Vision of the Seas - 12 nights Mediterranean Greek Isles

Going on this trip in September. As it's only our third cruise I was wondering about other cruisers' experience of the trips ashore. The first one we did around the Med and found several of the ports were easy to go on foot and navigate successfully with hop on hop off buses. Our second was Egypt - coach from the ship only. So just interested in any advice - also opinions on the ship - have seen some rather negative reviews ! Thanks in advance.

What are your ports?

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Starting in Barcelona:

Cannes

Florence/Pisa/Laspezia

Rome

Athens

Rhodes

Santorini

Valletta

We were on that ship and that itinerary just a couple of weeks ago. Let me say that the trip was fantastic. The weather was great (just hot) and the seas very calm. Staff were all nice to us so overall an outstanding cruise.

Now, to answer your question. We toured Barcelona, Valletta, Rhodes, Cannes, and Athens on our own. Here is how we did it:

Barcelona: Plenty of things to see if you like to walk. There are also plenty of taxi stations or metro locations. We mainly did it on foot.

Valetta: We walked off the ship, down the street about a quarter of a mile, and into the main town area up a steep incline. There is also an elevator for ~1-2 Euro if needed down a little further. You will see plenty of horse & carriage opportunities and the hop on and off along the walk to the elevator. There was sights and shopping at the top of the city.

Rhodes: We walked down the street about a quarter of a mile and then entered the town. We visited the museums (Grand Palace and also an archeological museum) for a discounted price we paid at the grand palace. Visiting the archaeological museum was great. Everything can be walked.

Athens: We arranged for a taxi to the Acropolis and a pick up at the end in advance. There are taxis outside the gates of the port if needed. We visited the acropolis, the archaeological museum across from the Acropolis, and walked Plaka behind it. We ate at a great place in the back of Plaka called Talixos (sp?) but it was a walk to get there. Very inexpensive and great food. We definitely walked a lot that day but it was great and plenty of shopping/food in Plaka.

Cannes: We walked about a half of a mile to a mile down the street and saw a beach and the red carpet for the film festival. We also looked at the handprints across the street. We then walked back toward the ship and there is a museum/castle on the hill on top. It is a walk up a steep incline ( I believe there are little trollies that look like a train but we walked it). It was worth it to see the views from the top. If you go into the museum (we recommend it) make sure you go into the courtyard and visit the tower with the flag. You can go inside and up to the top for breathtaking pictures. That was a great surprise as the sign was slightly hidden behind a plant. At the bottom of the hill on the return we would recommend the pastry shop for macaroons and pastries. Very yummy :-)

Florence/Rome/Santorini we took excursions from the ship. Florence and Rome are far from Port.

Florence we had time to ourselves as part of the tour so we elected to skip waiting in line for the Cathedral de Santa Maria del Fiore that had a line for an hour and went to the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence (one in the square). It was worth the extra Euros to get in the air conditioning and see the tombs of Michaelangelo, Galileo Galilee, Machiavelli and others. It was a pretty Basilica and the line was short. We also ate at a café next to this Basilica and the food was very tasty.

Rome: We visited the Trivi fountain, the coliseum, and the forum. We also had lunch that was arranged and the food was excellent. The day was great, glad we took a tour, but it was a long day. Tour made it back just before sailing so glad we had a Royal Excursion on that one.

Santorini is a tender location and depending on the amount of ships could be a challenge. There is a cable car to the top at the tender location but we saw the entire island by booking the Akrotiri ruins. We saw the entire island and took the cable car down at the end. We recommend this as well.

Good luck and enjoy!

Most informative - many thanks.

CuriousCruiser101,

Your welcome. I hope you enjoy as much as we did. BTW, the ship was good but and in pretty good shape for the overall age. Smaller and more intimate compared to the larger ships but in return the offering for my teens was less. That was OK because we were there for the itinerary. The other thing I would add about the ship was the utilization of the centrum. They did a better job using that space than any other that I have sailed. Plenty of energy there.

Enjoy your trip!

Starting in Barcelona:

 

Cannes

Florence/Pisa/Laspezia

Rome

Athens

Rhodes

Santorini

Valletta

Tenders for Santorini and usually Cannes.

Valletta sail in is fantastic.The centre is 5 minutes by taxi or 20 minutes walk.

Athens 10 minutes by taxi as is Rhodes.

Starting in Barcelona:

 

Cannes

Florence/Pisa/Laspezia

Rome

Athens

Rhodes

Santorini

Valletta

Great ports, Barcelona is really nice port great place to spend a couple of days before the cruise, we did similar cruise did almost all private tours with others from roll call, starting with a half day tour of Barcelona with Barcelona day tours.

Best tour was from liverno , with papillon, had 8 from roll call first went to pisa for a quick stop , then Florence where they pre-bought museum tickets so we could see David, then shopping and lunch , then a wine tasting in a local organic vineyard , really great trip. Driver guide was excellent.

CuriousCruiser101,

Your welcome. I hope you enjoy as much as we did. BTW, the ship was good but and in pretty good shape for the overall age. Smaller and more intimate compared to the larger ships but in return the offering for my teens was less. That was OK because we were there for the itinerary. The other thing I would add about the ship was the utilization of the centrum. They did a better job using that space than any other that I have sailed. Plenty of energy there.

 

Enjoy your trip!

Thanks for the information about the ship. We are doing the September vision to Venice cruise.

She seems like a great sized ship to do all of these great ports on. Wish we could do the b2b

Florence/Pisa- We did the Florence and Pisa On Your Own, so we could have cruise line transportation security but the ability to explore on our own- great day

Rome- sooo much to see and far away, so I recommend booking through the cruise line and doing a tour that covers as many sites as possible- it’s a busy day but worth it

Athens- Acropolis

Santorini- easy to DIY- once off the tender, go to the left where the “boats to Oia” are advertised and depart, only about 15 Euros pp to get you to Oia and then bus you back to Fira a few hours later- gorgeous!

Valletta- the HOHO worked pretty well for us- I loved the Blue Grotto and walking around Old Town where the fortress is

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We enjoyed this same itinerary so much in 2017 on Brilliance that we're doing it again, just on Vision as you are, in July. Fairly easy and frequent local travel in all ports. Best advice gained on this cruise: Do not waste your money on a full drink package because you're hardly on board while pier side.

We're doing a similar itinerary on Vision in May 2019. We've booked some great tours already.

Florence/Pisa- We did the Florence and Pisa On Your Own, so we could have cruise line transportation security but the ability to explore on our own- great day

 

Rome- sooo much to see and far away, so I recommend booking through the cruise line and doing a tour that covers as many sites as possible- it’s a busy day but worth it

 

Athens- Acropolis

 

Santorini- easy to DIY- once off the tender, go to the left where the “boats to Oia” are advertised and depart, only about 15 Euros pp to get you to Oia and then bus you back to Fira a few hours later- gorgeous!

 

Valletta- the HOHO worked pretty well for us- I loved the Blue Grotto and walking around Old Town where the fortress is

 

 

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Many thanks - everyone has been so helpful - so excited now!

We enjoyed this same itinerary so much in 2017 on Brilliance that we're doing it again, just on Vision as you are, in July. Fairly easy and frequent local travel in all ports. Best advice gained on this cruise: Do not waste your money on a full drink package because you're hardly on board while pier side.

Many thanks for this - we fell foul of the soft drinks package years ago - realised there was water available everywhere! All we really got was two very nice RC logo drinking cups. Or was there another drinks package? We have never drunk much on a cruise, too worried about missing any of the next day and too tired to stay up late drinking! We have got a full drinks package included in our itinerary as part of our deal.

Only one addition... we did Cannes years ago. You can walk to the train station and take the train to Monte Carlo for the day. Very easy. Take your passport with you, and make sure you ask them to stamp it in Monte Carlo for fun. You can go to the famous Casino and also take a bus up the hill and enjoy the views from the Palace area. We ended up eating at a cafe up there. There is a cost if you want to go into the Casino, your choice. But it was really neat to see the city, palace, casino, yachts in the harbor, expensive cars at the casino. Just watch the time for the trains back to the port. An easy and fun trip.

Just got off this boat yesterday. The crew on this boat is fantastic! They made the trip amazing!!! The ports were incredible with the exception of Marseille. I hope that Captain Marsk is still on board. He is the most fantastic captain I have ever seen! He is so present and involved with the crew and passengers even playing volleyball on days at sea. It was the most amazing 12 days!! You will certainly enjoy every minute of it!!!

Just got off this boat yesterday. The crew on this boat is fantastic! They made the trip amazing!!! The ports were incredible with the exception of Marseille. I hope that Captain Marsk is still on board. He is the most fantastic captain I have ever seen! He is so present and involved with the crew and passengers even playing volleyball on days at sea. It was the most amazing 12 days!! You will certainly enjoy every minute of it!!!

How was getting off the ship in Santorini ? We'll be doing this similar cruise next May.

Also what tours did you do ? We have booked tours in:

Cannes .... Shorexcursioneer ..... (with roll call)

Florence ... Ship DIY ... (we've been before and did private tour Florence/Pisa)

Rome ... Ship DIY (since we've been before and did a private tour with RomeInLimo)

Athens ... George's Taxi Tours ... Best of Athens... (with roll call)

Mykonos ... will do on our own

Santorini ... Santorini Tours ... (with roll call)

Malta ... Malta Film Tours ... (booked directly)

Getting off in Santorini was not the problem. The tenders were efficient and took us to the base of the cable car. The problem was the return the cable car broke down and we had already purchased our ticket for the cable car. Apparently it is very common for it to break down. We did have to walk down the donkey path. It was very slippery and it was dangerous. If you have any elderly or any health concerns I would advise taking the ferry from Oia back to the tender. There are far fewer steps down and there are no donkeys on the trail. We did see on our trip down several people having to be carried. It eventually was fixed but it took at least two plus hours and we were the only boat in there that day.

Please do not let it deter you from going. It was the most beautiful port. It was our favorite. Our pictures look like postcards. It was absolutely amazing!!!!

Just got off this boat yesterday. The crew on this boat is fantastic! They made the trip amazing!!! The ports were incredible with the exception of Marseille. I hope that Captain Marsk is still on board. He is the most fantastic captain I have ever seen! He is so present and involved with the crew and passengers even playing volleyball on days at sea. It was the most amazing 12 days!! You will certainly enjoy every minute of it!!!

I will be sailing on the vision in 23 days and really looking forward to it. Thank you.

I will be taking this cruise on Vision in Sept 2019, to celebrate my 70th birthday.

I will be taking this cruise on Vision in Sept 2019, to celebrate my 70th birthday.

Mine is also a 70th birthday cruise :D

I really wish someone would do a review of this itinerary, I am going to do this cruise in 2 years & it helps me plan & get excited!

I really wish someone would do a review of this itinerary, I am going to do this cruise in 2 years & it helps me plan & get excited!

Any particular ports you want information on?.

Many of us have been to most of these ports and might be able to offer an insight.

There are many sites offering information about European ports too.

I've read every review I could find and watched every video. It just really helps me get excited reading reviews & seeing pictures. I've pretty much scoured the internet already...lol

OK - here goes.

Cannes - took the tender across, looked around the town, went back for swimsuits and hit the beach.

Took tour to Florence but on reflection wished we'd done the Pisa tour, beautiful place tho. (I think there was a leather factory in here somewhere but cannot recall where.)

Rome - amazing - took tour again as some distance, went on the train, saw the Vatican, Spanish Steps and Trivedi Fountain. Very busy, very hot but worthwhile.

Two days sailing - went by very quickly as we were tired!

Athens, took the bus, went round the Plaka district and also round the Acropolis, not for the fainthearted as it's a bit of climb and extremely busy once there but amazing. Saw the Colesseum but you really need a whole day to actually go in. So much to see!

Rhodes - fabulous day. Walked around the old town had lunch then hit the beach. Brilliant day, loved Rhodes.

Santorini - what can I say. We took the tour as I'd been scared off by reports of long queues for cable car etc. You take your chances, but I would swerve the donkeys! Time was just about enough, so much walking and climbing in the heat but the views are stunning. We also stopped at a winery, which I don't usually like but this one was exceptional, again with stunning views.

Sailing day - much needed rest.

Malta - again we took the historical city trip, Mdina and Valletta. If they still do this trip when you sail I would be cautious. It is far too rushed and again you need to be fit for all the fast walking required to cover both sites with entrances to palaces etc. missed o/a waiting for people to catch up. We went back to the ship for lunch then rushed back up in the lift to the Baraka Gardens for a couple of hours. Humidity got to me tho!

Back sailing then Barcelona. We opted for an extra day and night in a hotel as our flight was so late. We picked the weekend of the massive festival with music, dancing, parades and far too many people! Massive energy and amazing buildings to see.

All in all a very good itinery but the queues for places like the Colosseum and the Vatican are massive, far too long for the average port call so if you want to do any I would strongly advise you book a ticket online which offers the chance to skip the queue.

I think that's it - if you need any more info please ask. Enjoy!