Suzanne wrote:

Hi all

RE: Med Renaissance / Jewels of Med (Thomson)

Can anyone please advise me how far these ports/harbours are from the city/town centre on foot. I'm trying to budget as appropriate for taxis/buses as appropriate.

Thanks in advance

Palma - Majorca
Villefranche - France
Livorno - Italy (it's likely we will do the Pisa excursion here however)
Civitavechhia - Italy (it's likely we will do the Rome excursion here however)
Olbia - Sardinia
Mahon - Minorca
Trapani - Sicily
Naples - Italy
Ajaccio - Corsica (considering doing the Cupulatta tortoise prtection centre excursion here - has anyone done?)
Toulon - France
Barcelona - Spain

Palma is walkable from port if you are reasonably fit, although it would 30-45 minutes each way, a very pleasant walk along the marina and seafront. Better option may be to take open-top tourist bus tour which leaves from port terminal. It is a hop on-off service, and ticket is valid all day. To get a taxi there, and then back would cost more than the open-top bus, and the 45 minute tour round Palma is very pleasant, with added benefit of hop on-off.

Villefranche will be a tender ashore, beautiful little place to explore but would be done in an hour. Nice is about 5K west and Monte Carlo about 15K east, both easily acessible by train.

Pisa is possible on your own, by bus and train, then a further bus or 30 minute walk (pleasant walk, which we did), but maybe not advisable if you are not used to DIY trips. We did it last time from Livorno, and had a bit of luck with people guiding us where to purchase public bus tickets to get to the train station. On the way back you would simply breeze out the station ahead of the crowd and jump on a taxi back to ship. This is not possible on the way to the rail station, as the taxis at the ship are looking for longer fares i.e. all the way to Pisa, or even to give a day tour to Florence, which is a long way off.

Rome is incredibly easy by train, and very cheap to DIY tour but depends on how much time you will have, and how relaxed you are with DIY touring at distance from ship.

Mahon, you are right in the centre, walk up a steep flight of steps and you are in town.

Most people would not stay in Naples for a first time trip. Last time we were there went to Capri by ferry-boat which is next to ship docking point. Takes about 50 minutes each way, and Capri is well worth the visit. If you are into history the other option is Pompeii.

Ajaccio, if you decide not to do the tortoise thing, there is a lovely trolley train which takes you round the town and out a couple of miles to a viewing point which is very pleasant, but not spectacular by any means. The town itself is worth a stroll after the trolley train.

Toulon we have not explored, but visited St Tropez which was not as spectacular as we had envisaged.

Barcelona is very easy to get to using the port shuttle bus, which is only a couple of Euros each way for a trip probably between one and two miles. Explore the city on foot from the drop-off point or get open-top bus for city tour. Again this is a hop on-off service.

Olbia and Trapani, we have not been to yet! However if there is an option in Sicily to go to Taormina, it is a beautiful and scenic quant old town and well worth a visit.

DIY tripping is not just about cutting costs compared to the organised tours, although you will halve your costs and more, the other benefit is you do what you want, when you want to, and return to ship when you are ready, rather than joining the "cattle-herding" throng and having to wait while everyone gets back to coach, and for latecomers etc.etc.

The biggest benefit with organised trips is they are responsible to get you back to ship, and the ship will wait in event of delay. With DIY the ship will sail, if necessary..........without you.Secret is to always have a plan B, and for plan A to get you back in very good time. We have never had a problem, and almost always DIY having learned the lesson from others on our first cruise where we did an organised trip at almost every port on a very similar cruise to your own.

Just remembered something and added this in "edit" mode. Under the thread "Royal Carribean" at page 3 of 4 you will find a lengthy post from me, prepared in September 2007 giving some details about Mediterranean ports if you are interested.

Anything else, do not hesitate to ask.

Although I haven't been to Trapani on a cruise, I suggest that you take a taxi to the cable car that takes you up to the hill top village of ERICE (Eh-reee-che (as in Guevara)) overlooking the town. There are very few cars, just narrow streets and locals and very few tourists. You could also get a taxi there and back but I don't know the current prices. In Trapani you are very close to where Marsala wine (sweet sticky stuff) is produced so you could also try this as a local tipple.

You will find hamrag's port information in THIS PAGE

There is also a sticky topic on DIY excursions at the top of the forum HERE

luci

Toulon - there is a tourist road train which runs every 30 mins or so from the port - it takes you round some of the naval sights, to the beach and to the town centre. There was a large market on the day we were there (can't remember which day). There are some reasonable pedestrian streets and a marina with lots of bars and restaurants that is pleasant to stroll along back to the ship.

Gill