First time on Destiny - advice on excursions please

[Ceabea]

I've copied this here on advice from a poster in the 'first time cruisers' forum :)

 

Today we (myself, my husband and our son who will be 9 when we cruise) booked Thomson Destiny Med Renaissance for 22nd Oct 2009 (thats October half term holiday up here in North east England) I have read a lot of excellent advice so far on this site, but I cant seem to find any advice about excursions from the ship. We sail from Palma and will be calling at:

 

Villefranche - France

Marina Di Carrara - Italy (for Florence or Pisa)

Civitavecchia - Italy (for Rome)

Ajaccio - Corsica

Palamos - Spain

 

 

I am assuming (because I didnt think to ask the TA ) that Thomsons do organised 'official' excursions and we dont have to make our own way there unless we want to - Would you recommend taking the excursions into Rome and Florence? and what about the other ports? Rome and Florence are the 2 places we most want to visit while on our cruise - but we are unsure how to go about this. We would also like to disembark at each port even if only for a short time, will there be much to do/see around close to the ship or would we need to travel a fair way each time?

 

When do you book excursions - before you board or once boarded? and what are the costs approx for those mentioned? Is there somewhere online I can view them and book or would I need to go through the TA or wait till aboard the ship?

 

thank you for any advice - gratefully received :)

[kruzseeka]

Welcome to the forum :)

 

First of all, yes, Thomson do have a full range of excursions at all ports of call. If you go onto Thomson's website and pull up 'cruises', there is a section headed 'what destinations can I visit?'. Here you will find a list of the ports of call with a brief description and also sightseeing opportunities - which are in fact excursions from each destination with the cost of each one. There is a disclaimer that once on board there may be some variation but it will give you a good idea ahead of time and we've found that mostly it's what's available once on board - usually plus some more. You don't book ahead of your cruise with Thomson, but there will be a 'Destinations Guide' in your cabin when you arrive which will give details of all trips on offer, with time, cost, activity level, photo opportunities etc included in the info. The Destination Services give presentations too on each port of call - the one on their excursions is often just a repeat of the info in the guide but there is also a port 'showcase' which does give some info on what the ports have to offer with a little advice on what you can do there. These in my experience have varied in standard of presentation, but you can pick up some ideas. (I often research the tourist information at each destination on the internet to find out what's around. You can plan trips of your own once you're a bit more confident using local transport which is much cheaper than ship's excursions.) There is a Destinations Services desk which is open at specified times and you can go there to ask for specific advice. You then just complete booking forms and deliver them to Destinations Services who will process your order and deliver the tickets to your cabin.

 

Lots of passengers do go to Rome on the train from Civitavecchia - it's very do-able on your own (the rail station's a 10/15 minute walk from the port and trains are quite frequent and it's cheap about 9E return when we went) but it depends how confident you feel - as you will have no doubt read, if your coach is delayed on the way back, the ship will wait - but not if you are late and doing your own thing. As a result, many will DiY at ports where attractions are close by and you can always get a taxi back in an emergency. For more distant destinations (Rome is 1hr 15 - 1hr 30 from Civitavecchia) it can be argued that it's safer to stick to the ship's trips. You can do a 'Rome on your own' excursion - basically just a coach transfer - which gives you maximum time there and you can plan what you want to see yourself. Other tours are guided - but you go where they take you and have to move on whether you are ready or not and spend more time on the coach. It's personal choice. You do need to plan which attractions you most want to see in Rome and plan your route beforehand to maximise your time but it is possible to see quite a lot in one day. If you want to do Rome yourself, post back and I'll give you some more guidance on that.

 

Florence is a similar story to Rome - it's a distance inland from the port and I believe the trains aren't quite so convenient here so I can't help with that - no doubt other posters will be able to help (The Western Med board has loads of info on specific ports and people's experiences of DiY). Again, we took the ship's trip 'Florence on your own' - it's very compact and walkable to get around here.

 

Villefranche we loved! It's in a beautiful bay and it's very easy and cheap to get the train to Nice or Monte Carlo as the train runs from the centre close to where the tender dock is located and takes only 10/15 minutes to get there. Unless you want a guided tour, it's not worth paying for a transfer here. However we stayed in Villefranche and had a lovely day - took a road train ride to Beauville, visited the Villa Ephrussi (walkable) which has stunning views and beautiful gardens (but perhaps not a nine year-old's choice), pottered around and had a relaxing drink at a waterfront cafe. There is also a beach in Villefranche but wouldn't like to say how warm the sea would be!

 

Ajaccio and Palamos you can just walk off the ship into the towns. Both are quite attractive. Ajaccio again has a little road train which is quite good and a waterfront with cafes etc. We had a quiet, relaxing day here after the active days looking round Rome and Florence. I believe the interior of the island is beautiful and would elect to do a half day tour here on another occasion and probably still have some time to have a little look at Ajaccio. Palamos has a small but quite good shopping centre and a long beach frontage. Again, a quite relaxing stop as there's not too much here. Unfortunately I can't see any details on Palamos under the destinations info on Thomson's site - but there will be some excursions available.

 

Hope this helps - ask if there's anything else you need to know and enjoy your trip!

[Ceabea]

thank you thats really useful! The main object of our trip is to relax so although we do want to get off ship when possible - something close and relaxed to do would be perfect for Ajaccio and Palamos and Villefranche sounds lovely too. Im actually having second thoughts about going all the way into Florence as someone said Pisa is closer - maybe we will look at that instead. Thank you for the advice on finding the excursion info online too :D