Italy/Greek isle port adventures - advice needed

[sassy10299]

We are going on a 7 night cruise next summer on the fantasy leaving from Rome and hitting Naples chania Santorini Athens and Mykonos. There are so many port adventures to choose. Can anyone please share some recommendations? It will be me husband mother in law and 10yr old son. Thanks

 

[o&smom]

There are such a variety of choices, as you said. Can you give a little more info on things that may or may not be of interest to your son and MIL? We have been on multiple Disney cruises in the Mediterranean at different ages with our kids and have done a variety of things depending on their interests and ages.

 

[sassy10299]

Well my husband and MIL are Greek American and my late FIL grew up in Crete. So some of the Greek cultural stuff may not be on their list. Maybe the olive oil stuff but probably not anything on basic Greek life. Hope that makes sense. Archaeological or historical stuff as well as nature. Maybe snorkeling or scuba diving for all but MIL. My son and I have never been to Greece or Italy. Husband and MIL haven’t been in decades. So I’d like to get as much bank for our buck in adventures. Hope that helps. Maybe some advice on stuff NOT to do also. Thanks

 

[Calantha]

Jen Lefforge has some videos from the Med Cruise she and Adam Hattan took last year on her old channel (https://www.youtube.com/@JenLefforge).

We're going in 2025, and Pompeii is definitely on the agenda. Haven't figured out anything else yet (except maybe sailing in Crete).

 

[o&smom]

Well my husband and MIL are Greek American and my late FIL grew up in Crete. So some of the Greek cultural stuff may not be on their list. Maybe the olive oil stuff but probably not anything on basic Greek life. Hope that makes sense. Archaeological or historical stuff as well as nature. Maybe snorkeling or scuba diving for all but MIL. My son and I have never been to Greece or Italy. Husband and MIL haven’t been in decades. So I’d like to get as much bank for our buck in adventures. Hope that helps. Maybe some advice on stuff NOT to do also. Thanks

Thanks! Our first time in Naples we went to the Archeological museum and walked over a few blocks to have authentic pizza. We took a taxi back to the ship and took the port adventure adventure to Herculaneum. Our DS was 7 at the time and we felt that Pompeii would be too overwhelming. Last summer we did the port adventure that went to Pompeii, Sorento and a farm. We saw how to make mozzarella cheese and had some yummy snacks, including wine. This was an all day excursion, but DS was now 19 and DD was 13. It was intense, but a great day. Our cruise last summer stopped at Santorini. We did the excursion to Akrotiri. It was only a few hour excursion, so we had time to grab lunch in Fira and do a little shopping. We were there on a day with quite a few ships in port so the line for the gondola was over an hour! We had dinner reservations in Remy for that evening. It was beautiful in the caldera as the sun set. Our first time in Athens we did an excursion to all of the major stops and it included a stop to a museum with an archeological dig for kids. I think your son might be too old for this. We went to the Acropolis on our own last time, with a visit to the Acropolis museum just down the street. We had an amazing lunch in the restaurant that overlooks the Acropolis. There is a second entrance to the Acropolis just down from the museum. There was no line at this entrance. We also walked through the Plaka before taking a taxi back to the port. We absolutely LOVE Mykonos! Just so quaint and beautiful. Our first time there we just took the shuttle into town and walked around and grabbed lunch, did some shopping, and had gelato. There is a nice beach right next to the town. Lots of people were swimming, and we did not have our suits since we did not know about it. My husband and kids went swimming in their clothes! They were 7 and 3 at the time. I would have joined them if I had packed an extra bra. We purchased some towels at a little shop at the end of the beach, dried off, and took the shuttle back to the ship. Last summer we took the port adventure to Delos. It was very interesting and much larger than I expected. We then went back to Mykonos Town and grabbed lunch at one of the restaurants with the balconies over the water, did some shopping and grabbed gelato. We waded in the sea with no swimming this time. We thought the tour would take us back to the ship, so we could put on suits, but it dropped us off in Mykonos Town. We have tried to alternate longer days with shorter days on our cruise. Port intensive cruises are amazing, but can get overwhelming. We have tried to choose things that interest us, but also our children. Hope this helps. Ask any more questions you may have. Enjoy your amazing cruise!

 

[mousefan73]

I’ve been to Athens many times and I’m heading there next week for Virgin Voyages sailing. To be honest, you don’t need a port exclusion to do Athens at the port take the metro from Pireaus to either Monastiraki or Acropolis. You can book a Acropolis tickets on your own online and the historical part of Athens is so compact it’s easily walkable. Acropolis is up on a little hill and depending on the heat can be a challenge for some. Just walk around the “Plaka” area. Metro in Athens is modern clean and safe and super cheap.

I highly recommend the Acropolis Museum. It’s really interesting and it has a great outdoor café terrace. There’s reasonable and good sandwiches.

If you decide to see the sites on your own in Athens, make sure you go to the official website. It looks a little bit outdated like 1990 style, but you don’t pay any type of surcharge. If you Google your automatically see a lot of operating companies selling you the same ticket with an up charge you can order and reserve slots directly as an E ticket.

 

[mousefan73]

To be honest Naples itself as a city is slowly turning into a dump. There, I would consider investing money into an excursion either through DCL or privately to either drive among the Amalfi coast or Pompeii. We walked from the port to the train station, took a train to Pompeii, which was saving us tons of money, but to be honest, I’m glad my mother wasn’t with us. It was super hot in the train was so packed. You were literally butt butt with people sweating on top of gross. Coming back the train wasn’t to full and it was OK. On your own is doable, but it’s not as laid-back and easy as let’s say doing Athens on your own that is completely different and easy.

 

[auntlynne]

I saw this website/ blog recently. It may give you some ideas of what a family with kids has done in cruise ports (many while on DCL). Some of your ports should be covered.

https://travelbabbo.com/disney-cruise-port-stops-and-excursions-in-europe/

 

[pjacobi]

To be honest Naples itself as a city is slowly turning into a dump.

When I was there many years ago, this was literally true because garbage collectors were on strike and garbage was piling up on the sidewalks. Hopefully, this has been resolved.

Be extremely aware of pickpockets and scams in the Naples train station or other crowded areas. I don't think this has changed since my last visit.


-Paul

 

[vakamalua]

Keep in mind that ALL of these ports will be extremely HOT & HUMID!

 

[European]

Be extremely aware of pickpockets and scams in the Naples train station or other crowded areas. I don't think this has changed since my last visit.

Same goes for Athens. It felt very safe, but still 2 girls trying to sell flowers almost robbed me, even though I immediately showed I had no interest. Never had such a thing happen to me before, I am usually good at showing a ‘don’t mess with me’ & ‘leave me alone’ attitude

 

[auntlynne]

In the vein of @European, just treat everywhere as if Picket pockets are an issue. Posted signs or not. Just carry essentials in ports.

Make a photocopy of your passport in case you need to replace a stolen one (been there, done that). Keep it separate from original.

 

[jimmymc]

Either Pompeii or Herculaneum are great excursions from Naples. Herculaneum is like a smaller, more detailed version of Pompeii.

In Athens, I'd recommend doing a private tour to the Acropolis. It gets very crowded, and the earlier you can get there, the better.

Santorini and Mykonos are good places to get off and explore on your own. Just make sure you get to the cable car early in Santorini, unless you want to walk up and down the hill.

 

[brentm77]

@jimmymc's recommendations are spot on. But I would consider a private tour of the Amalfi coast in Naples too. You could combine it with Pompeii if you want to see both. The Amalfi coast is one of the few places on that cruise that I will go back to for an entire week when I get the chance. It is amazing.

The best tip for dealing with people hawking crap in most places is to not acknowledge them. It seems incredibly rude, but it is normal for locals and the best way to avoid being distracted from protecting your belongings, or getting pulled into a conversation you don't want to have. If you don't say a word to them and keep walking, they move on to the next person. Rick Steves recommends it in his guide books, and it works.

 

[vakamalua]

We have found two great ways to avoid vendors selling things you're not interested in:

--If on a private tour, tell your local guide what, if anything, that you are looking to buy & ask them to point out or take you to the best place to get it, Then, ask them to direct all other vendors away from you. Local to local works every time.

--In any case, learn the how to say "No Thank You" in the local language. Smile while saying it & keep walking.

And lastly, if you can afford a small trinket, consider it baksheesh in light of the expensive trip you are on.

 

[pjacobi]

Santorini sound like an exciting cruise stop, but a better experience would be to spend a few days on the island. Hide inside during the heat of the day when all the cruise ships are in town. In the evening, venture out and enjoy the empty town without all the crowds.


-Paul

 

[msmama]

We climbed Mount Vesuvius and then went to Pompeii in Naples. The whole trip was because I got it in my head I wanted to climb Mount Vesuvius while forgetting that I'm fat, and out of shape. It was brutal but I made it to the top!! Tip for anyone: Make sure you have a couple of Euros for a tip and use the offered walking sticks!

I could've spent days exploring Pompeii but we did hit a lot in the few hours we were there. Our guide was excellent but time wasn't on our side. If your ten year old knows anything about Pompeii or volcanoes I'd say it was a must do!

We did very long and intense excursions every day so we were pretty exhausted by the end of the cruise. Totally worth it though.