How I saved money on my recent shore excursions

I am a bit of a skinflint when it comes to parting with money, so on my recent cruise round the med, I decided to do some independent shore excursions and save a few bob, here’s what happened….

First stop Kotor – Friday

Woke up on day 3 as we were approaching Kotor, and what a beautiful sight to see! Fantastic scenery surrounded by Fjords.  So got dressed, up to the Buffet for yet another cooked English breakfast…..(what is it about cruising that gives you such an appetite??) as keen to explore.       Also to find a café with free WIFI to catch up with what’s going on at home.   WIFI on board way too expensive!

You might like to know that  passengers who have booked a shore excursion with P&O,  take precedence over other passengers when boarding the tenders.  We independent travellers have to wait until they have left.   Having said that, all we did was pop down to the Tamarind Lounge, was given a ticket, and waited 20-30 minutes before we were able to leave the ship, simple! Tenders were going backwards and forwards all day, so no problems at all!

You can explore the old town and port in a couple of hours, or longer if you want to climb the steep steps up to the Fort at the top of the hill, but as it was such a glorious day, we gave that particular activity a miss.  Very pretty, well worth a few hours of your time. Lovely cafes to have a snack or linger longer for lunch.

Corfu Town – Saturday

You can walk into town from the ship , takes  5 minutes.  I loved Corfu Town, again another glorious day, and bargains galore!  Bought myself 4 dresses, a hat and a bag!  Again, very pretty, and you can, unlike me, go a little further afield to explore the town itself, but as I’d visited previously, I was only interested in the café with the free WIFI, and the shops!

Rome – Monday

As I’d never been to Rome before, I was keen to make sure I didn’t miss the ‘main attractions’ and also a visit to the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican City.  So after a bit of research, decided to go independently of P&O and use the services of the company we use here at www.cruise.co.uk for shore excursions to see what kind of service my clients could expect.  I have to say I was very impressed!

OK so they weren’t portside when we disembarked the ship, as the P&O excursion buses were, so we just hopped on the free shuttle bus to the port gates at Civitavecchia  (2 minute ride) and were met by our rep Andreas.  The coach trip into the city was very pleasant, with Andreas giving us a running commentary of the history of Rome and what we could expect to see, and as we were doing ‘Rome on our own’, gave us some fantastic tips to make our visit more enjoyable and (almost )stress free!  .  We were dropped off at the Coliseum and given a time to be picked up at the Vatican City, which gave us over 5 hours to do a whistle stop tour, and have time for lunch!

So we ‘did’ the Coliseum, (Magnificent!) Forum, Trevi Fountain, (Spectacularly beautiful!) Spanish Steps (Disappointing – packed with tourists…) a few more sights and then finally arrived at the Vatican City.  We’d paid for tickets to see the Sistine Chapel, and although I’m glad I saw Michaelangelo’s  ‘David’ wouldn’t visit the Museum again.  Firstly before you actually get to the chapel you have to traipse through a maze of rooms showing previous papal artefacts, paintings, etc, which to be honest got a bit ‘samey’ after awhile..  You were herded around by guards, and it was absolutely rammed with people, shoulder to shoulder, and extremely hot!  Basically it takes you 2 and a half hours on average to get round the museum until you finally get to the chapel, only to be rushed through in less than 3 minutes! Oh and no photos or you are shown the door by the guards! Not a pleasant experience.

My top tip would be to pre-book your tickets if you want to visit the Museum and St Peter’s Basilica because the length of the queues, in the heat of the day were incredibly long! You’d be absolutely mad not to, and it’s easy enough to do online.

Andreas was at the pickup rendezvous waiting patiently for us, and we returned to the ship, happy, but tired.  I can heartily recommend seeing Rome, it’s like a huge open air museum with so much to see, and heartily recommend using our shore excursion company.  They were efficient, friendly and informative, and far cheaper than P&O!  Also Andreas was very easy on the eye girls!

Ajaccio Tuesday

Again, just hop off the ship, 2 minute walk and you’re there!  As you get to the port gates you are greeted by a Tourist Bus/Train Kiosk, where for 10 Euros each, you can take an 1hr 20 min tour around Ajaccio, passing all the Napoleon landmarks, and its coastline.  Well worth it.  It’s a beautiful place to go for a beach holiday as the scenery and beaches are stunning.  We walked around the old town, Rue Fesh, which is filled with shops, café’s, restaurants.  A bit pricey, so onward to the main street where you’ll find a market selling meat, cheeses etc, all locally produced.  There’s also a lovely café opposite the port which has free WIFI, if you want to catch up with home.

Next week….. The Spa  and how to save £££’s on your treatments,  exorbitant cruise photos, and homeward bound…..

I hope you’ve found this blog informative, and I would very much welcome your comments.