Monaco transportation dilemma - please help

[the mice]

We are disembarking Azamara Onward  in Monaco on Saturday, November 5.   Currently we are booked for 1 night in the Riviera Marriott Hotel la Porte de Monaco at Cap d'Ail, just over the Monaco border in France, which seems to be part of the issue here.  This is about 1.5 miles (2.3 km)  from the port so not really feasible to walk with luggage, even though we will try to travel fairly light.   

I have contacted the hotel about arranging for a taxi, and the informed me that they cannot arrange a taxi for Monaco, and the fare, for the short distance, would be about 70 euros - Ouch!

 

We wanted to see the Oceanographic Museum and the Prince's Car Collection in Monaco.   Our cruise will have an overnight in Nice on Nov. 2 and 3, so we are touring Nice on one day and an excursion out of Nice on the 2nd day.    After Monaco we were planning to go back to Nice for Sunday, November 6 and take a train to Antibes for part of the day.   In Nice we have booked the Holiday Inn Express which is 1 block from the tram line direct to the airport for our flight home on Monday, November 7.

 

So I am looking for advice on my best options.

1.  Is there a transport option to the Riviera Marriott that does not involve excessive walking?   The hotel recommended bus No. 6 but that seems to be quite a walk from the pier.   I cannot seem to find a bus or other transport for the short trip.

2. Should we just taxi to Nice upon disembarking (since we were going to pay for transport to Nice from Monaco on Sunday anyway) and then just take local transport back to Monaco to see the 2 museums of interest?     If this, then can someone recommend a taxi service to book - not going to the Nice airport, but to a hotel.

3.  Something else I have not considered?

 

At the moment, I am thinking that option 2 is going to be the best one, but this is all a bit puzzling, so any help is greatly appreciated.   

BTW, the hotels are all booked using points, so I'm not looking to spend several hundred dollars for an expensive Monaco hotel (we are traveling for a month and are taking a number of expensive private tours)

 

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

Edited September 5, 2022 by the mice
correct typos and errors

[the mice]

Updated to note - Hotel in Nice is Holiday Inn Nice on Blvd. Victor Hugo (not HIExpress) and is 1 block from tram line to airport.   Just in case that makes any difference re: transport.

[marazul]

Try https://www.friend-in-france.com/ for your transfers.

[the mice]

59 minutes ago, marazul said:

Try https://www.friend-in-france.com/ for your transfers.

Thanks for this - but are you suggesting I should just go to Nice for the 2 nights and train back to Monaco for 1 day to see Oceanographic and the Prince's Car Collection?

[marazul]

2 hours ago, the mice said:

Thanks for this - but are you suggesting I should just go to Nice for the 2 nights and train back to Monaco for 1 day to see Oceanographic and the Prince's Car Collection?

Yes. Stay in Nice for two nights. It is easy enough to train back to Monaco.  You save two transfers and checking in and out. Plus there is a lot more to do in the evenings in Nice than in Cap d'Ail.

The Holiday Inn you picked is not in the best part of Nice. Do you have other options to use your points in? 

 

Edited September 6, 2022 by marazul

[the mice]

The Holiday Inn is a block from the Boscolo Exedra and the tram stop to the airport is in front of this hotel.   Boscolo was part of Marriott when we were supposed to take this cruise in June 2020, but not now.   

I was booked into the Hyatt Mediterranee but it's a walk to the airport tram and my DH won't do that so I cancelled that reservation.   Would like to take the airport tram instead of another expensive taxi.   We are traveling for a month and have arranged a lot of private (for just us 2) tours to avoid Covid as much as possible so we don't get stuck quarantining on the ship, so the expenses have added up. 

 

Have points with Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott, IHG, and Radisson. Based on this, do you have suggestions?  

[marazul]

Based on transportation arrangements you are ok. The closest you stay to the sea and to the Nice flower market the better it is for sightseeing.  

A taxi to the airport is about $20. Trams are about $2 pp.

It's only two nights.  If you are active and fit you are ok.  

If you consider other places, I will offer my 2 cents. If not, enjoy and have a wonderful time. 

[the mice]

We are quite active and fit, but after a month of lots of walking I am never sure how my DH's knees will feel.  We've been known to walk 10-13  or so miles a day in Rome, Sydney, etc.,  but this is our first overseas trip in 3 years, so who knows.   3 years older and all that.😀

 

If the taxi is only $20 from a Nice hotel, that's fine.   Google street view does show the tram entrance is a flight of stairs, so that's a consideration, but DH says he would do that ONCE with luggage.   Do you have a recommended taxi service in Nice or will the hotel just get us one?  Prebooking needed?

 

For the Holiday Inn we have one free night certificate that will expire in a few months so we're using that.   Points for the second night are quite low, so a good deal.

We also used a free night certificate for the Riviera Marriott.  It expires in Dec. so we'd lose it if we just cancelled and didn't rebook at another Marriott hotel.   We could use it at the Le Meridien or AC Marriott  by adding some extra points for one night and using points for night 2.  Any thoughts?    

(Or we could use it by adding a 2nd night to an overnight trip we are taking near home in early Dec. and just book the Holiday Inn Nice and be done figuring this out. 😉 )

My head is spinning from a month of travel details.

 

Thanks for all your help.  Much appreciated. 

[marazul]

Le Meridien is in the perfect location to see Nice.  It is right across the sea on the Promenade des Anglais. If you can, stay there two nights. Short walking distance to everything - restaurants, flower market, old Nice, Place Massena, etc. The little tourist train starts right across the street.  

You are a little far from the train station, but just rightfor everything else. You may want to take a taxi to the train station for about $8 or it is a 15 minute walk.

There is a line of taxis outside the door or the doorman will get you one. No need to reserve.

 

Edited September 6, 2022 by marazul

[the mice]

OK, thanks.   Helpful info.

Two things I had not mentioned: 

1. We've been on the French Riviera before and visited Nice, Eze, Rothschild villa, Monaco/Monte Carlo.

2. Our cruise is in Nice for 2 days (1 overnight) before going to Corsica and then on to Monaco for disembarkation.   

So during our cruise we are planning to have a full day in Nice and a private day trip out (it's our anniversary).

That's why after the cruise we were adding two days so we could see the Oceanographic Museum and the Prince's Car Collection and a day trip from Nice to Antibes which led to my previous decisions on where to stay.  

Thanks again for your advice.  

[Hlitner]

A few thoughts.  The ship tenders into Villefranche not Nice.  As to the transportation issue, we had a similar issue when we disembarked in Monte Carlo back in April.  We had our ship arrange for a private car/driver to take us from the pier to our hotel (Hyatt) in Nice.  A taxi, if you can find one, would have cost about the same (approximately 100 Euros).  When we walked off the Seabourn Ovation, it was on to a nearly empty pier (even the terminal building was locked).  Those using buses and taxis had to walk the length of the long wharf and through a security fence to their transportation.  We simply walked down the gang plank and about 50 feet to our waiting car.  Have no clue what exists for Aramara.

 

Hank

[the mice]

Hi Hank,

Azamara lists our Onward cruise as Nice and does not indicate tendering.  Unlike some other ports on our B2B where there is a parentheses listing the actual port location, it has never listed Villefranche for our Nice stop. This is also an overnight port for us, so since it is a small ship, I am hoping this is correct and that we will be in Port Lympia, Nice. 

[Hlitner]

2 hours ago, the mice said:

Hi Hank,

Azamara lists our Onward cruise as Nice and does not indicate tendering.  Unlike some other ports on our B2B where there is a parentheses listing the actual port location, it has never listed Villefranche for our Nice stop. This is also an overnight port for us, so since it is a small ship, I am hoping this is correct and that we will be in Port Lympia, Nice. 

I looked at a well known web site maintained by a major cruise agency.   The site is usually right, but these days who knows?  We would trust info from Azamara.

[XianAtSea]

Hello,

 

Bus n°6 or 4 to the hotel is the easiest solution.

 

• Ship will be docked where my blue cross is on the attached map.
• You will have to walk 5 minutes to the green circle ("Princesse Stéphanie" bus stop situated at the entrance of a tunnel), and wait for bus n°6 or 4 "Fontvieille" (every 10 minutes). Don't take n°3.
• Then get off at "Stade Louis II" situated 2 minutes walk to the hotel (my red cross).

 

I suggest you use the "Monapass" app where you can buy bus ticket (single or 24h pass).

 

Enjoy your stay!

 

Edited September 7, 2022 by XianAtSea
Updating bus details

[the mice]

Thanks for this, but we have decided to move to 2 nights in Nice. It turns out, per a poster on the Azamara board,  that we can use our excess OBC to arrange a private transfer there.   Otherwise, we'd be paying for that on our own if we stayed the night here.   Plus, DH has an aversion to lugging cases on the bus.

However, this is very helpful info.   I really appreciate how helpful CruiseCritic folks are!   Thanks again for such detail.

[durante]

The Holiday Inn on Blvd Victor Hugo is in an excellent position. Only 10 minutes walk to the sea, and 10 minutes in the other direction to the main train station. Also regarding the tram stop on the corner of Victor Hugo and Av Jean Medecin, there are escalators as well as stairs.  It is a really popular station to get to the airport so plenty of people with luggage use it. Azamara Onward will be docking in the Port of Nice not Villefranche- another tip is to get the tram from the Port- this same tram will take you to the tram stop near your hotel.

[the mice]

Thank you for this info.   But we have decided to move to the Le Meridien in Nice since we have free night certificates from Marriott that will otherwise expire and have they more value than the one we have from IHG (for the Holiday Inn).   We can use that one back home in the US.  

We will go to Monaco on one of our port days in Nice and then at the end of the cruise. we disembark in Monaco/Monte Carlo, not Nice.   We will use OBC (we have lots - hard to use it all) to arrange a transfer to Nice, instead of staying in Monte Carlo and then paying for a transfer out of pocket.  We will spend 2 nights in Nice, which we've been to before, and don't mind walking (without luggage!), so will explore more of Nice and go to Antibes.  We will probably just treat ourselves to a cab to the airport since we have to go early morning for our flight. 

But I do appreciate all the helpful information I have received in response to my post.  CruiseCritic is such a great resource.