Med Cruise-Can I skip the excursions?

barginunter

We're going end of Oct for a week stopping at Palermo, Naples,Olbia, Toulon and Barcelona. Have been to Barcelona before, used Metro and saw everything we wanted to.
The excursions are quite expensive but I don't want to penny-pinch and miss out. Does anybody have experience of any of these places? Thanks.

Caz3121

Have a look at Cruise Critic there is a section on Ports and you should be able to see info like what taxis are available, places to get to on your own etc

doelani

you do not need to do the ship excursions, you can get off at the ports and either travel yourself on public transport or book your own excursions. or have days your just stay on board.

have a look at this site, the forums are very good on it.

www.cruisecritic.co.uk

Backbiter

I've done 4 cruises and only done one of the ship's excursions. That was from Izmir to Ephesus, and public transport would have been too complicated.

On all the other cruises everything has been simple to DIY and save literally hundreds.

A mentioned above, the cruisecritic site has loads of top advice.

nearlyrich

We did the Med several years ago fo two weeks on a cruise ship and the only trip we did officially was the one to Rome where the trip was great value for money. Everywhere else we did ourselves in a taxi or by train, we also went to Greece on cruise and we didn't do any of the ship's trips at all. We are just about to go off to the Caribbean and we will see how it goes on that trip.

barginunter

Thanks everybody - very useful info.

nw_man

I agree about doing the DIY version, the only thing that ever worries us about it, is if we somehow are delayed getting back to the ship.. they go without you :eek:

Apart from that - DIY is the way forward !

moonrakerz

nw_man wrote: »

I agree about doing the DIY version, the only thing that ever worries us about it, is if we somehow are delayed getting back to the ship.. they go without you :eek:

Apart from that - DIY is the way forward !

......AND don't forget that if you miss the ship your passport is probably in your cabin - if you have to travel from/to a country requiring a passport it starts to get really difficult AND expensive !

nw_man

moonrakerz wrote: »

......AND don't forget that if you miss the ship your passport is probably in your cabin - if you have to travel from/to a country requiring a passport it starts to get really difficult AND expensive !

:rotfl:Note to self : Take passport in backpocket whilst D-I-Y ing :rotfl:

Backbiter

Yes, the perils of missing the ship are not to be taken lightly. It happens a lot, and the costs that ensue must be huge.
The downside to all the savings to be made by DIY-ing is that you are reliant on public transport or taxis. I've never had a bad experience, but I have curtailed several excursions to be on the safe side. The ship will never sail without you if you're on on organised excursion.
I find most ship excursions very expensive and enjoy doing my own thing. Taxis line up by the dozen at ports of call, and most taxi drivers will bend over backwards to get your business and will act as tour guides.
Last year in Athens we had a slight problem, when the taxi drivers would only drive us into the city centre and not to the nearest station - not worth their while they said -, so we had to walk it in the searing heat (about a mile each way). The train service was superb and ridiculously cheap.