Mediterranean Magic & Rome

We are travelling on this 10 day cruise from Barcelona to Piraeus on 11 August. I would be grateful to learn of any views on or experience of others on a few points.

First, we will be calling at Civitavecchia. We do not intend visiting Rome. Options for the day are to take another tour, just spend a couple of hours in Civitavecchia or the spend the whole day on board. As regards Civitavecchia for a couple of hours, is it amenable to a stroll around or is it very industrial or simply too big and nothing special? As to a day aboard, would this likely be spoiled by being moored up in an unattractive working commercial port- I have in mind Catania in Sicily, which we found pretty grim as a backdrop? As for a tour, Seabourn offer an Etruscan history and wine tasting one, but at 5 hours it's a tad longer than we normally like. Has anyone tried it and got a view on it or a possible easily self arranged shortish alternative excursion?

As for the stop at Ajaccio, we are tempted by the Les Calanques tour rather than just pootling around Ajaccio-which I assume is quite big and busy, but grateful for any views on either option from anyone who has been there.

Lastly, if anyone has done this voyage this year is there a shopping with chef option or a galley lunch day, and if so which day(s) were they?

As an afterthought , is there a site on this forum giving feedback on specific Seabourn offered tours ( on this and other itineraries) as that could be helpful in choosing by others.

I personally do not think Civitaveccia is as grim as Catania. There is a seaside prominade to the south of the port lined with some hotels. The area is being refurbished -- one of our Italian crew members told me that at one time it was like the Italian version of Brighton (for better or for worse). Also since the train station is conveniently located you could take the train to the charming tourist free town of Tarquina and also visit the Etruscan ruins just outside the town. I think there is also a bus that departs from the train station.

You will not know about shopping with the chef or galley market lunch until you board (or later). If you have a galley market lunch it will only happen on a sea day.But on most 7-10 cruises now they will either do a galley market lunch or a deck BBQ. It used to be that when you boarded you could go to the reception desk and ask when there would be the shopping with the chef and sign up at that time. On our last few cruises they tell you they don't know and that if there is one it will be announced in the Herald two days prior. Most of our shopping with the chefs in Italy have been in Livorno.

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Civitaveccia gets better with each passing year.

You can spend several hours walking around the town and if you like to have lunch off the ship there are many good restaurants to choose from.

There is shopping and cafes and restaurants, a nice walk along the beach, an historic site from the Roman Empire, a very old Catholic Church, a large outdoor market on most days and enough to make for a nice half day in port. Sometimes on a Mediterranean cruise it's nice to just make a port day a day to relax.

There is some construction taking place near the front of the port so it takes a little longer right now getting in and out.

The city is not industrial at all.

Keith

Ajaccio is Napoleon's birthplace. The house that he was born in is a museum that is an easy walk from the ship. I definitely recommend

Yes, in addition to the house(which is down a little alley) there is a park nearby with a large statue of Napoleon . There is also a very nice open air market near where the ship docks and further into town there is a main promenade with many shops etc.

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We did the tour of Les Calanques, which was a little bit of a bus ride, but not too long. They were quite impressive. Coming back was a problem, since the twisty road through Les Calanques was reduced to one lane and backed up with police and ambulances due to an injury arising from a domestic dispute (she hit him). We were delayed over an hour, but still had to make the obligatory stop at the café for a local beer (included in the price of the excursion) where we proceeded to leave two of the passengers behind. This was discovered 20 minutes into the trip back, but rather than send a taxi for the passengers, we went back to get them. Despite all these delays, we still had several hours to walk around Ajaccio. So, I guess what you do is dependent on whether spending some time on a bus to see some interesting scenery is worth it to you, or if you would just rather stroll the town and see what it offers.

Many thanks for these views. They are very helpful indeed. I think we will probably opt for Civitavecchia and Ajaccio under our own steam.