus to the center of the city and then take a taxi to the train station to get to Florence. The HAL transfer was $92 pp, but it saved a lot of time and the effort to get to the train station.

 

Can't help with the other ports.

Terri

[Jemima]

I wouldn't plan on shuttles just because they were available in a previous season.

[chrismch]

Thanks for the feedback on shuttles. I was interested in Monte Carlo to try to cut down on the deep uphill grades to get to the parts of the city I want to see. Too bad there's nothing in Athens - hope I can then figure out the train routing to the Acropolis.

 

Are there shuttles for Spain - Almeria & Cadiz?

Italy - Taormina (Sicily), Poroferraio(Elba)?

Greece - Navplion?

Turkey - Sinop?

Ukraine - Sevastopol?

[emp]

We were on the Noordam last year for the New York to Rome cruise. Others have talked about Livorno, but in Monte Carlo we were tendered to a pier, from there you could walk to the train station. There are elevators that take you up some of the hills. There were no shuttles, just buses for the shore excursion people.

 

In Cadiz, we docked right down town. It's a short walk to the central part of the city. There were no shuttles.

 

Hope that helps. Have a great cruise.

[chrismch]

Did you just walk into town in Cadiz? Any suggestions, hints for that port?

[emp]

We took a walking tour of Cadiz-it was a HA shore excursion. The guide was great and we enjoyed the tour. We then continued to walk around town, saw lots of fellow passengers (including our table mates), and then walked across the street back to the Noordam. It was a very friendly place and easy to get around. Hope you have a great cruise.

[chrismch]

For Cadiz, did you really need the ship's tour? Did they drive you to a farther part of town or did you just walk from the ship?

We were thinking of just doing on our own as from what I've read

 

"The most easy-going tour starts in the tourist office at Plaza Juan de Dios with the “Linea Carmesi” which is marked on the pavement and leads one around the most interesting places in the ancient quarter of the City (a distance of 2.5km)."

I have details on many of the historical buildings in the old town. I just wasted sure how far away that was from the port.

[OKCruzer]

Hi, on same TA on Prinsendam you are on. We were last in Cadiz Nov'07. Definitely doable on your own. From our veranda on ship we could see the HOHO bus stop so we did that first then wandered a lot on our own. Very interesting city. Problem when we were there--- it was a Sunday and most everything was closed. Anxious to the stop this time as it is a better day of the week.

[chrismch]

What were the do not miss items in Cadiz? Also, have you been to any of the other ports on this cruise and have any suggestions?

[OKCruzer]

There are only two repeat ports on this TA from our last on Prinsendam in '07. They are Monte Carlo and Cadiz. In Cadiz there is a lot really and walking is very good. There is a watch tower you can go up in with a camera obscura that is fantastic to see the whole area. The Cathedral is great and there is a long causeway leading to a castle. There are signs up that take you on a walking tour of part of the town. There are beautiful plazas and narrow pedestrian streets with lots of shops and churches. There is even Roman ruins (I think of an old Roman theater). We were there, like I said, on a Sunday so this meant a lot of things were closed so looking forward to a weekday visit this time. Reminder, most shops etc will be closed from about 1:30-4:30pm. Looking forward to meeting up with you on May 1. ---Sandy

[GeorgesGal]

Chris, Monte Carlo has public elevators and escalators which will take you from one level of the city to the next. I saw a list of locations somewhere, but I don't think it printed it out. Check out the Monaco web site??? Or the CC Ports section for Monaco. That might be where I saw it.

 

Donna

[chrismch]

I've read a lot of details on Monte Carlo and they all mention the elevators by the Aquarium and maybe by the Casino, but no one seems to mention where they are in relation to where the ships dock.

[emp]

Check your itinerary and make sure you are going to be docked at Monte Carlo. We were tendered in last year, and I'm not sure if that is always the case or not. Also, I'm not sure if you are tendered if they always use the same pier.

 

Last year, it was a fair walk from where the tender docked to where we first found the elevators--but we were there right before the Grand Prix race, and there were a lot of sidewalks that were shut for the race. As I remeber it, the ship gave us a small map of Monte Carlo and elevators were marked on it. Good luck.

[chrismch]

We'll be in Monte Carlo on May 19 - which I believe is also a few days before the races. Sidewalks and not just streets are blocked off? I guess I should try to get some info on the race course so I can figure out the detours.

[emp]

There were grandstands set up near the harbor, and they blocked some sidewalks. We were there on a Sunday morning, so there weren't a lot of cars out, which made walking easier. Don't know if a map of the course would be detailed enough to tell you where you could and coulnd't walk, but good luck.

[DrFUN]

 

Livorno--This is the only place where we took the HAL transfer to Florence. All my research indicated that it would waste a lot of time to get the bus to the center of the city and then take a taxi to the train station to get to Florence. The HAL transfer was $92 pp, but it saved a lot of time and the effort to get to the train station.

 

Terri

 

Dear Terri:

 

Can you tell me where the bus let you off in Florence and where you had to go to get it to return to the ship--and about how much time you had there on your own? We dock at 7 am and depart at 8 pm, so I'm hoping we'll have time to enjoy Florence again next week when we use HAL's transfer from our port stop at Livorno.

 

THANKS for any info,

Mary-Lou