Wheeeee!!! I have finally managed to book our holiday and we will sail on Spirit on Thu 29 July.......with 13 year old Twins and Husband.

Was going to book OV but was told yesterday that they have filled their quota of teenagers.......???? (Yes - that was news to me....where does it say that in the small print....???)

Then saw Thomson Spirit and decided to Go For It and now - after having discovered this formum and read up all the comments - really informative I have to say - brill!! - and now actually quite glad that didn't manage to book OV after all!!

Anyway - we are not Cruising Newbies having been on Seawing (that was our 1st one in 2002 - sad to see she's going to be scrapped) and then Sunbird in 2003 - both in the Med.

This time we shall be cruising to the east (Idyllic Iberia) and as we feel that sometimes excursions can be a bit of a rip-off I wonder if anyone could pass on some tips - we'd be very grateful - especially the Husband 'cos he thinks I have out-maneouvered him somehow (!) by getting him to agree (with not much persuasion, I might add) on this hol when it was supposed to be a cheapie 'cos we moved house last year and still have much to do......so it's only fair I suppose that we try and save some dough at least with DIY.

3 weeks and 1 day to go...........can't wait!

Hi Jools and welcome to HT!

Can you list the ports of call and someone may be able to offer some advice?

luci

Oh yes - that's a good idea -sorry!

Here they are:

Alicante
Gibraltar
Lisbon (but I've seen it also listed as Portimao?)
Motil, Granada
Valencia

ill be watching this as im away on the 22nd for 2 weeks the second is the iberian dood the first is summet of the med lol, in real good at reading stuff as you can see , jools ill be easy to spot ill be the drunk with his brother and his mum and aunty who are about 10000 years old lol, also i may wel be dod who is hanging over the side throwing up as i get sick on the liverpool ferry
i got my tickets and im exited now , 1 thing my 10000 year old mum wonders do they have crab for tea
parents who'd have em ?

Lisbon : there is a port bus(every 20mins) that takes you around the harbour to a bus stop almost oposite the ship(there used to be a bridge) From there you can DIY the bus into the centre or there is a train station if you want to go down the coast. You can get a day ticket for the buses and trams or there is a open top tour bus. HAve sesrch around the web the info is there but the web sites escape me at the moment. Again coming back from the centre you take bus/tram and atch the shuttle round tot he ship. If there are a few of you there are taxi tours available from dock side.

Gib: Cheap for fags and booze there is a tesco also not far from the port.
You can take a ships tour or a taxi tour to do the main sites, you can use the buses for some. If you dont want to see the caves you can use the cable car to see the apes. It is a bit of a trek to the town centre from the ship. There is a gibraltarian that posts on shiphappens probably worth asking there.

We went on an excursion to Granada last year - well worth a visit but I think it would be difficult to DIY - especially as you have to purchase tickets for the Alhambra in advance - also you get priority entry with excursions. We loved the palace and the city.

Gill

We are going on Ocean Village and there are a couple of ports that I can find no info. at all about.
They are Santa Margherita (Italy) and St. Raphael (France) if anyone could give any advice about these places I'd be very grateful.
Also any thoughts on the ship we have chosen, we have been on the Sunbird twice now, and loved it.
But this time some frieds are coming and are bringing 2 sons 16 and 18 so we thought OV might be better for them.
Thanks very much.

Hi Marjrie,

We haven't been on the OV but the Thomson Spirit we were on in June was supposed to stop at Santa Margherita (diverted to Genoa due to adverse weather conditions!). The main trip from this port is to Portofino.
http://www.italyheaven.co.uk/liguria/santamargheritaligure.html is a link to some info on the area. It also gives details on a DIY boat trip for 6 euros - the organised excursion was approx £15-£20.........if I remember rightly.

Sorry, no nothing on the French port but glad you liked the Sunbird. We are going on it next June when it is revamped as the Thomson Destiny

Tracey

Thanks for the link, will look at it in a minute.
Now just need some info on the French port, and anything about the ship.
I'm sure you will love Sunbird when she is revamped as the Destiny.

Portofino is a beautiful small harbour surrounded by a small selection of designer shops and nice restaurants. We got from Santa Margherita to Portofino by ferry boat last year which was provided free to Island Escape cruisers. You can also get the bus, but it can be busy. Do go to visit, but unless you have lunch you will only need a few hours. If you choose to eat on the main square, expect to pay high prices. Santa Margherita is also quite pretty.

Apparently, the Island Escape will not visit Santa Margherita next year due to the ship being unable to dock there for most of their recent visits. The ship goes to genoa when the weather is not too good.

Christian

Hi.

My wife and I went on the OV earlier this year, and had a great time. We had previously been on the Sundream, which we enjoyed, but the OV was far classier.

Whilst we paid the extra for an outside cabin with balcony, from peering into the other cabins it looked far roomier.

The 2 teenagers should also have a good time, there was ecrtainly plenty to do.

The days trips were good, but we did find that it was on occasions better to walk off the boat and haggle with a local taxi driver who would take you to the usual sights, without the hassle of being restricted to fixed leaving times.

Hope you have a good holiday!

Thanks for the help here, 2 weeks today until we go, having first week just me and hubb. in a hotel then the others come out on 7th. Sept. to meet us on the ship.

We are expecting it to be more laid back than the Sunbird, but will still do smart casual in the evenings, my husband is looking forward to not taking a tie !

Thanks again.

This is a really useful site for info on Europe. Particulary look for a posting that says, "If you are going to the med ....... read this".

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=19

We are on the Thomsons Destiny - Romans Romance & Rivieras,
(Civitavechhia, La Spezia, Marseille, Sete & Tarragona).

Any DIY adivce please.

Thank You

If you are fairly adventurous and want to do this it is incredibly easy and cheap. From the port turn left and walk through to the train station La Goulette. Anyone will be able to direct you and it takes about 15-20 minutes. You will need to pick up some dinars on the way as the trains don't take euros but there is a bank en route. You will obviously have to run the gamut of the taxi drivers but it is worth it. Trains run about every 12 minutes and the single fare was about TDN 4 (£2) for 5 or us to the station for the Medina, which is the end of the line, though for some unknown reason it cost slightly less on the way back! Walk straight down the road when you leave the station and you will find the Medina. The shops there take dinars, euros or almost anything else you have as far as I can see. Trains in the other direction go to Sidi Bou Said and other places - all incredibly cheap. There is no need to be nervous - Tunisians are very friendly and love to chat and you can get some good bargains if you barter.

Hi! We're doing an Ocean Village Med cruise next May.We'd like to visit Rome (from Civitavecchia), Genoa, and St. Raphael on our own if possible, rather than take the organised excursions. Can anyone help with information on how to go about it? Thanks in advance !

As far as i know you can get a train from the port to rome for about 9 euros. We were quoted £95 each from Thomsons for the excursion to Rome.

Maureen

There have been a few post regarding doing Rome on your own.

We did it the other week. When you dock take the shuttle bus, then walk around 10 mins to the station catch the train to Rome (make sure you get your ticket stamped there is a machine in the middle of the room where you have to stamp it yourself) 9 euros return, this will also cover your travel on the underground. It takes about 1hour 15 to Terminii, if you get of here and find the Metro (M sign) you can travel 2 stops and arrive at the Colloseum, (get yourself a map either off the internet of here before you go to Rome - they will rip you off) everything is close by, we then walked to the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps and also managed to see St Peters square and were back on the ship for 4pm! It worked out alot cheaper than Thomsons were charging - they wanted £32 each just to drop us off in the centre of Rome. You can also then come back when you are ready.

Naples

We are off on the Jewels of the Med cruise next week. We have read that
from Naples you can get the hydrofoil to Capri. Can anyone give any more info re this like how long does it take to get to Capri? Roughly how much does it cost? Also does the hydrofoil go from quite near where the ship berths?

We would like to do this and just wonder if others have done this what your thoughts are.

Thanks