MSC Ship Excursions

[first_time_30th_birthday_]

Hi everyone,

 

I am quite new to cruise critic, but having read some of the forum posts here, it seems that most people avoid the ship excursions like the plague!

 

Is there are reason for this? I am planning for my first cruise in November and I'm thinking that surely it's a good idea to go with people who know the area well and will guarantee you're back on the ship on time. Or do the excursions tend to be not very good and a waste of money?

 

The ports we will be visiting are Naples, Messina, Valletta, Tunis, Barcelona and Marseille.

 

Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated :)

[Skier52]

Hi everyone,

 

I am quite new to cruise critic, but having read some of the forum posts here, it seems that most people avoid the ship excursions like the plague!

 

Is there are reason for this? I am planning for my first cruise in November and I'm thinking that surely it's a good idea to go with people who know the area well and will guarantee you're back on the ship on time. Or do the excursions tend to be not very good and a waste of money?

 

The ports we will be visiting are Naples, Messina, Valletta, Tunis, Barcelona and Marseille.

 

Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated :)

Messina if you want to walk around Messina itself and the same for Valletta there is some info in my review on this link

 

http://www.cruisingmates.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=270&t=9372

 

and I posted more info on this thread

 

 

 

http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2156535

 

 

 

Barcelona

IL found the HOHO bus red route to be a good introduction to the city nad if there's time do the blue route as well each route takes about 2 hrs so you need 5.5 hours plus to do both when allowing for changing buses

 

The bus routes can be found on pages 14 and 15 of this link and you can download and print them

 

 

https://onedrive.live.com/#cid=1CDC327C72A4C6D9&id=1CDC327C72A4C6D9%21532&v=3

 

I only have sparse info on the other three ports

 

HOpe this is useful

 

 

pete

[Bra_BE2014]

Hi everyone,

 

I am quite new to cruise critic, but having read some of the forum posts here, it seems that most people avoid the ship excursions like the plague!

 

Is there are reason for this? I am planning for my first cruise in November and I'm thinking that surely it's a good idea to go with people who know the area well and will guarantee you're back on the ship on time. Or do the excursions tend to be not very good and a waste of money?

 

The ports we will be visiting are Naples, Messina, Valletta, Tunis, Barcelona and Marseille.

 

Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated :)

 

I did a ship excursion every day as my MSC Fantasia Greek Island cruise was my first cruise. It made me feel safer and not worrying about missing the ship allowed me to relax and enjoy more. It was expensive, yes, but I think it was money well spent. Have fun!

Edited February 17, 2015 by Bra_BE2014

[AmoMondo]

I also did ship's excursions every day on my first cruise as I just didn't feel comfortable knowing what to expect.

 

Hundreds of people still do ships tours. You'll see them all loading into buses as soon as they allow people off the ship.

 

For more experienced cruisers who like tours, they know how to find local operators who are cheaper. For me, I hate tours and almost never do them and I'm comfortable enough in the Med, doing my own thing. I do research on here and tripadvisor and go armed with a map. I'm not huge on sights (lost count of the number of castles or ancient ruins I've seen over the years) and just enjoy wandering and seeing local life and trying the food and drink.

 

It also depends on the port. If there is something you desperately wNt to see and it is a long way away, tours are sometimes the only way of doing it in the time available.

 

Biggest advantage of a ships tour is the ship waits for them if they are late back, so they can push their luck time wise and pack more in. Local operators though know they have to get passengers back on time and do. Their reputations would be ruined if a group of passengers missed a ships sailing because of them.

 

Guess it comes down to how comfortable you feel in the countries you're going to be visiting.

[first_time_30th_birthday_]

Thanks guys. I think we'll definitely do an excursion in Tunisia to ensure we feel safe. I've heard that the Bardo Museum is better than Carthage, and we only have time to do one or the other with an excursion. At Naples, we want to travel to Sorrento, as that's where we got married in 2012. The price of making our own way there isn't any cheaper or faster than taking the ships excursion, so we're thinking of booking the excursion just for the coach ride to Sorrento, and then ditching the group until the end and rejoining the coach again to get back to the port. We don't want a guided tour, we want to go and visit places that are sentimental to us from our wedding and honeymoon instead.

[FTLcruisers]

Thanks guys. I think we'll definitely do an excursion in Tunisia to ensure we feel safe. I've heard that the Bardo Museum is better than Carthage, and we only have time to do one or the other with an excursion. At Naples, we want to travel to Sorrento, as that's where we got married in 2012. The price of making our own way there isn't any cheaper or faster than taking the ships excursion, so we're thinking of booking the excursion just for the coach ride to Sorrento, and then ditching the group until the end and rejoining the coach again to get back to the port. We don't want a guided tour, we want to go and visit places that are sentimental to us from our wedding and honeymoon instead.

 

you might research transportation from Naples to Sorrento instead of using the ship's excursion just for transport. You would probably have more flexibility on the time you can spend in Sorrento.

 

As to your original question - as most people said, it's all a matter of comfort - we used ship tours on our first few cruises in Europe but now we are so much more comfortable with private tours. However we sometimes will still will do a ship's tour - example is we will be stopping in Cadiz and want to go to Seville. We plan on using MSC's tour because of the distance from the port. On all our other stops, we'll be doing private tours.

 

Marianne

[AmoMondo]

Thanks guys. I think we'll definitely do an excursion in Tunisia to ensure we feel safe. I've heard that the Bardo Museum is better than Carthage, and we only have time to do one or the other with an excursion. At Naples, we want to travel to Sorrento, as that's where we got married in 2012. The price of making our own way there isn't any cheaper or faster than taking the ships excursion, so we're thinking of booking the excursion just for the coach ride to Sorrento, and then ditching the group until the end and rejoining the coach again to get back to the port. We don't want a guided tour, we want to go and visit places that are sentimental to us from our wedding and honeymoon instead.

 

I can't believe the return fail fare to Sorrento is not a lot cheaper than a shorex. Have you checked the fares on Trenitalia's website. I did this a few years ago and it came to just under €20 for 2 of us and that included taxi from the port to the station in Naples and back again. We also got off at Pompeii on the way to Sorrento. Can't see train fares having risen that much.

[AnnMR]

Some people like to arrange their own tours, but there's certainly plenty of people who book the MSC excursions.

 

If I'm in a port where the town isn't far I tend to wander around on my own, but I book excursions to places further afield, or where I think a guide would be useful.

 

I've done one of the Tunis excursions and really enjoyed it.

 

I've also done the Sorrento excursion, and you didn't have to stay with the tour guide once you got there, just make sure you knew how to get back to the pick up point and when. On that occasion we had table mates who organised their own jet boat trip to Sorrento, but they missed the intended boat and the next one wouldn't have given them enough time to see things, so they ended up missing out entirely.

 

One thing to take into account is that English speakers are in the minority on MSC ships, and they may cancel an excursion if there aren't enough English speakers to make it worthwhile. We had this happen to us when our original plan to see Vesuvius was affected. We were given the option of going on the tour with German guide and not having English translations, switching to another tour (which is when we went to Sorrento) or getting a refund.

[AmoMondo]

I've looked up infor on the train for you. The ticket price is €4.50 single, so €18 return for 2. Bet the MSC tour is €50+?

 

Train is on the circumvesuviana line and leaves Napoli Garibaldi station every 30 minutes. Takes about 65 minutes. No need to change trains, Sorrento is the last stop. Napoli is the last stop on the way back.

 

Just don't plan on gettingnthe last possible train back and you'll be fine.

[mistertoaster]

We are on the Splendida next month. I booked a four tour package, Marseille, Rome. Palermo and Tunis, for 50% cost of similar tours from MSC. The tour operator guarantees on time arrival to the ship, or they will fly you to the next port. I read many reviews of the tour operator and the majority were good. Therefore for half the price of MSC, I am fine with non ship tours with what appears to be a reputable contractor. Regardless of whom you book your tour through, ship or non ship, you ultimately receive the tour from local contractors. MSC, or in my case the tour intermediary, is just a tour broker that takes a commission for joining passengers with local tour operators. The ships unfortunately take a much larger commission than independent tour brokers. Having booked many tours through both the ship and outsiders, I have not found significant quality differences between either arrangements.

[tickets]

My husband and I are very interested in going to Sorrento. I am concerned about relying on the hydrofoil--timing and weather. Is Napoli Garibaldi the same station as Stazione Centrale? It does sound easy and allows you to have more free time than excursions. Thanks you amo mondo for the information.

[janchor]

Yes. Garibaldi is under Centrale and is where the train to Sorrento leaves from. We took the hydrofoil to Capri and then another ferry to Sorrento and then the Circumvesuviana back to Naples. And walked back to the ship. Very easy!

[tickets]

Thank you all so much. We are looking forward to a leisurely day in Sorrento without the free time restraints of a ship excursion.

[AmoMondo]

Thank you all so much. We are looking forward to a leisurely day in Sorrento without the free time restraints of a ship excursion.

 

It is a very short walk from the Sorrento train Station into the main square and it is the train terminus,so you really can't go wrong and garibaldi is the end of the line the other way.