All in one place: Please Post info from your DCL Med excursions HERE

[MJGirl]

Anyone have any comments about the Mysterious Palermo tour?? Thanks.

 

[calif disney 1]

Has anybody heard about the Olbia Jeep Safari....

 

[kugalbelle]

Has anybody heard about the Olbia Jeep Safari....

We've also booked the Olbia Jeep Tour - our DD chose it as it will be the day of her 21st Birthday.
Any reviews or comments would be appreciated.

 

[calif disney 1]

We've also booked the Olbia Jeep Tour - our DD chose it as it will be the day of her 21st Birthday.
Any reviews or comments would be appreciated.

When are your going, if you go before us, let us know how it is, and if we go before you I will do the same. Our trip is 07-07-

 

[RJAYL]

I will give a very brief update on the excursion my sister and I went on:

Naples: Mt. Vesuvius Hike and Pompeii: This one was a nightmare! The weather was ice cold and windy. When we got to the top of the outlook, they had closed the hiking path due to bad weather/winds. I completely understand that! The problem is they forced us to wait a full hour in the horrible weather before finally letting us go up..then they only gave us 40 minutes to go from the bottom to the top. We then got completely rushed through Pompeii (which was very cool) and had only about 10 minutes to shop/go to the bathroom before getting back to the port, I now wish I had just done a Pompeii tour. The Mt. Vesuvius hike itself was neat, but not worth the time waiting around.

Cool we have hired a driver for this port but will be doing this itinerary, Why did you have to wait to hike up Vesuvius and if you did not have to wait would it be worth it?

Marseille: Marseille City Tour: Short but pleasant tour...wish I had done the Soup tour instead. We saw the Notre Dame de La Guarda, stopped at a photo sport for the Chauteau D' Luf, and then had free time to shop at the outdoor market at the old port. They have lovely tablecloths and soaps here. make sure to save some room for these items in your luggage!

We have the little train tour planned for here, why would you switch to the soap tour?

Villefranche: Nice and Monaco: Best tour! We had free time to look around Nice and see the antique flea market...very cool! We then headed over to lunch at Eze. Lunch was good (not great) and a bit slow, but good. The bus tour then took us to Monaco where we walked over to the Prince's Palace and then had some free time to shop. Monaco is a lovely little country...reminds me a bit of a fairytale city...everything was so well groomed and clean! We then went over to the Monte Carlo, had ice cream at the Cafe de Paris and then had some free time. We only went into the Atrium of the Casino to avoid the 10 Euro charge. Lots of very impressive high end cars here and just an overall neat thing to see. Our tour got bcak about 30-40 minutes late but we felt it was worth it. By far our favorite port and excursion!
Any questions?? Just let me know!

Wow great review we had already booked this I love positive reviews they confirm your decisions!

 

[sunshine state kim]

We only booked 3 Disney excursions, but here's our thoughts

1) Palermo: Selinute & Marinella. Greek ruins were so interesting. Only problem was the lunch wasn't very American kid friendly. It was a beautiful spread of cheeses and pasta and fish. Wine was served and this was at a seaside restaurant. I spoke with the Disney person about the food as they may want to include pizza or sandwiches for kids in the future. Also the women's bathroom at the ruins was out of toilet paper. Bring some of your own.

2) Oblia: we were to go to the Madellena islands, but the excursion was cancelled due to sea conditions. We had a restful day instead which we really needed. For those of you on 10 night cruises, you may want to take a day or a 1/2 day off. We really needed the sea day after Rome.

3) Castellet & wine tasting in Marseilles. Very enjoyable. We started with shopping in Castellet, a beautiful village with very cute artsy shops. Then we drove to a winery and tasted 3 wines and 2 oilve oils.

For Rome, Naples, and Villefrance we took the trains ourselves and it went quite well. There was a taxi strike in Rome. We used the subway and the bus in Rome too with no problems. I speak almost no Italian.

For Florence we had a guide and went to Florence and Pisa. There just isn't enough time in port to see much with the long drive from the port. We booked our Pisa tickets online and were able to climb the tower.

 

[Ltl Mermaid]

MrsG: I just rechecked the Disney website and there isn't an excursion called "Monaco, Nice, and Eze". There is one called "Monaco, Monte Carlo, and Eze", which may be what you are thinking of. Please correct me if I am mistaken. The one we did was "Nice and Monaco" (which included stops in Nice, Eze, Monaco/Prince's palace Area, and the Monte Carlo Casino. The Excursion listed as "Monaco, Monte Carlo, and Eze" does not stop at Nice. I would recommend NOT skipping Nice at it was beautiful and we had a lot of free time to poke around the shops on our own. However, you do get more time in Monaco on the "Monaco, Monte Carlo, and Eze" tour, so i guess it just depends on where you want to spend your time. We really enjoyed seeing Nice and wouldn't have wanted to miss it.

RJAYL: Mt. Vesuvius would have been better if the weather hadn't been so bad. The weather was the reason they shut the hike down in the first place, so we were all stuck on the lookout point without even a bus to sit inside (the buses went down the hill and anyone who did go to the bus never made it back once the path opened up). Most people tried to crowd inside the little store/coffee shop and everyone was packed in there like sardines! That is how cold it was on the lookout point! When they finally did open up the path, it was SO cold and windy that the wind was literally blowing people across the path, others couldn't make the steep climb in such a short time, and others had gone to the buses and were never told that the path opened...very disorganized. The problem for me was my very mild case of "cold-air induced" asthma. It is so mild that I don't even carry an inhaler with me....the last time I had a problem was when I figure skated about 12 years ago, but the wind up on the path was SO cold that my lungs started hurting really badly. I think the long wait in the cold coupled by the bad weather made this trip a problem. That said: once we finally made it to the top we were glad we braved the elements...not everyone did make it all the way. The views were amazing and it was very cool to see the smoke/fumes rising from the crater. Unfortunately, with the long wait, we didn't even have enough time to really enjoy the views. Overall, with the wait and bad weather, it wasn't worth it to us as we sacrificed shopping and Pompeii time....but I would have thought differently if the weather had cooperated.

Regarding the Marseille Soup Tour, i had heard from many other people that it was a very fun trip, with time to sighsee, shop, and even see the main sights of Marseille...like many of the excrusions offered in Marseille. What made this special, or so I heard, was the soap factory itself. The tour there was done by someone who works at the factory and they really treat you like special/honored guests. It is very informative but also a lot of fun...according to the groups I talked to, even their children loved it! The factory you go to is one of the largest soap factories in France and is know all around the Provence Area for having some of the best quality soaps around. In fact, i saw soap from the factory in Marseille while I was shopping in Nice. Also, the prices for soaps are more reasonable at the factory, and they truly do make amazing gifts.

Trust me, you can't go wrong with the Nice and Monaco excursion...especially if you get Frank as your guide. He was the best guide we had all week!

Have a great time!

 

[Runnermom123]

Thanks for all of the great information!

For those of you who hired your own tour guide at Florence/Pisa, can you please tell us how long it took for you to get off the ship in the morning at La Spezia? Did they let all the Disney excursion people off first, and then you were able to get off the boat? We're trying to see how long to allow before we can actually meet with a private driver, or catch the train.

 

[figment52]

Trust me, you can't go wrong with the Nice and Monaco excursion...especially if you get Frank as your guide. He was the best guide we had all week!

Have a great time!

I didn't realize that we were on the same tour together. Franck was wonderful. A great balance of guided tour and free time. I totally agree about the great way to end the cruise.

 

[figment52]

We only booked 3 Disney excursions, but here's our thoughts


2) Oblia: we were to go to the Madellena islands, but the excursion was cancelled due to sea conditions. We had a restful day instead which we really needed. For those of you on 10 night cruises, you may want to take a day or a 1/2 day off. We really needed the sea day after Rome.



For Rome, Naples, and Villefrance we took the trains ourselves and it went quite well. There was a taxi strike in Rome. We used the subway and the bus in Rome too with no problems. I speak almost no Italian.

Olbia - I was on the morning trip to the Madellena islands and it was gorgeous there. I didn't think the seas were bad at all - I wonder why they cancelled your trip. The ice cream did not live up to the hipe though. Peter Gabriel has a home near there.

We also did Rome by ourselves. We took the train in to St. Peter's and with the help of our map saw everything we wanted to see and more. Rome was very easy to get around, even with the taxi strike (we arrived about 10 minutes before the big demonstration by the forum in the afternoon but it didn't interfere with our sightseeing.) We took the subway back to St. Peter's, visited the Bacsillica, saw the Pieta and caught the train back to port in plenty of time for dinner. Visit St. Peter's in the afternoon when the crowds are very small - basically a walk in (about 5-10 minute wait)

 

[JsMom2]

I have a question for the bus transportation in general. Are you allowed to leave personal items on the bus during the tours? I'm thinking we'll need to bring stuff do do on the long ride from the port. And if the bus will be secure, then I'll bring the portable DVD player for my DD.

Thanks!

 

[konslerg]

I have a question for the bus transportation in general. Are you allowed to leave personal items on the bus during the tours? I'm thinking we'll need to bring stuff do do on the long ride from the port. And if the bus will be secure, then I'll bring the portable DVD player for my DD.

Thanks!

We were able to leave items on the bus on our excursions, but I wouldn't leave anything of value like a DVD player. It would probably be OK, but I wouldn't be willing to take the chance.

Most of the time the buses are parked next to each other during your excursion with the front door open. There's no way the driver would know a person did or did not belong on a specific bus if they got back to it early to take a look-see at what might be sitting in the seats.

 

[konslerg]

First I should tell you that my husband and I are both 62 and we didn't have much desire to shop while in the ports, so the way we viewed the excursions may be quite different from those who were looking forward to shopping time in the cities.

Second, both walk and ride bicycles a bit, so the walking, stairs and steep walkways in some areas didn't bother us, but we saw lots and lots of people who were winded by some of the walks.

...and last, let me say that Disney had the shore excursions very well-organized at the ports, but in a number of instances, it was VERY difficult to keep up with the "city guide" with 50 people "following the leader" through some very crowded, narrow streets. This was especially true for us in Florence!! Also, try to be one of the first people to board your bus. A few of the seats have partially obstructed windows and you don't want to have to sit there.

Palermo & the Ballero Market (1/2 day excursion)
After a short bus tour through the city, we ended up at the main Cathedral in Palermo and heard lots (maybe too much?) about the legend of St. Rosalie, the patron saint of Palermo.

We then left the cathedral area and went to the Ballero market where we had about 30 minutes of free time. This is an OLD and very crowded market, and not necessarily a very pretty one. My husband and I enjoyed seeing it, but there was nothing there we would have considered buying and eating. The fruits and meats looked pretty good, but the fish was lying out unrefrigerated (and with flies!). Yuck.

If you want to see how cities looked a hundred years ago, then this is a great tour. We enjoyed it, but, given the choice again, would have done something else.

Naples & the Amalfi Coast
For this tour, we did no "do Disney." We shared a car and driver with someone else and did a 9 hour tour of the Amalfi Coast. (Carmine from Benvenuto Tours http://www.benvenutolimos.com/indice.asp) Let me tell you, this was one of the highlights of our whole trip. The Amalfi coast is just breathtaking and the little towns are totally charming. Our driver was top-notch, very knowledgeable and a VERY good driver (VERY important on those narrow roads!) Additionally, with the private driver, you had the opportunity to stop at "overlooks," could ask specific questions, had plenty of time to shop and wander around and were back to the ship in plenty of time. Private drivers are an expensive way to go, but in hindsight, I wish I'd have booked more excursions on my own.

Olbia - Costa Smerelda (and Porto Cervo) (1/2 day tour)
Contrary to what we thought when we did our research on this port, it turned out to be one of our favorite excursions. After a bus ride that showed us some of the most beautiful scenery/coastline we'd ever seen, we ended up in Porto Cervo, playground of the rich and famous (and VERY expensive!). We had almost an hour in the shopping area where we were treated to a wonderful gelato. We also went on a short (maybe 30 minutes?) train ride through the narrow residential areas of Porto Cervo. Lots of information about how Porto Cervo came into existence, the architecture (new, but made to look old) and a bit of gossip about what famous person stayed in which hotel when. For us, a delightful, relaxing morning.

Rome - Exclusive "Behind the Scenes" Tour of the Vatican
This was one of our "splurges" on the trip and for $600 per person we expected it to be spectacular ...and it was.

We got off to a slow start because the van assigned to this small group (12) didn't show up on time, so we were late getting started. Without going into too much detail, it ended up that we only had 2 1/2 hours of free (alone/unguided) time in Rome before we were to meet for our Vatican Tour ...and then one family returned to the meeting place 20 minutes late, so we were a bit late for the highlight Vatican Tour. Please Note: There is no lunch on this tour, so I assume most of the group just had lunch during part of their free time. However, since this was our first time in Rome, I had a walking itinerary planned out and we got to see most of what we wanted to see (although VERY quickly) despite the shortened time.

Once we arrived at the Vatican we were met by our guide Luigi (whose last name I don't remember) and began our tour. We had no wait and were ushered right past a number of long lines. In case the elements of the tour change, I really don't want to give a "play-by-play," but let me just say that you WILL see things others don't get to see ...spectacular things!

The only criticism I have of this tour is that we were not provided with "Whispers" (headsets/guide speaks into a microphone). I'm assuming because we were such a small group (12), the didn't feel it necessary, but it was needed. Because of the ambient noise, it was often hard to hear soft-spoken Luigi.

One thing you should know, for 20 years, Luigi supervised the restoration of the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel ...so, you will have a guide who really knows his history and his art.

Note that this tour had a LOT of quick-paced walking and some significant stairs; a few of our group were looking for seats anywhere they could find them even before we arrived at the Sistine Chapel.

La Spezia - Florence and Michaelangelo
Of all our tours, this was the most disappointing, probably more due to the timing than because of the tour content. We visited on a Saturday and on an Italian holiday as well. The crowds were THICK, the worst we saw all trip. The first place we went was to the Academie della Arts to see the statue of David. Preceding the viewing of the statue, our guide showed us other half-finished sculptures by Michaelangelo and explained a bit about his artistry. We viewed the "David," one other plaster cast gallery and then were out of there and on to our tour of Florence. During this tour in particular, it was extremely hard to follow the guide because of the crowds, but we did have the "Whispers" so we could easily hear what she was saying and new we were in close range to her.

We tried to go onto the Ponte Vecchio, but didn't get very far before the guide turned and said, "This just won't work!" (due to the crowds) and we turned around and went another way.

Lunch was provided and it was wonderful (I'll let you be surprised as to the location!). The location was pure Florence ...and don't be afraid to ask for an additional bottle of wine. Our table of 5 went through three bottles ;-)

This also was the only city where our guide got upset about the pick-pockets. Twice while we were in large crowds, she screamed at some young men, telling them to go away ...and then told us they were up to no good and to closely hold on to our handbags and watch our pockets.

We had just a few minutes of free time before our bus ride back to La Spezia. (Great time for a nap! We'd seen the scenery on the way in!)

Also, our bus ride was only about 2 hours, not 2 1/2 as reported.

Marseille- Chateau Neuf du Pape and Avignon
This was one of our most enjoyable tours! The Provence region was beautiful and I fell in love with Avignon. The tour began with a bus ride through the beautiful Provencal countryside and then stopped at La Bouachon Winery for a brief tour of the winery, a short lesson (translated by our guide) from the wine maker and then a tasting of their wines (delicious! ...but very small pourings!). After a bit of time to shop, we proceeded on to Avignon and lunch (another leisurely one) at a delightful cafe. We were seated outside in the courtyard and it was delightful for all EXCEPT those few guests who ended up sitting in the sun for the whole meal. So, choose your seats carefully.

After lunch we went to see the Papal Palace and were then given a choice of following our guide into the gardens (LOTS of stone stars!!!) or time on our own to explore. We chose the gardens, but still had time left over to explore a bit later. The city square at Avignon is exactly what you think a small French village's square would be like with outside tables at the cafes, even an outdoor chorale performance by a local group. Just charming!

Villafranche - Monaco, Monte Carlo and Eze
I think we saved the best for last! This was a wonderful tour. We started out with a short bus tour of Monaco and our guide pointed out parts of the Grand Prix stands and barriers that were still there from the race a week before. They were being removed, even as we toured ;-) Our excursion included a audio-tape tour of some of the public rooms of the Royal Palace. Once we learned how to fast-forward the tape, it was OK, but unless you have a great desire to see the inside of the palace, personally I think you could skip that part of the tour and explore the surrounding areas and scenery more.

From there we went to Monte Carlo for lunch at the famous Cafe de Paris. Again, a leisurely, delightful lunch al fresco, so make sure you pick a shady seat! Our excursion included entrance to the Grand Casio and we went in to visit, not to gamble ;-) Note that you must have long pants to enter the casino and you are not allowed to carry any large handbags, totes or backpacks, on no visible cameras! There is a bag check right as you go in the door for items which you are not allowed to carry into the casino.

From Monte Carlo, we went to Eze, the little Medieval village built up on top of a hill ...totally charming! Of all the things we saw, I think we enjoyed our hour or so in Eze as much as anything else. Just be forewarned ...LOTS and LOTS of hill climbing and stairs!

In conclusion, let me emphasize how much walking, stairs, hill climbing, etc. there is on many of the excursions. If you ordinarily don't exercise or do a lot of physical things, many of the excursions will really tire you out. For those with creaky hips and knees (like me!) sometimes just getting off and on the bus was a challenge ;-)

Also, for the most part, we had absolutely beautiful weather ...a sprinkle here and there one day, but for the most part it was sunny and cool (low 70's), very unusual temps according to our guides. So, for those of you going when the temps are higher, I think the walking and the stairs/hills are going to be more of a challenge. Be sure to carry water with you.

Rest rooms were not a problem for us, but then we consciously limited our morning liquids so we wouldn't need to use the facilities any more than necessary. On all the tours, we were told where the facilities were and we found them adequate ...but the lines (especially for the ladies rooms) were long and the time allotted was short.

Also, on all our tours, we were offered a bottle of water and a snack (delicious crackers!) on the ride back to the ship.

Hope these brief tour descriptions have helped. You're going to have a wonderful cruise! ...and be sure to get a gelato wherever you can! It's delicious and wonderfully refreshing.

 

[MrsG]

Lil Mermaid,

You were correct. The one we signed up for included Monoco, not Nice. Thanks for the review, though. It seems like Disney has this port working like a charm.

Maryann

 

[RJAYL]

MrsG: I just rechecked the Disney website and there isn't an excursion called "Monaco, Nice, and Eze". There is one called "Monaco, Monte Carlo, and Eze", which may be what you are thinking of. Please correct me if I am mistaken. The one we did was "Nice and Monaco" (which included stops in Nice, Eze, Monaco/Prince's palace Area, and the Monte Carlo Casino. The Excursion listed as "Monaco, Monte Carlo, and Eze" does not stop at Nice. I would recommend NOT skipping Nice at it was beautiful and we had a lot of free time to poke around the shops on our own. However, you do get more time in Monaco on the "Monaco, Monte Carlo, and Eze" tour, so i guess it just depends on where you want to spend your time. We really enjoyed seeing Nice and wouldn't have wanted to miss it.

RJAYL: Mt. Vesuvius would have been better if the weather hadn't been so bad. The weather was the reason they shut the hike down in the first place, so we were all stuck on the lookout point without even a bus to sit inside (the buses went down the hill and anyone who did go to the bus never made it back once the path opened up). Most people tried to crowd inside the little store/coffee shop and everyone was packed in there like sardines! That is how cold it was on the lookout point! When they finally did open up the path, it was SO cold and windy that the wind was literally blowing people across the path, others couldn't make the steep climb in such a short time, and others had gone to the buses and were never told that the path opened...very disorganized. The problem for me was my very mild case of "cold-air induced" asthma. It is so mild that I don't even carry an inhaler with me....the last time I had a problem was when I figure skated about 12 years ago, but the wind up on the path was SO cold that my lungs started hurting really badly. I think the long wait in the cold coupled by the bad weather made this trip a problem. That said: once we finally made it to the top we were glad we braved the elements...not everyone did make it all the way. The views were amazing and it was very cool to see the smoke/fumes rising from the crater. Unfortunately, with the long wait, we didn't even have enough time to really enjoy the views. Overall, with the wait and bad weather, it wasn't worth it to us as we sacrificed shopping and Pompeii time....but I would have thought differently if the weather had cooperated.

Regarding the Marseille Soup Tour, i had heard from many other people that it was a very fun trip, with time to sighsee, shop, and even see the main sights of Marseille...like many of the excrusions offered in Marseille. What made this special, or so I heard, was the soap factory itself. The tour there was done by someone who works at the factory and they really treat you like special/honored guests. It is very informative but also a lot of fun...according to the groups I talked to, even their children loved it! The factory you go to is one of the largest soap factories in France and is know all around the Provence Area for having some of the best quality soaps around. In fact, i saw soap from the factory in Marseille while I was shopping in Nice. Also, the prices for soaps are more reasonable at the factory, and they truly do make amazing gifts.

Trust me, you can't go wrong with the Nice and Monaco excursion...especially if you get Frank as your guide. He was the best guide we had all week!

Have a great time!

Thank you for the feedback I am thinking about switching Marseille excurion from little train to Soap factory. (Just a quick edit post, I did switch to this tour!)

 

[AnnaS]

My first time on this thread.

I am now having doubts about the Florence Pisa excursion I have booked.

I am going to do a quick exploring of private or another DCL one.

 

[AnnaS]

I forgot to ask -

If I want to do a different excursion - don't I have to cancel first? We have two cabins, five people. How will I know first if there are spots available in a different excursion?

Has anyone done this?

Not sure if I should keep it and hope for improvements. Has anyone done the VIP Pisa one?

Thank you all so much.

 

[vegs1]

We only booked 3 Disney excursions, but here's our thoughts

1) Palermo: Selinute & Marinella. Greek ruins were so interesting. Only problem was the lunch wasn't very American kid friendly. It was a beautiful spread of cheeses and pasta and fish. Wine was served and this was at a seaside restaurant. I spoke with the Disney person about the food as they may want to include pizza or sandwiches for kids in the future. Also the women's bathroom at the ruins was out of toilet paper. Bring some of your own.

2) Oblia: we were to go to the Madellena islands, but the excursion was cancelled due to sea conditions. We had a restful day instead which we really needed. For those of you on 10 night cruises, you may want to take a day or a 1/2 day off. We really needed the sea day after Rome.

3) Castellet & wine tasting in Marseilles. Very enjoyable. We started with shopping in Castellet, a beautiful village with very cute artsy shops. Then we drove to a winery and tasted 3 wines and 2 oilve oils.

For Rome, Naples, and Villefrance we took the trains ourselves and it went quite well. There was a taxi strike in Rome. We used the subway and the bus in Rome too with no problems. I speak almost no Italian.

For Florence we had a guide and went to Florence and Pisa. There just isn't enough time in port to see much with the long drive from the port. We booked our Pisa tickets online and were able to climb the tower.

For the Pisa trip...you climbed the tour. How did that go? We are wondering what the difficulty would be as we have one person quite out of shape and also a 9 year old that we thought it may be too difficult for if you must keep up to a guide. Any thoughts?

 

[CubCatsK&D]

We got back Thursday night and are still unpacking, doing laundry, sleeping ... we might have more to contribute later when our brains are back up to full speed, but some brief thoughts to answer some questions floating about:

Someone asked about the Jeep tour. We did not do this, but 2 of our dinner companions did, and they really spoke highly of it--they had a great time and said while it was certainly offroad it was not SO rough as to be uncomfortable. They really enjoyed what they did/saw (and they were critical of some of their other tours, so when they say they liked something, I think they really did). I believe they said they traveled in Toyota Landrovers, which are more comfortable than an actual Jeep would be.

Don't underestimate Sardinia! I wasn't sure what to expect, because the place doesn't get the hype that Rome, Florence, the French Riviera, etc. do. But it is BEAUTIFUL! And the people are friendly and very happy that we're on their itinerary. We had a welcome that morning from the Olbians with a band, dancers, and a big tent with wine, cheeses, and other goodies on the pier. We did an excursion that included a scenic tour of the coastline and a trip to Madellena Island, and it was GREAT! An earlier poster said their Madellena Island portion got cancelled, but ours was not. (We were on the morning tour; this one is offered twice, morning and early afternoon.)

Rome: None of the DCL excursions quite did what we were looking for, so we did it on our own, which was pretty easy, and a whole lot cheaper. We had more time in Rome than the "Rome on your own" excursion too. We took the train from Civitavecchia with a bunch of other DISers, got off at St. Peter's, and then went about our plan. The taxi drivers were on strike, which messed with our plans some (more on that later), so we just walked more, and that was okay from our perspective; I like walking around a place, taking the side streets, picking up the real feel of a place. Just have a good map. We walked to Castel St Angelo, Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, and the Trevi Fountain before backtracking to Vatican City for a guided tour I had arranged independently, beacuse I thought a guided tour there would really be a benefit, and it was. We had an OUTSTANDING guide from Icon Tours (icontours.com) and had a truly memorable, informative, enjoyable 3 1/2 hour or so tour. (Tour plus admissions was 43 euro per person.)

After that we had planned to taxi over to the Colosseum etc., but with that not an option, we asked our guide how to get there by bus. No problem, take the #40 she said, and pick it up right at the end of Vatican City. So we got our tickets, and waited, and waited ... nearly 40 minutes for that blasted bus. By this time there are probably 75 people waiting for that bus, and of course we all cram on! I live in Chicago, and this was worse than any post-Cubs game ride on a crammed Red Line train! Unbelievable! Then the bus driver decides, between his crammed bus and the insane traffic around the Colosseum, that he's not going to make all his stops. We saw the Coloseum--from the bus on our way right past it! When we got off some blocks past it, we could have backtracked to it, but honestly, we were tired and decided to just head to the Termimi train station, just a few blocks away, and catch a train back to Civitavecchia. (The #40, FYI, that you can catch by Vatican City eventually ends up at Termini.) Though disappointed about not really seeing the Coloseum and the other sights nearby, we've been laughing about having an authentic Roman experience--random strikes, crammed buses, and random changes to the bus routes. HA!

We also decided not to go into Florence because it would have been SO much time on the bus and a very long day. So we did the Cinque Terre tour and REALLY enjoyed ourselves, despite the cool and kinda rainy weather. Very scenic! And slower-paced, relaxing even! and some good shopping in the villages we got off in for things like wine and olive oil, and of course touristy stuff.

At Villefrance, we took the Nice train tour and enjoyed that, though we thought we could have used more free time. In the afternoon, we took the train over to Monaco and did that on our own too. Monaco is VERY easy to do on your own. The train station in Villefrance is a little hidden, but if you want to do this, just take a right off the pier after tendering and follow the shore around almost to the beach. Just past a restaurant with an orangy awning called "Carpaccio" are the stairs up to the station.

A mix of DCL excursions and on-our-won worked well for us, and frankly, it was nice to not always be part of a "herd" following around the mousear paddles. If you're a little adventurous and confident about finding your own way, I recommend it.

 

[miclen]

Just noticed on the DCL website that they are offering a new excurison in several of the ports (Florence, Rome, Villefrache) that allows you to have a priavte car and driver/guide. You need to email a form to request a quote. Has anyone gotten a quote yet? I am curious as to how the price compares with other private tour companies.