Vikings Jupiter Nov 3 Rome to Barcelona sailing

[wonderingnana]

We would like to have suggestions for Florence, Monaco, Marseille, Montpellier & Barcelona. Are there shuttle busses into the cities, if you aren't taking their tours?

Thanks in advance.

 

 

[Peregrina651]

Florence is an inland city and a bit of a drive from the port city of Livorno. There is a shuttle from the ship to the center of the Livorno. The cab drivers hang out there and will offer you a flat fee to take you to Florence for the day. Usually they are vans, so team up with another couple or two to share the price.

 

Sometimes Viking offers a tour  called Florence On Your Own, which is essentially an expensive shuttle bus. There is also train service between Livorno and Florence. Make sure that you choose a direct train, not one where you have to change trains mid-trip.

 

Monaco. We were there January 1st, pre-Covid. The only part of the town we saw was as we walked from where the ship was docked to the bus stop for the 100 bus that runs along the coast from Monton (east of Monaco) to Nice. The drive from Monaco to Nice was beautiful. Everything, except the bars and restaurants, were closed. We walked along the water from the bus stop to the Old City, where we found a lovely cafe and stopped to watch the world go by. The bakery was open and we stopped in for some fresh bread to go with charcuterie we had purchased in Barcelona.

 

 

[Liz Masterson]

Is this for the Iconic Mediterranean Cruise? I’ve booked that for Nov. 2023… so will follow this with interest…

[Peregrina651]

Good time to go, Liz. Won't be super crowded as in summer or over the Christmas holidays.

 

Skip Marseilles and go to Aix-en-Provence.  We were there in late December and loved the town. Quaint, Petite. Old World. We were lazy and took the OYO tour that Viking offered -- takes you right from the ship to the Old Town (which is the part you want to see). We never made it into Marseilles.

 

[Sleep7]

Hi! We were on this cruise last November so I can help you a bit.

In Barcelona we took the included tour and then took the shuttle back into town and walked around.

In Montpellier we took the optional all day tour to Carcasonne and it was FANTASTIC!

In Marseilles we took the included bus tour in the morning and then took the shuttle back into town and walked around in the afternoon.

In Monaco we took the included morning tour of the city and then stayed after and took the local train back to the ship as it was docked in Villefranche Sur Mer.

In Livorno we were there for 2 days..

The first day we took the included afternoon Pisa tour.

The second day we took the optional "Renaissance Treasures of Florence" tour and it was fantastic.

Hope that helps.😃

 

[Peregrina651]

6 hours ago, Sleep7 said:

In Monaco we took the included morning tour of the city and then stayed after and took the local train back to the ship as it was docked in Villefranche Sur Mer.

 

Alternative transportation: The #100 bus also passes through here on it its way to Nice.

[DGHOC]

Sleep7, I've just read through this thread and want to send you my thanks. What an absolutely delightful read! Your positivity radiates and coats everything with a touch of the Mediterranean sunshine. You should adopt the moniker Tinkerbell!

Thanks again!

[Sleep7]

1 hour ago, DGHOC said:

Sleep7, I've just read through this thread and want to send you my thanks. What an absolutely delightful read! Your positivity radiates and coats everything with a touch of the Mediterranean sunshine. You should adopt the moniker Tinkerbell!

Thanks again!

👋Hello DGHOC!

I truly can't thank you enough for your sweet and positive words about my blog.

Will treasure that you compared it to "Mediterranean sunshine" as that is the best compliment ever.

I'm so glad that the happiness and excitement of our trip was loud and clear and "shined" through to you.

Love the name Tinkerbell!!!  🧚‍♀️

Thank you again.. your post made my day.😃

 

[DGHOC]

3 hours ago, Sleep7 said:

👋Hello DGHOC!

I truly can't thank you enough for your sweet and positive words about my blog.

Will treasure that you compared it to "Mediterranean sunshine" as that is the best compliment ever.

I'm so glad that the happiness and excitement of our trip was loud and clear and "shined" through to you.

Love the name Tinkerbell!!!  🧚‍♀️

Thank you again.. your post made my day.😃

 

Haha, just realised I posted this on the wrong thread, not your blog thread! Glad you got the message!

[Sleep7]

2 hours ago, DGHOC said:

Haha, just realised I posted this on the wrong thread, not your blog thread! Glad you got the message!

Ahaaa! Yes! Thanks again DGHOC! I knew exactly which thread of mine you were referring to.🤗

 

[Liz Masterson]

On 7/20/2022 at 12:31 AM, Peregrina651 said:

Good time to go, Liz. Won't be super crowded as in summer or over the Christmas holidays.

 

Skip Marseilles and go to Aix-en-Provence.  We were there in late December and loved the town. Quaint, Petite. Old World. We were lazy and took the OYO tour that Viking offered -- takes you right from the ship to the Old Town (which is the part you want to see). We never made it into Marseilles.

 

I've actually been to visit a friend in Provence! I stayed in Apt. Only drove through Aix. Will take that advice! The picnic excursion sounds lovely!

[Peregrina651]

4 minutes ago, Liz Masterson said:

I've actually been to visit a friend in Provence! I stayed in Apt. Only drove through Aix. Will take that advice! The picnic excursion sounds lovely!

 

Love the lavender fields.

 

No picnic. We took the bread back to the ship where the charcuterie and a bottle of "La Gitana" were waiting for us -- took them to the Aquavit Terrace and settled in a table with a lovely view of the harbor and the town.

 

 

[OnTheJourney]

On 7/18/2022 at 11:04 AM, wonderingnana said:

Barcelona

I assume you're referring to being in port for just the day?  Not knowing how much time you have available, I'll just mention that we were there as part of a post-cruise extension and had booked a private tour through Viator. It was a fantastic experience. Picked up at the hotel - just DW and I, the driver and guide. With being able to completely skip the lines and not having to hassle with admission tickets, we visited the Sagrada and Park Guell. Highly recommend both places! It was great having the guide (without a larger group of people and having to mess around with those quiet vox devices - which surely DO work well in a large group setting) who explained so much at both places. I know Viator does pick up (and likely drop off as well) for cruise ships. Wish we would have had at least another day but felt that we made the best use of the time we had. Viator was about 4 hours, and then we had also booked the HOHO bus for the remainder of the day - great way to get around and see alot of different sites. 

 

[Liz Masterson]

On 7/22/2022 at 3:55 PM, OnTheJourney said:

then we had also booked the HOHO bus for the remainder of the day - great way to get around and see alot of different sites. 

 

I've heard good things about the HOHO bus in Barcelona! 

[CILCIANRQTS]

1 hour ago, Liz Masterson said:

I've heard good things about the HOHO bus in Barcelona! 

It was excellent. We did what are now the Blue and Red routes on 2 different days and saw just about ALL of the highlights of Barcelona. 
They now have added a beach route if that’s your thing.

We mostly just stayed on to get the lay of the land, then picked the sights that interested us to spend more time at later.

[OnTheJourney]

On 8/17/2022 at 8:10 PM, Liz Masterson said:

I've heard good things about the HOHO bus in Barcelona! 

It was really fun, once we finally got on the right bus. There are two different lines that both run the same routes - we didn't know that ahead of time so it was a bit hectic for awhile. Our tickets were not valid on the bus we were on at first. Had to scramble around on my phone to call up the reservation. Thankfully the agent was nice and didn't insist that we leave the bus right away and so I had to time to look up the Viator info. 

[Grey_Nomads]

What kind if weather should we expect in the Mediterranean in early November?

[Sleep7]

44 minutes ago, KYbourbons said:

What kind if weather should we expect in the Mediterranean in early November?

Oh it's the most lovely weather in early November! Truly my favorite time of the year in the Mediterranean. We have sailed that route many a time and most of the days are sunny and warm.  You should bring a sweater/light jacket with a hood but I found almost all of days to be in the high 60s or low to mid 70s and delightful.

I also check the 10 weather forecast on line of the cities we are visiting just in case there is an unusual cold snap or warm front to double check I'm packing the right clothes.

Enjoy. Enjoy Enjoy!!

[fviscuse]

Thanks for the weather information We will be on Mediterranean Antiquities Nov8-22 Is it warm enough to use the pools onboard ?

[OneSixtyToOne]

18 minutes ago, fviscuse said:

Thanks for the weather information We will be on Mediterranean Antiquities Nov8-22 Is it warm enough to use the pools onboard ?

The pool has a retractable roof and is only closed in rough seas.

[OnTheJourney]

On 3/4/2023 at 11:59 AM, OneSixtyToOne said:

The pool has a retractable roof and is only closed in rough seas.

Saw you did Cities of Antiquities. How'd it go? We were on the Jan. 24 sailing out of Rome and wound up losing one of our two days in Haifa. Most disappointing. Storm system was coming in so we had to leave port. After all the advanced excursion research, planning, and booking, the one we lost was to Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee. Pre-extension in Rome was real nice, as was the post - Greece. All the ports were great. We wound up with an extra sea day, sort of - came into Cyprus towards late afternoon and then overnight there. Not originally planned. All the excursions were shifted to the following (full) day for Cyprus. Our full day in Jerusalem (from Haifa) was great also though started in alot of wind and rain. Even that day we lost part of since having to get back to port in time to shove off. CRAZY weather though in Athens. Snow! And freezing cold (like in the 30s) for much of the sightseeing there. Our guides said it was most unusual to have that. On the way to Delphi passed LOTS of salt and cinder trucks...and snow plows. They had a good amount of snow. By the time we got in higher elevation towards Delphi, sun was out. Weird. I would NOT do the Holy Land again by cruise ship though. WAY too much time on busses. Our bus to go back to Haifa broke down...twice actually. After sitting on it for like 20 minutes with no success to get it going, we were transferred to a different bus, and then later back to the first one again - which seemed to barely make it back to port - had to pull off the road several times. I saw several warning lights going on up at the dashboard as we went along. Once was when we pulled off for awhile in a tunnel - not comforting. Oh well...it was the Viking Sky, so we should have expected some weird happenings after what we went through back in '19 with the March Northern Lights cruise!  

 

Hope you had a good one...truly an amazing itinerary, although at this point I'm about archeological museum'd out. I don't think my brain would have been able to take one more.  

Edited March 6, 2023 by OnTheJourney

[LindaS272]

 

[OneSixtyToOne]

39 minutes ago, OnTheJourney said:

Saw you did Cities of Antiquities. How'd it go?

I did a live thread of our journey (see below). We dodged the bad weather for most of it. Rain in Naples with snow on Mt Vesuvius! Most days were pleasant enough and there were no crowds. Viking pax were the only visitors at Knosos. Seas were a little rough but we managed.

 

 

[OnTheJourney]

26 minutes ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

I did a live thread of our journey (see below).

OK...now that you mention it I did see this thread. So your itinerary didn't include the Holy Land. I went back through your thread briefly. Well done! You retained alot of info about what was seen in the Acropolis museum. For some reason alot of that stuff just goes in my one ear and right out the other. Probably cause I'm always so focused on taking pictures and video. This trip inspired me though. Knowing relatively little about ancient history, I want to start doing some reading. Will start with the Epic of Gilgamesh (the earliest written story...ever) and then move on to the Homeric Hymns, Iliad, and Odyssey. Then, once I'm done, I probably won't remember 90% of it! Part of it is a very bad memory in general, and getting worse unfortunately! I had to laugh at your report of 60 degrees at the Acropolis! We got there twice. First time, during the one post-extension day, it was snow showers and really cold. Second time was during our free day - went up again with a private Viator tour. Overcast and SUPER cold. We had a good bit of rain on the trip. Weather was just crazy - it changed constantly. 

Edited March 6, 2023 by OnTheJourney

[Peregrina651]

On 3/4/2023 at 11:59 AM, OneSixtyToOne said:

The pool has a retractable roof and is only closed in rough seas.

 

And cold weather. We've done multiple January cruises with Viking in the Med.  The pool deck is always kept at a comfortable temp for swimming and for sitting around the pool; most cooler days that meant keeping the roof closed or open just a crack.