Med Excursion: Monaco Monte Carlo and Eze

[bbagnall]

Has anyone done this excursion or does anyone know where I can find some recent reviews???

Thanks!

 

[anricat]

I'm almost certain I read a trip report when I was planning our Med cruise that had a detailed description of their day on this one. I would pop over to the trip report section and maybe search for Eze and/or Monoco over there?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Has anyone done this excursion or does anyone know where I can find some recent reviews???

Thanks!

We did it many years ago. I enjoyed it.

 

[AngelDisney]

We did this in 2013 and enjoyed it. DD was a minor at that time. We didn’t visit the Casino but walked to the Monte Carlo Fairmont Hotel and enjoyed dessert at the roof top restaurant with gorgeous view of the marina. We should have done the dessert buffet instead. It’s a fun day!

 

[angelinaxox]

I did this tour. It was the third time I visited Monaco so I thought visiting Eze would be a little different. However, I thought Eze was a waste of time and would have preferred just Monte Carlo.

I don't know if this is how other tours worked with this town or if it was just ours. We arrived there and followed our guide walking at a quick pace to the top of the town. We arrived at a certain spot at the top, which was crowded. We waited to look out, took a few pictures and we were told we would meet up at the bottom of the town. My husband and I both looked at each other surprised this was all our tour was in this town.

Granted, we have visited a lot of towns in Europe, but we didn't understand what the big deal was about Eze. It appeared others on our tour didn't as well as most of us ended up heading straight down and were waiting for the bus.

 

[JARNJ3]

I did this tour. It was the third time I visited Monaco so I thought visiting Eze would be a little different. However, I thought Eze was a waste of time and would have preferred just Monte Carlo.

I don't know if this is how other tours worked with this town or if it was just ours. We arrived there and followed our guide walking at a quick pace to the top of the town. We arrived at a certain spot at the top, which was crowded. We waited to look out, took a few pictures and we were told we would meet up at the bottom of the town. My husband and I both looked at each other surprised this was all our tour was in this town.

Granted, we have visited a lot of towns in Europe, but we didn't understand what the big deal was about Eze. It appeared others on our tour didn't as well as most of us ended up heading straight down and were waiting for the bus.

This seems to be similar to most of the feedback about this particular tour I've seen.

I am going to steer away from this excursion and choose another.

Any recommendations?

 

[chrisrunty]

Eze is amazing!!

 

[GPaLarry]

Won't happen often, but when we did the DCL Med. cruise, Monte Carlo, a tendering port, was too rough to dock so we got an "at sea" day instead and docked the next day at Marcelles (an "at sea" day). The captain called the landing off, got permission to dock in France the next day, pulled a dozen excursions together and got the word out to all of us in about three hours. We took an excursion to Avignon and a winery which was awesome. Cruise on...

 

[CalifornianOrangeBird]

Has anyone done this excursion or does anyone know where I can find some recent reviews???

Thanks!

Our family did the adult only departure for this excursion in 2016. It was enjoyable! Monaco was probably my least favorite part of the excursion, but seeing the prince's palace and Saint Nicholas's Cathedral were still both pretty cool. Monte Carlo was fun. We got to see the hairpin turn and Monte Carlo casino. While you can't go into the Monte Carlo casino during the day, we were able to go into a casino about 20 feet away from the big one. So... we got to say we gambled at Monte Carlo! lol

I think Eze is either a love it or hate it experience. Personally, it was my favorite part of the excursion. The cobblestone walkways, the design of the village etched out of the side of a cliff, and such bizarre sightings as the cave at the very top made me think of an era gone by, and really sparked my imagination and inspiration. Plus I thought the view was gorgeous! We had lunch at the base of Eze, walked up the village with the guided tour part, and had a short amount of time to explore on our own before returning to the bus. I thought the time we had was more than enough, as Eze is fairly small, though the hike up is pretty steep, so plan for that!

So, yeah. Your mileage may vary, I guess!

 

[anjuan]

I went on a tour last year that included Eze. It was my favorite part of the day. I loved the cobblestone and buildings, the view at the top, and the cute shops along the way. People should note that it is a steep climb. I took some amazing pictures of my daughter along the way with the buildings as backdrops.

 

[bbagnall]

Thanks for everyone's feedback. I'm going to book this one! Every other day we have decided to do a non-DCL excursion, but with this being a tender port I think the Disney will be best.

 

[tlprice]

We went to Monaco on our own on our DCL cruise last summer. It was one of the places I was really excited to see. It was my absolute least favorite place on our entire Med. cruise. I can say I've been there, but I don't think I would ever bother going back. Our ship was in Villefranche that day and I wish we had just stayed there. It was a super cute town and had a little beach.

 

[bbagnall]

I heard there were rules for going into the casino??? Is there a dress code? I know the church in Monaco has a dress code.

 

[JARNJ3]

We were thinking of doing this one also. I wish there was a place just for excursion reviews.

Hard to know which ones to choose!

 

[Chirple]

I heard there were rules for going into the casino??? Is there a dress code? I know the church in Monaco has a dress code.

We did the excursion described in the title of this thread back in 2014. My husband was wearing a t-shirt, and they would not even allow him in the lobby of the casino; they stopped him at the entrance. Same experience for one of our tablemates. Another couple from our MDR table purposely dressed in nicer clothes (chino pants and a button down for him and a dress for her); they were admitted to the tourist section of the casino. There's a more exclusive section for high rollers that was inaccessible to the general public. They said the casino was just okay.

Lots of uphill walking in Monte Carlo; and as a previous poster mentioned, Eze is steep. I loved Eze the best of the three locations, but I was really out of shape then and had difficulty walking up the incline at the pace set by the tour guide.

 

[gotomu212]

We went to Monaco on our own on our DCL cruise last summer. It was one of the places I was really excited to see. It was my absolute least favorite place on our entire Med. cruise. I can say I've been there, but I don't think I would ever bother going back. Our ship was in Villefranche that day and I wish we had just stayed there. It was a super cute town and had a little beach.

Same. In all my travels it was the most disappointing place I’ve visited. In fairness we were stuck in a complete downpour and there was absolutely nowhere to get inside from the rain. All of the locals barred entry to the shops, hotels, and cafes, and the casino wouldn’t allow anyone who was “wet” inside. A huge group of people tried to take refuge under an awning catty corner to the casino and the shopkeeper came out and ripped the awning down which dumped literally buckets of water onto people, including babies in strollers.
The ice cream stand told my husband she would call the police if he did not step back into line (we were in a somewhat long line for ice cream and my husband stepped over to the glass case displaying the ice cream to show my son the flavors so that he’d be ready when we were next and not cause a long delay when ordering. This was a walk up shop and the glass case is outward facing just like a Baskin Robbins or any other ice cream shop where you might take a few steps to your left to glance in the case as the line moves along. It was the weirdest thing ever and everyone in line with us said what is she talking about? Call the police for pointing out ice cream flavors? So it wasn’t us being unaware of some big misstep or ugly American moment- it was pure crazy local Seinfeld like soup Nazi moment). We were so excited for that stop too.

Monaco and Eze were wonderful though and we personally thought Eze was the surprise that saved the day.