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Mediterranean Excursions


ALA

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On exiting the ship, yes, Royal excursion groups usually disembark first to catch their transportation.  The rest follow, perhaps 30 minutes later.

There are people who use 3rd party excursions all the time.  One needs to research the provider.  One can walk some ports easily, get a cab or bus, catch the train (e.g., Civitavecchia to Rome), and so on.  On an all-day excursion, we prefer Royal; one never knows when there will be a traffic jam on the way home.  On half-day excursions, you have a lot of leeway.  You might read other posts on this topic, and Matt has a video which discusses excursion pros and cons.  Have a great cruise!

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Some people like RC Excursions, some not. I'm on the second group, after several trips reserving exclusively RC shorex I got tired of the excessive time wasting.  

First they group all the excursions (generally on the Main theater), then you have to wait a looooong time to be called to get off the ship, then another loooong wait for all the participants to arrive the boat/bus/transport for the excursion, most of the times shorex are large groups so one or two guest surely will arrive late. And lastly the price, usually they're much more expensive than any tour you could book by yourself.

I say go for It and DIY. I think it's worth it. I'll do it this summer, all excursions booked with third parties. 

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I typically avoid Royal Excursions - Generally, you can get a better excursion for less money on your own.

A few exceptions:

1. Tendered Ports- In these ports, there can be severe delays in getting off the ship depending on the tender setup and size of the ship.  The Royal excusions will always get off first.  Sometimes the time difference can be enough to strongly consider the Royal excursion.

2.  Long/ complicated excusions - I would not, as an example, attempt to do the Tulum Mayan ruins excursion on my own from Cozumel.  There is a ferry/bus involved and the timing is difficult.  The ship will wait for the late arriving Royal excursions, they will not wait if you self-booked excursion is late.

Because of the distance involved in travelling from La Spezia to Florence, as an example, I think a good argument could be made for doing one of the ship excursions.  There are also multiple tour operators that have private tours that will do the same thing.  These are reputable companies that would not operate for long if they were bringing passengers back after the ship has left.

I am on Wonder of the Seas leaving next Thursday leaving from Rome and I have a mix of both excursions planned.

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