My husband and I arrive in Marseille for a one-day stop via a Princess Cruise in mid-July. What can we do on our own via foot or a short taxi or bus ride? We aren%26#39;t fond of tour groups an like to experience the local culture on our own. This can be challenging when one only has one day and arrives with such a mass of people. What%26#39;s it like near the cruise dock? My husband would like to see the port and, while we like to see historic landmarks, we often just like to walk through neighborhoods or visit a local outdoor market to get the flavor of the city. Any suggestions? From what I read in earlier posts, there are areas of the city we should avoid (as in any big city). Any ideas on where to have lunch that won%26#39;t be terribly expensive but would be close to the ship dock? I posted similar questions back in December when we first planned the cruise and got a few brief responses but not many -- now our trip is only days away. Thanks for any help you can provide.
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I haven%26#39;t eaten there but apparently there are loads of good restaurants around the old port area. It%26#39;s not cheap, but if you are in Marseille you MUST try bouillabaisse.
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I would love to know what you did, as we are on the same cruise in September and comtemplating a day in town vs. Provence. Thank you for any comments on the cruise (Emerald?) and ports of call.
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My husband and I just returned from what was an excellent Med cruise with Princess. The Emerald Princess is lovely with lots to do -- good shows, comedians, casino, movies under ths stars, the only drawback being that there are so many people. This was our third Princess cruise and we will return. Shows were better than on earlier cruises, quite professional, and we saw a couple of really funny comedians. The food was quite good in the buffet and anytime dining restaurants. Our best dining experience was at the specialty Crown Grill, which definitely was worth the extra cost.
We are not fond of group tours and are pretty independent travellers, so we usually just get advice on Trip Advisor and head out on our own. I must say that Princess is not very good at giving port info to people to don%26#39;t sign up for their tours, so I advise that you do your research before you go and take printouts.
In Marseille, we took the shuttle bus into town. Note that many of the docks are not located in the towns or cities people want to visit and Princess charges $10 to $15 per person each way for their nearly mandatory shuttle bus into town. Not a great deal of money, but annoying -- and unexpected -- to have to pay $40 a day for the two of us just to get off the boat.
In Marseille, we just explored the town and found it lovely. My husband is a sports fisherman and enjoyed strolling through the fish market and seeing the boats and we also enjoyed the local craft and flower market along the Marseille docks. There are several museums within walking distance and lots of restaurants and sidewalk cafes. A beautiful place to spend a relaxing day. It would also be nice to see more of Provence, but we were pleased with what we did.
Our cruise began in Barcelona and we opted to arrive a couple of days early. If you are doing the same, we highly recommend the Marinaview Bed %26amp; Breakfast, right at the waterfront and a block from the famous Las Ramblas prommenade with street performers and sidewalk cafes. At the foot and top of Las Ramblas you can get the hop-on/hop-off bus that takes you to all the sites in the city. We had the Columbus room and it had a great view of the harbour and a perfect location. If you%26#39;re interested, check out my review under the Marinaview on the Barcelona forum. I really recommend the %26quot;Turistic%26quot; hop-on/hop-off bus. You pay one small price and get on and off as many times as you want in a 24 hour period. We stopped at Gaudi%26#39;s church, the main cathedral, the Gothic district and got off at the top of Las Ramblas and walked back to our hotel.
From Marseille, we went to Livorno which is the port for Florence. We got into Florence on our own using a bus and train. This was our one rainy day -- it poured - which put a bit of a damper on exploring the city. Florence is quite far from the port of Livorno -- an hour and a half -- so this might be a place to take a tour rather than go off on your own.
The shipped docked at Civitivecchi for Rome and it was easy to get into Rome on the train with the directions provided on Trip Advisor. The Italian train system is clean, efficient and on time. Hint: The train station bathroom attendant gave out a city map for the .50 Euros you have to pay to use the bathroom -- well worth it. Using the map, we easily walked to the Colloseum from the train station, but it was mobbed. You have to buy tickets across the street and you don%26#39;t realize how many hundreds of people are in line until you get across the street. The people are lined up inside the Colloseum so you can%26#39;t tell before you get there. If the Colloseum is one of the things you really want to see, you may want to take a tour if the tour leaders can bypass the lines. From the Colloseum, it%26#39;s an easy walk to the other Roman ruins. We are very interested in archaeology and spent some time there. We then took a cab to the Spanish steps -- again mobbed in July but we%26#39;re glad we saw them, then walke to the Trevi Fountain. We were disappointed to find that they were cleaning it and there was not water. A cab took us back to the train.
A note on cabs in Italy, Spain or anywhere you stop: Always ask the price before you get into the cab, even if there%26#39;s a meter. There are extra charges for luggage. Most cab rides were not very expensive, depending on the distance, but some drivers will try to charge exhorbitant prices. We did negotiate the price on several of our longer cab rides.
Naples was our next stop and it%26#39;s really a dirty, loud, and somewhat scarey city. Not much that%26#39;s picturesque. One can%26#39;t even cross the streets in the traffic chaos. What we really wanted to see was Pompeii, so we took a cab to the train station and then the train -- very easy following instructions found on Trip Advisor -- and spent the day there. We bought a guidebook at the ruins office for 7 Euros and enjoyed exploring the site at our own pace. If you%26#39;re interested in archaeology, Pompeii definitely is something you can do on your own - but I would advise getting a guide book and taking a hat and sunscreen. It was very hot and there wasn%26#39;t much shade.
Mykonos was beautiful. One can just explore this lovely town, with narrow winding streets and lots of little shops, visit some museums within walking distance and can take the public bus to a beach. We didn%26#39;t got to one of the popular beaches. We collect sea glass and spent some time at the tiny beach that%26#39;s right where the tenders drop you off and were quite successful in finding Agean seaglass. Our day in Mykonos was short as we had to be tendered back and forth from the ship -- the only place that required tenders -- and to be back aboard by 1:30 pm, so just spending the day in the town was nice. Mykonos was one of our favorite stops.
Istanbul is amazing. We took the shuttle into town then got a cab to the Blue Mosque. From there we walked across the street to the Hippodrome and then a few short blocks to the ancient underground cisterms, which are pretty amazing. We then walked to the Grand Bazaar and spent a good deal of time there. People are very friendly in Istanbul - though everyone seems to want to sell you a carpet -- and we felt very safe walking around, even on some of the back streets outside the main portion of the bazaar. Many people speak some English or will find someone who does. We actually found the Turkish people to be some of the most friendly people we encountered in all of our European ports.
At Kusadasi, we wanted to go to archaeological site of Ephesus and we did this on our own. We took a taxi and this was a very expensive taxi ride - $120 - becauase the site was far away and the driver waited for us there. It cost us about $12 more than a Princess tour to Ephesus and we liked doing it on our own and in our own time rather than trooping through in a group. That%26#39;s just our preference. Again we got a map and guidebook and enjoyed having the time to stop and look at the details.
In Athens, we again took a train from the port to the train stop closest to the Acropolis, using Trip Advisor advice. We walked from the train station to the Acropolis and spent the day there and in the surrounding Plaka district with shops, plazas, and little cafes. The climb up the Acropolis is steep and takes some time. A lot of the surfaces in the Acropolis itself are uneven and the marble is slippery, so wear sturdy shoes. It was mobbed in July and is under renovation so there%26#39;s a disappointing amount of scaffolding -- but we still felt we had to see the Acropolis if we were in Athens. AFterward, the Plaka is a pretty and interesting area to explore.
In Venice, Princess shuttled us via water bus from the dock (pretty far outside the main part of the city) into St. Mark%26#39;s. They charged us $15 each for the shuttle but it was worth it. St. Mark%26#39;s was mobbed but from there you can see the Doge%26#39;s Palace and it was about a 20 minute walk to the Rialto bridge. We stayed in Venice an extra night at the Antiche Figure Hotel, which I would recommend. We found it and the Marinaview in Barcelona on Trip Advisor. The extra night gave us a chance to see a less crowded area of Venice that was on the Grand Canal but away from the greatest mass of tourists.
This was an excellent voyage but quite intense -- partially our own doing -- because we were up and out most days at 7:00 a.m. The days a sea were welcome. The only drawback for us was the fact that we spent so much time in big cities and in crowds. July is the height of the tourist season and I hope crowds are not so bad for you in September. We could have used some more relaxing beach time or time in the countryside.
Hope this helps. We are very independent travellers and so can%26#39;t really give you advice on tours. Perhaps someone else can. Let me know if there are other questions I can answer. Have a great trip!
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That%26#39;s a great trip report! We%26#39;ve not done a cruise, but reading of your experience makes me want to do it.
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Agree, haven%26#39;t done a cruise yet, but yours sounds amazing!!
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We, too. were %26quot;anti-cruising%26quot; until we took our first cruise and just loved it. We%26#39;re booked to go through the Panama Canal in January. If you do cruise, I highly recommend that you pay the extra money to get a balcony. It is so worth it to have the outdoor %26quot;room%26quot; -- a place to be outdoors that has some privacy. We loved nothing more than to sit on our balcony in the early morning with a cup of coffee as we watched our next port gradually emerging in the distance or to sit there in the evening as we left port and headed to our next destination.
If you take the Princess Grand Mediterranean cruise that goes from west to east (Barcelona to Venice), I advise getting a balcony on the port (left) side of the ship and, if your trip goes the other direction, on the starboard (right) side of the ship. That way you get the best views most of the time.
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Etymologists pooh-pooh the notion, but I like the idea that the word %26quot;posh%26quot; derives from %26quot;Port Out Starboard Home%26quot;. That was the preferred cabin selection by wealthy British to avoid the sun on trips between England and India. Seems it applies even on today%26#39;s air-conditioned cruisers in the Mediterranean.
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Not to put on a damper re Panama cruise, but we found the balcony not very usable in November 08
The sea in hot weather has a most disagreeable odour even far out to sea.
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Not to put on a damper re Panama cruise, but we found the balcony not very usable in November 08
The sea in hot weather has a most disagreeable odour even far out to sea.
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Sorry to hear about your bad experience with the Panama cruise. We loved ours in January and didn%26#39;t find any problem with an odor from the sea. In fact, we spent part of the canal transit on our balcony -- a great way to experience being IN the locks. But that%26#39;s another forum.......
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