Cruise in October Spain, France, Italy, Monaco, Montenegro, & Croatia

You might find more on the cruisecritic.com website.

Also, on that website if you join, you can go to the specific cruise that you are taking where others book group tours or can provide advice on tours.

We have cruised 20 ocean cruises and visited more than half of the ports you mentioned.

From what I remember the Duomo (Cathedral) is closed for a day, it may be Monday.

TripAdvisor is a great source for checking Things To Do in the city you are visiting, just type TripAdisor Florence, Italy, Things to Do.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g187895-Activities-Florence_Tuscany.html

Ship's tours are always way too expensive, we rarely take them.

Viator.com is a good source for tours, if you can't find one to book directly.

Marseille is a port your ship will visit, but I don't recommend staying in that city. Better to visit nearby places like Avignon, Arles or Aix en Provence.https://traveltips.usatoday.com/things-see-near-marseille-france-101592.html

Monte Carlo is worth seeing and you don't need a guide, unless you want to see more places than MC. You can see MC in a couple of hours. We loved the small mountain village of St. Paul de Vence.
Cannes, Nice and Eze are other choices.

Livorno, many people visit Florence on a tour from there. We have been to Florence, so we did a tour of Pisa and Lucca.

La Spezia is near Cinque Terre, a group of villages that are very scenic, unfortunately usually with a lot of tourists, still in October, perhaps not so bad.
Split is a great place with Emperor Diocletian's palace. Also, the quant neighboring city of Trogir is nice.

Check TripAdvisor under “Things to Do,” then “Top Attractions” for each of those locations. You don’t even need to read the reviews, just look at what other travelers have visited.

THANK YOU for your timely reply. I will look at the sites you suggest for more information.
Since I am new to this , do you think I should repost my inquiry on the other countries forums to get some responses on the ports in those countries or just check on those ports at the locations you have suggested?
Thanks again, Joe

I would definitely look at your cruise line’s excursions. Which cruise line are you on? Even if you choose not to use their excursions, it will give you an idea of what to do in each port. For example, La Spezia is generally the gateway to Cinque Terre, Pisa, Lucca, or Florence. Ajaccio has many Napoleon connections if you are interested in history.

I think the specific-country forums are good, but you have a good bit of time, so why don't you do some research first, then you'll be able to ask some more pointed questions.

We have a few people who've been to Palma (a place I hope to finally visit this year). The city sounds really attractive and historic, so I probably wouldn't be anxious to travel elsewhere on Mallorca for a one-day stop. It's clear, though, that there are many nice places on the island.

Mahon is tougher; not that many people go to Menorca, but I bet we have at least one person who has been there.

Ajaccio's Corsica, right? That's going to be another tough one. Quite a lot of us have been to Sicily, but not many at all (as far as I know) to Corsica or Sardinia. Still, with luck someone will come through for you.

Check to see whether your Monaco stop is actually in Villefranche-sur-Mer. You can get to all the same places from either one because there's rail service, but it would be good to know your starting point.

Is yours a large ship? I ask because thousands of people debarking at one time don't actually get off the ship at the same time, and that can affect how much time you actually have for sightseeing. Also, Kotor is a medieval walled town, and the character of the place is very different (not better) when a huge ship is in port; that might affect a decision as to whether it is better to sightsee in Kotor or go elsewhere.

Re Florence, Monday is often the day that museums close in Europe.

Better to use cruisecritic.com, here is the link
https://boards.cruisecritic.com

1) Find your cruise line on the link and search for relevant information.
2) Under Ports of Call, go to Europe and search.
3) If you join cruise critic, you can post questions on there just like on RickSteves.
4) Look under ROLL CALLS under your cruise line then find the cruise you are on (you have to join cruise critic first). Post questions there or look for others organizing tours.
5) You can do your own internet search for tours from the port. Viator.com calls them shore excursions.

https://www.viator.com/Mallorca/d955-ttd

If you have specific questions after some research, send me a message on this site and I will try to help.
George

I do have a question related to Rick's tour downloads and maps.
Has anyone used them instead of hiring a local guide? They look like they at least cover the main items for their locations and appear to be easy to follow, but sometimes what seems straight forward isn't as easy when you put them in action.
In addition I assume that it is best to listen to them with ear buds. Since my wife will be with me, my plan to use a "splitter" with my ipad and plug her ear buds into one side and mine into the other, then listen to Rick's narrative. Any comments/thoughts on this plan?

THANKS to all of you for your previous suggestions. I will look into what you have shared and then get back to this forum with my specific questions, if needed.
Joe

I think it's fair to say the experience will be different, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it.

Someone on this forum made a valuable comment a year or two ago: When you're in crowded conditions, it can be hard to hear the audio tours. That poster recommended listening to each one at least once ahead of time. I'd also check to see whether Rick's cruising guide book covers enough of your ports to be useful and has walking tours you could take with you. You might also Google for text walking tours of each place you plan to go.

I've taken a good number of walking tours in Europe and enjoyed all of them. They're usually inexpensive, they allow me (solo traveler) some human contact, and it's a plus to have someone who will answer questions. But you have only one day in each port, so a tour offered once a week probably wouldn't fit your schedule. Even once a day might not work. And walking tours are most often available in cities with high tourist traffic (maybe Palma, Monte Carlo, Kotor and Split? I'm guessing). But it's worth checking into, I think.

Where a tour (non-walking) can be valuable is if you want to get beyond the port city and visit two or more other towns or sights. It's not that using public transportation in Europe is hard, but buses may not be frequent enough and may mostly fan out from the nearest major city. So there may be no easy want to get from Small Town A to Small Town B, and what seems like a simple loop excursion may not pan out. A bus tour will allow you to visit multiple places in a day, and it can be worthwhile in some situations.

Do keep in mind that you must be certain you'll get back to the port in plenty of time to catch your ship (though finding your way from Livorno to La Spezia would be a piece of cake).

I would not take a bus excursion from Monte Carlo because train service along the Riviera gives you so many options. And I think there's plenty to see in Split without leaving town. I'd say the same in Kotor if you're on a small ship. If you're on a monster, you might want to go elsewhere in Montenegro, and a cruise-ship excursion might be worth considering.

There's enough to see in Marseille to occupy you for the day (and perhaps there's a walking tour available). There, I'd say it comes down to whether there's somewhere nearby that you really want to see. If you want to see the Calanques from the sea (seems an odd thing for a cruiser to choose), you can do that right from the port of Marseille.

Just curious---what cruise line are you taking? Sounds like a great trip!

On Oceania with back to back cruises on the Sirena.
"Splendid Rivieras" and "Mediterranean Rhapsody".
First time on Oceania after 30+ cruses on other cruise lines.
Ports look great, but doing all of the planning is more work than I thought it would be.
We'll see how it goes compared with Viking Ocean which was wonderful.

OK my new travel friends.
I just got access to see the excisions being offered by Oceania on our cruise as noted in my last post. A few specific questions/thoughts come from knowing these excursions, especially for Florence and Pisa. Of course all of these excursions are expensive. I will look more into that later.
On the first week of our cruise we are in Livorno as the only ship, but it is on a Monday. We also go to La Spezia the next day. with 3 ships in port. On the second week we again go to Livorna again with 6 ships in port, but on a Thursday. From what I have read most of Florence's museums and shops are closed on Mondays.
My plan is to go to Pisa on the first week from Livorna.
There are excursion from La Spezia to Florence, but have about 4 hours there as compared to 6 hours from Livorno.
Will the 4 hours be enough time to visit the "big" attractions In Florence?
If so, I would think it will be better to go there from La Spezia with 3 ships than from Livorno with 6 ships.
Thoughts????
Thanks, Joe
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