Mediterranean in May--how many shores excursions?

[snackyx]

I know this is subjective, but how many shore excursions do experienced cruisers suggest? We are on the Magic in May for the Med. cruise and shore excursion bookings open today. We have two adults and three older teenagers and are curious what ports are recommended with a planned shore excursion and what ports we can just bum around ourselves. The cost of a shore excusion for five for every port could get expensive fast. Rome is a must, but how about the other ports...any suggestions? Are there some ports where there are small towns/shops close by without taking a full excursion?

 

[jlwhitney]

From some CM...villefrance, France is a must do we have beed told

I am going in May also and wouldn't want to miss any of the italian ports...

Tunis is one I could skip (doing an excursion but wouldn't care i missed it)

DH and I are going a DCL excursion at every port and ended up just under 2000 (included about 850 in OBC and visa disney rewards dollars). I can see a family of 5 would be bad.

Look into some private excursions since with 5 they may be more cost effective and you would see a ton..

Search for other threads that talk about the private trips there are a ton of posts out there about it.

 

[jel0511]

I'm not an experience Med cruiser, going myself for this first time in Aug. We're a family of 4 (kids will be 12 and 9) and this is what we have planned.

Malta: Dh and I are going to venture out on our own, and let kids relax in clubs then do a spa appt in the afternoon.
Tunisa: DCL excursion
Naples: DCL excursion
Cittavechia: Private excursion to Rome
La Speiza: Private excursion to Florence and Pisa
Corsica: DCL excursion
Villefranche: DCL excursion

 

[wrennies]

We are also a family of 5 going in May (26). We are only doing one DCL excursion (Malta - Turkish Schnoner - spelling???). I did alot of research and we decided the following:

Tunis - Beach on our own ( not going to pay $42 each for 2 1/2 hrs. at the beach)
Naples - Private excursion to Pompeii and Mt. ves. for 300 euros.
Rome - take the train in and then do a Hop-on, Hop-off Tour for 23 euros each.
LaSpezia - We are doing the Cinque Terre on our own.
Corsica - Beach day on our own
Villefranche - Tour historic village on foot and then beach on our own.

The cost of the DCL excursions would have priced us out of this trip. I did a lot of research and feel that this will be a good balance between culture, cost and fun.

 

[jlwhitney]

Do you have a link for the hop on and hop off tour for rome...i am trying to find a way to see more than we would in any of DCL's excursions

 

[wrennies]

http://www.grayline.com/Grayline/destinations/europe/rome.go?mode=activityDetail&apid=1452&sid=485&

It is the gray line. I talked to alot of people that have done gray line tours in other cities. All good reviews.

We felt that with so little time, we would try to "see" alot rather than focus on any one area of Rome.

Also, AAA gets 10% discount.

 

[sayhello]

Hey, snackyx, from your description (May Med cruise with shore excursions opening up today) it sounds like you're on the May 15th cruise? If you are, come on over and join our Meet thread. A lot of folks discussing excursions, and some people setting up private excursions. There's a lot of info & friendly folks over there.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2206751

Sayhello

 

[jlwhitney]

For the Gray line tours, how do you get from the train station (which stops) to the first bus stop (or office to get tickets or exchange the voucher)

 

[stingmom]

We are also a family of 5 going in May (26). We are only doing one DCL excursion (Malta - Turkish Schnoner - spelling???). I did alot of research and we decided the following:

Naples - Private excursion to Pompeii and Mt. ves. for 300 euros.

which company are you using for this rate? can u please pm it to me? thanks!

 

[Twinparents]

We were on the 7/7/07 Med cruise with our kids ages 10,10 and 5 at the time. We did Villefranche and Florence on our own and had no problems at all. In Villefranche we took the City bus to Eze and did a tour of the perfume factory at no cost versus the Disney excursion and had a great time. In Florence, we got tickets to the David on-line and had no wait. You walk right past the Doumo to get to the David but we spent our extra time shopping instead.

While the excursions were great it is nice to have a break from sitting in a bus with a bunch of other people.

 

[sinnika]

We were on the 7/7/07 Med cruise with our kids ages 10,10 and 5 at the time. We did Villefranche and Florence on our own and had no problems at all. In Villefranche we took the City bus to Eze and did a tour of the perfume factory at no cost versus the Disney excursion and had a great time. In Florence, we got tickets to the David on-line and had no wait. You walk right past the Doumo to get to the David but we spent our extra time shopping instead.

While the excursions were great it is nice to have a break from sitting in a bus with a bunch of other people.

Were you able to make your own perfume at the factory? I would love to do Eze on our own but would like the opportunity to make our own perfume.

 

[Twinparents]

We were not able to make our own perfume. We did hear from people who did the Disney excursion and they said that 5-6 people were in a group and you only got to make one perfume for the group so and my husband didn't want to make a woman's perfume. When we priced out the Disney excursion to make our own perfume it was going to be $550 so we decided to not do it. When we got on the boat the "shopping lady" told everybody that you could do the perfume tour for free and it was about a $2 bus ride to get there.

After the tour, our tour guide let us try and smell all different kinds of perfume and colonge. We let each kid pick out their own perfume/cologne and we only spent $80 total for six small bottles of perfume as they had a special mix and match kit. My son got the cologne that David Beckham had worn so he thought it was pretty cool. We then went to the bakery/store next door and ate baguettes while sitting on the side of the street waiting for the bus.

I would have to say that the trip to the perfume factory in Eze was one of our favorite days and we spent the least amount of money. If you really want to make your own perfume I remember them selling "kits" where you could make your own perfume.

 

[sinnika]

We were not able to make our own perfume. We did hear from people who did the Disney excursion and they said that 5-6 people were in a group and you only got to make one perfume for the group so and my husband didn't want to make a woman's perfume. When we priced out the Disney excursion to make our own perfume it was going to be $550 so we decided to not do it. When we got on the boat the "shopping lady" told everybody that you could do the perfume tour for free and it was about a $2 bus ride to get there.

After the tour, our tour guide let us try and smell all different kinds of perfume and colonge. We let each kid pick out their own perfume/cologne and we only spent $80 total for six small bottles of perfume as they had a special mix and match kit. My son got the cologne that David Beckham had worn so he thought it was pretty cool. We then went to the bakery/store next door and ate baguettes while sitting on the side of the street waiting for the bus.

I would have to say that the trip to the perfume factory in Eze was one of our favorite days and we spent the least amount of money. If you really want to make your own perfume I remember them selling "kits" where you could make your own perfume.

Thanks for the reply. We are planning Monaco in the morning on our own and hate to travel back to the ship to join the afternoon DCL Eze tour so getting a kit would be a good option. Also glad to know they have men's colognes. DS loves his colognes too so that will be cool!

 

[Subrbnmommy]

We're a family of 3 with extended family on the trip making us a group of 9.
In Malta, we're thinking of taking the family walking tour - I believe it's $49/pp.
In Tunisia my DH and my DDad are taking a short excursion ($39/pp I think).
In Rome we're definitely taking a DCL excursion but I haven't figured out which one yet. As for Naples, we're going to take the ferry to Capri on our own.
La Spezia- I haven't figured it out yet. Florence is so far (2.5hrs of driving x2). Five hours of driving for a 3- 4 hour tour seems long and expensive. I'd love to go to Pisa but my DD is only 6 and you have to be 8 to climb the tower and I figure why go all the way there and not climb.
Corsica and VilleFranche we'll visit on our own.

The cruise costs sure are adding up fast though!

 

[momtomari]

this is a great thread. im trying to decide if i want to take the may 26th. its me and my dd7 at the time and the dcl excursions sure do add up.

 

[Dicecatt]

I have debated on DCL versus private versus no tour, and decided between a mix of DCL and private...the only touring we are doing on our own is the day in Barcelona. We are 2 adults, traveling with 2 other adults, and we found tour mates on the disboards. Having been on another major trip with a language barrier, I don't want to try to do it on our own...it just isn't worth the stress for me, although kudos to anyone who is doing it on their own

Here is my plan (for the April 24 sailing)

Barcelona: day before cruise, hop on/off bus tour
Malta: Blue Grotto with DCL
Tunis: Carthage and Medina with DCL
Naples: Private tour with 8 people, 550 Euro, another 100 for guide at Pompeii
Rome: Private tour with 8 people, 600 Euro with private guide at Vatican
La Spezia: Private tour with 8 people, 700 Euro (Florence)
Corsica: Les Calanches tour with DCL
Villefranche: Private Tour with 8 people, 600 Euro

Adding other people made the private tours cheaper than the DCL excursions, with a lot more to see and less of a herd tour.

I really debated, because one thing I liked about going with DCL excursions was the priority tender when applicable...but decided that the better tour was more valuable to me. I researched guides extensively before choosing...For Rome, we joined a tour formed by another Dis'er, but the others I formed, and it was hard to choose! I am very happy with our decisions though.

Happy planning!

 

[lmhall2000]

I know this is subjective, but how many shore excursions do experienced cruisers suggest?

Hey! I have tried to copy/paste a lot of information from previous cruisers at those ports (on trip reports scroll down to Madly Making Memories....) all the port information will be on the first 10 posts so you don't need to look through all pages....here is what we decided (our kids are 11, 12, 14)

1. Naples (the only port I'm paying for a guide, he's driving us to Amalfi coast, Sorrento and Pompeii)..I just don't think it's easily navigatable on our own with public transport and I really don't want to rent a car. The cost for 7 of us is 600 euros...some are as low as 300 euros. I also hired a private guide for Pompeii at 100 euros.

2. Rome...doing it on our own, catching train just 2 blocks from port, heading to Vatican (1 hour 20 minutes) spending morning there then heading over by bus (buying the 9 euro ticket BIRG that covers train/subway/bus) to Coliseum/Trevi Fountain and heading back by train to port.

3. Villefranche, probably taking train over to Eze and St. Paul de Vence...just wanting to head away from Monte Carlo since the Grand Prix is the weekend we're there.

4. Corsica...walking into town and enjoying the day

5. Malta....same thing

6. Tunisia...might take a cab to a nice beach for the day.

7. La Spezia...taking trains to the Cinque Terra areas, we like hiking and it looks like a lot of fun!

HTH!!
Tara