I did a semester abroad in Italy a few years ago. You can find boat tours around Capri island that w

You will be walking a lot. And even the most comfortable airline ticket pricing best pair of shoes can cause blisters after a full day of walking. So bring a couple of different pairs, so that your shoes don't rub in the same place on multiple days!
Then on the days when you're off the boat, bring the copy with you in your purse, and leave your original passport in the safe in your room. You wouldn't want to risk losing your passport, but you never know when you might need some proof of identification!
If you go on a cruise during the summer, it will be hot. Sometimes very hot. And finding free water in the different cities can be tricky. So we would often fill up our water bottles in the morning on the ship, and then there was usually at least one other occasion during the day when we could fill them up for free! I just couldn't wrap my mind around spending $5 a day on water bottles!
We had originally assumed that we would use our credit card at most of the restaurants while we were traveling around. However, we often decided to split a meal, because we weren't super hungry. And the restaurants wouldn't accept credit cards unless our bill was over 10 Euros. So we ended up using more cash than we had expected. airline ticket pricing best You also have to consider that you might have to pay for taxis, trains, or other means of transportation. We brought 150 Euros (the equivalent of about $200) with us, and we barely had enough. But on the flip side, you don't want a bunch of leftover Euros at the end of the trip, because then you'll have to pay a fee to get them transferred back over to dollars. So just try to think things through before you go, and bring an amount that makes sense to you!
This is probably my biggest piece of advice. The ship obviously wants to make money, so they want you to book excursions through them. And many of the cities you want to visit are not the cities where you port. For example, you'll port in Ville Franche, but there's not a lot there. So you have to find a way to get to Monaco or wherever else you might want to go. So you might assume that you have to book an excursion through the boat, because airline ticket pricing best how else will you get to the city??
airline ticket pricing best But what the people on the boat often fail to tell you is that there are plenty of other ways to get to the city, and most of the other options cost a lot less. For example, we took a train to Monaco. And we took a water bus to Toulon. Both of these options were incredibly reasonably priced.
Also with the excursions, you might not get as much "free time" to explore. airline ticket pricing best You'll airline ticket pricing best be on their time frame. If you're someone who wants to see absolutely everything in a city, then booking an excursion through airline ticket pricing best the boat might be the way to go. Otherwise, just do your own thing. It's much more relaxing that way.
Having completed a Mediterranean cruise last year, I agree with all of your comments but I have a cautionary airline ticket pricing best note for the last one. We ended up booking excursions for most of our ports (some of which were not the same as yours) due to logistics and out of our risk averse mentality. It is true that finding your own transportation is generally cheaper, and it may give you more time. However, with Carnival (and most likely other cruise lines as well) if you did your own thing rather than doing an excursion through the ship, and if anything happened (accident, train strike airline ticket pricing best which we learned airline ticket pricing best was VERY common etc.) the ship had no obligation to wait for you and would likely leave if you were more than a little late. If your ship-sponsored excursion had any problems, the ship would have to wait no matter what. We were sometimes airline ticket pricing best able to balance out the risk by giving ourselves airline ticket pricing best a two-hour cushion to get back to the ship, but this was not always airline ticket pricing best possible due to the length of time in port. In addition,the cost savings was sometimes nullified by the difficulty of getting to public transportation walking for a mile, attempting to a take a bus or a cab to the train station, etc., so we opted to save ourselves the hassle at times. Just some things for your readers to think about if they are planning this type of vacation.
Very true. The part about needing to be back on the boat by a certain time is definitely true and something to think about. But for us, we knew that we would be back in plenty of time, because we wanted some time to hang out by the pool before dinner! But if we were wanting to see lots of tourist attractions, then it would have been better to do the cruise excursions!
Capri looks beautiful! I was bummed we didn t get to go there. I totally agree with all your tips, but especially about the tours. My in-laws actually booked all of the tours for us, and although some of them were good I was really sick of them by the end of the cruise. I just wanted to take my time and see what I wanted to see, not be forced into seeing what the tour guide thought we should!
Yummy gelato! We went to Europe this summer too and Italy was my favorite. I d take the nutella over the other favors but my absolute fav was pistachio! So good! As for the margaritas I d like the strawberry but my favorite margarita actually came from Epcot at Walt Disney World- it was jalapeño and delicious!! Your pictures are amazing!!
airline ticket pricing best Ummm Nutella gelato would be pretty much the only thing I would eat if I had access to it I think. Watermelon margarita would be my #1 choice as well. I m having trouble understanding why anyone would pick anything different? I m kinda sad your trip pictures are over as well!
I did a semester abroad in Italy a few years ago. You can find boat tours around Capri island that will show you the different Grottos around the island. airline ticket pricing best And you get to cruise around looking at the multi-million dollar yachts.
Hey Kristen! I m so glad your trip was just so wonderful! I am so glad you guys were adventurous and ventured out on your own. Jeremy and I were travel escorts airline ticket pricing best for a tour bus company for a little while when we lived in Germany, and it was so sad that a lot of people were too scared to venture out and explore on their own. They really did miss out. The good part is a few of them would just tag along with us and end up finding out it wasn t as intimidating as they thought! So that would be one of my tips: be adventurous..expect to not find the same things as back home- and revel in it! As far as tourist traps, if there are not a LOT of locals there, beware..especially when it comes to food. There is too much delicious local food to have to suffer through mediocre dishes- go to the tapas bars, and bistros that are packed with people..even if it means coughing through a bit of smoke-filled air (The Spanish love to puff their cigarettes in tapas bars). I agree with you on the excursions, the prices get better the further you get away from the cruise ship! Also, travelers checks work great if you need to carry a lot of money, this way you can cash in an amount each day. God forbid you get robbed, you only lose the amount for that day and have insurance on the rest of your money at any american express bank. Also- money belts work amazing.. especially if you re sleeping in overnight trains, etc. As for gelatto, airline ticket pricing best Nutella was always one of my favorties, I also liked Bacci (Jermey s was always Straciatella). Interesting that your favorite margarita was in Europe!.. haha.. since it s Mexican. lol.. I would totally go for your watermelon airline ticket pricing best one, it looked amazing! And to Jen s comment above, the food nerd in me has to tell you: a strawberry margarita, with rum instead, would be considered a strawberry daiquiri.
I am not a certified airline ticket pricing best fitness expert, a registered dietitian, or a professionally-trained chef. I am just a girl who likes to eat, work out, and eat some more. The purpose of this blog is to share my own thoughts, opinions, and experiences.