Thompson cosmopolitan classic cruise June 2017

Could someone give me some tips on doing your own trips on the ports we are stopping at Palamos,Villefranche,marina Di Carrara,

Naples and Messina.

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Hi, & welcome to Cruise Critic,

One great thing about Thomson is that they often visit ports that aren't on other cruise lines' itineraries.

The downside is that there's not a lot of info about those ports on Cruise Critic or elsewhere

I'd never even heard of Marina Di Carrara.

It's between the popular cruise ports of La Spezia & Livorno, both chosen by cruise lines for their ease of access to Pisa and Florence.

The train station at Carrara-Avenza is a ten minute taxi ride (or mebbe local buses, or mebbe the ship offers a shuttle-bus).

There are cheap direct trains to Pisa Centrale, about 45 minutes to one hour away. The Field of Miracles (Leaning Tower etc) is an easy 20 - 25 minute walk from the station.

No direct trains to Florence (Firenze), that involves a change of trains at Pisa Centrale so although again inexpensive the total journey time is 2 hours plus. The station (S M Novella) is right by the historic part of Florence.

So choosing Pisa would be simplest & easiest, Florence is perfectly possible, but I'm pretty sure you won't have time to visit both.

The train website is

http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en?gclid=CMjZ652T9NMCFUK17QodLjsMWQ

It's not the most user-friendly website, though it is in English. Select a date within the coming week (same day-of-the-week as your visit) for times & fares, double-check shortly before your cruise, and double-check the times of return trains when you get to Carrara-Avenza station. As anywhere in the world catch the second-to-last possible return train, leaving the last possible one in reserve.

Palomas. Mebbe rent a car & drive south-west along the Costa Brava coast. Beautiful scenery heading toward Lloret de Mar

Villefranche is a tender port (ship moors off-shore, local shuttleboats ferry you ashore).. Villefranche is very pleasant, but it's small & there's not a lot there. The station is a 10 - 15 minute walk. Half-hourly trains to Monaco take 15 minutes or less, ditto in the opposite direction to Nice.

Naples. You have a wide choice. Ferry to Capri. Or ferry to Sorrento. Train to Pompeii. Or train to Herculaneum. All cheap and easy. Or explore the Amalfi coast - because of constraints on time and inadequate public transport you need to book a tour (private or ship's) to do this. And renting a car for the Amalfi coast doesn't work well because of parking difficulties and the driver having to concentrate on the road rather than the views. Or half-a-dozen other options from or in Naples.

Stax of info on this forum - near the top of the page click on "Search Forum" and type in "Capri" or Pompeii" etc. This will bring up threads about that place, most of them with good info about DIY.

Messina. Sorry, not been there. But again, use the "Search Forum" facility.

JB :)

Welcome to CC and well done for posting for the first time.

It takes time to get to know this site but it is definitely worth the effort.

As suggested above, you would get more responses and find more info on the boards relating to your ports, as this is the Italian board but your question also relates to Spanish and French ports.

Also in your question you don't say where it is you are trying to get to or what you are trying to see, and as some of these ports have multiple options nobody can give you much info.

Go first to the DESTINATIONS section and insert each port one at a time. Note that not all will be listed but if listed there are sections for "where you dock" and "things to do" etc.

Then go to the board relevant to each port and use the "search this forum" box to insert each port in turn. Read results.

Also look at the shorex options because even if you don't want to book any, they give an idea of things to see and do in each port.

And Tripadvisor for each too.

Hope that helps.

Thanks to you all its been extremely helpful [emoji106]

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Hi, & welcome to Cruise Critic,

 

One great thing about Thomson is that they often visit ports that aren't on other cruise lines' itineraries.

The downside is that there's not a lot of info about those ports on Cruise Critic or elsewhere

 

I'd never even heard of Marina Di Carrara.

It's between the popular cruise ports of La Spezia & Livorno, both chosen by cruise lines for their ease of access to Pisa and Florence.

The train station at Carrara-Avenza is a ten minute taxi ride (or mebbe local buses, or mebbe the ship offers a shuttle-bus).

There are cheap direct trains to Pisa Centrale, about 45 minutes to one hour away. The Field of Miracles (Leaning Tower etc) is an easy 20 - 25 minute walk from the station.

No direct trains to Florence (Firenze), that involves a change of trains at Pisa Centrale so although again inexpensive the total journey time is 2 hours plus. The station (S M Novella) is right by the historic part of Florence.

So choosing Pisa would be simplest & easiest, Florence is perfectly possible, but I'm pretty sure you won't have time to visit both.

The train website is

http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en?gclid=CMjZ652T9NMCFUK17QodLjsMWQ

It's not the most user-friendly website, though it is in English. Select a date within the coming week (same day-of-the-week as your visit) for times & fares, double-check shortly before your cruise, and double-check the times of return trains when you get to Carrara-Avenza station. As anywhere in the world catch the second-to-last possible return train, leaving the last possible one in reserve.

 

Palomas. Mebbe rent a car & drive south-west along the Costa Brava coast. Beautiful scenery heading toward Lloret de Mar

 

Villefranche is a tender port (ship moors off-shore, local shuttleboats ferry you ashore).. Villefranche is very pleasant, but it's small & there's not a lot there. The station is a 10 - 15 minute walk. Half-hourly trains to Monaco take 15 minutes or less, ditto in the opposite direction to Nice.

 

Naples. You have a wide choice. Ferry to Capri. Or ferry to Sorrento. Train to Pompeii. Or train to Herculaneum. All cheap and easy. Or explore the Amalfi coast - because of constraints on time and inadequate public transport you need to book a tour (private or ship's) to do this. And renting a car for the Amalfi coast doesn't work well because of parking difficulties and the driver having to concentrate on the road rather than the views. Or half-a-dozen other options from or in Naples.

Stax of info on this forum - near the top of the page click on "Search Forum" and type in "Capri" or Pompeii" etc. This will bring up threads about that place, most of them with good info about DIY.

 

Messina. Sorry, not been there. But again, use the "Search Forum" facility.

 

JB :)

Thanks a lot, this is very helpful :)