Welcome back to all you DCL Med cruisers!

[No1 Babe]

Originally Posted by The Fox

No - we are on the 26th August cruise! I'll be disembarking on 2nd Sept and will be envious of you with your fabulous cruise yet to come.

You will have a wonderful time. I'm tied to school holidays but I would think that mid September is about the perfect time to visit the Med. August was HOT, particularly in the Italian ports of call!

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We are on this cruise too for 2017 . I'm beyond excited already !

[Guest]

Originally Posted by The Fox

Thanks for the welcome home!

We have just returned home from our first DCL cruise (Med 27/8). It was fantastic - so much so that on Day 3 we booked onboard to return next Summer!

The level of service is truly outstanding. Our stateroom host and restaurant serving team worked tirelessly to give us the best experience. They are worth every penny of their tips and more. We were really sad to say goodbye to them at the end of the cruise.

My kids both enjoyed the kids clubs (Edge and Oceaneers). DD11 made friends at the club and by the end of the week was spending most of the day hanging out with her new friends in Edge or around the ship and meeting up with us for meals and the shows. DS8 was also an enthusiastic participant at Oceaneers and was begging to spend some time there every day.

We did our own thing on port days and visited Pompeii, Rome and Pisa. We used local transport and found it manageable to see everything we wanted to.

Bats - well done on reporting the sun bed situation. I noticed the same issue around the Goofy pool and on Deck 10 despite clear notices asking guests to refrain from reserving beds :angry:

We were so sad to leave on the final morning but the pain is eased knowing we have next year to look forward to. We have certainly been bitten by the bug!

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Hi, we've booked the med cruise for next August and we're hoping to do our own thing on port days too. Is it easy to get to Pisa and Pompeii? Is there a bus and how long did it take? We will have DS8 with us so we're hoping it won't be too much waiting around in the sun. We've stayed in Rome before so have done the main sights, do we need to take a train from the port for this? Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

[The Fox]

Hi Pixiedust7

You have a fabulous trip ahead to look forward to. We had an amazing time and can't wait till the next one!

We found the DIY port days quite straightforward once we had done a bit of research in advance. We managed it all with DD11 and DS8. We all have good mobility. We were always very careful to allow plenty of time to get back onboard and were always on board 2 hours before all onboard time. We also pre booked tickets in advance for any attractions that we were visiting and we found that this reduced hassle on the day.

Pisa: When you disembark in Livorno, there is a shuttle bus which takes you from the port to the town centre. We then bought a return bus ticket from the nearby tobacconist for the bus to the station - I think it is the M1 but they will tell you when you buy the ticket. It stops outside H&M in the town centre and the stop is easy to find. There was quite a group from our cruise doing the same. The bus takes you to the station where you can then but train tickets (very cheap) to Pisa. There are frequent trains and it didn't take very long. You can find Italian train timetables online - well worth researching train timetables in advance. Be careful to research return times too. It is about a 20 - 30 minute walk from Pisa station to the tower. Again, try and print off a town plan in advance. You can get taxis but the walk is straightforward if you have good mobility.

Pompeii - this was my favourite port day. However, we docked in Salerno and I think that the cruise next August docks in Naples. Salerno to Pompeii was again very simple. Same routine - shuttle bus to town. We then walked about 20 minutes to the station and caught the train directly to Pompeii. It was about a 20 minute walk to the site although there were plenty of taxis at the station offering a flat fare to the ruins. Be careful of the return times - there were big gaps between trains and we ended up hanging around the station for about 90 minutes. Childrens' tickets to the ruins are free which was a total bargain.

Rome: We walked from the port to Civitavecchia station. Again, it was 20 -30 minutes and an easy walk along the sea front. There are loads of route plans online showing the journey from port to station which we read in advance. We pre booked an Intercity train with reserved seats but there are plenty of local trains which are cheaper and don't need a reservation. Again, there were a lot of people from our cruise doing this trip. It takes about 70 minutes to get to Rome. Check which station you need - it depends on what part of Rome you are visiting as to whether you need San Pietro, Ostiense or Termini. We visited the Colosseum and Forum. Again, child tickets were free.

That is a quick (ish!) summary so please let me know if I can help with any more information. There is a load of material online about DIY port visits and how to get from port to any particular venue. It took a bit of research ( which I enjoy anyway) but we did save a lot of money. We found that the public transport was very cheap and reliable and that attractions were often very good value for money. We also enjoyed the adventures.

[Guest]

That's really helpful, thank you so much for taking the time to write that out. Did you visit anywhere from villefranche? It looks so pretty there that I'm tempted just to spend the day there rather than going anywhere else! Also how long did you need to look around Pompeii? I've noticed that you're going to CBR soon, I'm jealous! We've just come back from two weeks there, we didn't want to leave!

[The Fox]

I'm happy to help!

Villefranche is lovely. We had a wander around the town in the morning and spent the afternoon back on the ship. It was great fun to just sit out on deck looking at the stunning harbour and the yachts passing by.

We are really looking forward to CBR. We have visited WDW before but this is our first stay at CBR. So pleased to hear that we have made a good choice!

[No1 Babe]

Folks

Just wondering we are to disembark from our Med cruise about 7am , would I make it from the port to airport for a 10.30 flight

[The Fox]

Originally Posted by No1 Babe

Folks

Just wondering we are to disembark from our Med cruise about 7am , would I make it from the port to airport for a 10.30 flight

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I haven't done this myself but this is what I think...

You would have been able to do it on our cruise as long as you were able to carry your own bags off ( express debarkation). It would be worth researching private transfers from the port to the airport - it's not that far in distance and would avoid having to queue for a taxi. You really do need to get off the ship as soon as you are able to though. I seem to remember that you needed to tell them onboard if you had an early flight ( before 11) so that they could advise you.

Even with breakfast (first sitting at 6.45) and waiting for our bags, we were on our way by 8.30am. They don't encourage you to hang about on the last morning!

Hopefully another poster with direct experience will be able to help!

[No1 Babe]

Aww thanks for the reply , I will look into it x

Kind regards

Carolanne

[DIBBadmin]

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