Mediterannean Cruise question--

[Uncleromulus]

Not important to many, but to me this is--. I notice that many of the Port Adventures are all day long and involve hours of time on a bus or in a Van. Are bathroom facilities available on board the transportation?
And also how about at the tour sites themselves??

 

[BadPinkTink]

I havent been on the Med Cruise BUT I am from Europe and have done alot of travel by bus. It would only be the larger buses which can take over 50 passengers, think Greyhound type buses. But also it depends on the contractor and model of bus. Some do have a portaloo, some dont. I have been on buses with a portaloo and honestly I have never used it, it can get nasty very quickly, if you know what I mean. Remember the buses are sub contracted to local companies and depending on the amount of people on your excusion you may get a smaller vehicle.

Generally speaking, for journeys of approx 2 hours, you wont get a bathroom break. Over 2 hours, you may get a bathroom break at a highway rest stop.

Most tour sites will have bathroom facilities or there will be nearby bathroom facilities for you to use.

For travel heavy all day excursions, use the bathroom last thing before you leave the ship, dont expect a bathroom break until you get to your destination, and be very aware of your time management once you reach your destination.

 

[GuardMusic]

Not important to many, but to me this is--. I notice that many of the Port Adventures are all day long and involve hours of time on a bus or in a Van. Are bathroom facilities available on board the transportation?
And also how about at the tour sites themselves??

Which cruise are you on? (We're on the May 25 Med!)
Great questions. Agree with the go before, go at, and manage it. I've not done a lot of PA on my DCL, but I feel like they are usually good about telling you these things upfront & during the experiences. Although it does depend on your guide. We are also looking at full day PA on at least 2, maybe 3 of the 4 port days!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

We booked 2 DCL tours on our Med cruise last summer. Both buses stopped at a service/cafe place to use the facilities soon after leaving the ports. On the tour, the guide is very good about telling you where you can find a bathroom. Most of the time they point you to a shop where you are offered a Disney discount and you are welcome to shop and use their bathrooms.

 

[JARNJ3]

I've been told that many bathrooms in Italy require coins to enter - anyone else have that experience? I'll be on the June 14th cruise

 

[BadPinkTink]

I've been told that many bathrooms in Italy require coins to enter - anyone else have that experience? I'll be on the June 14th cruise

I cant remember about Italy, but in Europe in general, this is normal. Bathrooms in shopping malls, train stations and highway rest stops mainly but expect it anywhere. Usually 20c or 30c inserted into an automatic turnstile

 

[koala1966]

I've been told that many bathrooms in Italy require coins to enter - anyone else have that experience? I'll be on the June 14th cruise

That was true in Pisa, most of the other places the guide had an agreement for using the bathrooms as a PP said, but if you are doing the port on your own I would say you'll encounter that.

 

[GeneMachine]

For travel heavy all day excursions, use the bathroom last thing before you leave the ship, dont expect a bathroom break until you get to your destination, and be very aware of your time management once you reach your destination.

This is good pro tip for LIFE, but especially in Europe and in the Med cruise ports.

Some tour buses have them, some don't. Best not to count on it.

You will find bathroom in museums and restaurants (if you are eating there). Even if you don't have to use the bathroom, if you see one, just try.

Keep some single Euro coins with you for those places that require them, and also for tipping bathroom attendants. That's a thing in some places.

Have a great time! If I could relive one vacation in my life, it would be the 2011 Med cruise. Enjoy the memory making!!

 

[FSU Girl]

Didn't sail on Disney in the Med, but did a cruise excursion in all our ports. All our excursions were on the large buses and did have a bathroom on the bus, but I didn't use them. We didn't stop on the drive to any of our locations, but did have time built into the trips to use the bathrooms depending on location.

 

[anjuan]

On our Disney Med cruise for the longer bus rides (for example Rome) I believe that it had a bathroom on board (but I didn't use it) because it was a full size bus. The only tour stop that I remember where we had to pay for the bathroom use was in Eze. But overall they seem to make sure there were plenty of bathroom break opportunities.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Very few bathrooms we used in Italy needed coins. Otherwise they were free or there was an attendant expecting tips.

 

[oufpat]

I remember needing a coin for the bathrooms outside of Pompeii, but not in Rome or Pisa on the Disney excursions. Again, the tour guides on the Disney Med Cruise were very good in letting you know where the bathrooms were. Our next trip is the British Isles cruise and I have the same concern for this one, but overall, I did not find the location of bathrooms to be a problem on the Med Cruise.

 

[Agent 86]

Hmmmmm. I think we ended up only doing one "bus" day to Cinque Terre. Nope, I forgot about our Monte Carlo / Eze day.

The buses didn't have toilets.

On the Cinque Terre day I remember that we stopped at least once on the way at a roadside petrol station which had free bathrooms (or perhaps the tour company paid the fee on behalf of the group). I can't recall stopping on the Monte Carlo / Eze day, but I presume that we did.

As for the tour sites, everywhere had "free" bathrooms to the best of my memory. Some were a little ... "out of way". I think in Herculaneum they were only at the main and secondary entrances, none within the ruins. Pompeii had toilets near the ticket booths and a couple of sets inside, but I think one of the "main" sets of toilets were closed. Ostia Antica only had one set at the entrance and another at the café.

The Colosseum had toilets, although they seemed to cause quite a bit of confusion as there were women in the men's toilets. At least, I'm pretty sure that they were the men's toilets as they had a trough / urinal. Maybe they were all unisex? The Roman Forum also had bathrooms scattered around the site,

I can't remember having to pay for any of them, but I think we only went "inside" the sites (i.e. once we'd gained admission). Or we duck into a McDonalds and grab a drink or ice cream and use the bathroom there.

I don't remember finding a bathroom to be a problem. I'd just apply all the same rules as any long bus trip - don't drink a lot of liquids before getting on the bus, etc.

 

[Uncleromulus]

Thanks--so far I am not excited about the responses!! My issue is Prostate related--I do not want to embarrass myself (and especially others) if I have "issues".

 

[GPaLarry]

When we did a Med./WBTA B2B a couple of years ago we did not have any issues with bathrooms on our all-day excursions (Pompeii, Rome & Florence/Pisa). As we remember, some buses had bathrooms on board and some did not...rather random. I would let DCL know about your concern and see if they can suggest/accommodate your situation. They have seen and experienced it all and are worth a shot.
One unrelated note: When we were to drop anchor at Monte Carlo the captain said the water was too rough for tendering, so we got an "at sea" day and stopped at Marseilles the next day (formerly an "at sea" day) instead. DCL canceled the docking at one port, got permission for the other, put together about a dozen excursions for the new port (we did the Avignon one and loved it) and got the word out to everyone on board in about three hours. Talked to a DCL officer later and he said they have plans B and C ready for all occasions. I bet they have D & E as well. Good luck with your cruise.

 

[PsylockeSmythe]

We were on the same cruise in the Med as Disneyfaninaz this past summer and booked all our excursions through Disney. As others have posted; some of the buses were the large tour buses and had a restroom others didn't. On any of the excursions to where there was more then an hour drive the tour company made a stop so everyone who needed a pit stop could take one. The tour company was also good at showing everyone where the free / "cleanest" restrooms were once we arrived.

One thing to remember is that there is a good chance that you might have a wait to use any restroom. It is all going to mater on how many are on your excursions and how many other ships are in port and have passengers going to the same location. We had stops to where there was a wait for both the men and the women to use the restroom.

Psy

 

[gotomu212]

When we did the Med we had a 5 year old with us, so different reason, but we still had need of bathrooms often-and usually with short notice. We didn’t run into a problems. All of the long bus rides had bathrooms but we also made a stop on the way. My son though bus bathrooms sounded amazing so we did check that out too.

In the cities we always had shops or restaurants pointed out to us that had restrooms and in the tourist squares we were able to use any restaurants customer or not. We didn’t need to use coins anywhere but I always carry 3 or so euro coins just in case.

 

[FigmentSpark]

Does anyone remember... are all the stops you made "full service" rest stops, by which I mean, did they all have actual toilets? Many years ago, I remember ending up having to go, somewhere probably in Greece and there was just a hole in the ground, ridges on the sides to support you squatting and some toilet paper. Has anyone encountered that?

 

[k3chantal]

I've been told that many bathrooms in Italy require coins to enter - anyone else have that experience? I'll be on the June 14th cruise

The only port we had to pay for bathrooms was in Nice, France. At all the other stops, the facilities were free to use. We went to Barcelona,Pisa, Rome, and Sorrento/ Pompeii. The guides always pointed out where the facilities were. The trip was so enjoyable we booked again; this time in July from Barcelona to Dover , England.

 

[kiford]

Just came back from 3 weeks in Italy and several places required payment to get into the bathrooms. Mostly they weren't at the tour places but in public places like subway/train stations, near/outside tour stops, etc. but do be prepared with coins. Most were .50 to 1 Euro.

I've found that all of the DCL tours we did on our Med cruises had bathroom stops planned. And, yes, as others have stated, even if you don't need to go, take the opportunity because you never know when you'll get another stop. At least on the DCL tours, the bathrooms they stopped at were at least acceptable though not always what you're used to. Touring Italy we found a number of places that were, shall we say less than acceptable, and some where I figured I could wait another few hours. Also, bring a package of kleenex with you just in case. The bathrooms aren't always recently stocked. Bathroom quality and availability is always one of my worries when travelling but both Med cruises and our Italy trip all worked out fine. Just don't be expecting Disney quality.

We did have to stop a number of times at a cafe or some place and purchase something so that we could use the restrooms when in Italy but that was actually nice since we could sit down for a while and just relax. Harder to do when with a tour group however.