How many shore excursions should we do?

[Plasticbrain]

Hi! First of all English is my second language, so sorry for any typos/grammar mistakes.

So me, my mother and my 2 daughters (they will be 9 and 10 at the time of the cruise, I am 38 and my mom 63) are doing the western meditteranean on Oasis of the seas (july/august 2024). I ended up choosing a cruise, since we originally wanted to do a week in Italy, but this cruise gives us so much more. (This will be first time on a cruise for all 4)

I am unsure about shore excursions since 1. Most of them are 9 hours on this cruise and 2. It seems Oasis has so much fun things to do on board the ship. 

So far we have planned this:

Day 1 cruise starts - leaving Barcelona 

Day 2 

Mallorca - doing 6 hour beach excursion

Day 3 

Marseille - staying on the ship

Day 4 

Florence - exploring florence 9 hours 

Day 5 

Rome - rome like a movie with lunch 9 hours

Day 6 

Capri on your own - 9 hours 

Day 7 

At sea. 

 

So the Mallorca Beach one is for the girls and my mom, so not getting out of that one (I will probably do parasailing or something, 4 full hours on a Beach with my restless mind (adhd) is bad combo )

Day 4 florence and Day 5 rome we will do, those are the cities our planning started with, and we will not miss them. 

I am unsure about Day 6, (we chose Capri not Naples since my mom has seen Pompeii before, and meant it was not that great for the kids)

My kids are too "clingy" to be left alone on adventure ocean for 9 hours, so If we do not go to Capri I will drop it as well (my mom might go alone, thats up to her). 

So after all this, 2 questions for those of you who have been on the Oasis and/or visited Capri

 

1. Is 4 excursions too much while on Oasis for 7 days? (How much onboard events will you miss out by only having 3 days on the ship + some evenings/nights) 

2. Is Capri worth visiting for kids (age 9 and 10)? 

 

Thanks for reading all this (I have figured out as an adult that long explanations before getting to the point is typical adhd, so bear with me please) , and for those of you who can answer one or both the questions, thanks a lot for helping me figure it out. 

 

-Chris-

[Rackham]

2 hours ago, Plasticbrain said:

1. Is 4 excursions too much while on Oasis for 7 days? (How much onboard events will you miss out by only having 3 days on the ship + some evenings/nights) 

That's really up to the individual. I found that 3 full days, and evenings throughout the sailing, was plenty of time to experience everything Oasis has to offer. Do book show reservations in advanced (will be available about 30-40 days before sailing) so you can see the shows when you'd like to see them.

[smokeybandit]

To me that's a pretty intense touring schedule.

But others, probably not as much.

[WAAAYTOOO]

@Plasticbrain your English is incredible !  No need for apologies.

[FionaMG]

Welcome to the boards @Plasticbrain

Here's my take on your plans.

I absolutely would NOT stay on the ship in Marseille. You don't need to do an excursion but it's definitely worth getting off for a couple of hours. Grab a taxi from the port and ask to be dropped off at the Vieux Port (Old Port). This is right in the centre and from here you can get the "petit train" (a little tourist train) which takes you up to Notre Dame Basilica on the top of the hill overlooking the city. It's a fun ride and the basilica is well worth a look and the view from the top is lovely. It's not a hop-on, hop-off thing. Everybody gets off at the basilica and then you get on another train when you're ready to go back down.

Here are a couple of pics; they're a bit old now, so the quality isn't great, but it'll give you an idea.

Once you come back down, you can have a look in some of the shops  around the Old Port for some soap. Marseille is famous for its soap and you can get it in liquid and solid form. It makes a great gift to take back home with you, or just treat yourself. This area of France (Provence) is also famous for its lavender fields and you should be able to get some soap that is scented with lavender.

You should be able to do all of this in a morning and be back on board in time for lunch and a relaxing afternoon by the pool.

For Naples/Capri, I recommend that you DON'T buy the Capri on Your Own excursion, firstly because it's ridiculously overpriced and secondly because there is a cut-off time to cancel if you decide you don't want to do it after all. If you cancel too late you may not get your money back. This is particularly important if the weather decides to be unccoperative because Royal will not give you your money back just because it's raining on the day.

So, I suggest you make a tentative plan to really "do it your own". This is very easy to do. The ticket office for the ferry to Capri is literally right next to the cruise terminal. Get off the ship as early as you can and get tickets for the next available ferry. Buy return tickets at the same time for early afternoon, to give you plenty of time to get back. It takes about an hour each way. By doing it this way you keep your options open. I suspect that after back-to-back Florence and Rome you may find you're just too tired to want to do anything more than have a lazy day on board but if you do want to go, it's still doable and far more cheaply than buying Royal's excursion, which is nothing more than a glorified transfer. I don't know what the current cost of the ferry is but in May of last year a round trip ticket was less than half the price of the "on your own" excursion.

I hope this helps and you have an amazing time when it comes.

 

[Plasticbrain]

Thank you all for kind words and answers, we still have plenty of time to make decisions (more answers and input is very welcome) 

[Bruin Steve]

First, it's never a question of "how many" shore excursions you should take...rather, plan each port stop independently.

Second, recognize that, with any port, there are multiple options:

a)  Shore excursion, b)  Visit "on your own", c)  "private" non-cruise line tours.

We will, sometimes, take a shore excursion, often take a private tour...and, occasionally, when we are very familiar and comfortable with a port, just visit on our own.

First look at the individual port and ask yourself if there is something you MUST do or see there.  Then, check the shore excursions and see what is offered than may match your desires.  Then look for a non-ship tour.  There may be groups forming on the internet that you can join.  Check other websites--Try Facebook or Cruisecritic.com.  Those sites have specific "Roll Call" threads for your sailing and often, people on those roll calls are planning tours and need others to join.  Or, do a Google search for complanies offering tours in those ports (Viator and "Get Your Guide" are also good clearinghouses for finding these tours).  Don't be afraid to do a non-ship tour.  Those companies are VERY GOOD at getting you back to the ship on time and often have smaller group sizes and better prices.

In doing a tour versus doing your own thing, consider that many of the sites you may want to visit are far from the port.  Organized tours (shorex or private) are good at handling the logistics.  Obnn your itinerary, in particular, Civitavecchia (for Rome), Livorno or La Spezia (for Florence) , Naples (whether you visit Capri, Pompeii, the Amalfi Coast or elsewhere) and Marseilles (if you want to go to any of the towns in Provence) are all a good distance from the port and best done if you have a tour with transportation and a tour company who knows the logistics.

Personally, I would NOT stay on the ship in Marseilles--Past couple of cruises (both in the last year or so), we've used this port stop to visit a)  Aigues-Mortes and b)  the Luberon region and it's villages.  Both made for really nice days.  Also, there are other towns worth visiting nearby--like Nimes, Avignon and Arles.

In the Naples area, I much prefer visiting Pompeii and Herculaneum rather than Capri as the historical and archaeological value is fascinating and unmatched.

For Rome and Florence, with only a short port day in each, it's noce to have a well-organized tour so as to not waste time on logistics.

Have fun.

[ChessE4]

Our excursion tip is to avoid back to back all-day tours. That can create fatigue. So blending a shorter excursion you do on your own with an organized excursion as discussed for a major port is good.

[Traveling Mike]

1. Some of the time I stay on the ship and enjoy a relax full day.
2. Some of the time I get off the ship and walk the port town on my own.
3. Some of the time I do excursions to have fun or see new places.

• My biggest advice is don't do so much that you have unhappy kids.
• My second advice is do things the kids will remember or learn something new.

[PPPJJ-GCVAB]

Hello @Plasticbrain so very glad you found this blog!  Welcome!  What a great first cruise you have chosen for your children (and yourself plus Mom).  The ship is wonderful for children to find a little independence!  Even if they do not want to explore it on their own, encourage them to do so…they can’t get lost!  Lol.
The itinerary is also very educational for them but as others have mentioned can be quite tiring as well, especially because you will need to travel away from the ports for touring.  That means once you are off the ship there is no returning for a rest until each tour is completed.  On the other hand, there is so much to see you definitely need the time spent off the ship!
I hope you decide to bring us along with either a live blog (probably not since this is your very first cruise!) or at least a “follow up” so we get to hear all about this first cruise experience!

[wordell1]

Capri is a long excursion.  If you are looking for something shorter you can walk (or taxi) from the ship and just walk around downtown Naples. The pizza is the best in the world and kids love pizza.

[FionaMG]

4 minutes ago, wordell1 said:

Capri is a long excursion.  If you are looking for something shorter you can walk (or taxi) from the ship and just walk around downtown Naples. The pizza is the best in the world and kids love pizza.

Good idea. I think you can do "pizza-making experiences" or some such thing where you get to make you own pizza. I bet that would be a fun thing to do as a family.

[TXcruiser33]

It's difficult to give advise on this subject because everybody is different and their idea of a great day is different!! Having kids with you adds another factor to your decision, obviously, because you don't want tired, cranky kids with you!!

My opinion is this: a Med cruise is always port intensive and often exhausting. But, you have a chance to explore several places that you've never been before and who knows when you'll be back?? So, for me, i try to do something at every port, then spend the sea days exploring the ship. To really see some of these ports it does require a long day as the sights can be far away from the port.

We just returned from a Greece/Croatia cruise and took our 2 adult sons and their wives (who had never cruised AND never been to Europe!) My hubby and I were in charge of making all the plans, so after a lot of research we chose different types of activities in each port so nobody would get bored or tired of too much of the same thing. With that in mind, in Split we chose a 1/2 day private speed boat tour out to the Blue lagoon for swimming and snorkling. That was the right decision for this group! They all loved having a "beach day" and it broke up the other history-intense tour days. If my husband and I had been travelling alone we probably wouldn't have done this, but it really was a great day and i'm glad we did!

We have never stayed on a ship while in port, a couple of times we got off and walked around, had lunch and got back on. But i know people do it and some love the empty ship! I just hate to pass thru somewhere and not at least get off! Also, i almost always book a private excursion or a DIY day, we rarely book cruise excursions (because they're more expensive, more crowded, and often don't maximize all the time you have in port). But that's just us.

Have fun planning and enjoy your cruise!

[EvelynMarie]

I love reading travel blogs to learn about different destinations and what people have to say about each one and came across one all about Italy travel and things to do and places to go and cultural tips - https://www.uhcsafetrip.com/tips/italy-international-travel-health-insurance-and-visa-guide/ - I went on a Mediterranean cruise a few years ago and it was amazing, hope you have a blast!