rainythursdays
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- May 24, 2022
Just got off my first cruise on the Magic and it was absolutely fantastic!! I know I would have wanted to know this before the cruise (planner that I am) and would like to give a short review of each of the port adventures I was on. We did all Disney port adventures since it was our first time.
Naples - Mt Vesuvius Hike, Wine Tasting and Pompeii (Adults Only) - This was the best tour! Our group was relatively small and the guide was phenomenal. We stopped at this place that sells Jewelry made of seashells (didn’t get anything), and hiked Mt Vesuvius in the morning (relatively steep, but paths were wide and not dangerous at all). We then went to this lovely vineyard when we had a decent lunch and wine tasting of several wines. Our guide then brought us to Pompeii and guided us through a section of the ruins (it’s impossible to see the whole thing in a day, but I believe we saw the highlights). Tour was not rushed at all and we made it with plenty of time to spare back on board. Highly recommend! There’s a similar tour for families as well which I believe should be the same without the wine tasting, but would be a much larger group.
Civitavecchia (Rome) - Tarquinia and Olive Oil Tasting - Having been to Rome before, I knew I didn’t want to squeeze all of Rome in a day and therefore opted for this tour which was the only half day one that didn’t go to Rome. This was okay. We had a guided tour of Tarquinia which was a quaint little town, but being from Europe, was not a must see. We then had some free time in Tarquinia which in my opinion was a little too long as the guide did not really give any ideas on which are the best places to visit during our free time, and just recommended cafes you could sit in or for bathrooms, which is useful in its own way, but I‘m the type that likes to explore the best parts of the town rather than sit in a cafe for the whole hour. We didn’t want to get lost or run out of time so decided to sit in a cafe in the end. Olive oil tasting was disappointing - I was expecting a proper tasting with explanations but they just set up a buffet table with some bread, and four different types of olive oil for lunch and we had no explanations whatsoever. The farm we were at was picturesque and quite lovely though. An tour through the olive farm would have been nice. Disappointing tour for the price.
Livorno (Florence/Pisa) - Easy Pisa - Skip this. We were originally booked on Pisa (with the guided walking tour) but it got moved to the afternoon which clashed with one of our other activities so we moved to this in the morning. All they did was to bring you to Pisa, give you some free time (which was not enough at all to see the sights), and then put you on an electric train and give you a short guided tour while driving. Tour by train was definitely not a good way to truly see and learn about the sights. Extremely expensive for what it is. I would recommend booking your own transfer to Pisa, the sights are concentrated around the miracle square anyway. If climbing the tower is important to you, go to the ticket counter first thing!!! (Also something our guide neglected to mention to us.) They have staggered times for climbing the tower.
Cannes - Monaco, Monte Carlo and Eze - Itinerary sounded great in theory, but it was so poorly organised for ours. We ran into bad traffic (which I’m not sure why it wasn’t anticipated considering they have ran this tours for ages), and we arrived late in Monaco and so the whole day was very rushed. Had a very very brief guided tour (maximum 10 minutes) which was just pointing out the sights as we passed them, then some free time (not long enough to see anything properly). We then drove to Monte Carlo where we got to see the casino and Cafe de Paris. Again, very short amount of free time to properly see anything. Note that the casino opens at 2 pm, and we are there for the morning, so if you want to try a hand at gambling, pick a tour that goes to Monte Carlo in the afternoon. Otherwise, it’s nice to see the inside of the casino when no one else was around. It’s €17 per person just to visit. Pricey, but worth it just to see it once in person in my opinion. Ran into some issues with the bus coming late in Monte Carlo which again wasted lots of precious time. We then had a very mediocre lunch which was disappointing, and took way too long (all the Disney tours congregated there for lunch and they couldn’t seem to handle the crowd despite, again, probably being used to this crowd). This cut into our Eze time, and after a while most people were fed up and just left lunch half way (honestly, no loss on their part) to explore the town alone. We decided to wait for our guide (mistake), and she ended up giving us only a brief 5 minute tour pointing out the sights as we walked up the village and we only had 15 minutes left to see the village on our own. Time would be much better spent if we walked on our own. Made it back to the port with time to spare though.
Well this ended up longer than expected! Only thing I would recommend whole heartedly would be the Naples excursion. Cannes was in theory good but the planning was extremely poor that day - enough to put me off returning.
Also open to answering any questions about the cruise!
Naples - Mt Vesuvius Hike, Wine Tasting and Pompeii (Adults Only) - This was the best tour! Our group was relatively small and the guide was phenomenal. We stopped at this place that sells Jewelry made of seashells (didn’t get anything), and hiked Mt Vesuvius in the morning (relatively steep, but paths were wide and not dangerous at all). We then went to this lovely vineyard when we had a decent lunch and wine tasting of several wines. Our guide then brought us to Pompeii and guided us through a section of the ruins (it’s impossible to see the whole thing in a day, but I believe we saw the highlights). Tour was not rushed at all and we made it with plenty of time to spare back on board. Highly recommend! There’s a similar tour for families as well which I believe should be the same without the wine tasting, but would be a much larger group.
Civitavecchia (Rome) - Tarquinia and Olive Oil Tasting - Having been to Rome before, I knew I didn’t want to squeeze all of Rome in a day and therefore opted for this tour which was the only half day one that didn’t go to Rome. This was okay. We had a guided tour of Tarquinia which was a quaint little town, but being from Europe, was not a must see. We then had some free time in Tarquinia which in my opinion was a little too long as the guide did not really give any ideas on which are the best places to visit during our free time, and just recommended cafes you could sit in or for bathrooms, which is useful in its own way, but I‘m the type that likes to explore the best parts of the town rather than sit in a cafe for the whole hour. We didn’t want to get lost or run out of time so decided to sit in a cafe in the end. Olive oil tasting was disappointing - I was expecting a proper tasting with explanations but they just set up a buffet table with some bread, and four different types of olive oil for lunch and we had no explanations whatsoever. The farm we were at was picturesque and quite lovely though. An tour through the olive farm would have been nice. Disappointing tour for the price.
Livorno (Florence/Pisa) - Easy Pisa - Skip this. We were originally booked on Pisa (with the guided walking tour) but it got moved to the afternoon which clashed with one of our other activities so we moved to this in the morning. All they did was to bring you to Pisa, give you some free time (which was not enough at all to see the sights), and then put you on an electric train and give you a short guided tour while driving. Tour by train was definitely not a good way to truly see and learn about the sights. Extremely expensive for what it is. I would recommend booking your own transfer to Pisa, the sights are concentrated around the miracle square anyway. If climbing the tower is important to you, go to the ticket counter first thing!!! (Also something our guide neglected to mention to us.) They have staggered times for climbing the tower.
Cannes - Monaco, Monte Carlo and Eze - Itinerary sounded great in theory, but it was so poorly organised for ours. We ran into bad traffic (which I’m not sure why it wasn’t anticipated considering they have ran this tours for ages), and we arrived late in Monaco and so the whole day was very rushed. Had a very very brief guided tour (maximum 10 minutes) which was just pointing out the sights as we passed them, then some free time (not long enough to see anything properly). We then drove to Monte Carlo where we got to see the casino and Cafe de Paris. Again, very short amount of free time to properly see anything. Note that the casino opens at 2 pm, and we are there for the morning, so if you want to try a hand at gambling, pick a tour that goes to Monte Carlo in the afternoon. Otherwise, it’s nice to see the inside of the casino when no one else was around. It’s €17 per person just to visit. Pricey, but worth it just to see it once in person in my opinion. Ran into some issues with the bus coming late in Monte Carlo which again wasted lots of precious time. We then had a very mediocre lunch which was disappointing, and took way too long (all the Disney tours congregated there for lunch and they couldn’t seem to handle the crowd despite, again, probably being used to this crowd). This cut into our Eze time, and after a while most people were fed up and just left lunch half way (honestly, no loss on their part) to explore the town alone. We decided to wait for our guide (mistake), and she ended up giving us only a brief 5 minute tour pointing out the sights as we walked up the village and we only had 15 minutes left to see the village on our own. Time would be much better spent if we walked on our own. Made it back to the port with time to spare though.
Well this ended up longer than expected! Only thing I would recommend whole heartedly would be the Naples excursion. Cannes was in theory good but the planning was extremely poor that day - enough to put me off returning.
Also open to answering any questions about the cruise!
