We are taking a cruise (our first) from Rome to Venice, stopping in Monaco, Kusadasi (Turkey) and Greece along the way. This is a port-intensive (11 ports total) cruise and ship-sponsored excursions are expensive. Can anyone suggest tour companies that visit not-to-miss spots accessible from the following ports?
Monte Carlo, Naples/Capri, Santorini, Mykonos, Olympia, Corfu
We are pretty sure of what we want to do at Pisa, Ephesus and Athens...and will search this board for good tours of Rome.
My wife and I have faced that costly tour dilemma on occasion. I usually walk down on the dock and ask if there is a tour bus available.
Some times I have to ask someone on the dock. If that doesn't work for you, find the Tourist Information Office in that town and ask about tours.
I was on a cruise last October and went to some of the same ports. I found a lot information at cruisecritic.com, under "ports of call". Monte Carlo is easy to do on your own, or you can take a train or bus to Nice or Cannes or wherever takes your fancy. You'll get info on that at the above website. Katakalon (for Olympia) is quite a charming small place and we enjoyed just walking around there, as we opted not to go to Olympia. If you want to go to Olympia, you can take a train for about 1 euro. Again, ports of call" at Cruise Critic will inform you. Corfu we just roamed around, shopped, had lunch & watched the people going about their business. There are always taxi drivers on the docks trying to do deal if you decide to take a little tour.
IF you are going to skip the ship excursions, then you need to do your homework along with a good sense of adventure. A bit more than what Carl's suggests. That is about my last option. First, your local library can provide guidebooks and CDs. Travel shows (CDs) are great for overviews. Use the internet to id resources. Some guide books will specifically recommend guides, local tours, etc. Contact them. Plan your day in that city. Understand transportation options. Second, the ship will have orientation session for that city the day before and, generally, will have maps of where you are docking and transportation options to the city center.
Once you dock you will have a number of options depending on what you have learned about the port. In some cases it makes sense to head to the nearest TI and book local tours or meet tour guides, etc. Often the hop on/off tour buses are a good deal for a nice overview of the city. Another option is to walk the taxi line, looking for a good English speaking driver. A lot of drivers will be very happy to give a half or full tour for 50 to 100E. We generally are a family of four so it is far more economical for us to hire a driver for the day or part of the day. Sometimes you will find someone offering set tours at the dock. Use your judgment. We have never used a dock tour group because they were not are part of our plan. And on a few occasions we have found it is more convenient to take what the ship offers.
You really need to understand where your ports are. For example, the Rome port is about hour away via train. Athens is some distance from the port as is Ephesus and Pisa. The reason ship excursions can be expensive is that they are doing all the planing and you may have substantial travel distances involved.
Good luck, we have done six cruises and have been in all of those ports at least once and a couple three times.
The cruisecritic web site can help you find people on hour cruise to share tours with. Sharing private tours is almost always a better deal than ship excursions.
I find that cruise ship excursions are too expensive, or I'm just very frugal! Monaco is very easy to do on your own, Naples could be easy if you do lots of research before hand (that goes for all your ports), Santorini is easy to see from one end to the other using local buses and taxis, Mykonos is a walkers paradise in the town itself, and an easy local bus ride if you want to see a bit of the island - Ano Mera is a quaint little town. Also, taxis will be waiting in most of the ports, eager to make a deal with you for tours. Have a great trip!
