Disney 7 Night mediterranean Cruise

I am wondering if anyone can make recommendations for port excursions to Villefranche, La Spezia, Civitavecchia, & Naples. The choices are overwhelming, and this is our first-time traveling to Europe with our 12-year old & 2 19-year olds. Which cities are the best to see? Should we limit our time to one area, or try to see 2 to 3 cities/towns, as many excursions offer? Should we take the tours offered by Disney, or try to navigate some of these ports on our own? Which cities are must-sees? Which are disappointing? Should we try to do excursions at all 4 ports, or is it too exhausting to see all of them on back to back days? We currently have a Disney excursion scheduled for each of the 4 ports, but I just don't know if we've chosen the right ones. We currently plan to see the following:

Villefranche: Monaco, Monte Carlo, & Eze

La Spezia: Florence & Michelangelo

Civitavecchia: Vatican City, the Coliseum, & Catacombs

Naples: Pompeii, Sorrento, & Capri

We would be completely open to trying a different excursion, tour company, or exploring a bit on our own with some solid guidance. I'd love some honest opinions from people who know more than I do about these ports!

You would be best posting this on the appropriate ports of call boards.

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

You might want to check if there is a roll call for your cruise. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=451 You can "meet" some people on your cruise and perhaps arrange excursions.

Here is the ports of call board. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=603

Hope you have a great cruise!

We went on an 11 night Disney Med cruise 3 years ago. Unlike other cruise lines, Disney has unique shore excursions which are unlike other cruise lines. You will get more responses on the Disney board, but here's what we did.

In Villefranche, we did the Eze perfume making excursions. It was fun. In La Spezia, we went to the castle which had a tie-in with dinosaurs. That was not fun - mostly because of the other large group that came through the castle at the same time and tried to pick my pocket, but also because of the tour guide who stopped at a square for "10 minutes" which turned into an hour of waiting.

We did private excursions in Naples and Rome with Rome in Limo. We used tour guides in addition to the driver for both, but when we went again, last year, we just used the driver.

I am wondering if anyone can make recommendations for port excursions to Villefranche, La Spezia, Civitavecchia, & Naples. The choices are overwhelming, and this is our first-time traveling to Europe with our 12-year old & 2 19-year olds. Which cities are the best to see? Should we limit our time to one area, or try to see 2 to 3 cities/towns, as many excursions offer? Should we take the tours offered by Disney, or try to navigate some of these ports on our own? Which cities are must-sees? Which are disappointing? Should we try to do excursions at all 4 ports, or is it too exhausting to see all of them on back to back days? We currently have a Disney excursion scheduled for each of the 4 ports, but I just don't know if we've chosen the right ones. We currently plan to see the following:

 

Villefranche: Monaco, Monte Carlo, & Eze

La Spezia: Florence & Michelangelo

Civitavecchia: Vatican City, the Coliseum, & Catacombs

Naples: Pompeii, Sorrento, & Capri

 

We would be completely open to trying a different excursion, tour company, or exploring a bit on our own with some solid guidance. I'd love some honest opinions from people who know more than I do about these ports!

We did the DCL Med cruise in 2010. We did the Monaco, Monte Carlo, & Eze tour and enjoyed it. It has a lot of walking, but the weather was beautiful and not many people were there that day.

In La Spezia we went to Florence & Pisa. Mostly because I've always wanted to see the Leaning Tower. We were late back to the ship due to some people who felt they didn't have to keep up with the group and traffic.

Civitavecchia - Taste of Rome. We saw Trevi Fountain, walked over to the Forum and through it, Coliseum, and then to Vatican City. There we were given gelato tickets (one each) and had 2 or 3 hours free time (I forget how much). We ate lunch, and went to St Peters (including the catacombs). It's at least a 1 hour bus ride from/to the ship to Rome, so this was a long day.

Naples - Timeless Pompeii & the Flavor or Sorrento. JMO, adding Capri to this would make a very full day, with the feeling that you really didn't see anything. Most reports I've read say that Capri should be a trip unto itself, as the time involved in getting there (and back) is quite long. That's what we plan to do the next time, just go to Capri.

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

Be sure to post this on the ports of call boards.

France for the french port, Italy for the Italy port and so forth.

Keith

Get a copy of Rick Steves' Mediterranean Cruise Ports and read what he has to say about what you can see in those ports in the time you have, and how to do it. On his website you can download free audio tours of Rome, Pompeii, and Florence for mp3 and ipod, along with maps. The slow train to Rome will take 1-1/4 hour and price of r/t ticket includes public transport in Rome. Once you get there, Rome and Florence are very walkable cities. EM

I am wondering if anyone can make recommendations for port excursions to Villefranche, La Spezia, Civitavecchia, & Naples. The choices are overwhelming, and this is our first-time traveling to Europe with our 12-year old & 2 19-year olds. Which cities are the best to see? Should we limit our time to one area, or try to see 2 to 3 cities/towns, as many excursions offer? Should we take the tours offered by Disney, or try to navigate some of these ports on our own? Which cities are must-sees? Which are disappointing? Should we try to do excursions at all 4 ports, or is it too exhausting to see all of them on back to back days? We currently have a Disney excursion scheduled for each of the 4 ports, but I just don't know if we've chosen the right ones. We currently plan to see the following:

 

Villefranche: Monaco, Monte Carlo, & Eze

La Spezia: Florence & Michelangelo

Civitavecchia: Vatican City, the Coliseum, & Catacombs

Naples: Pompeii, Sorrento, & Capri

 

We would be completely open to trying a different excursion, tour company, or exploring a bit on our own with some solid guidance. I'd love some honest opinions from people who know more than I do about these ports!

Your cruise sounds wonderful. Yes, I'd definately do all four ports. That's why you go to the Mediterranean and while you'll be tired after day four you can always rest on day #5. The only change I might make to the itinerary is to choose an excursion that goes to Sorrento and Pompeii but skips Capri. That would slow your day down and make it more enjoyable.