Wind Surf Oct. 23

Has anyone taken the Rome to Marseille trip? Newbe here looking for info on the port excursions. Thank you so much!

We took the Rome/Nice and Nice/Barcelona cruises last year in November and stopped at many of the same ports you will be visiting. Our favorites were Portovenere and Monte Carlo. We stayed in Portovenere all day and wandered through the town. The church sitting out on the cliffs of the Mediterranean is a sight to see especially at sunset. I believe it was built in 1257! We were in Marseilles for 1 1/2 days and took a day long excursion to Avignon and then to Chateauneuf du Pape for a winery tour/tasting and it was fabulous. I don't see either of those on this year's excursion list but perhaps someone on your cruise has arranged a private tour to those areas and are looking for some additional folks to join them? Aix is also popular based upon posts on these boards. Alternatively, I do see from Monte Carlo an excursion to St. Paul de Vence. We went to St. Paul from Villefranche and had a wonderful time strolling through the walled city. Very nice art galleries inside the city. However, if you have never been to Monte Carlo then I think you should see it and perhaps go to St Paul on a future trip. We were overnight in Monte Carlo so we had plenty of time to stroll around and see the sites there.

I hope this helps and hope you all have a wonderful time on your cruise!

Thank you for the response! What did you like about Portovenere, I think that might be my favorite place!

Although I had researched some of the other ports we were going to visit during our 2-week trip, I did not research Portovenere much. So, we decided to just take it easy and enjoy the day there rather than travel elsewhere. When we went up on deck after arriving and took our first look out at the port of Portovenere it was just wonderful. The colorful buildings at the port and then the church sitting off to the left of the town were beautiful. After taking the short tender ride, we initiallly strolled toward the right side of town and came upon a small park overlooking another small fishing port. We sat for a while and watched the locals fishing out of their boats and from shore not using fishing poles but just tossing fishing line, hook and bait out into the water. We then started walking through town, up and down the streets. It is a bit hilly so wear comfortable shoes. The streets, residences and shops were exactly what we had pictured and imagined for the Med (narrow streets, lots of color, friendly folks and several shops/cafes to walk into). There is a fort up on the hill, but it was closed the day we were there but we didnt' find that out until we had made the climb. We also came across the cemetary which sits right on the cliff overlooking the Mediterranean. It was amazing how well kept it was and it was full of flowers. The churches were open and were all quite enjoyable. At one church a soloist was practicing for an upcoming event so we just sat and listened to him sing for a little while. He was quite amazing! As for food/treats, we did succumb to the gelato a couple of times during the day. If you have never had gelato in Italy then you must try it at least a couple of times at each port! Again, if you can be at the church on the cliff at sunset you can get some fantastic pictures. We just had a great, relaxing day in Portovenere and will try to go back sometime.

Thank you Gracie! Great information!

One of our excursions in Portovenere is Cinque Terre. This excursion is 7 hours. Is that to long for an excursion? Would we be better off doing Portovenere on our own?

The other excursions at this port are: Pisa, Florence (12 hours!) Lucca and a 1 1/2 hour Taste of Portovenere.

Thank you! Jennifer

Jennifer,

I know it is a tough choice deciding whether to stay in port or take an excursion. I will share with you our thought processes that led us to our choice to stay in Portovenere. I certainly would not want to steer you in the wrong direction since deciding what to see and do is personal preference.

As I may have mentioned, this was our first trip to the Mediterranean and one of the reasons we picked Windstar was because of the ports of call. Many of the ports we had heard about, but others like Portovenere we had not. In general, unless we had more than one day in a port we pretty much decided to stay in that port area and experience the local sites, culture and food. In a couple of places we did hop on a local bus and go to a neighboring town after we had explored our port of call. We took an all day excursion out of Marseilles that included going to Avignon, having a gourmet lunch and then onto Chateauneuf du Pape. Although we were gone all day we had a great time. Even though the 7-hour excursion to Cinque Terre may sound long I would imagine the time would go by more quickly than you want. There were several folks on our cruise that went on the Cinque Terre and Florence excursions and both groups enjoyed their trips. The Florence excursion was quite long and I do remember the group that left that morning did not return to the ship until sometime well into the dinner hour that night. We may opt for the Cinque Terre excursion on our next cruise. As for Florence, our feeling was that one day in Florence just would not be enough. We decided we should go to Florence on another trip and spend several days as part of a land-based vacation to the area.

It may be a long shot due to timing but perhaps you could go to Cinque Terre and get back in time for the Taste of Portovenere excursion? It would just depend on what time each excursion starts. Just a thought. I hope this helps you decide! Good luck!