1st Cruise (reluctant cruiser) - ideas for Port days Italy and Spain please (list encl)

We are going on our first ocean cruise this fall. I've been using a RS book that I got from the library called Mediterranean Cruises. Some of your ports are in the book. There is also a few travel talks on this website that cover cruising and those locations. There is also a RS TV episode on cruises that was probably less helpful but interesting/fun to watch.

The first thing I'd do is find out where the ship ports and how far it is from the historic center and transportation options to get to the historic center of those towns. You could also look at the excursions your ship offers to see if there are any of interest and then determine if you could replicate them on your own.

For Palermo, if you get the Sicily RS guidebook, he has a walking tour.Just doing the walk and poking your head into some of the churches will fill your time.

You have a lot of time in Civatavecchia, I would determine how to get to and from Rome, where I'm guessing you'd like to visit. Again, the RS guide has a few walking tours and you could spend some time in churches and some of the piazzas and you would more than fill your time.

I will offer a suggestion. We do not cruise much and find the cruise line options expensive.

One thing you will need to determine is where the ship docks in relation to the main town. We have found that sometimes the actual dock is some distance from any sites.

I arranged for private guides on one cruise. It worked out well. First the price was much lower. Two we got a local perspective. In Danang our guide was a person who served with the American forces during the “American” war as the Vietnamese called the war.

These services are farmilar with need to meet the ship schedule. We found that often they were associated with the same company the cruise line used. Being we had a private guide we moved faster and saw more. The money went to the local economy rather than the cruise line.

Google cruise ship tours for your ports.

Palermo - You will have to check the distance from the port to the city center. There is plenty to do in Palermo: markets, Streaty Food Tour, Teatro Massimo (opera house tour), Palazzo Conte Frederico tour, Norman Palace & Royal Gardens, Monreale Cathedral, were the stops we made two years ago.

Naples - The port is an easy walk into the city. We took the ship's excursion to Pompeii in the morning. I'll spare you the details of our experience. In retrospect we should have taken a private tour. There is plenty of information on this forum if you do a search for tours and transportation to Pompeii. I would take a cab or Uber to Pompeii to save time. After our tour, we ate lunch at the ship and then walked to the fabulous Archeological Museum. The most amazing pieces from Pompeii are located on the 4th floor. To see the highlights use the RS audio guide. It's a bit of an uphill hike to the museum, but you will experience life in Naples. We were in port for 10 hours and our day was filled with these two sites.

Civatavecchia - Easy to walk to the port to the train station to visit Rome for the day. The train trip varies depending on the number of stops. Since we visited Rome for one week a few years ago, we chose to take the train to the main train station and visit two sites - the Doria Pamphili Gallery (amazing) and a tour at Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major. We went back to the ship early because rain. These places are not on a major sites list so they will probably less crowded.

Remember, that while you will have a certain number of hours in a port, you can't leave the ship right when it docks and it's best IMHO to return to the ship 30 minutes before the required time just to decrease the stress of possibly missing the ship's departure.

I haven't been to the other ports. Enjoy your time.

My first point for ideas gathering for an unknown port is- https://whatsinport.com/

then I check for local transport for the viability of their ideas-

Palamos is interesting. I am probably showing my lack of knowledge but I had never heard of it. What's in Port says Girona and Figueres are within reach (for the Salvador Dali Museum at the latter). A very quick check (so may be wrong) says that bus services to both are infrequent and slow, and there is no train station. To me that would mean I stay in what sounds (from W i P) like an interesting fishing town. For the more pragmatic maybe that means getting a taxi to either of the above.

My Spanish colleagues can correct me on the buses, if I am wrong.

When I went to Civi I planned to go to Rome, but picked up a couple of walking trails of the town of Civitavecchia at the TI at the gangway, and those filled the day. So I never got to Rome. You know what - I really enjoyed that day in what was a seaside resort for Rome, long before the cruise ships came (with a lot of history and a lot of, well, quiet Italian squares to savour for lazy moments). I thought Civi was well, nowhere, until I arrived.

I'm not suggesting you do that, just saying sometimes it's the unplanned moments that are the sweetest. I avoided (by accident) all the crowds in Rome and was back on the ship when it was still empty. That too can be a glorious luxury on a port day. An empty ship, no lines for food or at the bars, cut price spa treatments etc. Almost your own private yacht.

Aslan

I am also a somewhat reluctant cruiser and did our one and only real cruise in the Western Mediterranean back in 2015. The only cities which we have in common are Civatavecchia and Naples.

However, our Cruise started and finished at Civitavecchia. Most people who have a one day cruise stop at Civitavecchia usually choose to do a rush tour to Rome, visit the St. Peter's basilica, the Vatican museum and the Colosseum and then rush back to the ship. Big crowds and big rush.

During our stop in Naples, we hired Joe Banana limousines for a private Shore excursion for six people in a minivan. We did not go into Naples; our driver had nasty things to say about Naples. We were driven to Pompeii (interesting, hot and tiring), Sorrento (pretty, nice lunch) and the Amalfi Coast, including Positano (beautiful).

As advised above, it is cheaper to arrange a shore excursion on your own rather than pay for one offered by the cruise ship. The cruise ship excursions are usually in a big group on a big tour bus. The benefit of using a cruise ship excursion is that they will hold this ship for you if your bus is late. If you go to cruisecritic.com, you can find a sub-forum for your particular cruise ship and date. This is a good way to find other passengers on the same Cruise and then organize a small group shore excursion to save costs and to have a smaller group experience. Depending on the size of the vehicle, four to eight people would be optimum.

Good luck.

Naples: Archeological Museum, Castel Sant Elmo (overlooking the city and Vesuvius), Piazza del Plebescito, Castel dell Ovo, Galleria Umberto I, Villa Comunale Park, and pizza of course.

I think it was Cameron Hewitt's talk where he discussed various ports and possible excursion options. He discussed which excursions make sense to do with the cruise, some that may or may not, and some that you absolutely should do on your own. Depending on your cruise and cruise company, it can possibly make sense to do their excursions.

I carefully went through all my excursion options and a very generous, well-traveled, forum member was kind enough to sort through them with me. We are going through Viking so there are a lot of free excursions. Of the optional excursions, I did find a few that I liked that would be hard to replicate. One excursion is fairly easy to replicate (Athens Acropolis), but by the time I added up transportation, tour guide, and tickets, I was at the excursion price, and the cruise excursion does make it all easier. To finalize this decision, I did look at reviews of the Viking Acropolis excursion.

Another example of my thought process, my cruise had excursions to walk the walls of Dubrovnik and Kotor. When I priced those out and keeping in mind the ports are in/close to the old town, the excursion price was ridiculous and it will be super easy for us to walk the walls on our own.

In regards to Pompeii, It is easy to take the train to Pompeii from Naples. However, the other posters make good points about using a private driver to maximize your time. You may want to see if other passengers want to join you to reduce costs. Many do like a tour guide for Pompeii. We did not find it necessary. We did some research in advance and then used the RS guide to aid us in exploring the area. That said, we were there for the entire day. You may want to get a tour to do it quickly/efficiently so you can go to the museum in Naples or spend some time exploring Naples and/or eating pizza.

Lastly, in regards to your "reluctant" cruise comment. I wouldn't feel bad about trying a cruise. My husband and I have done a lot of independent travel in North America, Europe and lately, New Zealand. There is nothing wrong with trying out something like a RS tour or a cruise. For us, at this point in time, a cruise met our wants and needs, and our ability to travel independently does allow us to go off and do things on our own when it makes sense.