Europe Shore Excursions

[lovecarnivalcruises]

I have sent them an email, thanks for the responses. Has anyone ever tried Viator for tours.

[lovecarnivalcruises]

John did say that some of Carnivals tours will visit St. Peter's tomb, if it includes the full tour of the Vatican Museum.

[trvlgirlmq]

I asked JH about the issue with excursions not being bookable (someone else did as well). He replied that there is, indeed, a glitch and they are working on it.

[HLGW60]

I am on the May 14 Barcelona to Athens cruise and I also can not book anything yet. In fact.....my booking shows no excursions yet. I am able to view some of the excursions offered by first going to Explore, then Shore Excursions, and then Browse by Destinations. Out of curiosity....is anyone able to see anything for Athens yet?

[AngMo44]

I am on the May 14 Barcelona to Athens cruise and I also can not book anything yet. In fact.....my booking shows no excursions yet. I am able to view some of the excursions offered by first going to Explore, then Shore Excursions, and then Browse by Destinations. Out of curiosity....is anyone able to see anything for Athens yet?

 

Our sailing 5/24 has everything except Athens. It had everything except Rhodes and Athens for about a week and then Rhodes showed up the other day, but still no Athens.

[trvlgirlmq]

I am on the May 14 Barcelona to Athens cruise and I also can not book anything yet. In fact.....my booking shows no excursions yet. I am able to view some of the excursions offered by first going to Explore, then Shore Excursions, and then Browse by Destinations. Out of curiosity....is anyone able to see anything for Athens yet?

 

The glitch seems to be with the Barcelona TO Athens itineraries. People on the sailings in the other direction are able to book. I have seen nothing for Athens even though it is a "port" as well as our end location.

[aprilcl]

There will be no FTTF for Europe. Does anyone know which Europe ports are tender vs dock? Tender wait is the main reason we like FTTF.

HEre is the response from Carnival....

Carnival Logo

 

Unfortunately it will not be offered in Europe.

 

Message History

Customer By Service Web () (08/28/2015 11:41 AM)

This feedback is about:

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1374

 

will FTTF be offered in Europe? it is not listed as a port.

[trvlgirlmq]

There will be no FTTF for Europe. Does anyone know which Europe ports are tender vs dock? Tender wait is the main reason we like FTTF.

HEre is the response from Carnival....

Carnival Logo

 

Unfortunately it will not be offered in Europe.

 

Message History

Customer By Service Web () (08/28/2015 11:41 AM)

This feedback is about:

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1374

 

will FTTF be offered in Europe? it is not listed as a port.

 

There are no tender ports on any of the itineraries. That would only change if they changed ports for some reason.

[robinamn]

I can see our excursions now - we are on the Barcelona to Athens on June 11th

[trvlgirlmq]

I can see our excursions now - we are on the Barcelona to Athens on June 11th

 

I'm on the same sailing! I was able to book the 2 excursions we wanted last night. Come join the roll call if you want to share in the excitement and planning.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2156486&page=16

[HLGW60]

I can see our excursions now - we are on the Barcelona to Athens on June 11th

 

Athens excursions are still not showing up for me as well as images and details for the Rhodes excursions. When I went to the general main site to EXPLORE shore excursions by destination I noticed that Athens is not even showing up as a departure port today. I hope this is only temporary and that is only down because they are adding excursions for the port:confused:

[crzndeb]

The one ship tour that I knew I wanted to book was Cinque Terre, and I just booked that. This one is a long day and didn't want to risk an independent tour.

[b_cruise]

The one ship tour that I knew I wanted to book was Cinque Terre, and I just booked that. This one is a long day and didn't want to risk an independent tour.

 

I have used italytoursharing.com two times for this tour to cinque terre from the livorno port. Do not worry about missing the ship..it's their business to make u on time or they would not get any business because we would all be posting how the tour operator made us miss the ship!! Really...u will have way more time at the towns if u go independent. My friend used the ships tour in July and I used italytoursharing.com. He ended up being very disappointed as the group is too big and not enough time.

 

Sorry, for lurching, but I love to try to help to get everyone's best European experience as we all know, this is not cheap 😊🍷🍷

[HLGW60]

The one ship tour that I knew I wanted to book was Cinque Terre, and I just booked that. This one is a long day and didn't want to risk an independent tour.

 

If you should change your mind and decide to book a licensed private guide, then I suggest Umberto Cattani. A group of 8 of us on the May 14 sailing have booked a tour with him and you get to see more villages than the 3 that Carnival offers, it leaves at 7:30 am and is 9 hours. His tour is highly recommended on Trip Advisor and I noticed that you can now book his tour through Viator rather than directly contacting him. It is 650 EUROS for 8 people (81.25 per person or abt $91 USD )and 550 EUROS for 5 people or less.

 

This is his website in case anyone might be interested:http://www.cinqueterretour.it/index.php/en/shore-excursions/shore-excursions-from-livorno/best-of-cinque-terre.html

[crzndeb]

Thanks b_cruise and HLFW60 for the suggestions. Since I travel solo, I will probably stick with the ship tour on this. My friend has done it in the past, and was happy with it. But I have a year to change my mind...LOL

 

I definitely would like to find an independent for the Amalfi Coast. I purposely did the last 2 Meds and then the TA. So many things to do on the Med cruises, I wanted to do different things on each leg. I already have an independent to Pompeii with friends on 2nd Med leg.

 

I have been to Rome and saw a lot on the 3 days I was there prior to the cruise, but all other ports will be new to me.

 

I have been checking the Ports of Call board, but it's always good to get suggestions.

[BaseballMomof4]

I have had great luck with Rome in Limo and will be using them again on my 2016 cruise. I find ships tours to be, for the most part anyway, much more expensive than private ones. I will use RIL in 3 ports this time and plan to DIY all but one other port. Not sure if I will use a ships tour in Turkey or a private vendor but will be deciding within the month.

[Jenn24101]

I have a maybe dumb question, but what do you do about payment with private tours? Most seem to request cash payment at the end of the tour, we are a group of 6 and would mean carrying hundreds of euros around all day, is that really the best way to go? Also, can one normally pull that much out of your bank every day from an atm, we are new to European travel...

[trvlgirlmq]

I have a maybe dumb question, but what do you do about payment with private tours? Most seem to request cash payment at the end of the tour, we are a group of 6 and would mean carrying hundreds of euros around all day, is that really the best way to go? Also, can one normally pull that much out of your bank every day from an atm, we are new to European travel...

 

You can request the daily withdrawal limit be upped on your account. Withdraw every couple of days and keep the cash in the safe in your room. If you are a customer of Bank of America you have reciprocal ATM services in Spain, France and Italy at specific banks (meaning free withdrawals). You can map out the closest ATM's to either the port or to one of your tour stops so you can withdraw cash.

[BaseballMomof4]

I have a maybe dumb question, but what do you do about payment with private tours? Most seem to request cash payment at the end of the tour, we are a group of 6 and would mean carrying hundreds of euros around all day, is that really the best way to go? Also, can one normally pull that much out of your bank every day from an atm, we are new to European travel...

 

Rome in Limo will allow pre-payment provided the entire group agrees to do so.

[b_cruise]

I have a maybe dumb question, but what do you do about payment with private tours? Most seem to request cash payment at the end of the tour, we are a group of 6 and would mean carrying hundreds of euros around all day, is that really the best way to go? Also, can one normally pull that much out of your bank every day from an atm, we are new to European travel...

 

Yes, I hate carrying around cash...i prepaid a lot of my tours through PayPal. I just emailed them before and made the arrangements for Italytoursharing it's info@joebananalimos.net

 

Or as mentioned the ATMs work well too. Buy a money belt, lol

[Jenn24101]

Thanks the helpful advice, yes will definitely use a money belt as well :)

 

I didn't know prepaying was an option, will look into that for sure, thanks!

[Velvetwater]

Theres no FTTF in Europe? :(

 

We had it in 2013 for our Baltics cruise. I am just wondering if its possible that customer services directed you to a usual page with all of Carnival's usual ports for FTTF. That would mean they had not sorted things yet for FTTF.

 

On our Baltic sailing there were still 8+ spots left 2 days before sailing.