help with shore excursion info

Going on Viking's new Viking Star this coming April. If booking a pompeii excursion for 4hrs vs Sorrento & Pompeii for 7hrs, does anyone know if you spend the same amount of time at Pompeii for both excursions. Also, how far is the famous casino in Monte Carlo from the cruise port. Can you walk to it?

Taxi's? Expensive to get there? Also, there is an abbey at the top of a mountain in Barcelona..is this worth seeing or should we stick with the walking tour?

One last question...In Dubrovnik, Croatia...is it far or can you walk from the port to the tram ride up the mountain. How much time is needed to go up the tram and back. Would appreciate any help. So much to see and sooo little time.

Overwhelming!!!

I would suggest that you email Viking to ask about the amount of time in Pompeii for each tour and that you post the question about the distance to the Casino in Monte Carlo and to the tram in Dubrovnik on the Ports of Call boards on Cruise Critic.

Going on Viking's new Viking Star this coming April. If booking a pompeii excursion for 4hrs vs Sorrento & Pompeii for 7hrs, does anyone know if you spend the same amount of time at Pompeii for both excursions. Also, how far is the famous casino in Monte Carlo from the cruise port. Can you walk to it?

Taxi's? Expensive to get there? Also, there is an abbey at the top of a mountain in Barcelona..is this worth seeing or should we stick with the walking tour?

One last question...In Dubrovnik, Croatia...is it far or can you walk from the port to the tram ride up the mountain. How much time is needed to go up the tram and back. Would appreciate any help. So much to see and sooo little time.

Overwhelming!!!

Hah, you're Cape Cod too? We're in Harwich Port. We're on the first two legs of the maiden, Istanbul to Barcelona, so it looks as if we are sharing the trip with you :-)

It's quite a long walk from the cruise ship terminal to the Casino, and if the weather is hot, you'll be sticky and uncomfortable by the time you get there. By far the nicest way is to take the "bateau bus" (boat bus service) across the harbour, which will cost about 1 euro. Once on the other side of the port, it's a quick walk up to the tunnel (where the F! cars race through during Grand Prix). There's a lift from the tunnel entrance up to the casino.

It's a fair distance from the ship to the Old City in Dubrovnik, I think.

I know the Abbey up-country from Barcelona is fantastic, but I think if you don't know Barcelona, you might want to spend more time there. But if you REALLY like old abbeys and such, it's supposed to be a must-see.

Ioum140. I have called, several times and emailed and have spoken to several reps and NO ONE knows. We've been on multiple cruises and this is the first one that we have not been able to get info. Since they are new to the cruise,we'll forgive them.

Bear-music. We are in Yarmouth. How funny. Thanks for the tips. Appreciate the info on Barcelona. You made the decision for us. It's a beautiful ship and I'm sure this will be awesome. Have a great trip.

Hi Fenway. Hope you're not buried in snow. We have a friend in Cape Ann and she's not happy!

As far as Dubrovnik goes, I haven't been there, but from my research I can tell you that the cable car does not start right at Dubrovnik Old Town, so if you want to go there after a walking tour, you might need a taxi (or public bus #8). It's not horribly far, but just far enough that I don't think I want to walk to it after walking around the city and perhaps on the city walls. The recommendation (from a Rick Steves book, most likely) is to take the cable car at sunset or night, if you're in port that long.

Yes, all but the tiniest of ships dock at Gruz, along with the ferries, which is a ways away from Dubrovnik's Old Town. I've read that a shuttle bus may be available for some cruise ships to the Old Town. So far I don't know if that might be the case for us, and if so, if it's run by the port/city and free or for a moderate fee. It has been my experience that that kind of thing isn't known or announced by most cruise lines until the day before you get to port. Occasionally you can find out that information by emailing the port or the city you're visiting. If not, there are apparently taxis at the cruise/ferry port, and at the Pile Gate (western side of Old Town - see Viking's map under myvikingjourney.com) plus a couple buses that run to the port. (I don't know if they accept anything but Croatian kunas, however!)

I get a lot of info from Rick Steves' books, plus tomsportguides.com. I know Tom (Sheridan, a frequent cruiser) has a port guide for Dubrovnik, as well as for Santorini, Athens, Venice, Istanbul and Kusadasi. If you're looking for information on these ports, you may want to check out his site.

Fenway, my email is the same as my CC name (that's an underscore, not a dash) at yahoo, if you care to make contact before the trip :-)

Fenway - if you're interested in Montserrat Abbey and are going to be there on the "turnaround" day, May 2, we have booked a private excursion to the Abbey and surrounding wine country. See the thread under Roll Calls for your cruise for more details. There's still space on the tour if you want to join us.

id4elizabeth..thanks for the invite but our cruise is April 19th. Appreciate the thought. Enjoy your trip