Our Freedom of the Seas cruise ship was moored nearby and we were allowed to spend a few hours off shore to do the touristy things. We went on a Hop on Hop off bus tour that was a disaster because the bus broke down and we have to walk to find the next stop that has no signage at all, and wait for the next bus. The saving grace of this cruise stop was the shopping mall near the ship terminal. It has decent selection of leather goods (jackets, bags, shoes belts, etc.) stores. If you are not particular of brand names, then this place is fine because the product quality is okay for everyday use. The washrooms in the area are clean and busy at all. All in all not a bad place to do the last minute shopping. This is a saving grace for our on shore excursion in Napoli, because the experience we had on the dishonest, overcharging bistro nearby (Trattoria Ristorante add' Signora) was unpleasant, and gave Napoli a black eye in terms of...
Read moreNaples has a well-earned reputation of being the scam, petty-crime, and robbery capital of Europe. Traffic is a nightmare, nobody obeys traffics signals, locals will run you down in a crosswalk. Every taxi is running a scam (hacked meter, double fare, pushing tours, long routes), and the authorities don't care. Pickpockets are everywhere, and robberies are common. Pompeii and Herculaneum are world-class Roman ruins, but so are Ephesus and MUHBA, without the hassle. Stay on your ship, relax, and prepare for a cultural adventure at your next...
Read moreBEWARE: Scam alert. The “security guards” who direct you once you get off the ship aren’t real. They are only directing you to the mall so you will feel trapped into buying something though it’s just a mediocre tourist trap mall.
On the way back they tried to do the same thing in reverse and I just walked past them. They kept yelling at me as I walked away though I just ignored them and got on the ship. Turned a long walk into a very short one.
Tell them to piss off and just keep walking. What a stupid scam. Especially right...
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