Messina

[RB1961]

Has anyone got any tips or suggestions.
I have looked on google maps and assume that the ship docks close enough to wander in to town.

Thanks in advance.

[Manoverboard]

Tis true, the ship docks close to the town.

However ...

Following an earthquake, considerable allied bombing plus a serious mud slide it is less than impressive, there is a Duomo, a fancy clock plus a fountain and a park with sculptures that are covered in graffitti.

My advice is to dig deep and book a P&O trip to extremely beautiful Taormina.

[Debbie W]

Unusually for us, we took a P&O trip last year to Taormina and Mount Etna, which was really good although I would have preferred to do it as a private tour (not a big fan of being herded around in a group of 70 or so other passengers).

Taormina was gorgeous and I found Mount Etna fascinating.

Debs

[jacksparrow]

I have to agree with the others.... when you stand in the amphitheatre at Taormina you get a perfect view of Etna through the hole in the wall ..... you cant beat it on a sunny day...

[Manoverboard]

With a little white fluffy cloud in an otherwise beautiful blue sky .... ah, and a cracking pic

[Romig1]

Another vote for Etna and Taormina from me too.

A quick tip....don't buy a coffee in the town though...wait until you get back to the ship!

[oldbluefox]

Nothing much at all in Messina. Next time we stop here we'll be heading to Taormina and Etna. Good advice from the others.

[Quizzical Bob]

I have to agree with the others.... when you stand in the amphitheatre at Taormina you get a perfect view of Etna through the hole in the wall ..... you cant beat it on a sunny day...

Unfortunately when we went to Taormina there was no sign of Etna. Wherever we go we never get good views.

[oldbluefox]

Have you tried built-up heels Quizzical?

[Romig1]

Have you tried built-up heels Quizzical?

You could lend him some of yours Foxy?

[oldbluefox]

But then how do I see?

Puts me in mind of the time when we had terraces. You got to the match early, found a good place to stand then two minutes before kickoff some giant of a man comes and parks himself right in front of you.

[Romig1]

But then how do I see?

One each, and hop????

[MicheleW]

Does anyone know if it is possible to get to Taormina by public transport?

We prefer not to be herded with a coachload if it can be avoided.

Michele

[Debbie W]

Michele

I've done a quick search for you on Cruise Critic and found the following:

http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/sh ... t=taormina

It sounds like a bit of a faff but it all depends on how long you're in port for. Alternatively try one of the private tour operators (Sicily Life and Romeinlimo are 2 that spring to mind).

Debs

[Manoverboard]

Does anyone know if it is possible to get to Taormina by public transport?

We prefer not to be herded with a coachload if it can be avoided.

Michele

In part but there is a devil of a climb involved from the main road so you would need to check out the various bus routings. The coach journey is about 30 miles each way so not the end of the world and you could easily slope off and do your own thing if you chose a trip with just Taormina and the Greek Theatre rather than going up to the volcano rim on Etna.

[MicheleW]

Thanks for the information Debbie (just copied the info from cruise critic) and Manoverboard.

Will spend some time check train times and dig out my italian phrase book!

Regards,

Michele

[Boris+]

I'm researching this ready for one of our cruises in 2013, and I gather (for the ladies here present) that if you do a tour including Mt Etna then en route back to the ship you may go via Giarre and visit the GIVAL jewellery workshop. Have a look at the Gival website online!!! Come on girls, you know you want to!

On a slightly more serious note, there is a small possibility that in or by September the Costa Concordia may well have been towed to Siciliy.

Em

[qbman1]

I concur with the advice to take a trip out of town. Nothing of any great appeal to us in Messina itself and we found it to be mildly threatening away from the centre of town.

[kruzgal]

We went from Messina to Taormina by public transport last summer and it worked out fine. To be fair we do tend to use public transport wherever we can and are used to catching buses, trains etc. in foreign countries. I did lots of research on cruise critic and the instructions below are copied from there. We managed to catch the interbus up the hill and back down again. We enjoyed our day, but being the height of summer it was very hot.



Get off your ship’s gangway, and pass through the little terminal building. You will be on the main waterfront which is downtown Messina Sicily. Walk left until you see the big Martini sign up on one of the buildings. Pass the gas/petrol station and you will soon see the Messina Maritima building. Turn right and walk some 150 meters up the road; turn left and The Messina Centrale station will be right in front of you. You can purchase your tickets at the biglietteria booth or at the self-service machine.
Once you get your ticket, check the Partenze screen for the number of platform (binario) your train will be departing from. The railway station for Taormina is 'Giardini Naxos'and it is not in the town, it is below the town on the sea shore. Taormina itself is halfway up a mountain. If you don’t see the train to Taormina Giardini-Naxos on the list, check the one entitled Catania C.LE.
Once on the train you can relax for some 45 minutes to an hour and enjoy the vistas.
Be sure you get off at the Giardini-Naxos train station… once you get off here you still won’t be at your destination!
There are regular buses from the railway station at Giardini Naxos up to Taormina itself, about a 15 minute ride. Interbus runs service from the station up to Taormina.

[MicheleW]

Thanks for that Kruzgal. I think that's what we shall try and do. Hopefully we will have a full day in Messina and not be leaving the middle of the afternoon!

Michele

[kruzgal]

It is certainly possible if you don't mind 'having a go'. We were lucky as we were with Celebrity and so knew when we booked the cruise exactly how long we had in port. I used the trenitalia website and printed off the train times before we went and I also used interbus.it website to check out the bus times. Don't forget to validate your train ticket in the yellow machine or you will get a fine! The train ride is very pretty as you ride along the coast.

[fenman]

In Messina 30th October and wondered if anyone can recommend a private tour to Taormina and a typical cost?
Do you have to pay up front if booked online?
Thanks.

[MicheleW]

Hi Fenman,

Are you on Arcadia J315 leaving on Saturday? If so, it's the same as us.

I'm afraid I have "chickened out" and booked a P&O trip - not something we would normally do. Not being sure of how long we would be in Messina, we decided to go for the safe option and have booked Taormina Transfer.

Rest of the the ports we are going to DIY.

Looking forward to some brighter weather than here today

Michele

[Quizzical Bob]

We are also on this cruise with you

There is some more information on the P&O website:

https://ask.pocruises.com/resources/car ... codes8.pdf

Messina 08:30 to 16:00.

This gives port times but in my experience they are only a guide. When I booked the cruise my TA said that the time in Corfu (I think) would be reduced due to a later arrival. All the port calls seem a little short in my opinion.

The Getaway fares are ridiculously cheap now. Don't look at them whatever you do.

[fenman]

Hi MicheleW,
Yes it's J315 for us.
I emailed a private tour company at Messina for details and they replied all their cars are booked up.
So not sure what to do as yet - see what transpires when disembarked or book the ship's tour?
We dived in (is that a pun?) and plumped for the ship's (expensive) trip at Venice. However we did get 5% off - wowee!
The thinking being that we haven't gone all that way and not missed out on any sights by doing DIY.
Hello to Quizzical Bob:
We were wanting a September/October trip and were watching out for Getaway prices but none kicked in and booking was closed.
Not too disappointed as this left some time for us to put the garden to bed. It would have been nice to be on the Oriana (I think it was) as we have been on J315's Arcadia and also Adonia (yes we are seasoned cruisers - 2 under our belt!)
We liked the 'smallness' of Adonia and it's friendliness but you can stretch your legs more on the bigger Arcadia.

So we saw a Getaway price a couple of weeks ago for a balcony on J315 and plumped for it. I had been told that the cruise into Venice is spectacular especially if you have a starboard balcony cabin - which we were allotted!
On the Adonia (another Getaway) we had an outside cabin and were quite happy with that (low down, aft).
You say not to check the latest Getaway prices - of course I was then tempted to do that, but resisted.
Thanks for the link.
I have packed my Hawaiian shirts only to see that there isn't a tropical night.
So I need volunteers to join me and we will make our own

Be nice to get away from the present miserable weather
We are on countdown (no, not the telly)
Fenman