Med Cruise -How Much Do You Really Get to See on Shore Excursions ?

[NJ Goofy]

We are thinking about a Med cruise next year. While we enjoy the ship, activities, etc. the main reason would be to see the Port cities in France and Italy, but with the ship's schedule do you actually have time to get a flavor for the cities ? Did you feel you had enough time to sight see ? I understand we're not going to get to see everything especially in a large city such as Rome, but did you feel you visited Europe ? Or were just on a ship passing it by ?

 

[cruiser21]

You don't get enough time in Rome, but the the other ports I would not want to be in more then a day especially Naples. I would choose a one way cruise from Barcelona to Rome or vice versa. Those are the two cities you want to spend a few days in. I believe those cruises stop in Milan which also looks like a nice port.

 

[ninergrl6]

I've never done a Disney Med cruise, but I did one on another cruise line several years ago. I definitely felt like I got a "flavor" for each city and tried to do shore excursions that included several stops. IMO cruising is a great way to see the highlights of Europe, much easier and more relaxing than repacking and changing locations every couple of days.

 

[Dug720]

I've never done a Disney Med cruise, but I did one on another cruise line several years ago. I definitely felt like I got a "flavor" for each city and tried to do shore excursions that included several stops. IMO cruising is a great way to see the highlights of Europe, much easier and more relaxing than repacking and changing locations every couple of days.

Agreed! I did a 12-night Med cruise on RCCL two summers ago and it gave me a taste of the places we went so I could see where I want to spend more time (Southern France, Rome, Venice) for a land-based vacation and where I am BTDT (Capri, Ravenna, Kotor) - all with only unpacking the bags once.

 

[aggiedog]

It also depends how you do your excursions. On our Baltic cruise, the 2 DCL excursions we did met maybe 90 minutes after we docked and then filed out to the busses to finally get going, and got back to the ship maybe 90 minutes before leaving. That left a good chunk of the port time sitting on the ship. We did 2 tours I arranged thru TripAdvisor that had us off the boat the minute the gangway opened and back to the boat an hour prior to departure (better to be safe than sorry.) We saw a lot more of the ports that way. On our Med cruise, we arranged all our own excursions. Like Dug says, some ports we now know where we'd like to go back, and others have checked that BTDT box.

Also, you could consider a few days on land before or after the cruise, so you get a bit of both worlds. We did 2 days in Iceland and 3 in Copenhagen before our Baltic cruise, and a week in France prior to our Med cruise. (Full disclosure, we were on MSC concierge for the Med because the price difference from non-concierge DCL allowed us the extra money to do the week in France and then some.)

 

[HakunaMatataNoWorries]

We are thinking about a Med cruise next year. While we enjoy the ship, activities, etc. the main reason would be to see the Port cities in France and Italy, but with the ship's schedule do you actually have time to get a flavor for the cities ? Did you feel you had enough time to sight see ? I understand we're not going to get to see everything especially in a large city such as Rome, but did you feel you visited Europe ? Or were just on a ship passing it by ?

Firstly DCL Vs Private, you can see a lot more in a private tour, on DCL with 55 on a coach, then 50% get a view of inside the bus. Then on breaks 55 are looking for restrooms and you waste good time queuing for restrooms not sightseeing.

I on all my cruises now have private tours. Hopefully not tour buses, but public buses in Rome are exploding re old age!

Secondly. Yes you get a glimpse, but you can decide to go back, we cruised to Barbados had a day there liked it so much, we went for a two week holiday.

Greece, we vacation in Greece all the time, but on DCL it was nice to call in Athens and Mykonos on a cruise as well.

You as said will not see everything but max your opportunities there on private tours.

St Petersburg is an example, there Private tours with say Anastasia travel st Petersburg is far better, we were off through border control met by the owner and on our tour before DCL port adventures had met in the WDT. Then they get the queue in immigration.

Then on a private tour, we all have a window, we go at our pace, no restrooms queues, we pack more in, eat with locals, and security is better in a local vehicle without signs saying Disney Cruise, small vehicles can get down smaller streets.

Then as we had two days one night, we stay out in the same vehicle not going to the ship, then changing to a new tour and back through unnecessary border control, and see so much more. Not 11 hours looking at the inside of a bus.

It also depends how you do your excursions. On our Baltic cruise, the 2 DCL excursions we did met maybe 90 minutes after we docked and then filed out to the busses to finally get going, and got back to the ship maybe 90 minutes before leaving. That left a good chunk of the port time sitting on the ship. We did 2 tours I arranged thru TripAdvisor that had us off the boat the minute the gangway opened and back to the boat an hour prior to departure (better to be safe than sorry.) We saw a lot more of the ports that way. On our Med cruise, we arranged all our own excursions. Like Dug says, some ports we now know where we'd like to go back, and others have checked that BTDT box.

Also, you could consider a few days on land before or after the cruise, so you get a bit of both worlds. We did 2 days in Iceland and 3 in Copenhagen before our Baltic cruise, and a week in France prior to our Med cruise. (Full disclosure, we were on MSC concierge for the Med because the price difference from non-concierge DCL allowed us the extra money to do the week in France and then some.)

Fully agree.

 

[FSU Girl]

It will depend on the excursions you choose to do. I did a Med cruise with a friend a few years ago on Royal Caribbean. We booked the long full day tours in almost every port. It was really exhausting, but we were able to see and do a lot. I'd been to most of the places before when I was 16 with my parents so it wasn't totally new to me, but my friend had never been and she really got a lot out of the trip. You can also do private excursions that are probably more customization, but I don't do those. When looking for my upcoming European cruise I read through the excursions offered and it made me choose one cruise line over another since most of the excursions were just driving around and not actually experiencing anything. My Med cruise was one of my favorites I'd highly recommend it to anyone.

 

[cadien]

You don't get enough time in Rome, but the the other ports I would not want to be in more then a day especially Naples. I would choose a one way cruise from Barcelona to Rome or vice versa. Those are the two cities you want to spend a few days in.

This is exactly what we're now looking at. Starting in Rome because we've already been to Barcelona, so we don't have to be as energetic when we get there. DH and I like land trips when we're on our own, but I figure the constraints of a cruise schedule will keep us from overloading our son.

 

[GPaLarry]

We did the 7-day Med. as the first part of a B2B WBTA a couple of years ago. While it was port intensive, it is your choice to make it that way. We used only DCL excursions for a number of reasons and wound up with fast passes and early entry for a number of venues. Perhaps outside vendors provide these as well. In any case, you will have to do the research, decide on the priority sites, and how much time you want to spend on excursions, if you do them at all. Rick Steves book and YouTube videos on cruise ports might help you decide where to put your limited time and $$. If you can get a few days in Barcelona pre or post cruise, do it (beware of pickpockets). Also, our stop in Monte Carlo was cancelled (tendering port & rough water), so we stopped in Marseilles the next day (formerly "at sea" day) instead. Went to Avignon and a winery...loved both. There is so much to see in Europe and so little time (cruise or otherwise). We have to save some for later.

 

[gotomu212]

We’ve done a few and my opinion only is that it’s a great way to get a taste for a city and you can really see a lot but in exchange you don’t enjoy the ship as much. We did very full 9-12 hour port days. We had a quick breakfast, late dinner, shower, and sleep on board. We did Disney because we felt comfortable leaving kids on board with them for some port days. If we didn’t have younger childcare needs I wouldn’t pay Disney’s premium prices for what we got out of the ship.

 

[Disneyfriend]

Your concern is what always held me back from doing a Mediterranean cruise (at least, the standard 7-day round trip out of Barcelona).

For us, especially as people who haven't been to the Mediterranean before, the new one way from Rome to Barcelona solves that problem very nicely. Of all the cities, Rome is the one that begs for more time than just a 6-7 hour shore excursion (since the port is two hours each way from Rome, and often involves heavy traffic). I love the idea of flying into Rome several days early, seeing the highlights over a few days, and adjusting to jet lag before we board the cruise. One day each in Naples, Florence, and Genoa will round out our introduction to Italy nicely, thought admittedly I wouldn't mind another full day in Florence. And then one day each in two different parts of France (the French Riviera *and* Provence) will give us a lovely introduction to the south of France. Plus, of course, we can stay in Barcelona for a day or two after the cruise and see the highlights of that beautiful city.

I looked and looked, and this was the best 7-day Mediterranean itinerary for us.

 

[NJ Goofy]

I wanted to thank everyone that responded to my original post, that is a lot of very useful information. We are considering the cruise in lieu of a land trip because my mother-in-law wants to do a family trip, but we don't think her health is good enough for a bus type trip with the long tour days and all the unpacking and packing. This way if she doesn't feel up to it she can just relax on the ship. I like the idea of private tours, so I'm going to do some research on those. See you on the ship !

 

[aggiedog]

I seriously recommend flying in at least a day early before embarkation. We've been delayed (by the airline) flying overseas twice, once for 8 hours, once for 24. Fortunately it was a land trip and so did not affect the rest of the trip.

You could easily stay in whatever city you start in, or near by, for a few days, adjust to the jet lag, see some of the sights, while your MIL doesn't have to pack/unpack but once more and can stay at the hotel if she wishes. There are so many options for hotels - nice "American" styles, small boutiques, fancy, or mom and pop. We stayed at an awesome B&B in Provence that my dh and kids could have easily stayed out and never ventured out into the countryside.

 

[anricat]

You don't get enough time in Rome, but the the other ports I would not want to be in more then a day especially Naples. I would choose a one way cruise from Barcelona to Rome or vice versa. Those are the two cities you want to spend a few days in. I believe those cruises stop in Milan which also looks like a nice port.

This is exactly why we chose the Barcelona->Rome cruise. Even though we've been to Rome before, it would still be a whirlwind to really do much in the city.

Our cruise does stop in Genoa and you can choose excursions in Milan. We have opted not to because Milan is quite a good deal away (around 2 hours assuming no traffic). Genoa itself looks like a gem and we've decided to take in some of the charming town from whence pesto and minestrone hail.

 

[Intr3pid]

If you were thinking of doing Europe only once in a single trip, it would be a concern. Most folks see Europe over time - in multiple visits. So, the idea would be to hit, say, Rome on the cruise and then return a few years later to do it again. Here are some thoughts to keep in mind:

1. There are 4 European itineraries that are best done on a cruise (at least once). (Everything else is generally better overland if sightseeing is the priority.) These would be Baltic, Norwegian Fjords, Adriatic Sea/Greek Isles, and the western med that includes Naples and possibly one of the islands.

2. If you are primarily doing French Riviera and Florence/Tuscany, you can take a better sightseeing trip overland along the coast from Barcelona. If doing Rome, you are on the fence. Naples and the Amalfi coast change the equation, however - as you are going further south, and the coastal drive between Florence and Naples is a lot less remarkable. Amalfi/Sorrento/Positano are amazing, but you have to drive quite a bit south for them. A med cruise also visiting Naples (and possibly Corsica, Malta, or Palma) all of a sudden becomes valuable.

3. If you are travelling with kids - and they aren't the history buffs - you may need to change up your sightseeing. There are only so many churches, ruins, and cathedrals they will want to see on any trip. Having a ship (and its kids club) will come in handy when you want to leave them behind on port days.

4. Disney will likely put a second ship in Europe once the new ships arrive. This should open up a lot more itineraries or dates and port combinations. You will want to return.

5. Summer traffic in some of the cities/ports is horrendous, which is where a cruise excursion may provide peace of mind if you are trying to fit in a lot.