Shore trips Mediterranean cruise

Hi all,

my gf and I will travel on October in a NCL cruise (Epic) . our itinerary is this:

Barcelona -> Naples -> Rome -> Livorno -> Cannes -> Marseille -> Barcelona.

when getting to the ports we want to travel the 1-day trip by ourselves ,because shore excursion offered by NCL are expensive(to say the least).

can someone help with itinerary for all ports and how to do it? what to see in each? what goes through my mind in Naples for example is Sorrento, Capri and Pompeii but I'm not familiar with travel times and with the geography.

thanks in advance

I would suggest a tour group for Rome if you want maximize what you see. Aside from logistics, the guide was able to have our group skip the lines for the Vatican museum and Colosseum. It is expensive, but we got to see a lot.

Enjoy.

The "Ports of Call" board on cruise critic has tons of info for you!! I also just posted a review that had 2 private tours (just the 4 of us) - we used RomeinLimo and Marco Polo Tours and had great experiences with them both. They are much cheaper than NCL excursions. We used NCL in Rome, and I would NOT use them again - I would use another private tour company, such as RomeinLimo. Tour wasn't bad, but we were with 14 others, and a total of 40 on our tour bus - not what I had been told by NCL when I booked. Review link: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=53990496&posted=1#post53990496

The "Ports of Call" board on cruise critic has tons of info for you!! ...

Yes, check out that sub forum.

And check out the ROLL CALL for your cruise. You may get some more ideas there and possibly share small group tours.

Cruising Excursions.com offer a four (or possibly five) tour package for this cruise. Did this last year and saved considerably on NCL prices

Naples: simply walk of the ship, out if cruise port (2mins walk) hop on hop off bus at entrance.

livorno: shuttle bus stops u in centre of town. next to mc donalds their is tourist office for like 12e u get a return bus to pisa. so easy to do. I did this with my hubby and 4 kids.

Rome I didn't do. although my dad amd uncle did. He told us to come out of port and follow signs to train station. it's 10e return on train and train takes around 1 hour into rome. apparently very very easy to do.

Barcelona: shuttle bus leaves u at Christopher colobus statue. walk north up later ramblas. watch it belongings here with pick pockets. we did this 3 times never had an hassle

sorry i haven't done the other ports. hope this helps. we have done 3 cruise with r 4 kids and always done public transport. and had a brill experience x

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When we went to Naples we went to Capri. Very easy, no need for an excursion; there's a ferry that runs regularly. You can get more info on the ports of call board. It was absolutely beautiful!

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When in Rome go with Rome in Limo. We took their tour and it was fabulous. Just google them to get their website.

Paul

In Marseille go with Provence Connection. Again, google them to get the website and click cruise tours. Our family did the all day tour and was well worth it.

Paul

Thanks everyone for the answers :)

We did this exact cruise last Sept/Oct. There were 7 of us in our party

Naples: Surrounded by taxi drivers as we left the port. We arranged a fee with one to take us to Pompeii and wait for 3 hours. As a bonus we got a visit to a Limoncello Emporium and an hours guided tour round Naples. We didn't pay until we got back to the terminal, this worked out at about 29 euros each.

Rome: We jumped on the shuttle to the port gates, then on a bus to the railway station (2 euros) then bought return rail tickets plus tickets for one of the Hop On Hop Off buses in Rome (available when you purchase your rail tickets) total cost was about 47 euros each. Get up and off the boat early to maximise your time in Rome, take a note of how long the outward journey takes, and give yourselves that time plus a little extra to get back to the ship in plenty of time.

Livorno: At the dockside we negotiated a price to Pisa with a two hour wait, this worked out about 30 euros each. We got ashore too late to take in Florence too although there were mini buses available (8PAX) to do both for around 400 euros.

Cannes: Tender to harbour. You've got enough time to walk around if you wish but there is also a little train that rides round the town for a fare of 10 euros

Marseille: An NCL shuttle at a cost of $15 per person will take you to the old harbour, a few shopping streets are nearby.

With all these we saved money over the NCL excursions even when using the local taxis (Naples & Livorno) the main thing to remember is to give yourself time to get back to the ship.

Its the first time we had gone DIY for a trip but from now on we'll only take NCL excursions as a last resort or if they offer something unique.

Enjoy your cruise. We did.

Hi all,

 

my gf and I will travel on October in a NCL cruise (Epic) . our itinerary is this:

 

Barcelona -> Naples -> Rome -> Livorno -> Cannes -> Marseille -> Barcelona.

 

Are you sure you're stopping in Marseille? I'm on the same cruise a little earlier and Marseille was swapped for Palma, Majorca months ago. Did they change it back? Their website is still showing Palma as the stop for that itinerary...

Are you sure you're stopping in Marseille? I'm on the same cruise a little earlier and Marseille was swapped for Palma, Majorca months ago. Did they change it back? Their website is still showing Palma as the stop for that itinerary...

Never mind. I just read pe4all's review and someone there commented they've switched the ports back beginning later in October (I debark Oct 4). Mystery solved. ;)

We just did this cruise last week-embarked in Rome so did that on our own for a few days.

Livorno-joined a group on cruise critic (7 people total) cost $90.00 each went to Florence and Pisa.

Cannes and Naples used Italytours.eu shared group -price was reasonable compared to ships.

Barcelona easy to do on your own, used shuttle from ship.

Palma we did a beach day with the ship tour which was a mistake because we could have taken a cab and saved time and a few $$$. Waiting around for everyone to show up for all the tours on the Epic was time wasted IMHO.