Tour in ports in Europe off cruise ships

You can do the ports on your own BUT that requires YOU to do a lot of homework in advance. Steves now has a guidebook on various ports that can be helpful. We have done several cruises and always do the ports on our own. There are several approaches. There will always be a bunch of guides at the port gate, has used taxi drivers, and, of course, the local TI which is often our first stop. Some times there are inexpensive Show and Go tours. Some are id in Steves guidebook. You can sign up for your ship's roll call at CruiseCritic.com where you can make contact with other shipmates and join private tours that others are setting up. You have lots of resources but you have work them. The key is to know what are important highlights for that port. Check the ship excursions will give you the idea of what the cruise line thinks is popular. Check other tour books, determine transportation options and lay out a plan A and B for each port. We actually use a loose leaf notebook with one or two pages per port which lists our anticipated activities, train schedules, etc. The ship will always have a port orientation program the day before which will cover a number of highlights, transportation options if not docking right in the city. Ignore George, he is trying to be smart. There is an element on this site that likes to rip on people who live cruising. Ignore them. Cruising is one of the cheapest and most convenient way to see a lot of Europe in a short period of time. We have been on twelve European cruises. And the next will be late Sept about the same area and time you are going. The is a great web site we use a lot but I cannot find the address. I will post it later when when my secretary and chief coordinator for these things comes home. Good luck.

Just two suggestions: 1. Definitely get RS Mediterranean Cruise Ports book 2. Sign up on cruisecritic.com for your cruise and maybe find some fellow cruisers to share private excursions with. And don't worry, I'm sure everyone here knows you mean the actual ports for those cruise stops. Have a great cruise, I envy you.

What George meant is that the port for Rome is Civitavecchia and the port for Florence is Livorno, in each case the port is quite a few miles from the city you want to visit. Familiarize yourself with the website cruisecritic.com, where you can find out about each port stop, and what to do rather than take the ship excursions.

George, nothing surprises me.

For each port, you have three basic options: join a ship's tour, arrange a private tour (you can do this with others so it is not truly "private" and so is more affordable), or do it yourself without a tour. I agree that you should get Rick Steves Mediterranean Cruise Ports (second edition now out). He discusses which ports are easy to do on your own, and which are not (in his opinion). He also has information about how to spend more time in your starting or ending ports (hotels, airport transit, etc). Here is the Roll Call section of Cruise Critic. If you do want to arrange a private tour, you can use the Roll Call to find others to join you and split the cost. http://tinyurl.com/ap7h55m Here are their Cruise Critic Western Mediterranean Port reviews, to get your started on your ports: http://tinyurl.com/bpfjbcq For more specifics, here are some of the Cruise Critic forums: France Ports Forum: http://tinyurl.com/cdbsfhn Italy Ports Forum: http://tinyurl.com/bwqtmhk Spain Ports Forum: http://tinyurl.com/bmocuyb
Other Mediterranean Ports forum: http://tinyurl.com/caj27o5

For Florence if you want to do it on your own for a reasonable price you'll need to take a cab to/from the cruise port to the train station. Just train in/out. The train station is next to the historic center. If you choose this route and want to see say the Uffizi buy your tickets ahead of time on-line. For Rome you can just walk to the train station from the port entry gate (there's a u-tube on this). We like cruising and then training or driving around Italy or wherever. Do invest in RS Med Cruise Ports book. It's price of a cheap lunch in the overall expense scheme. If you do decide to go the train route buy your tickets on line for an express train if available. You may have many many other people (probably from several cruise ships) all competing for a train ticket. This is especially true for a Sunday when service is lighter.

Naples: go to Capri via watercraft available on adjacent pier to cruise dock. I would normally recommend taking an excursion to Pompei, but am getting comments that much of Pompei is cloased due to renovations. RS likes walking Naples, but it is not our bag of tea. Rome: a walk to the port train station, but taking a direct train quickly gets you into Rome. We prefer to get off at the St Peters station which deposits you adjacent to the Vatican. Advise you take first available morning train to maximize your day trip. We have walked from Vatican across the river to visit the Forum and surrounding attractions. We then depart form main terminal. Be warned , the track for the train back to the port is the furthest of all the tracks! Planned extra time to make this trek. Florence: a more recent post is right on target. If you have already been to Florence then you should consider spending time in Pisa. Marseille: be first off the boat and catch a cab to the train station and head for Provence. Makes for a nice change of scenery. We have spent a day in Marseille, but it is the second largest city in France and shows it. Palma: have not been there. Safe travels

We were in Florence & Rome off a cruise ship last year. There were 10 of us in our family. In Florence we went with the cruise tour, with ixed results. We saw quite a bit quite quickly, but found the guide hard to hear. In Rome we did a private tour with two great drivers in vans. They were fantastic and seemed to find a parking spot right next to everything we were going to. We got tickets for the colleseum and the Vatican in advance - certainly advise it for the Vatican as neighbours arrived without tickets at a different time and could not get in. We also arranged for a guide for the Vatican and she was also very good. I am on the road, so do not have all the info at my finger tips, but I think it was a company we used was called Rome Cabs.