I'm taking my family on a Mediterranean cruise - any suggestions for saving on Shore excursions?

Question

I'm taking Royal Caribbean Voyager of the Seas with the following ports in July-

Barcelona, Spain

Villefranche, France

Livorno, Italy (Access to Florence/Pisa)

Civitavecchia, Italy (Access to Rome)

Naples, Italy

Palermo, Sicily

With the exchange between the dollar and Euro being at a record low, coupled with the exorbitant price of Excursions, I'm seeking guidance on the 'Must Do' excursions versus the "Stay on the ship" ports.

Frankly, I wouldn't mind having an extra day on the ship!

Answer 1

You might want to check out the "Ports of Call" board at CruiseCritic.com [click on "Boards"] to see what past cruisers recommend.

Answer 2

a good site to check out would be www.shoretrips.com

i have been on 2 caribbean cruises and both times we booked at least one of our shore excursions through this site. the prices are generally lower than those of the shore excursions offered through the cruiseline, and you can see comments that other people have made about each particular shore excursion. They are also a very good company and i know that some people dont like to stray away from the excursions offered by the cruiseline but there is nothing to worry about with this company.

Have fun on your cruise!

Answer 3

We did a Mediterranean cruise a couple years ago on Royal Caribbean that covered all of the ports that you mentioned, plus a few others since our cruise was 12 days.  And we did another cruise last year to other ports in the Western Mediterranean.  Both cruises started in Barcelona and returned there.  So here's what my experience was and what I recommend.

First, if you live in the US and must fly to Barcelona I strongly recommend that you fly there a day early.  This is recommended so that you reduce the chances of a missed flight, and cruise because of the flight delay.  Try all that you can NOT to fly through Heathrow airport in London as its a horrible airport for transferring and you can miss your flight trying to get from one terminal to another.

We fly to Barcelona a day early for both of our cruises and found a nice hotel for the night.  This allowed us to rest up before the cruise and also get adjusted to the time change.  Plus it gave us time to see/tour Barcelona before your cruise.  It will be a couple hundred well spent.  Barcelona has a double decker tour bus that you can get off and on to do a tour on your own.  Here's a web site that has hotels and attractions:  http://www.booking.com/city/es/barcelona...

In the first port stop of Villefranche we did the tour that went to the Medieval city of Eze and then to Monaco and the Monte Carlo casino. The Eze part was OK and so was seeing Monaco. If you do a tour that goes to the Monte Carlo casino, don't pay the $10 per person to go inside the casino. Its not worth it, the casinos are old and nowhere near as pretty as those in Vegas or even other places in the US, plus you cannot take pictures inside.  If you are going to skip tours, skip them here; there not anything you will see that you cannot miss, unless you want to see Princess Grace of Monaco's grave, of Cousteau's sea museum.

In Florence we did the walking tour of the city and also a stop at Pisa. The Pisa part was good because I had always wanted to see the Leaning Tower; the Florence part to me as so so.  You have to take a bus to get to both cities, either a ship's tour or a private one or a taxi.  My recommendation is do the Leaning Tower of Pisa only if that's a separate and cheaper tour.

In Rome we toured the Vatican City and Sistine Chapel and the went to the Coliseum. All of that was good but the tours take all day because the port is an hour from Rome. I do not recommend trying to do Rome on your own, you may get caught in traffic and miss the ship's departure.  If you want to do just one tour on your cruise, do the Vatican City and the Colosseum in Rome, its history and awesome.

http://www.viator.com/Rome/d511-ttd?pref...

In Naples we toured an olive and lemon farm in Sorrento and then went to Pompeii. I think the Pompeii tour is worth it and you may be able to get a 1/2 day tour or taxi at the pier.  I don't remember what was available because we went on a ship's tour.  The Sorrento part was so so, skip it.

http://www.benvenutolimos.com/shore_excu...

Our cruise did not stop in Palermo so I can't give you any advice on that one but if you want to skip one I think that would be a good bet; just get off the ship and browse if you can.

Because of all of the historical sites to see the cruise can be very tiring. Many tours last all day and depending on the arrangement of ports stops you can be off the ship all day on consecutive days. But, if you go that far you do not want to miss the historical sights, especially Rome.

In Barcelona and the cities in Italy you have to watch out for pickpockets and Gypsies. Keep your money and valuables inside your clothes, not just in your pocket. If you give money to one Gypsie, others will show up with their hands out. So even though they look so sad, its an act and just ignore them.  Also, sometimes the pickpockets will disguise themselves (with a camera hanging around their neck) as tourists. So don't let people who are not in your tour group get close to you.

All of the port stops that this cruise makes use the Euro. So it would be a good idea to buy some Euros before you leave for the trip. We ordered our currency from our Bank (Bank of America) and it took about 3 days to get the currency.  You will need some Euros as soon as you get to Barcelona to pay a taxi to the ship and/or hotel. You may be able to get a better rate in the US at your bank, or some place, that's better than you will get in the airport in Barcelona and/or on the cruise ship at the purser's desk.

Answer 4

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