Cruise excursions

Be sure to look at http://www.cruisecritic.com. This site has information on your ports, forums where you can ask questions and read the experiences of other travelers, and Roll Calls where you can find meet up online with others on your sailing, to join you on custom tours that will cost less and provide more than the ship's tours. Also, do pick up a copy of Rick Steves Mediterranean Cruises (a second edition was recently released). For popular ports, he has all the details about how to see them on your own (as well as when he recommends using an excursion, how to find guides, etc).

What Harold said! Cruise Critic is a fantastic resource!

What Harold and Christi said, check out the forums at cruisecritic.com Best for cruising.

Your two best sources are cruisecritic.com and Rick Steve's med. ports book. Cruisecritic is great for finding out options for every port. I think the people there lean too heavily toward ship sponsored excursions (which I find crowded, slow and expensive). Once you know the options at a port, however, it's not too hard to find other ways to visit your top sights without taking a ship excursion. I haven't seen Rick's book but I imagine he shows you how to see the top sights on your own at the ports he covers. He only covers the Mediterranean ports, which I consider too big to see within a limited cruise stop - so it's important to focus on only your top sight (maybe two) and getting back to the ship on time.

We were very happy with Rome In Limo in both Rome and Livorno. They encouraged us to pay $150 or whatever extra for a Vatican guide and we reluctantly did so. This was the best money we every spent. Our guide, Francesca, was delightful, and she knew a number of "back ways" that she was able to get us access to so my father, who was in a wheelchair, could get around more easily. We were also very happy with Nikos Loukas in Athens. There were only six or seven of us but we had a very modern 14-seat Mercedes minibus. It was really nice. Our guide, Dimitri, was very professional. In Ephesus we used Meander Travel. While I thought the service was good we were forced to spend a lot of time enduring a high-pressure sales team at a carpet store. We had no choice. They would not take us back to the ship until we went to the carpet store. So if you use them you need to get it in writing that under no circumstances are you to be taken to any shops or stores of any kind. Do not ever use the Princess excursions as they are terrible and overpriced.

If you go to the Ports of Call board there is a ton of info on non ship excursions

Your father's age gives me pause. If you are doing your own thing when (god forbid) he has a medical thing and you miss the ship's departure, you'll have to rejoin the cruise, if you can, on your own devices. If you are on a ship excursion, I believe (but not really sure) that the ship is responsible for getting you back to the ship. My advice is to be clear on that point before deciding what to do.

The ship is only responsible for getting back to the ship if their tour is delayed. If you have a medical emergency while on a ship's tour you are responsible for re-joining the ship.

Having traveled with an elderly parent, I'd suggest making things as uncomplicated as possible, which to me suggests using the ship's excursions if possible. Using their excursions also gets you off the boat first, in my understanding, and it decreases the probability of getting left behind. But only you know how flexible, spry, adaptable, and adventurous your father is.

I really disagree with Sherry's advice. Using cruise ship transfers to and from the airport is a great idea. On no other occasion should one use a ship's excursions, particularly on a Med cruise. Using a private company adds no complications at all, but it does allow one to travel in a small group in a pleasant mini-bus and to see exactly those things one wants to see when one wants to see them all at one-half to one-third the cost of the ship's excursion. The ship's tour will have 40 obnoxious people on a bus. You must be exactly on the timetable of the bus. If the elderly parents gets tired, tough. I cannot think of a more wretched experience. The only advantage to being on a ship's tour is that if you are delayed they will hold the ship for you. This might come into play in Naples with people going to Positano or Capri, as the traffic can be bad. But most elderly people will not be staying out for a full day and won't be cutting things to the last minute. So you will not have any problems. We traveled with my 88-year-old father last summer and we did far better with private excursions than we ever would have on some giant bus. When my father got fatigued at one stop the mini-bus driver took him back to the ship. Don't waste money or ruin your trip by taking ship's excursions.

I am doing a cruise with my mother this year. Granted she's only in her late 70's but...we are doing every port on our own. There are some things I do have to consider (I learned that a couple of years ago) Her stamina is not what it used to be..... I looked at the cruise line excursions and I agree with others. With an older traveler you need more flexiblity. When your parent is tired the LAST thing he's going to want to do is suffer through the "gift shop' stop that's a part of WAY too many cruise line excursions LOL! (Yes, folks I have done them and in Turkey we had to stop and see the carpet shop. Of course they screwed up... they took us to the carpet store in the port city, we just walked out and went back to the ship after touring a little more) We are not doing the "Rome in a day death march" (I kid you not, they have tours that try to do the Vatican Museum, St Peters, Collosum etc all in one day) I think with an elderly parent you need to focus on the 1 or 2 MUST DOs for them in each port and figure that's it! It's not going to be cheaper. You need to look into car transfers etc... Don't base this just on the pricing! If you can't afford the cost of the private transfer start thinking VERY realisitically about this trip. Can your dad go for 8 hours? My mom can't and she' several years younger.

I don't want to start an argument but Sherry's comment that taking the boat's excursions gets you off the boat first. I've heard cruise lines say this often. The only time it may be true is when you are tendered (by small boats) into port. If your ship stops at a dock, you can go straight to the gangway and be off the boat well before the ship's tours begin to unload. Part of my port strategy is to get up early and beat the rush off the boat.