trips in eastern med. 25th september on victoria

[willow1uk]

hi guys

first time cruisers

we like to explore on our own but do not know which ports are difficult to travel from to tourist sites on our own (or the cheapest option).

has anyone explored on their own?

[pnhmrk]

has anyone explored on their own?

 

Yes. Most of the ports I've visited around the world I've not gone on a Cunard tour. Cunard tours are very expensive and, for two, it's almost as cheap to book a taxi to take you on a short tour for a few hours. If there are four of you a taxi will work out cheaper. If you do that you also get to say where you want to go and how long you want to spend there - you're not spending ages in shops or museums that you're not interested in.

 

With a lot of ports the ship is right in the centre and you don't even need a taxi (eg Malaga). It can be great fun striking out on your own and leaving the confines of the ship behind for a few hours.

 

The only times I would take a tour is if I wanted to do something that was a long way from the ship (eg visiting Ho Chi Minh City when in Vietnam) or wasn't available other than on a tour (eg the Scenic Railway on St Kitts).

 

It is well worth investing in a guidebook for each destination before you cruise. That way you can have an idea of what you want to see before you arrive in the port :)

[pnhmrk]

Another thought is that it's worth checking here to see who else is on your cruise. I met with a small group from here when we called in Belfast. There were about a dozen of us, one of the group had contacted a tour agent in advance and we ended up with a better tour than Cunard was offering and for half the price :)

[alibabacruisers]

I did my first cruise last year and out of the 5 ports we had we did 4 of them on our own. Rome, we used Cunard's tour ..it was just for the transportation because Rome was about 1 1/2 hours from Civitavecchia. I love to try and explore on our own too. You will probably have a lot of research to do before deciding. My advice is 1. Get some travel books, either buy or borrow from the library, first to read about which things you would like to see at each port (like Malcolm stated above); then 2. I would read the Cruise Critic forums (under Port of Calls) for each port to get a feel for each port and ask questions of the members there; and 3. Look at maps of the ports and see about the distances you will be travelling because if there is a long distance you may want to consider using the ships tour for that port or at least the transport part...they usually call it _____ On Your Own (i.e., Rome On Your Own, Athens On Your Own). I looked at your itinerary and I am sorry that I cannot be of more help because I have not been to the ports you are going to....at least not yet.....my second cruise is in Nov 2010. I wish you the best of luck in deciding and know that you will enjoy yourself either way! Have fun!

 

Barbara