My husband and I are cruising for our 10th anniversary and I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations on how to go about booking some excursions on our own? The ones that NCL offers seem very overpriced. Thanks.
We did the cruise from Barcelona last Oct. You can do all the stops on your own. Public transportation is really good and cheap. Just do a little research on the internet and you can do each city for very little money. You can always hire a privite driver (way too expensive for us) but there is really no need. We had so much fun and saw everything we wanted to see! The only stop on your cruise different is Cannes, we went to Villafrance. We visited Malta (Medina), Pompeii, Sorrento, Rome (Colosseum, Trevi, Spanish Steps, Sistine Chapel), Florence (The David), Pisa, all on our own! It can be done for dollars.
10/18/08 Gem from Barcelona Yeah!
also interested in getting around by myself and on a budget? shore escursions are outrageous! what to do on a budget?
We are going too on the Gem but in September and, yes, the shore excursions are way too expensive. We might take the ones suggested for Malta, but for the rest we will try to go on our own. We are two couples traveling together but we are always afraid not to make it back on time to the ship. Can there be delays with trains or boats to get back? We don't want to spoil our trip worrying all the time.
One should always allow a cushion of time for the "unexpected". We always hope that nothing will happen, but things can happen. Accidents, mechanical breakdowns,weather, strikes, to name a few. I remember once in Guadaloupe a civil unrest blocked a road preventing tour busses to get through.
Please let me know how it went, i did want to book the malta wine tasting tour and the cingue terra tour out of livoro area, just might see how it goes on the cruise. Have fun!
We want to get to Capri and maybe Sorrento, do you think that it is possible? We would like to come back by the water from Sorrento to Naples. Our boat leaves at 7:00 p.m.
Hi Fanny, welcome to Cruise-Chat. There is a really good post in our FAQ section a little further down the main page that may answer some of your questions. Also, you might try going to our Port Chat sections a little further down the page and use your "Find" feature in the upper left hand corner. Type in your ports and it will pull up the posts made about them. Wish I could help from personal experience, unfortunately, I haven't visited those ports. Best wishes for a fantastic cruise!
The hydrofoil for Capri launches right beside the cruise port in Naples. The train leaves Naples for Sorrento every 1/2 hour or so and it takes 1 hour to get to Sorrento. Half way between Naples and Sorrento is Pompei. You should stop there and explore ruins for an hour or two. Train is really cheap less than 12 euros return to Sorrento. Watch out for the pick pockets on train however. Keep all your valuables up front on your person hidden - not in a fanny back. Because they can cut fanny packs right off you. Our cruise line Princess was charging enormous fees for Pompei and we did it on our own with a map that you receive at the front entrance.
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