We'll be on the Norwegian Spirit 5/28 and going to multiple ports...Iraklion, Rhodes, Piraeus (Athens), Mykonos, Santorini Is., Valetta (Malta), Messina, Italy; and Naples. It's overwhelming trying to figure out the best way to approach tours from the cruise ship (3 adults) and save money! I'm trying to figure out if private taxi, hop on /hop off, private tours or just walking on our own is best! Would appreciate any advise.
Thank you. Jolie
Posted by
Philadelphia, PA, USA
3397 posts
Your best first stop would be the Cruise Critics message boards & website -- http://boards.cruisecritic.com this is TOTALLY about answering y our kind of question ... you get the experience of people who've taken your exact cruise. Most of the contributors on this forum, aside from people taking the R. Steves tours (which are mainly on land), the rest are independent travelers. We observe the cruise passengers taking various options, but are not as experts as the cruise-board contributors, b y far.
Posted by
Atlanta
5194 posts
RE: "...and save money! ...private taxi, hop on /hop off, private tours or just walking on our own...".
There isn't any question that excursions offered by the cruise line are more expensive than doing it yourself. That being said, there are times they are worth the extra money.
If you plan to stay very close to the port and can get back on your own without any problems then doing it on your own is okay. And some of your ports fall into that category.
On the other hand, if you plan to travel a good way from the port a tour from the cruise line may be in order. If you take a tour through the cruise line and there is a delay getting back to the ship, they will wait for you. Not so if you are off on your own. On several occasions we have seen people literally running down the pier as the ship departed and left them.
The traffic in Athens and Naples is always bad. In fact, every time we have been in Naples with a cruise we were late getting back but they did wait for us since we were on one of their tours.
I don't mean to be "Debbie Downer", just offering food for thought. With good prior planning you should be okay. Just leave yourself enough "elbow time" to get back if you go out on your own.