Carnival Vista European Ports - What do you do there?

Hi all,

My wife and I are platinum cruisers with Carnival. While we are experienced cruisers, we have never cruised Europe and have booked the new Carnival Vista for Aug 2016. We are incredibly excited! However, being novices in the European ports (not to mention having never even visited these countries before) I was wondering what all of you who have been there would recommend. Here is the itinerary:

8/6/2016 Barcelona, Spain ---- 5:00 PM

8/7/2016 Marseilles (Provence), France 8:00 AM 5:00 PM

8/8/2016 Livorno (Florence/Pisa), Italy 7:00 AM 7:00 PM

8/9/2016 Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy 7:00 AM 8:00 PM

8/10/2016 Naples (Capri/Pompeii), Italy 7:00 AM 7:00 PM

8/11/2016 Fun Day At Sea --------

8/12/2016 Dubrovnik, Croatia 8:00 AM 5:00 PM

8/13/2016 Corfu (Kerkyra) 7:00 AM 4:00 PM

8/14/2016 Messina (Sicily), Italy 9:00 AM 6:00 PM

8/15/2016 Fun Day At Sea --------

8/16/2016 Cagliari (Sardinia), Italy 8:00 AM 6:00 PM

8/17/2016 Fun Day At Sea --------

8/18/2016 Barcelona, Spain 6:00 AM----

So what would you recommend first time visitors to do in these ports? Possible excursions? Places to see or things to do? What would you do?

Thanks in advance!

Jesse

PS - any of you booked for this cruise?

Have a look in the Vista sticky above, we gave been discussing ports over there.

Also search on the boards for breeze then the port name or Magic etc. that way everyone's trip reports come up with a wealth of info. I also search on the RCL and celebrity threads too. Finally pop over to the actual port thread.

Toms port guides are another excellent source of info. You will love the med, it's very tiring but great fun.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=886

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1700095

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1597451

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1848309&highlight=legend+med

A few to get you on your way.

Looks like you are on my cruise, there is a roll call going, if you want to pop over there.

Thanks for the info, I will check those threads out and for sure check the roll call!

Rome...well you just gotta see Rome. Get a tour with a local company if you can. Romeinalimo is good. Or just take the train to Rome and get the hop on, hop off. Don't do the guided tour of the coliseum. Go to Vatican City but you won't have time for the Basilica unless this is all you do.

Florence/Livorno: We opted for Florence and a Tuscany wine tour rather than the popular Pisa choice. If you love wine....again get a local guide. Ours picked us up in Livorno and we hit the high points of Florence and headed to Tuscany.

Naples: Amalfi Coast tour with Pompeii. Loved it...my favorite!

Dubrovnik: walk the walk of the old city...wander around. Love this city....so beautiful. Make sure you get local money here at the atm.

Corfu: We didn't do a good job at this port...hope you find something we tried to do the beach but really not a good beach town.

Those are the places I've been! I was on Royal. Try not to use ship tours. Read the ports of call boards. Booking local is fine!!

Thank you! Great info!

Corfu has a great old town with a beautiful Spianada with great Italian architecture.

It is a great place to do a walking tour and have lunch at an outdoor cafe. It is possible to walk there from the port, but cheap shuttles are at the port too.

Dubrovnik is awesome. Take a taxi from port to Old Town and

OOP's sent to soon.,

Walk everywhere. You can find maps online. Find the bar Buza.. Some say it's the most beautiful place on earth to have a cold one.

Your time in Rome is short. I would plan on doing one thing and doing that well . Walks of Italy has the most amazing Vatican tour. Then you could speed tour the rest of the city by taxi and see the other sites. There is soooooo much to see there and we spent days before our cruise trying to see everything.

Prior to our Baltic cruise, we researched the ports online and even got Rick Steves videos about the various countries and what to see there. By doing a lot of research first we were able to decide if we wanted to do a Carnival excursion or a private one. We also joined the roll call for our cruise here on CC and were able to sign up for some private tours with fellow cruisers in some of the ports. Do your research and decide what you really want to see and then you'll be able to determine which excursions best meet your needs. Check your time in port to make sure you can get back to the ship in time for departures. If it seems iffy, it's best to book a Carnival excursion. That way they can't/won't leave port without you back on board.

Good luck and enjoy your cruise and your time in Europe.

Oops, also wanted to say that many places we went to had hop on/hop off busses that were cheap.

Get a copy of Rick Steves' Mediterranean Cruise Ports. He took his Europe experience and tailored it to the cruiser. He tells you what there is to do in the port, how much you can do in the time you have, and how to do it, from gangway to gangway. Does not cover Sicily or Sardinia, but always recommends Lonely Planet to fill in the gaps. In addition, his website has free downloads of audio tours for ipon and mp3, plus maps you can print out to go along. EM

We take advantage of as many private tours as we can. We really enjoy meeting all the people and the different cultures. Enjoy your cruise.

We did most of these ports from barceleno onthe Sunshine. U mighttry a search on those threads also. We really really loved this cruise ! We did all carnival tours but the Croatia tour. There was carnival bus for 10 a person so we just took that to the city and bought tickets to tour the fort. It took about two hours to see it all and it is quite a hike and alot of stairs but so beautiful. There is a kayak tour there that looked really fun too. Then we went to the beach which was free and got back on the bus to the ship. In rome we did the city tour which was all day with a stop and tour of the vatican. The amafi coast tour was one of the best and then a stop at a castle for lunch. Im glad we didnt do the bus tour for the water was beautiful with the white cliffs. I would chose what you enjoy for it is different for everybody. This cruise is so port intensive and the tours are expensive but so worth it. Remember to try some of the food off the ship especially the wine and cheese. We loved the tower of pisa and tour of the winnery and fields. It is such a wonderful experience and the people were so nice. Have fun!

Check the Ports of Call Europe board for tons of info.

Thank you for all the awesom replies! Very helpful!

We traveled on NCL in September and went to some of the same ports. I have attached links to all of our tours on page 6 of our review.

Your going to have a AWESOME time. It was a trip of a lifetime!

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2129883&highlight=spirit+med+review

Hi all,

 

My wife and I are platinum cruisers with Carnival. While we are experienced cruisers, we have never cruised Europe and have booked the new Carnival Vista for Aug 2016. We are incredibly excited! However, being novices in the European ports (not to mention having never even visited these countries before) I was wondering what all of you who have been there would recommend. Here is the itinerary:

 

8/6/2016 Barcelona, Spain ---- 5:00 PM

8/7/2016 Marseilles (Provence), France 8:00 AM 5:00 PM

8/8/2016 Livorno (Florence/Pisa), Italy 7:00 AM 7:00 PM

8/9/2016 Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy 7:00 AM 8:00 PM

8/10/2016 Naples (Capri/Pompeii), Italy 7:00 AM 7:00 PM

8/11/2016 Fun Day At Sea --------

8/12/2016 Dubrovnik, Croatia 8:00 AM 5:00 PM

8/13/2016 Corfu (Kerkyra) 7:00 AM 4:00 PM

8/14/2016 Messina (Sicily), Italy 9:00 AM 6:00 PM

8/15/2016 Fun Day At Sea --------

8/16/2016 Cagliari (Sardinia), Italy 8:00 AM 6:00 PM

8/17/2016 Fun Day At Sea --------

8/18/2016 Barcelona, Spain 6:00 AM----

 

So what would you recommend first time visitors to do in these ports? Possible excursions? Places to see or things to do? What would you do?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Jesse

 

PS - any of you booked for this cruise?

Hey, wife and I are on this cruise also. I will be following this thread. :cool::D:cool:

After four Med cruises I will tell you it is nothing like the Caribbean. You need to do some extensive research on each port, figure out what you truly want to experience in each place (you will have tough choices) and then go from there. I use private tours as much as possible. I have been to all these ports except Sardinia. It will take some planning (that is the fun part), but it will be an incredible trip.

I agree with some posters above. Do not try and do it all. You will be ragged and disappointed. Keep pacing in mind as well. You don't want to cram the huge days all together if possible. Again, research.

I spent a lot of summers doing very similar itineraries courtesy of Uncle Sam. The posts above have some great advice, and here's a few more:

8/6/2016 Barcelona, Spain ---- 5:00 PM

- Arrive a day early and do Las Ramblas, eat lunch at the amazing market La Boqueria, and dinner at Los Caracoles (known for roast chicken). See at least one thing designed by the architect Gaudi (perhaps Parc Guell or maybe La Sagrada Familia cathedral-under-construction).

8/7/2016 Marseilles (Provence), France 8:00 AM 5:00 PM

- Can't help you here, never went there. Maybe a wine tour?

8/8/2016 Livorno (Florence/Pisa), Italy 7:00 AM 7:00 PM

- Take the train to Florence, see the statue of David at La Academia and shop at the open air market (leather goods are cheap). Walk across the Ponte Vechio over the Arno River and window shop the gold stores. Or see the art at the Uffizi.

8/9/2016 Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy 7:00 AM 8:00 PM

- Good advice above. Get to Rome and do a jump-off-jump-on bus. Pick your fights wisely. My personal favorites are the Spanish Steps (lots of high end shopping right around there) and the Trevi Fountain.

8/10/2016 Naples (Capri/Pompeii), Italy 7:00 AM 7:00 PM

- Naples is a dump. Take the train to Pompei.

8/11/2016 Fun Day At Sea --------

8/12/2016 Dubrovnik, Croatia 8:00 AM 5:00 PM

- Love, love, love Dubrovnik! Walk the Old Town, esp. along the walls.

8/13/2016 Corfu (Kerkyra) 7:00 AM 4:00 PM

- Best gyros ever! There is a whole area walking distance from the port filled with shops and open air stalls selling all sorts of neat stuff. I'd buy olive wood products (bowls, spoons, etc.) and sweaters here. Ipsos is a short taxi ride and there's some great bars and restaurants there. The beaches on the east coast of the island are terrible (pebbles, not sand) but the best beaches are a bus ride across the island to the west side (the Pink Palace was very popular, but it's for the young, party hard crowd).

8/14/2016 Messina (Sicily), Italy 9:00 AM 6:00 PM

- No advice here. Been to Catani and Palermo, both pretty boring. Take a look at whatever excursions Carnival is pushing here and then go online and see of you can book a similar excursion privately.

8/15/2016 Fun Day At Sea --------

8/16/2016 Cagliari (Sardinia), Italy 8:00 AM 6:00 PM

- Cagliari is very pretty. I spend a lot of time walking around and taking pictures of the architecture, esp. old churches. The beaches are decent, but I'd try and book a trip out into the countryside...very rustic and traditional. Others have mentioned using Rick Steve's guide...here I'd also add Anthony Bourdain. He married a girl from here and did a whole show in Sardignia. BTW, the flamingos are white here; they don't eat the same shellfish that make our Frlorida flamingos pink!

8/17/2016 Fun Day At Sea --------

8/18/2016 Barcelona, Spain 6:00 AM----

- See and do anything you missed the first time. Picasso museum, medieval old town, cathedral, beaches, Olympic Village.

Hope this was slightly useful. Have fun!

This is awesome info, thank you!

I took a Med cruise on the Sunshine in 2013... It was a fantastic vacation (although not relaxing at all haha)! I went to nearly all the same ports that you will visit, just in the opposite order. I highly recommend spending a few extra days in Barcelona- we had 3 full days there and still didn't get to see everything we wanted to see!! It's an amazing city :) I wrote a very detailed review of my cruise, so you might find some helpful pointers in there (the link is posted in my signature below... for some reason, most of the photos stopped working, so I also posted a link to my blog which has the full review and all of the photos too!) Hope that helps and have fun planning everything... it'll be an exciting year and a half for you! :)

Hi all,

 

My wife and I are platinum cruisers with Carnival. While we are experienced cruisers, we have never cruised Europe and have booked the new Carnival Vista for Aug 2016. We are incredibly excited! However, being novices in the European ports (not to mention having never even visited these countries before) I was wondering what all of you who have been there would recommend. Here is the itinerary:

 

8/6/2016 Barcelona, Spain ---- 5:00 PM

8/7/2016 Marseilles (Provence), France 8:00 AM 5:00 PM

8/8/2016 Livorno (Florence/Pisa), Italy 7:00 AM 7:00 PM

8/9/2016 Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy 7:00 AM 8:00 PM

8/10/2016 Naples (Capri/Pompeii), Italy 7:00 AM 7:00 PM

8/11/2016 Fun Day At Sea --------

8/12/2016 Dubrovnik, Croatia 8:00 AM 5:00 PM

8/13/2016 Corfu (Kerkyra) 7:00 AM 4:00 PM

8/14/2016 Messina (Sicily), Italy 9:00 AM 6:00 PM

8/15/2016 Fun Day At Sea --------

8/16/2016 Cagliari (Sardinia), Italy 8:00 AM 6:00 PM

8/17/2016 Fun Day At Sea --------

8/18/2016 Barcelona, Spain 6:00 AM----

 

So what would you recommend first time visitors to do in these ports? Possible excursions? Places to see or things to do? What would you do?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Jesse

Hi Jesse

I'm not surprised you're excited - I would be too :D What a fantastic itinerary. In case it's any interest or help the set of links below in my signature lead to videos of all of those port except Cagliari, all done DIY. All the best, Tony

Thanks all! So much help!

Hi all,

 

My wife and I are platinum cruisers with Carnival. While we are experienced cruisers, we have never cruised Europe and have booked the new Carnival Vista for Aug 2016. We are incredibly excited! However, being novices in the European ports (not to mention having never even visited these countries before) I was wondering what all of you who have been there would recommend. Here is the itinerary:

 

8/6/2016 Barcelona, Spain ---- 5:00 PM

8/7/2016 Marseilles (Provence), France 8:00 AM 5:00 PM

8/8/2016 Livorno (Florence/Pisa), Italy 7:00 AM 7:00 PM

8/9/2016 Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy 7:00 AM 8:00 PM

8/10/2016 Naples (Capri/Pompeii), Italy 7:00 AM 7:00 PM

8/11/2016 Fun Day At Sea --------

8/12/2016 Dubrovnik, Croatia 8:00 AM 5:00 PM

8/13/2016 Corfu (Kerkyra) 7:00 AM 4:00 PM

8/14/2016 Messina (Sicily), Italy 9:00 AM 6:00 PM

8/15/2016 Fun Day At Sea --------

8/16/2016 Cagliari (Sardinia), Italy 8:00 AM 6:00 PM

8/17/2016 Fun Day At Sea --------

8/18/2016 Barcelona, Spain 6:00 AM----

 

So what would you recommend first time visitors to do in these ports? Possible excursions? Places to see or things to do? What would you do?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Jesse

 

PS - any of you booked for this cruise?

HI there,

We have used Aldo, at your tour in Italy .com,twice now and loved it. He can do all your tours in Florence/Pisa, Rome and Naples. In Naples you can do Pompeii ( the ruins very interesting) get the gelato right outside the entrance, super good and reasonable! or you can do Capri ,famous blue grotto ( but there are other grotto less crowded and ones you can actually swim thru!) Pisa The leaning tower tourist trap, but you must see it ! and in Florence so much ,baptistery of St John ( famous golden doors) Accademia ( David) , so much!! Rome, look at Aldo's web page for ideas, and he will also make you a tour!Please tell him, Michele sent you, he will remember us , my son was so heat stricken that he got sick in the coliseum, and Aldo got him food and a coke and met us outside the entrance! great guy! In Barcelona, we did a flamenco show, ( a short one 30 minutes) (info-tarantos@masimas.com )just to get the experience, we also did Parc Guell (Gaudi) in Barcelona, and a day in Montseratt ,to see the Black Madonna. We used pepito tours.com, fantastic guide and driver. Lastly go on trip advisor.com for some great tips! Have fun!!

Some great advice here. I've been to Barca before but none of the other stops on the 8 day med vista cruise. Very excited [emoji106]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Jesse: My husband and I with our two daughters (19 and 20) will be joining you on this cruise! I've set up a couple groups with Rome In Limo in Livorno to see Pisa and Lucca (the museums in Florence are closed on Mondays) and in Naples to see Pompeii/Sorrento/Positano if you want to join us! Just go to romeinlimo.com and find group name Mancuso to join. In Dubrovnik and Corfu, we currently have a private tour planned, but could change that to a larger vehicle if you'd be interested. We have a private tour from Messina to visit my husband's ancestral village, so I'm sure you wouldn't want to do that. We're trying to figure out what we want to do in Marseille and Cagliari, so we can let you know if you want to share. Look forward to meeting you (and the Wright's) soon!