Excursion Ideas- Gem 9/02/09

[saileeney]

Ahoy!

 

My husband and I will be going on our first cruise in August to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary! We are very excited, especially about our itinerary. We start in Barcelona, then Valletta (Malta), Naples, Rome, Florence/Pisa, Cannes, and back home to Barcelona.

 

What would you do for shore excursions if you were us? We're both very active and don't mind alot of walking but we don't want to be too busy either. We want to be able to relax for part of the day and see all the important sights as well.

 

Also we don't want to spend tons of money, would it be crazy to try and do some of the sightseeing on our own? (neither of us has been to any of these cities before) I kind of like the idea of getting off the ship and just seeing what happens.

 

Thanks in advance for your advice! This is my first post, but I have been lurking since we booked and I have learned so much already.

 

~Aileen

[SallyUK]

hi saileeney,

 

Firstly, congratulations on your tenth wedding anniversary! There are plenty of us hereabouts booked on the earlier weeks of the same cruise as you and we're all excited and asking the same types of questions.

 

Good places to start? Well, daring's thread about being excited about the Med is a good start because most of the posters there are also doing the same cruise, but at different times across the Summer. See:

http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=964726

 

Also, check the roll calls board to see if there are any for your sailing yet. They tend to start slowly then build like crazy in the weeks before sailing. You'll probably find at least a couple of posters who are on the same time as you by now.

 

Then check the Europe boards for the Med. This is a great place to look up the different ports and work out what you want to do. Also, NCL has recently added some little film clips to their tours site, so even if you don't want to do ship tours, they give you a good idea of what to expect in a port and where you want to go.

 

Rome and Florence will be the most tiring ports for us as the actual ports are quite a way from the cities, however you should be able to plan pleasant, relaxing half-days in Malta and Cannes if that's what you like. That leaves Naples and there's all kinds of options there.

 

Have a great time, and enjoy the planning, that's an important part of the fun too!