Ports on Our Own

[scoobiewife]

We are doing a Greek Isles cruise in November.  We are a group of 9 ranging in age from 24 to 73.  Can anyone tells us which ports below are easy to do on our own/ideas for each port:

Saint-Tropez, France

Messina, Italy

Corfu, Greece

Olympia, Greece

Santorini, Greece

Kusadasi, Turkey

Istanbul, Turkey

Volos, Greece

[mapleleaves]

Depends on what you want to see and do. 

And how do you define easy ?  For some people, easy means the sights are within a block of stepping off the ship; for others easy means DIY with a 1hr train ride to a city.

 

Perhaps you could buy or borrow a few travel books from your library to learn about the sights and activities in each destination.  I highly recommend Rick Steves " Mediterranean Cruise Ports".

Join your ship's Roll Call to see what fellow pax are doing at each port.  Read other Roll Calls as well to get ideas.

Look at the various Cruiseline forums to watch for Live Reports or Reviews.

Read the Port Review forum.

 

Have fun with your research !

 

 

 

 

[Hlitner]

We have done all those ports on our own with the exception of Volos (never been there).  So if you are asking can you do those places on your own the answer is yes.  The real question is "do you want to do the ports on your own?"  If everyone in your group is happy to do the same thing you might just consider booking a private tour in each place (you can do this online).   While I can help folks who want to do their own thing, a group of 9 is above my pay grade:).  DW and I tend to do our own thing (sometimes we take along another couple).    I cannot imagine walking around Istanbul and trying to keep a group of 9 together :).

 

Hank

[jas283a]

8 hours ago, scoobiewife said:

We are doing a Greek Isles cruise in November.  We are a group of 9 ranging in age from 24 to 73.  Can anyone tells us which ports below are easy to do on our own/ideas for each port:

Saint-Tropez, France

Messina, Italy

Corfu, Greece

Olympia, Greece

Santorini, Greece

Kusadasi, Turkey

Istanbul, Turkey

Volos, Greece

I’ve been to Corfu, Santorini, and Olympia (Katakolon), sorry can’t help on the others. Assuming you want to go to Olympia, it’s an hour away from the port. We were there last July so things in port were just starting to open, so we went through the cruise, I was glad. We did a ship excursion in Corfu, loved it, but could be done DIY depending on what you want to do. Santorini, I would say same thing as Corfu (that time we did DIY to Oia). Here’s how I would rank the 3 on these factors:

Need Good Physical Stamina

1 Santorini 

2 Olympia (Katokolon)

3 Corfu

 

Amount of Planning

1 Olympia (Katokolon)

2 Santorini

3 Corfu

 

[Leapinggreenly]

12 hours ago, jas283a said:

I’ve been to Corfu, Santorini, and Olympia (Katakolon), sorry can’t help on the others. Assuming you want to go to Olympia, it’s an hour away from the port. We were there last July so things in port were just starting to open, so we went through the cruise, I was glad. We did a ship excursion in Corfu, loved it, but could be done DIY depending on what you want to do. Santorini, I would say same thing as Corfu (that time we did DIY to Oia). Here’s how I would rank the 3 on these factors:

Need Good Physical Stamina

1 Santorini 

2 Olympia (Katokolon)

3 Corfu

 

Amount of Planning

1 Olympia (Katokolon)

2 Santorini

3 Corfu

 

 

[Leapinggreenly]

hello. i would so appreciate advice on boat cruise in corfu. i'm having difficulty finding private operatprs as our port time is short.  thanks so much

[jas283a]

8 minutes ago, Leapinggreenly said:

hello. i would so appreciate advice on boat cruise in corfu. i'm having difficulty finding private operatprs as our port time is short.  thanks so much

Sorry we did a ship excursion and had a longer port day, can’t help you there. 

[Leapinggreenly]

12 minutes ago, jas283a said:

Sorry we did a ship excursion and had a longer port day, can’t help you there. 

thanks!

[Hlitner]

Corfu is a fantastic island from where to start a boat tour of some of the Ionian Islands.  We once took a 7 day yacht cruise (out of Corfu) and it still ranks as one of our favorite trips....ever.  But a day trip (via boat) would be very difficult on a port day given the normal time constraints.   This might be one of those situations where taking a cruise line boat excursion (if it is offered) makes a lot of sense.  

 

As one who his own thing on nearly all port days, I would probably be a little cautious with a private boat tour unless it was relatively easy to catch-up to the ship the following day (Plan B).  

[bennybear]

4 hours ago, Leapinggreenly said:

hello. i would so appreciate advice on boat cruise in corfu. i'm having difficulty finding private operatprs as our port time is short.  thanks so much

We used Nautilus and they were amazing, one of our best tour days ever.   We visited some spectacular scenery,  swam in several places and enjoyed an onboard BBQ.  
They picked us up at the dock,   We had no trouble being back with lots of time.   Suggest booking early.

Edited June 13, 2022 by bennybear