Any planning tips for 23 ports in 30 days

[crystalspin]

I don't know many of your ports, but based on our doing 15 ports in 16 days (from Gibraltar to Venice) -- some thoughts.

 

Google one of the cruise time table sites and make a table of the ships in each port with you (and their passenger capacity). If multiple large ships are in port with you -- do not count on boarding the HO-HO bus near the port! We wasted well over an hour out of a shortened day in Barcelona in line, having pre-paid it felt like we HAD to use the bus. We had paid for two of the three 'loops' of the Viator bus, sat through one loop jammed in the back unable to see much, moved to the upper level for the second loop only to realize (according to the recorded message in the earbud headset) that we'd miss ALL ABOARD if we stayed on through the loop! We hopped off at the next stop, navigated back to La Rambla pedestrian street, and had a fine hour or so, souvenir shopping and having sangria & tapas at a sidewalk cafe. I'm sure the price we pre-paid would have paid most of a private taxi for the two of us!

 

The other three HOHO buses we used were also disappointing. We booked ship's tours in 6 ports and they all were fine (as Holland America contracts the tours with local companies, at two ports we actually got MORE than listed!). At Livorno we used SPB to Siena/SanGimignano and it was fantastic. We wound up taking it easy at the end, unscheduled, just because we were exhausted. In fact by the fourteenth port, we overslept, tendered off the ship, walked through the city gates, looked around, and walked back to the dock!

 

My advice is to build in those take-it-easy days. You'll have to do the research on all your ports to pick out which one to do less than the max, but try to space it out. You might try thinking of it as a test-run, tasting each port to see which to return to, perhaps to visit and stay awhile on land.

[take us away]

Many of these ports have hop on hop off buses, which are laid back, very informative, very reasonable and an excellent way to get an overview of a city if your 1st visit. You can stay out as long as you want and hop off where you want more in depth touring. Have taken these buses all over the world and plan on taking more. Several have additional items like a free canal cruise. Have heard the HOHO in Amsterdam is one of the best! Check it out: hop-on-hop-off-bus.com/amsterdam-bus-tours

 

Cost is variable but usually 1/2 to 1/3 a HAL excursion for the city overview tour. Like the fact you get to see most everything rather than just a selection of places on an organized tour and you are not 'stuck' at an attraction until the tour is ready to leave.

 

I share your thoughts on private tours; have taken several but shy away from them now. They tend to be all day, fairly intensive affairs and I prefer a bit of wandering a town for part of the day. Recommend taking a ship's tour if what you want to see is far from the port, i.e. Rome, Florence just to be safest or if complicated like St Petersburg (one used to need a visa unless on a ship's tour).

 

There are several travel sites where you can check out Things to Do - Trip Advisor and Viator are decent, so you can have an idea of what to see if you need some guidance.

 

It is all about the pre-planning and I also do a chart with what I plan for each port, which is part of the fun of a cruise, IMO. Have a great cruise and lots of fun!

[WVU_Neal]

What a fun cruise on a great lady, the Prinsendam. I sailed on her in September 2016, enjoying the accommodations and the ports very much.

 

Some random thoughts...

Cruising is pleasurable and fun. Keep that in mind as you plan this great adventure. With a lot of ports, it is easy to wear yourself out trying to do "everything."

 

The approach we take when on a port intensive cruise is to get a good feel for the port and see where we might want to come back. Bordeaux, LIsbon, and Barcelona come to mind. We also loved Malaga.

 

Folks had some amazing ideas about how to organize your itinerary. Impressive and way more organized that I was.

 

I found the Roll Calls to be a good source of tour ideas and people to meet. I've organized a couple of the Meet and Greets aboard the ship, a great way to meet your fellow cruisers. These are also folks that you might find comfortable to share a tour with.

 

Above all, enjoy the cruise!

 

Neal

 

 

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[cruisemom42]

For organization, I like to start a Word document for each port. I find it much easier to cut and paste information about that port into this single document as I run across it (from the Ports of Call boards; from online sites, etc.). Then at the end I can sort of edit it all and make sense of it. I try to include information about the history, about all the attractions I'll be seeing, a little bit about how to get around, etc.

 

Rick Steves' two guidebooks (one for the Baltics, one for the Med) provide great information for first-time visitors to these areas, including what is reasonable in a day from a cruise ship, ideas on how to get around on your own -- or recommendations for when that's not possible or advisable.

 

I mostly sightsee on my own using public transportation OR take private tours. Not a big fan of the ship tours, at least not those that skim the surface of 10 different highlights and spend a painful hour at a forced shopping stop....

 

I would DEFINITELY advise a private tour in St. Petersburg. This is one place where being on a private tour makes a huge difference in terms of wait times, and being able to somewhat tailor what you see.

 

Trying to do Berlin from Warnemunde is daunting; I think it is best skipped -- too long is spent getting there and back -- unless for some reason you just MUST do it. There are other options from Warnemunde, like Schwerin castle; or just make it an easy day and stay in Warnemunde.

 

Same with Florence -- it is 90 minutes or more from the port in Livorno and makes for a long day. Lucca, as already mentioned is a good option and can be a half day. Or Pisa.

 

I found it easy to tour on my own in Stockholm, Talinn, Helsinki, Malaga, and Barcelona.

 

I hope you are planning to spend a few days in Rome at the end before returning home. There's so much to see and do there -- save some energy for my favorite city in the world! :D

[take us away]

HAL has had a tour that was basically transportation to and from Florence - worked well for me plus the guide was most informative on the way in and back to the ship. Florence is surprisingly small and compact, and easily walk-able. Did fine even with my arthritis.There are many benches scattered throughout in the plazas to stop, rest and watch people plus lots of little sidewalk cafes for a nosh and a drink. There is so much to see I bought a map ahead of the cruise on Amazon and worked out where I wanted to go. My 1st time there, wanted to see a lot so did not do the museums, which worked out well for me. Loved the gypsy couple who pick pocketed a tourist with his wallet sticking out of his back pocket (foolish man). She even had a skirt with little mirrors and he had a corresponding vest - an interesting memory.

[jenp123]

I print out the itinerary and use a notebook for planning. I put each port on a separate page so I have lots of room for notes.

 

I start by browsing ship tours to get an idea of what is available in each port (I find ship tours usually cover the most popular attractions) I normally book private tours once I have an idea of what I want to do. I use ports of call board and tripadvisor reviews for most of my ideas

 

Once I book something i write it beside the port name on the printed itinerary and highlight the port and just keep working at it until I'm done .

 

I bring printed copies of all tour confirmation and keep them organized by date....if i do not have anything booked for a port I will still have a sheet with port name saying whether I plan to go to the beach or walk around etc.

[Hlitner]

I have to disagree with Hank on one point: Livorno is only a long and tiring day if you you make it such, especially going into Florence but Pisa and Lucca are handy, inexpensive DIY options that are close and by train. We always take enough money with us to get a taxi back to the ship if something unexpected happens.

 

 

I am a bit confused (which is normal :). The last time we drove from Livorno to Florence it took about 1 1/2 hours (due to heavy traffic in the Florence area) and about 1:15 to get back. Not sure we would call that "close." If using the train you first must find a taxi willing to take you to the Livorno Centrale Station...which can take a few minutes. Once at the station you have to wait for the next train and that train can take up to 1 1/2 hours (each way) depending on the actual train...which is about 3 hours round trip....not counting waiting time. Then you need to leave a nice safety margin (on the return journey) since there might not be any taxis waiting at the station...plus add the time to get from station to the port. While we agree its relatively inexpensive....spending about 4 hours in transit (when you count waiting time) is not our idea of "handy."

[cruisemom42]

I am a bit confused (which is normal :). The last time we drove from Livorno to Florence it took about 1 1/2 hours (due to heavy traffic in the Florence area) and about 1:15 to get back. Not sure we would call that "close." If using the train you first must find a taxi willing to take you to the Livorno Centrale Station...which can take a few minutes. Once at the station you have to wait for the next train and that train can take up to 1 1/2 hours (each way) depending on the actual train...which is about 3 hours round trip....not counting waiting time. Then you need to leave a nice safety margin (on the return journey) since there might not be any taxis waiting at the station...plus add the time to get from station to the port. While we agree its relatively inexpensive....spending about 4 hours in transit (when you count waiting time) is not our idea of "handy."

 

I think you may have misread RM Lincoln's post. They are agreeing that Florence makes for a long day and suggesting the alternatives of Lucca or Pisa....;)

[travelers07]

Lots of good suggestions. We also love Lucca. We are big diy people and we usually just walk or take public transportation in ports.

 

One invaluable item that we use now is an Expanding 13 Pocket File Folder from Amazon or any office supply store. On a long cruise we have to share pockets for 2 ports but this has worked very well for us.

 

We also use this for flight, hotel, and insurance info. Just keep it all together and add port info as you gather it before the cruise. The night before each port just take out the info for the next day. We did a Eurodam 19 day with 2 sea days and we still kept organized

 

Along with port highlights and destinations I always find a printable map of each port. The maps from the ship are not so detailed anymore so these have worked well.

 

If you have a smart phone try Maps.me. You can download each destination to the app and then use without cellular or wifi when you are there. Always good to have a printed map as backup.

 

Have fun and don't stress about missing stuff- there is always something else to see.

 

 

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[AncientWanderer]

Lots of great ideas here. I'd just add that my new cruise best friend is an iPad mini. I take screenshots of the info I find online and make separate albums -- not for each and every port, but for maybe a group of three or four port stops, so I can easily find my information on the ports.

 

The mini comes with me on the cruise and I can fit it in a day bag with all the info and use it as a camera, too.

Can you tell I love my iPad mini? lol

[KroozNut]

KroozNut, you made me laugh out loud. Just don't go is not what I was expecting

 

Thanks.. just simply trying to provide honest feedback; which I believe is what you are looking for, right? ;)

 

but it's good that you are clear on your personal cruising style.

 

As we all should be.. :)