Help with Ports

We are considering doing the NCL Epic cruise to the Western Mediterranean over July 4th, but are unsure of some of the ports. We are not sure about taking the ships excursions or if there are any more reasonably priced other tours available. We are more "see as much as we can" rather than taking it slowly and relaxing. Our ports and my thoughts on them are:

Naples: We want to do the Amalfi coast, perhaps with Sorrento. Ships tour is $199. Not sure if we should be doing their tour to make sure we are back to ship on time. We already did Pompeii for 3 hours back in 2013.

Florence: I want to do Cinque Terre. I saw someone mentioned a tour that also included a quick photostop of Pisa which sound great. Ships tour is $149.

Rome: In 2013, we saw Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, Forum, did Colosseum Underground Tour, Pantheon, Vatican and Sistine Chapel in one long day on our own, but we felt that we spent an adequate amount of time in each so we don't need to redo. Not sure what to do here, but thought of the catacombs or one of the hilltop towns like Oliveto. Any ideas?

The cruise also goes to Cannes and we wanted to see Monaco here. I think the ship has a tour for $99. In Palma Majorrca, we are not sure.

We went on a Baltic cruise last year and used SPB Tours in St Petersburg and Berlin and were very happy with them. We also did some non ship tours in Alaska and rented cars for our Canadian ports on the Canadian cruise.

Please let me know if you think of something for us.

Thank you.

I want to tread softly (not normally my style) here :). Regarding cost, the ship's excursions are normally going to be about the most expensive of all options (unless you hire a private guide for just yourselves). But cruise excursions mean very few worries in that you simply book your tour and do what they say. The other options are to join with a few other cruisers on a private excursion or simply do your own thing. Reading your post gives me the impression that you might not be a good candidate to do your own thing.

So the only other viable option is to join with a few other fellow cruisers on a private excursion. The best way to do this is to get active on your Cruise Critic Roll Call board (specific to your cruise) and see if anyone is putting together some private excursions and wants a few others to join.

Hank

Just a little reading on the board will find lots of info on each port.

Some reading would also find private tour vendors can make all the difference in the world when it comes best and most efficient use of your time, as well as customizing your tour around what you don't want to see, what you want to see more of, and what you haven't seen before.

For example, the wonderful Rome in Limo operates in all three ports you mentioned. Note, getting to Cinque Terra takes a really huge bite out of a day from Livorno. Booking all three ports with them usually gets you a discount. You should not have any worries about getting back to the ship in time with any of the very reputable private operations mentioned here.

We normally do not do ships tours unless there is a good chance of being late returning. the ship will wait for their tours but not for independents. took the ships tour for the Amalfi coast. Was good as our tour was late. ship did wait. traffic on the coastal highway is often bad so might be a good idea.

we did Florence and Pisa by train. just make sure to leave a plan B backup (ie do not plan on catching the last possible train back)

we did Monaco on our own. bus from port was easy to find..especially as a group of about 30 walked there. there will be posts with directions. I remember seeing a post with photos of the route. once in Monaco easy to walk around

use search function on cruise critic to scope out ports. also really a good idea to get involved with a group formed on cruise critic assembling private tours. get a price break but still get locals knowledge as to traffic etc.

hope you have fun

We typically use independent operators or go on our own. Out of our 5 other cruises, we only used the ship's tours once on our first cruise. Is there any other operators besides Rome in Limo? I like to compare two. I agree it misht be good idea for Amalfi coast. Is anyone concerned about ISIS? I saw Italy is now concerned about them in Italy since Libya is close. Hate to mention because those concerns are usually seen as paranoid.

Ok, since you are willing to consider independent we will chime in with some hints. As to ISIS (our President thinks they are just the JV Team) it is what it is. I guess if one is paranoid they can barricade themselves inside their own home and pray for the best.

As to the Amalfi Coast (from Naples) you would want to focus on our 3 favorite places which is Positano, Ravello and Amalfi (in that order of preference). Cruise line excursions that use large buses cannot even go into Positano (no buses allowed) which makes these tours the kind of thing where they will point out the window at Positano and say, "now you see Positano." So, to truly see and enjoy the Amalfi Coast you need to be in a smaller vehicle (van or car) which means a private tour or a rental car. And we do not generally recommend that cruise ship passengers, unfamiliar with driving and parking in Italy, drive their own car in this region. So our recommendation it to get together with a few others on your CC Roll Call and hire a private tour/driver. There are lots of recommendations right on this board if you do a search.

Cinque Terre is locate about a 1:20 min drive from the port of Livorno. The train schedule does not work well for one day cruise stops so it is best to get to the closest starting town (Riomaggiore) via tour or private car. If you can drive a stick shift and are willing to drive in Italy you can rent a car and drive yourself (there is a paid parking lot/garage area in Riomaggiore). Sifracar.com is the local Hertz Franchiser in Livorno and will deliver cars to the pier if you make a reservation. Otherwise, either take a cruise line tour or get together with some others on the Roll Call board and hire a private car/driver. Once at Riomaggiore you can do everything on your own although it helps to have a decent guide book (like Rick Steves). The villages are connected by train and/or small boats. There are also hiking trails, but the last we heard they are still not all open since the area was devastated by mudslides over 3 years ago.

As to Rome (not our favorite place in Italy) it is just a matter of personal preference. It is a huge city where just walking, browsing, and eating keeps many folks happy. DW and I once spent over 5 hours in a single café at the Piazza Navona just drinking, eating, and having tons of fun people watching. If you like beautiful parks and a nice museum the Villa Borghese is a nice place (you should make reservations for the museum). A day trip to Tivoli is also an option but is a long haul from the cruise port.

As to Cannes, keep in mind that it is a tender port so it can take some time to get ashore. There are trains (one or more per hour) that can take you to Monte Carlo in about 1:10 if you prefer to do this on your own. Personally, we find places like St Paul de Vence and Nice more desirable then Monte Carlo, but this is another of those personal preference things.

Hank

There are books specific to Med cruises, including Rick Steves 'Mediterranean Cruise Ports" and Ann Viponds "Mediterranean by Cruiseship". Borrow from your library or buy.

The books will provide you with information on each port, suggested sights and activities, as well as DIY options. The more you know about each port and the options available the better your trip will be.

I always travel with a daypack so I brought the book along in case I needed back up plans or additional info.

I guess I am looking for the recommendation of another tour operator besides Rome in Limo so I can compare. I do have Rick Steves' book on Mediterranean cruises. It seems that he basically talks about getting to Florence, Rome and Naples on these ports (all 3 of which I have already done), although he does talk about Amalfi coast for Naples where he recommends the cruise shore excursion in case you get stuck in traffic and he does have some good info on the port itself. That is why we were looking at Cinque Terre for Florence, Amalfi coast in Naples and I have no idea for Rome. I used his book for Stockholm, Tallin and Helsinki for our Baltic cruise and it worked great. I am not a big Rome fan either, been there twice and was pickpocketed twice there.

I checked the Roll Call, but only one person started it and no one else joined which I have never seen before. I even did an Internet search on Rome tour companies, but shore excursions came up and they did not get a good rating.

Not sure how much you're willing to do totally on your own via buses and boats, but when we were in Amalfi we got to Positano by public bus. I think a boat goes between the 2 cities too. Sorrento is nice, and we took the commuter train to Pompei, which was fun, but I preferred Positano and Amalfi to Sorrento. Wasn't crazy about Monaco, but it's worth a trip there once!

I love Rick Steves books, plus free, online guides at tomsportguides.com.

If you are in port at Civitavecchia for a day, then you will have to decide between going into Rome and doing more there or going elsewhere like Orvieto (I assume that's the hilltown you mean?) -- folks often combine it with another scenic town Civita di Bagnoregio. You'd need to drive or do a private tour.

In Rome, there is plenty more to see if you're interested. The Borghese Galleria, the Capitoline Museum (for ancient Roman sculpture, mosaics, etc.), Palazzo Altemps (another fine museum near Piazza Navona located in a palazzo). The museum of the imperial forums (Musei dei Fori Imperiali) is a great way to visit Trajan's Market. The Ara Pacis is one of my favorite spots.

And Rome has numerous churches that are well worth a visit on their own for their art and decoration.

If you keep your money in a hidden pocket or pouch under your clothes, you'll foil pickpockets.

As to ISIS, well will say nothing as you took my previous comments (made in an attempt to be helpful) completely the wrong way....

Guess since the cat is out of the bag we should talk about the public bus that runs along the Amalfi Coast. We do not generally recommend this for a port day in Naples, but it does exist. The bus is called the SITA bus (like many other buses in the area) and it runs between Sorrento and Amalfi (it does not go to Ravello...which would need another bus that runs direct from Amalfi). The SITA bus tends to get very crowded in the busy tourist season and sometimes you can even be turned away and have to wait for the next bus (which can be 45 min to an hour). We actually like the SITA bus line and also the so-called Orange local buses that run between places like Praiano (our home when we vacation on the coast) and Positano. It is also possible to get from Sorrento to Positano on a fast ferry, but one must get the latest schedules and carefully plan your day around bus/ferry schedules.

We think that Ravello is the hidden charm that is often skipped on many tours. In some ways, its our favorite town in the area (although Positano has more to offer). That is why we often suggest folks arrange a private tour (by car or van) which saves very valuable time over trying to work with the trains/buses/ferries.

Hank

For comparison purposes with Rome in Limo, check out Joe Bananas Limos and Share a shore excursion italy. We used Joe Bananas for a private tour of the Amalfi Coast back in 2012 and had a wonderful day with them. We used the share a shore excursion company in Livorno to visit Pisa and Florence…also highly recommend them.

We are booked on the Vista for June of 2016 and plan on visiting Cinque Terre from Livorno. Our plan is to rent a car as suggested earlier.

Thank you for all your replies. I think you have all given me some very good ideas. When we were last in Italy in 2013, we did Pompeii from Rome by public transport without any problems.

I apologize, Cruise Mom. I didn't mean to be so defensive with you. I am usually an explorer who does not get scared in foreign places but this ISIS for sone reason freaks me out.

Thank you. You have all given me very good ideas. I will look into these ideas.

I apologize, Cruise Mom for getting so defensive. Maybe I was having a bad day.

We typically use independent operators or go on our own. Out of our 5 other cruises, we only used the ship's tours once on our first cruise. Is there any other operators besides Rome in Limo? I like to compare two.

This was my day on the Amalfi Coast out of Naples with Joe Banana Limos in 2013. From memory it was €400 for 8 of us, and we couldn't have been more pleased. All the best, Tony

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Looks nice! The one problem that I am having is that there is no one on my roll call so there is no one to share any tours with. Very strange. I have never seen that before.

Here's my 2 cents worth….

http://www.aptours.it/en/Tour_Full_Amalfi_Coast_and_Sorrento

This is the link to a Private tour …… 340 euros for 1-3 people. So you control where, when, how long etc…..

They also have a link for "shared tours" on the home page. Check it out.

We have used ApTours 4 times now with our 5th tour with them booked for early May

Great tour - less cost than the other "big" guy :eek: Reviews here on CC are great too.