Hi! We are taking a cruise in August of 2018 with one day stops in several ports. They have tour options that we can choose from, but I was wondering what you would recommend to do with one day at each of the following stops as we can choose to strike out on our own. What are the must-do's?
Thanks so much!
Dubrovnik- walk the city walls.
Split-Diocletian's Palace
Sicily is a very large island. Which port?
Sorrento or Capri? Two different places.
We were also in those places on a cruise and you may have a lot of time in port or just a little so you'll have to take that into consideration. We agree with Suki about Dubrovnik. Walk the city walls but do your best to do it first thing in the a.m. to avoid the heat of the day. Then wander about the old town and have lunch. In Split Diocletian's Palace is a must see. Then perhaps a trip over to Trogir which is not that far away. In Sicily we walked about the town of Taormina, went to the old Roman theater, and then went to Mt Etna. In Sorrento and other places on the Amalfi Coast we took walking tours and then simple wandered about the town on our own and had lunch.
Note that Rick's Mediterranean Cruise Ports covers all your destinations except Durres. It also covers lots more, so you'll have to cut up the book and leave about half of it at home.
The last port is Sorrento with options of visiting Capri or Amalfi Coast to Positano.
My wife and I visited several of these on a 2011 cruise. Split and Dubrovnik, just walking around town is great, the latter including walking the walls and visiting the old port. One thing to be aware of, the cruise ships dock some distance outside of Dubrovnik. I am not sure if there is an option to dock closer (maybe with tender). We paid $10 each for a shuttle to and from town on a bus the cruise ship organized--multiple time options. Same for Corfu, just walk the town and we enjoyed the old fortress there too although it poured rain all day during out single day in Corfu. We used Rick's Mediterranean Cruise Ports book and it was very helpful. I don't think there is any reason why you need to take a paid excursion in those stops. We stayed three nights in Sorrento in 2007 on a land-based trip and visited Capri. Capri is nice too, but with limited time I would either stick to Sorrento or take the commuter train up to Pompeii. Here too, no reason to pay for an excursion. You can research online how far the cruise port is outside town, and Rick's book is good for this too. My approach is to only book a cruise were the large majority of ports don't force me to take a shore excursion.
