Royal Caribbean 7 Night Spain, France & Italy Questions!

[ThomAndRach]

Hi everyone, 

 

My wife and I will be taking the Oasis of the Seas 7 Night Spain, France & Italy cruise this summer, and we have a few questions for people who have taken this trip before. One of our excursions is Capri, Sorrento, and Pompeii by Land and Sea. Here's the description:

 

Capri: Relish ocean breezes on a jetfoil ride to the picturesque island, before roaming villa-lined streets and La Piazzetta square.

Sorrento: Enjoy free time at the seaside village, hearing legends of the Sirens of Sorrento who lured Ulysses.

Pompeii: See mansions, baths, and artifacts recovered from the ancient town destroyed by eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

You will have free time to have lunch on your own.

 

The excursion begins at 7:30 am. Does anyone know how long will we be in Capri before moving on to Sorrento? We'd love to see the Blue Grotto and wondered if we would be there long enough to check it out. According to A.I., "The most common way to reach the Blue Grotto is by taking a boat from Marina Grande, the main port of Capri. The boat trip directly to the Blue Grotto takes about 20 minutes." Apparently we can take the funicular to the Marina, and it only takes 4 mins to get there plus 20 mins for the boat trip. Would that be enough time to check out the grotto? It seems like the whole thing might take a little over an hour or so. Also, does anyone know where "free time to have lunch" will be? I'd assume Sorrento since it's the 2nd place, but wanted to be sure. Last questions about this excursion: We dock in Naples, right? How long does this tour last completely, and what time do we have to board the ship that night? We'd like to see a little of Naples itself and wondered if there would be time. 

 

In Rome we're doing the hop-on hop-off bus so we can get dropped off in the Forum area because we want to see the Colosseum, Forum, Domus Aurea, Church of St. Peter in Chains, Pantheon, etc. Also, we want to eat lunch in that area. We're skipping the Vatican entirely because we know it would eat up the entire day (we'll see it another time). Does anyone know if we'll have time to visit the Park of the Aqueducts (Parco degli Acquedotti), a public park that is part of the Appian Way Regional Park (Parco Regionale dell'Appia Antica), or if the hop-on hop-off stops by there?

 

Those are all the questions we have for now!

 

Thanks for any help you can provide!

 

Thom and Rach

 

[RobInMN]

We did this in 2018. I tried to look at my Google Maps timeline, but while all the places are there, it seems highly confused by the times and order.

Anyway, if you are on the ship excursion, I highly doubt that there is going to be time or opportunity to do anything on your own, even if you ditch part of the tour. If you do, make sure the guide knows so that he's not holding everyone else up trying to make sure that everyone is accounted for, as they usually are checking numbers at any transition.

 

From my recollection (and trying to piece things from timeline), you take the boat to Capri, you get on a bus, and that bus takes you up to the top (or as far as vehicles are allowed to go). The guide gives you a short tour and then maybe an hour of free time to wander. Basically, time to go to the Capri Overlook on the south side. Then you have to take the Funicular back down and back to the port where you get on another boat to Sorento. Maybe 2 hours total on Capri. Google Maps says that the Blue Grotto is 22 minutes from the ferry port.

In Sorrento, you walk up to Piazza Tasso, and our guide's job was to push this wood inlay shop. and then to a local restaurant for lunch. I think there was a free 30 minutes or something. Then off to Pompei. Maybe 1.5 hours? 2? from boat to bus.

Just over an hour bus ride to Pompei, and a short walk from the bus parking. If timeline is correct, we arrived about 3:00 PM at Pompei. About 1 1/4 hours walking tour in Pompei, then he led everyone out and to a gift shop across the plaza, just outside the exit. After promoting their Lemoncello, complete with tastings (which was arguably good), he then gave us 30 minutes free time to shop. Seriously?!?!? I'd rather have spent 30 more minutes inside Pompei. 

This was the first ship excursion where it was really evident that these guides get kickbacks to push specific shops/vendors. He was not real subtle about it. Maybe he was just a bad guide, I don't know. I think I did say something to the Shore Excursion team when we got back though.

Then maybe an hour back to Naples.

 

[Biker19]

6 hours ago, ThomAndRach said:

One of our excursions is Capri, Sorrento, and Pompeii by Land and Sea.

Welcome to CC.

 

Capri is overrated and the excursion can be cancelled at any time due to sea conditions.

[George C]

We have done Capri and Pompeii, I would definitely do Pompeii. What I loved about Capri was ferry ride going there has a great view the Italian coast.

[ThomAndRach]

Thank y'all for the information! This gave us a lot to think about! 

[George C]

Make sure you login to your roll call , on our European cruise we did mostly private tours with other roll call members. Welcome to cruise critics.

[livingonthebeach]

Also check out the FB and Social Media pages for your cruise. Lots of good information.

[MeHeartCruising]

 @ThomAndRach  I did the Pompeii, Sorrento, and Capri excursion on my very first cruise.  I would recommend you not do it.  It was just to rushed to enjoy.  It was drive-by sightseeing.  Not enough time at any of the locations to really get much out of them. And definitely not enough time to do anything significant on your own.  We had like 30 minutes free time in Sorrento.  That was it. I would suggest you go with an excursion that gives you more time in Pompeii.  Then maybe explore some things in central Naples upon return from the excursion.  There are a lot of things within walking (or a short metro ride) from the ship. 

Edited May 9 by MeHeartCruising