For those who are done the Mediterranean and Nice and Toulon port stops

[Canadian Girl]

There are two cruises in May 2020 with slightly different itineraries. One stops in Nice/Monte Carlo and Solerno, and the other Naples and Toulon. My daughters want to see Pompeii but I am torn as to which cruise to book. Which stop would be more family friendly, Toulon or Nice? Or is there really any difference? My daughters are teens and we would be travelling alone. Also, if booking an OV, which side of the boat would have more views o the cities? We are going Barcelona to Barcelona.

 

[anjuan]

On our Med cruise last June we stopped in both Nice/Monte Carlo and Naples. I can't speak to Solerno or Toulon. It was my teenage daughter and myself cruising. If we had to pick one stop over the other it would be Naples over Nice/Monte Carlo. For the Naples stop we did a tour that included Capri and Pompeii. While it was an extremely busy day, after the cruise my daughter told me that these were two of her favorite places we went. For the Nice stop we had a good time as well, but I wouldn't have wanted to miss out on Pompeii as you mentioned.

We also were booked in an OV room. For this cruise I really don't think it matters which side of the ship you are on. Most of the ports in the Med are very industrial looking and not pretty at all and you have to take transportation to the actual areas for the excursions so you really won't miss out on much for the scenery when in port. I also think that's why this is a good cruise to book an OV instead of a verandah.

 

[fredandkell]

The French Rivera was our least favorite part of our Med cruise. I'd go with Naples for sure. Agree w/ PP that views of the city from the Med ports aren't spectacular.

 

[FSU Girl]

I prefer Nice/Monte Carlo over Toulon which I found boring. But I absolutely loved going to Pompeii, both times I've been to Naples I've gone there. I would pick the cruise that stops there, the volcano is still active you never know how long Pompeii will be around.

 

[Canadian Girl]

Thanks. We decided to go with the cruise that goes to Toulon instead of Nice and has stops in Rome and Naples as well as Florence. Excursions are very $$$$ but we want to see Pompeii and the colosseum for sure. It's still much cheaper than the week after which rose quite a bit for OV after opening day. I think the standard inside was more than the OV we now have booked. I am glad to hear that the side of the boat doesn't matter. Thanks so much for responding.

 

[braysmommy]

Thanks. We decided to go with the cruise that goes to Toulon instead of Nice and has stops in Rome and Naples as well as Florence. Excursions are very $$$$ but we want to see Pompeii and the colosseum for sure. It's still much cheaper than the week after which rose quite a bit for OV after opening day. I think the standard inside was more than the OV we now have booked. I am glad to hear that the side of the boat doesn't matter. Thanks so much for responding.

We hired a driver for our day in Naples which was perfect. Started with a hike (walk) up Mt. Vesuvius before heading to Pompeii for the rest of the day. In all our cruises and ports this is by the far our best day! We used trip advisor to research all ports. Rome we took the train on our own to into the city heading to colosseum first with tickets we had pre-purchased.

 

[rammh]

In Toulon we are doing the Segway tour. In Cannes we are taking the train to the peninsula and renting kayaks. Can’t wait!! We are in June of this year.

 

[aggiedog]

Thanks. We decided to go with the cruise that goes to Toulon instead of Nice and has stops in Rome and Naples as well as Florence. Excursions are very $$$$ but we want to see Pompeii and the colosseum for sure. It's still much cheaper than the week after which rose quite a bit for OV after opening day. I think the standard inside was more than the OV we now have booked. I am glad to hear that the side of the boat doesn't matter. Thanks so much for responding.

Pompeii was my all time favorite stop on our first trip to Italy. It is amazing. Please consider booking your own excursions not thru DCL. Nothing against DCL, but you can get better, cheaper experiences by doing a little homework on your own. Our first DCL cruise, the to Baltic, I was too scared to go all in and did half DCL and half excursions I booked after research on TripAdvisor and CruiseCritic. My family decided the non-DCL ones were better, hands down. Smaller groups, more nimble in traffic, shorter bathroom breaks, better use of in port time, etc. Many companies have small group tours you can join, or you can try to find a group with your roll call, or you can go full on private. We've done more non-cruise tours than I can count, now, and we've never had a problem with meeting up or getting back to the ship. I look online, contact several companies that I'm interested in, and pick the one that seems the most responsive in their communications.