I'm going on an eight-day Adriatic and Greece cruise from Venice. Has anybody done this? Any suggestions or comments?

Natalie
We just did a western mediteranian cruise earlier this year....I can give general stuff....if you like? And we did both Naples and Rome as posts too.....so for Naples....it is a super easy port.....right there....but what are you interested in? Pompeii? Or perhaps Herculaneum? Pompeii is a full day!
You can alao wander around Naples....there is an amazing museum in town....some good shopping.....and of course Napoli pizza!
For Rome....you are actually quite far from Rome.....it may be best to do a tour that day depending what your options are....as at least if you are on a ship tour and delayed....the boat waits for you....if you do it yourself.....you need to make sure you are back! If you are up eaely and go for it....getting out of the port to the train station isnt too bad....depending on what the ship has arranged....you will NOT find a cab to take you to the station....as they are all hoping to drive you right into Rome....$$$$$ If you have a solid group of people....a cab is a good option if ypu want to fill it up and split the cost....it will still be more than the train.....but not too bad!

Thank you - good hints
Pompeii is on our wish list. Hopefully there will be time. Good advice about the ship for verses private tour. Thanks.

You can do Pompeii easily from port in Naples, just do you research on how the trains work, if you are not used to them there. You can also download a map of Pompeii before you go....that will make exploring so much easier. It is awesome and so worth it!

Omg! Had so much fun getting lost on wrong train with a bunch of Americans. Train passed Pompeii several times - very few people spoke English or French

Venice we booked a grand canal tour and did the hop on hop off. I think if you are going to any of the glass-blowing islands you might want to book in advance.

I forgot about glass blowing

Which ports?

Venice, Dubrovnik, Kotor, Athens, Santorini, Naples, and Rome.

We took no tours through the ship. We researched and joined local tours or downloaded Rick Steeves audio tour guides when possible.
Dubrovnik: Took a cab from the ship to the old town (there are a bunch lined up right outside the ship and it's a fixed price for all the cabs). They will try to upsell you on driving you around which we declined. We did a 1 hour walking tour around Old Town and walked the city walls on our own after. Had a lovely late lunch in a small sidestreet restaurant. Had a bit of time left and instead of cabbing back, we took the local bus which drops you off right in front of the port for super cheap.

For clarity, we did our cruise in Oct. 2016. Santorini: If you're adventurous and decently fit, you must hike the breathtaking trail between Fira (where your ship tenders) to Oia. It takes around 3 hours depending on how many photos you take and when we went, we were the only ones on the trail until we reached the edge of Oia (where people were starting their hike towards Fira). Oia is crowded and pretty commercialized imo. The whitewashed villas are really lovely though and if you're lucky, you'll get pictures without anyone else in them. Most memorable part of Oia was the fabulous meal at Melitini...currently #1 restaurant on tripadvisor for Oia!). We took the public bus back to Fira and the line was long so we were worried about not getting back to the ship on time. I would suggest heading back to FIra earlier and wandering around there to avoid any potential stress.

Our ship did not go to Kotor and Athens but I have been to the other cities separately. My advice would be to skip Naples and head straight to Pompeii (we didn't get a local guide but looking back, we should have). After visiting the main sights in Venice, try to get away from the touristy areas if possible. You get a much better feel of the everyday/local Venice and it's much more laid back and frenetic. Rome is so big that I would join a tour if I only had one day. Natalie below is correct in saying DO NOT miss your ship and that is a risk you take when self-touring or going with a private company. However, all the ports we stopped at had some mode of reliable transportation other than a tour bus to get us to the sights (Olympia was a 45min train ride, Ephesus 15min cab or 30mins mini bus, etc). Splitting a cab to Rome sounds like the way to go or find a company that will take you from the port to the city (minivan that seat 6-10) and show you around.

You've been lovely with all this advice and I thank you

Cori I hope you’re going to Venice early. One of my favourite cities in the world. Make sure you do a boat tour of Murano, Burano and Torcello. Each worthy of the trip for different reasons. And of course a gondola ride. You can see different things from the water than you can from land.
Then pick your favourite piazza and enjoy the people watching.

Thank you

With Athens we took a bus tour that was right on the docks and they had lots of space. We didn't take the train but many people we did talk to that independently took the train in were pick pocketed - more than any other stop.

When we were in Athens there was a transport strike and everything except the Hop-on hop-off bus was shut down, including bus, train and cabs. We found the hop-on worked for us though it does a full circle. It is worth checking out the archeological museum. Amazing collection!

Rome we did italy tours and we had an amazing time on it. Best tours. We also signed up for cruise critic and took advantage of roll call threads where you meet people signing up for the cruise in advance and take advantage of cheaper tours and smaller groups. We found it preferable.

We booked a tour at Kotor and it's a waste. It's so easy and it was unwise to have something booked in advance. Very pushy on shore at getting you to purchase something.

[email protected] did a great job for us in Rome. They also have a guarantee you to get you back on time.

Have to agree about Oia. It’s a must-see!

Thank you for that lovely advice