Rome to Greece - Tell me about the fun you had!

[simivalleysarah]

Headed to Europe this summer and hoping for your recommendations on private tours that you have booked or days that you have enjoyedWITHOUT booking through the ship!
Our stops will include:
Santorini
Athens
Mykonos
Corfu
Valletta, Malta
Messina, Sicily
Naples
Florence / Pisa

 

[Budzooka]

Following along. On the July 6 cruise and disappointed in the limited DCL excursions.

 

[yowcruiser]

Well... the last DCL Greek island cruises were in 2014. They were set to resume in 2020... With the exception of Naples and Florence, none of these ports have seen a DCL ship in a long time. Maybe someone has been on another cruise line and has insights though...

 

[Dug720]

Well... the last DCL Greek island cruises were in 2014. They were set to resume in 2020... With the exception of Naples and Florence, none of these ports have seen a DCL ship in a long time. Maybe someone has been on another cruise line and has insights though...

That probably has a lot to do with it. Other lines that have maintained a presence there have relationships with the vendors already and the vendors are not likely to say "Oh, of course we'll dump our contracts with other lines for a season or two with you even though we don't know how long you're committing to our ports." Couple that with the fact that just as in the Caribbean there are probably many vendors who did not survive the shutdown and thus fewer vendors for more ships and yeah...the low man on the totem pole (in this case DCL) is going to have fewer options available to them.

 

[yowcruiser]

That probably has a lot to do with it. Other lines that have maintained a presence there have relationships with the vendors already and the vendors are not likely to say "Oh, of course we'll dump our contracts with other lines for a season or two with you even though we don't know how long you're committing to our ports." Couple that with the fact that just as in the Caribbean there are probably many vendors who did not survive the shutdown and thus fewer vendors for more ships and yeah...the low man on the totem pole (in this case DCL) is going to have fewer options available to them.

In part, yes - but even with some of the Caribbean destinations, the offering is somewhat more limited than it used to - and it is not uncommon to see last minute cancellations. What we don't know just yet is whether DCL is going back for 2023 and beyond. We know the Dream will be in Europe (bigger ship), but from where to where is still a mystery...

 

[anricat]

Well, we had big plans for all of these ports in June 2020. Heh. I'm happy to share what we WOULD have done after my hours and hours of research.

We have been to Naples and Florence/Pisa. I don't recommend Florence and Pisa in one day. It was WAY too much. Pick one. My money is on Florence, honestly. Naples was amazing and we booked with a company called Pompeiin and I just checked and they are still in business. Here's my trip report for that day: http://journeywithsummer.blogspot.com/2018/06/mediterranean-cruise-and-european_22.html

Here's why I think both Pisa and Florence are too much: http://journeywithsummer.blogspot.com/2018/06/mediterranean-cruise-and-european_20.html

Let me know if you want recommendations for the other excursions we had researched in the Greek ports. We also were set to go to Sicily and the excursion looked amazing, but I can't recommend them for the way they handled the cancellation. It was a mess and my credit card company had to get involved. I hated to do that, but they had a "cancel for any reason up to 7 days prior and get a full refund" but they decided not to honor that in light of Covid because it would "put them out of business." I really did feel for them, but I have to say every other tour company honored their cancellation policies and hence, I will book with all of them again.

 

[Dug720]

but even with some of the Caribbean destinations, the offering is somewhat more limited than it used to

See where I said that a number of vendors did not survive the shutdown. That applies to everywhere ships go.

And yes, last minute cancellations happen - I've had them on all the lines I've sailed (except for fathom where things were limited by nature of the cruises). Sometimes it's not enough people signing up to justify it (yes, the vendors have minimums as well), sometimes it is the equipment from the vendor breaking down and them not having immediate access to parts to fix it, and sometimes if it's very last minute, the people who were supposed to be running it were sick.