HM: not going to Cali anymore....

Re: HM: not going to Cali anymore....

• GlenLakeLove

  

  October 2009 edited December 2011

  We did a European HM, too and LOVED it. We did 3 days in Dublin and then flew to Barcelona for what seems to be similar to what you booked - RC Barcelona/Nice, France/Florence, Italy/Rome, Italy/Naples, Italy/Palermo, Italy/Barcelona. It.was.amazing. Unbelievable Save some cash for excursions - many of the cities are far from port and will cost a fortune in just a taxi so they are well worth it! If you have any questions feel free to ask!

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• kristenmpatrick

  

  October 2009 edited December 2011

  We are doing the same thing an RC cruise in the western Med for 7 nights. We are spending a week in Italy first and then we are taking the cruise. Can't wait!

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• am&pm09

  

  October 2009 edited December 2011

  Yay! That is so exciting.  I've always wanted to go to Europe.  We considered a cruise there for our HM but settled on a trip to Tahiti now and hopefully Europe for an anniversary.

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• alinaandjared

  

  October 2009 edited December 2011

  We did this same cruise for our honeymoon in september. When are you getting married? September was a perfect time for us as it was still in the 80s most days but not humid at all, we loved it. I agree with PP about tours, averaging at 100 a person. We took 3 tours and did the rest on our own and saw just as much if not more than the people on tours. I'd be more than happy to share info, and DH has all of the Rick Steves tourguides for france.italy.spain and we took them on our trip. Our itinerary was- fly into madrid- spend 3 days there. flew to barcelona, boarded ship. day1: at see day 2: pompei and sorrento (some people just did sorrento others went to sorrento and capri, etc- we really recommend the tour we went on called "taste of sorrento" day 3: I believe this is the day we went to Rome?- we did a tour that simply picks you up at the ship and drops you off near the vatican, we did the rest on our own I am not sure the order of the other days but my DH blogged the ENTIRE trip so let me know if you want a link!

  

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• Jennah

  

  October 2009 edited December 2011

  Any cities over others you recommend doing the excursion? Or just length? some are 10H some are 4H....

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• alinaandjared

  

  October 2009 edited December 2011

  a 4h does not make ANY sense, at all. 10H. I absolutely would get a tour of pompei/Sorrento/Capri. Ours was called "taste of sorrento" Rome we did on our own and saw everything we wanted to see. Do not take a tour in Arl/Leboux if you go there.... You won't need a tour in Nice/Monte Carlo if you go there We only did 2 full day yours + the tour that drops you off at vatican and picks you up 10 hrs later. It was 90 bucks a person I think but its over an hour from port.

  

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• Jennah

  

  October 2009 edited December 2011

  soooo helpful THANKS!!!!

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• GlenLakeLove

  

  October 2009 edited December 2011

  We did excursions (full day) in every city. Rome & Florence/Pisa were the best ones - great meals! I can look up the names if you'd like.I recommend doing tours at all stops. The thing is, by the time you price out a taxi into the city (many are about 45-hour away) and trying to navigate yourself, you really save maybe $10. That's it. We have a friend in Dublin who helped us calculate it all out. Plus, you're on a tour with English speaking people and it's more "protected". You will look like a tourist but so do MANY others...and you won't be the American the taxi driver takes advantage of either. I know that's so pessimistic but our friend was very honest of what she's seen/heard and being a native, she'd know best, in our opinion. We did Pompeii when we were there and loved it. The only city that was so close to the port was Palermo. We liked the tour because it gave a ton of info we wouldn't have found out on our own.

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• alinaandjared

  

  October 2009 edited December 2011

  Glenlake has a good point. We did consider the tours vs on our own but in some cities it made sense for us to do what we did. Particularly in Rome since we are both Jewish. DH had ZERO interest in vatican+ pope and most of the tours did that. I saw the pope prior to this one in 1990 when I was 5 (I got close too!). If you go to montecarlo or nice, I honestly do not think you need a tour at all. Look into Rick Steves (or page me and DH can email it over) if you choose to do days on your own. For us it was not so much the $ but that we wanted to see things that were not on tours that we would not have wanted to (for example in Florence we went to see a famous synagogue) when we were in Barcelona, we spent a fair amount of time exploring the old jewish quarter and the underground synagogue there for example. If you are spending the $ on the cruise + flights, then the tours are really good. I could NOT understand 2 couples at our dinner table that did ZERO tours. They literally got cabs/trains into the cities (both of whcih we found were easy to figure out and we had ZERO problems navigating in the cities we did on our own, again thanks DH and Rick Steves) but these people would like, get to the city, do some shopping and drink beers at restaurants (they were british). To me, that was stupid. You can drink beers in london for much less looks like a bunch of us have pointers so feel free to ask questions as you continue your planning

  

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