Mediterranean Ports On Your Own?

JayhawkCruiser

Mouseketeer
Joined
Aug 9, 2017
Has anyone decided to skip the port adventures route (Disney or private) in the Mediterranean? Curious what experiences others have had that have done this and their thoughts.

I've been fairly disappointed by most port adventures my wife and I have taken thus far - whether it be a "tour of gifts shops" trap or just slower pace of sightseeing than I'd prefer. I've purchased a Rick Steves guidebook and feel that the public transit options are pleantiful and far less expensive then even the own your own adventures to justify the premium, but again just would like to see if anyone else has experiences they'd like to share.
 
We have done 3 cruises in the Med, we haven't done an excursion in any of them. We took the hydrofoil to Capri from Naples, the train from Civitavecchia to Rome, explored Palma and Ibiza using the free Disney shuttles from the port. Lisbon was walking distance into town and we then used the metro system to get about.
 
I get on TripAdvisor and arrange private tours. We are lucky in that we travel in a group of 8, making private tours generally affordable. I contact several and choose the ones that seem the most responsive, reasonable, and willing to work with us. It's a bit more work, but we've had some great tours. We just got back from the Med on MSC and did tours in Genoa, Civitavecchia (to Civita Bagnoregio), Palermo, Cagliari, Palma, and Valencia.
 
When visiting cities that require a long trip from the port (on the Med, for me that would be Rome and Florence) I would feel most comfortable with an experienced private tour company that took me to and from the port if I didn't do a Disney excursion. For cities that can be reached quickly by walking or public transportation, I'd be OK on my own but would allow at least an extra hour to get back to the ship by any means other than walking.

On the Med cruise that stopped in Villefranche, we took a train to Nice and back again with no problems. A trip to Monaco would have worked easily as well. We did a "Florence on Your Own" Disney cruise tour to ensure we would get to the city and back on time -- the bus dropped us off and we gathered again several hours later. We did a Disney excursion to Herculaneum because it had a special kids scavenger hunt -- that might have been do-able ourselves without kids. We had a private tour in Rome that was fabulous. The guide was clearly monitoring traffic and road conditions to make sure he had us back at the ship well in advance of all-aboard.

I was nervous about taking public transit in Italy since I don't speak or read Italian. That wouldn't be a problem if I knew which train to take in advance and all went well, but I was worried about needing to change plans and not being able to ask for help. My French is weak but was good enough to buy a ticket, and I figured we could take a taxi back from Nice if absolutely necessary.
 
Last edited:


on our upcoming Med cruise we booked only 1 dcl excursion and that was to Rome. The 2 of the other ports we hired a driver for 6 of us as we like to go at our own pace and see what we want to see and it was cheaper than being on a DCL excursion. Plus we will have a 6 year old in tow. In Villefranche we will be hopping on the train ourselves to go to Monaco.
 
I would totally not hesitate to book my own tour in Europe. You didn't say which Rick Steves book you bought but just to make sure you know that he writes ones specifically about cruise ports: https://www.amazon.com/Rick-Steves-Mediterranean-Cruise-Ports/dp/1631213814 Also a pp mentioned taking the ferry to Capri. FYI, my BIL and SIL did that last October and said it was the roughest ride of their life, half the ferry was puking and they passed out barf bags as you boarded. My SIL was like, "Well, that explains why Royal Caribbean did not offer a shore excursion to Capri!" So something to think about - there may be a reason that the cruise lines don't go to certain places.
 
Great thread. I'm also in the early stages of a 2018 Mediterranean cruise.

I've read that getting to and from Pompeii (and possibly Herculaneum as well, depending upon timing) is possible and relatively easy. I intend to do that port by ourselves.

I'm not sure about any of the others. I have a great fear of missing the ship, so I don't like to venture too far, unless on an official Disney Port Adventure.
 


I get on TripAdvisor and arrange private tours. We are lucky in that we travel in a group of 8, making private tours generally affordable. I contact several and choose the ones that seem the most responsive, reasonable, and willing to work with us. It's a bit more work, but we've had some great tours. We just got back from the Med on MSC and did tours in Genoa, Civitavecchia (to Civita Bagnoregio), Palermo, Cagliari, Palma, and Valencia.

We'll be sailing with MSC next year, also stopping at Genoa. Would you mind sharing what you did there and which tour company? Thanks! :)
 
Last Sept. we did the DCL Med. with just mouse excursions. We feel very comfortable with them and experienced, on an earlier EBPC cruise, a case of a late bus on a DCL excrusion (flat tire 45 min. late) causing the Magic to delay leaving port. On the Med. cruise we could not dock at Monte Carlo (a tendering port) because of rough water. In three hours DCL got permission to dock the next day at Marseilles, put together maybe a dozen excursions there (we did Avignon and a winery), put together a day's worth of activities for our new "at sea" day and informed all of us of the changes. Just a variable to consider on that cruise. One of the DCL officers told me later that they always have a plan "B." I would bet they have "C" and "D" as well.
 
Last Sept. we did the DCL Med. with just mouse excursions. We feel very comfortable with them and experienced, on an earlier EBPC cruise, a case of a late bus on a DCL excrusion (flat tire 45 min. late) causing the Magic to delay leaving port. On the Med. cruise we could not dock at Monte Carlo (a tendering port) because of rough water. In three hours DCL got permission to dock the next day at Marseilles, put together maybe a dozen excursions there (we did Avignon and a winery), put together a day's worth of activities for our new "at sea" day and informed all of us of the changes. Just a variable to consider on that cruise. One of the DCL officers told me later that they always have a plan "B." I would bet they have "C" and "D" as well.
You pay twice as much for your plan B C and D.

We did no ship excursions in the Med. We took trains, taxis( easy to negotiate deals with them) and walked. Rick Steves is great. Follow his advice and you'll be fine. There's no need to book anything ahead of time.
 
I've been reading Rick Steves Mediterranean Cruise Ports for my cruise next summer. From his advice, I will probably take a train or bus to Monaco on my own and do Pompeii on my own (so much cheaper than DCL). I'm looking at non DCL for Marseille. I will probably do DCL for Livorno because what I want to do is only available through DCL (I have searched all over to do it any other way and it's not possible). I don't know about Genoa because DCL doesn't have anything out yet. We end in Rome (which was why I chose this cruise) so we will be staying 3 days there because I knew one short day there would never be enough.
 
Another vote for Rick Steves' Med Cruise Ports book. We took the train from Civitavecchia (I'm sure I spelled that wrong) to Rome and didn't have any issues. We were cautious and got back to the ship with about three hours to spare, and at one time walking around Rome we saw a DCL tour bus LOL. But it was super easy (not even speaking Italian) - as long as you do your research.
 
Genoa would be very easy to DIY. We like private tours, though, so that someone can tell us what we're looking at. Also, with 8 of us, ages 12-75, I do NOT want to be in charge of herding them around. We look for a mix of tour experiences - some historical, some in the city vs countryside, some cultural. We did a phenomenal food tour in Sicily, and went to a hot springs in the hills beyond Valencia for swimming.
 
Thanks everyone for your input!
We've been planning for the "completely on our own" route, with the help of Rick Steves' Mediterranean cruise guide, for several months now, and it seems those of you who have done the same have had decent luck doing so!
We're only a few weeks out from our sailing, so we'll soon see how well this does (or does not lol) go for us.
I'll do my best to keep a journal along the way of what we did at each port, how we got there, time it took, costs, things we'd do again or do differently, etc. and share them when we return in case anyone might find that helpful.
 
I followed the same rick steves book on 2 Disney Med cruises... Planned to come back one hour early each port and never had a problem. Have fun!
 
Thanks everyone for your input!
We've been planning for the "completely on our own" route, with the help of Rick Steves' Mediterranean cruise guide, for several months now, and it seems those of you who have done the same have had decent luck doing so!
We're only a few weeks out from our sailing, so we'll soon see how well this does (or does not lol) go for us.
I'll do my best to keep a journal along the way of what we did at each port, how we got there, time it took, costs, things we'd do again or do differently, etc. and share them when we return in case anyone might find that helpful.
We are planning for next summer - would be tremendously grateful if you'd share!! We're also hoping to rely on Rick ... Thank you for offering!
 
We have take two Disney European cruises (one Med, one Greek Isles) and have done EVERY port on our own. I find we can do everything we want quicker and much cheaper and at our own pace than if we went with a group. We enjoy figuring it all out on our own. If you are curious about what we did at a specific port, my blog (linked below) has it all my trip reports in it. I will say we always give ourselves a two-hour buffer for the all-aboard time to at least be back where we can see the ship! The only time we cut getting back on close was in the Cinque Terre (La Spezia) in 2011.
 
I was a CM so all ports we did ourselves and have much smaller time constraints so it's very doable.

One thing I would say if you were looking at pompeii, look into Herculaneum too. IMO it's much better. I've done Pompeii with and without a guide and I feel you do need one there to make sense of a lot of it. Herculaneum is much cheaper to get to, so much quiter (there was less than 50 people there when we were there) and in some ways is better preserved and you can get closer (paintings, decorations etc...). Also they still have actual bodies there, which makes it a lot more real. It's also not surrounded by the tourist trap and stalls Of pompeii.
Just my thoughts, but I thought I'd put it out there as I didn't even know herculaneum even existed till my second med contract and thought pompeii was the only option...
 
I was a CM so all ports we did ourselves and have much smaller time constraints so it's very doable.

One thing I would say if you were looking at pompeii, look into Herculaneum too. IMO it's much better. I've done Pompeii with and without a guide and I feel you do need one there to make sense of a lot of it. Herculaneum is much cheaper to get to, so much quiter (there was less than 50 people there when we were there) and in some ways is better preserved and you can get closer (paintings, decorations etc...). Also they still have actual bodies there, which makes it a lot more real. It's also not surrounded by the tourist trap and stalls Of pompeii.
Just my thoughts, but I thought I'd put it out there as I didn't even know herculaneum even existed till my second med contract and thought pompeii was the only option...

Do you think there is time to do both Pompeii and Herculaneum? That is what I really want to do, but thinking it would be pushing it on time. I have heard and read the same things about Herculaneum, but since this is our first and maybe only trip to the area, Pompeii is one of those places that you just have to visit to say you have visited it.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Latest posts



Top