We will be spending a day in Portugal, Provence, Florence/Pisa, Rome, Kotor, Corfu, Valetta, Messina, Naples, then back to Rome.
Other than when we see Pompeii, we have been advised we will see more if we hire a driver in each port to drive us around rather than paying for expensive tours through the cruise ship. Although, I was thinking of checking to see if public transportation was available on Malta.
Any suggestions?
Thanks
We love the cruises in the Med and around to the Greek Islands. And we never take any of the ships' overpriced excursions. We often research the available independent tours online. And we sometimes just walk around the port and don't go inland or to any other cities.
On Malta, we took a bus to the other side of the island. Yes, public transportation is available and it'll get you up close and personal to the locals. We really liked Malta and it is nice they all speak English.
Friends who cruise a lot book their port tours through toursbylocals.com
You may find that hiring a private driver is expensive, as are the ship tours. If you do a search for each port for shore excursions or “things to do”, you may find some interesting ideas. As for Malta, the ship will dock at Valletta, and just outside the city gates there are buses to destinations all over the island. Research what you want to see and take it from there. Or just stay in Valletta itself ..... it has a lot to offer to the cruise ship visitor.
Thanks so much. Appreciate it.
We've used Rick Steves guidebooks for our cruises in the Baltic and the Mediterranean.
https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/guidebook-updates-med-cruise
There are usually copies at the public library if you're not near a book store or if your trip planning time is tight.
Depending on the port, we have used ship excursions, private excursions, or walking around the port independently using the guide book pages and maps. The key is to spend a bit of time researching each destination to determine what will work best for you.
When you are in Malta, try the local delicacy, a “pea cake”. I quite liked them.
If you plan to go very far from the port, consider taking one of the ship's excursions. Yes, they do cost more. But, if you are on a ship tour and there is a delay returning, the ship will wait. Not so if you are off on your own. Traffic in some ports can cause delays getting back. On numerous occasions we've been caught in traffic jams that delayed our return. But we were on a ship excursion so it waited for us. At least three times (once in Naples) we've seen people running along the pier as the ship departed. Not saying it happens all the time, but it only takes happening once to ruin a good cruise. If you plan to stay close enough to the pier area that you can hoof it back if need be, then doing it on your own is fine. But if you plan to venture far afield you may consider the ship tours worth the price. Just something to think about.
In addition, we were on a cruise that stopped at Kotor and this is just a "heads up". From Kotor there is a road that leads away from the bay inland. The views looking back at the bay are spectacular. But, the road goes up the side of a steep mountain and has 25 numbered 180 degree switchback turns and at least 75 other sharp turns. There is a rock wall on one side and nothing on the other. Can't remember the name or number of the road, but the excursion we took went to the towns of Njegusi and Cetinje. Don't mean to rain on your parade, but don't want you to get into a hairy situation without any knowledge. If anyone in your party is prone to motion sickness or has a problem with heights you might want to avoid this excursion. You can go to bing.com, use the map feature, and see aerial views of the road. Googlemaps.com. will also allow you can check it out. On 12 Mar. 2017 there was a thread on this forum titled "Greece Montenegro Croatia". One person included a link to the map that shows the road. Another person had a link to a video made along parts of the road
I really enjoyed Kotor, except on the day the mega-cruise ship was in port and thousands of visitors seemed to be milling about. If you choose to stay in town that day, head for the far reaches of the walled old town, which will be less overrun.
Alternatively, you will have had a good view of the Bay of Kotor on the way in but still might enjoy seeing it from the bay-hugging road. North of Kotor you have the small town of Perast and the larger Herceg-Novi. Up in Croatia you have Dubrovnik, but Dubrovnik gets its own large cruise ships (often more than one per day), so I don't really think it makes sense to try to escape the throngs in Kotor by going to Dubrovnik. There is bus service from Kotor to all those places, but you'd have to be very careful about the timing so there's no risk of being late back to the dock. There'd be considerably less risk if you only went as far as Perast and Herceg Novi.
South of Kotor are Budva an Ulcinj. Budva's viable as a day-trip from Kotor. It's touristy itself but as far as I know large cruise ships don't dock there. Ulcinj has a distinctly Turkish vibe and sees few tourists. You'd need a taxi or other form of private transportation to get there and back in one day, and it would be risky since a mechanical breakdown could leave you finding your own way to your next port, which happens to be on the other side of Albania.
Montnegro is a really beautiful country. If there's a tour that gets you into the interior, it would be worth considering. You'll get your fill of cute coastal towns on this cruise, I think.
Messina is definitely not one of Sicily's most interesting destinations. I'd be getting out of town. Palermo's too far away by train; Taormina isn't. Unfortunately, Taormina is another place that gets blitzed with day-trippers. It's physically very beautiful. The question is whether you want to spend the day experiencing the mob scene along the main shopping street. Acireale was recommended to me by a Sicilian, but I haven't been there. It's farther away than Taormina but does have train service and would give you a look at a much less tourity Sicilian destination.
I assume there are group tours offered out of Messina; they would be worth looking at, too.
The Bay of Kotor is a UNESCO WHS. It would be crazy to go to Dubrovnik on a day in Kotor, which fewer ships visit than Game Of Thrones Town. (And where the ships must dock in the separate, 10-minutes away, cruise port. That’s what Venice needs!)
Another recommendation for toursbylocals.com. We used them while on a British Isles cruise.
I've used tours by locals but remember, it's just a listing service for independent guides so there is no quality control. Choose wisely.
Montenegro is one of my favorite countries. Kotor is one of my least favorite towns. Just takes 1 cruise ship to choke the life out of it. The road TC refers to is the P1. Yes, it has a lot of switch backs, but I've seen tour busses on it and if they can handle it, so can you. It is a beautiful drive and worth the time.
A private driver in Montenegro (hard to find) will cost you in the range of 100 euro a day. If there is 2 or 3 of you, that's not bad compared to packaged cruise tours.
We have done 20 ocean cruises since 2010. Also, we have done just about every Med cruise there is.
I love planning our tours in the ports. The key is research, research, research.
Hiring a taxi or driver may work in some places, but in some places the cost of a taxi is quite high.
Better to look for private tours instead of the more expensive ship's tours. Many will guarantee that you won't miss the ship.
Sometimes, you can do a port on your own, without taking any tours. Examples would include Naples and Dubrovnik.
In Naples, you can walk to a train that will take you to Pompeii (just watch for pickpockets). If you want to see the Amalfi Coast, then a tour would be the best.
For Dubrovnik, you can do the city on your own. Also, if docking in Lisbon, you can walk up the hill to St. Georges Castle and then explore the city with an inexpensive taxi or public transportation. For most of the other ports, check for private tours. Use the internet.
If you can't find a private tour company, then check for shore excursions with Viator. We have never had a bad tour with them. They don't provide the tours, but use local tour companies. Also, you can book the tours and pay for them in advance, not having to carry a lot of cash.
Tours by Locals have great tours, but you have to organize the group yourself. If you have a large family or group, it works, but just for two persons you would pay a lot.
My personal experience is anything the cruise ship offers as an excursion can be done more efficiently, both in terms of time and money, yourself.
In some cases, hiring a taxi for a day - especially if you have a decent group of people to share expenses - is a great way to tour. I've done this by hiring a taxi for four in Gdansk, Poland (to take us to Malbork then downtown), taxi to waterfalls in Jamaica and a van taxi for 9 in Acapulco, Mexico (to take us to a palapa restaurant on a beach, cliff diving, then downtown). If nothing else, many cruise ports have a taxi stand with a set rate to taxi to a particular beach or sight - they'll fill the taxi with other cruise passengers. They know when you need to get back and send a stream of taxis to haul everyone back to port.
In St. Petersburg we opted for a local guide and driver in a twelve person van (Alla tours). We saw everything the 60 person buses saw only more easily and efficiently, plus more sights because it didn't take us nearly as long to load and unload at each stop. The cost was about half what we would have spent on the big bus excursions the ships run.
Most times, I just do it myself either walking or using public transportation. I've planned my own scuba dive trips in Cozumel, walking tours of Tallinn, boat ferries in Stockholm, Oslo and Helsinki, etc.
Like any other travel, plan it as any other visit.
I've never done a private tour/driver because cost was too high for my taste so I can't give advice on that. The only ship excursion I've ever paid for is to Florence because it's so far inland from the Port. We took the ship's bus into Florence and wandered ourselves. I think the ship's bus was $110 for bus ride only-no tour, so depending on how many in your group, this, and Rome may be the best for private tours if you want to go that way. Rome is a long way from Port as well but the train is reasonably handy, my advice for Rome is not to try and do it all, pick something and spend the day enjoying it. The ship docks right in Kotor so no need for an excursion if you just want to see the town. Depending on your desire/ability to walk, you can walk to old town Corfu in about half an hour(ish) and just wander. I found Corfu quite dull, so maybe a tour would have been a benefit. I think there is a bus as well but the lines were long and so we skipped it. *****The time zone in Corfu is an hour later than the other Ports you're visiting in the area including Kotor, so remember that for getting back to your ship. The ship announced that many times but many didn't pay attention and were sprinting back (the ship did wait about 45 minutes past the departure time). We hired a non-ship tour of the Amalfi Coast and Pompeii during our stop in Naples and got back to the ship in plenty of time-advice though, if we had to do it again, we would pick just Pompeii or just the Amalfi Coast. It was too rushed to do both. I'd recommend hiring a guide for Pompeii, without one, you are risking just looking at a pile of rubble and not understanding what you're seeing. At the minimum you could download the RS audio guide but I think his audio tours are a bit dry and sometimes confusing to know where to go next.
When we did Corfu, we took a tour that covered about half the island, including a very historic monastery. It was great and worth the cost.
The key is do your research and determine what there is to see. Then you pick what you want to see. Then figure out if you can do it on your own or find a tour.
I'll add be realistic. Provence isn't on the ocean, for example, I'm assuming you're stopping in Marseille. You still need to get into Provence before seeing anything in Provence. There isn't time for a fraction of what you might like to see. Pick one favorite thing and see it. Have an idea what can be done around the port in case you get back early.
