Port Day in Marseille France! Free Shuttle Bus, Longchamp Palace, & Old Port!

Date Filmed: April 16, 2025

Hello Happy Travelers!

Welcome onboard the newly renovated Allure of the Seas! This vessel just received Royal Caribbean’s Royal Amplifications, which means it received all the necessary dry dock maintenance but as well as some upgrades! We are on two back to back sailings from Barcelona Spain and visiting Marseille France, Palma De Mallorca Spain, Civitavecchia Italy, and La Spezia Italy.

Today we are in Marseille France and we are exploring the port! We found a free shuttle bus that takes us to the city center and then used a mixture of walking and cabs to visit the Longchamp Palace and the Old Port!

We hope this was helpful and fun for you! If you are interested in planning your own travels, we would love to assist you! As travel agents, our services are free to our clients, and we are here to help you with the planning and booking process! Please contact us via the travel agent information located below! Happy Travels! 🛳🎉🎊

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Matt & Chelsy Hoffman
Matt.Hoffman@CruisePlanners.com
HoffmanHappyTravels.com
(386) 530-2773

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[Music] Aloho mates. Hello travelers. Welcome back on board Royal Cream Lur of the Seas. Day number two of the second part of our backtoback sailings and we find ourselves back in Marseilles France and we’re healthy enough to go out. We’re going to give it a go. So let’s go out and explore. Day number two here on board all over the seas and in Marseilles France begins right now. It’s a bit of an overcast day today. Not ideal, but it’s our last chance at Marseilles. So, rain or shine, it’s going to happen. Also, Marseilles has like a like a Hollywood sign. We made it to Marseilles. Hey, we made it to Marseilles. Hey. Okay, now here’s something interesting. We read online that there is a free shuttle bus that will take you from this port, which there’s two cruise ports. Do you remember what this one is called? Province. Province cruiseport, which is where major ships like Allore are going to be docked at. The other one, I don’t remember the name. It’s um but it it only can house like really smaller ships. Um so that’s probably not going to be relevant to people watching. Um but anyways, supposedly there’s a free shuttle that will take you from this province cruise port to the old port, which is like kind of like one of the mustseas of Marseilles. And they say the cruise lines don’t advertise this shuttle cuz they want you to buy the excursions with the transportation included, of course. So, we’re going to do some sleuththing here. We’re going to sleuth and find a freeway for you. Well, hoop-de-doo review. Look, that was pretty simple. Shuttle bus. And there’s one right there. Now, this building that we’re in is just like a security building. Um the path that you get off the ship, off the gang way, it leads you into here. So, you will not miss the shuttle bus. It is just like 1 minute once you’re off the ship and you’re here at it. Ah, nothing like a good map to help us explain things. So, here we are, Marseilles. And that is the terminal area that we’re at. And then the other one is, I believe, here since that’s where the ship is, and it’s further down this way. So, we’re going to get on the shuttle bus, and it’s going to take us, it says, to the cathedral, but I don’t see that listed. H, the whole map’s in French. It’s not helping me. Okay, correction. We’re We’re figuring this out as we go. The shuttle that they’re advertising here, this is not free. This is through Royal Caribbean. Now, it will you can charge it to your onboard account, which is really nice, and it’s $20 round trip. Um, it’ll drop you off at the cathedral, and the last pickup is at 3:30 p.m., which is an hour before all aboard. Um, there is a free shuttle though. Um, so we’re going to go see if we can find that. Okay, according to Google, um we exited the cruise ship terminal and we need to follow this green walking path. And this started once we were at the cruise terminal, like right where we saw those shuttle buses that weren’t free. So, it Google said that it’s going to be a 10 to 15 minute walk until the the shuttle um stop that we get on. And so we’re going to see we’re going to see where this green line takes us. It feels great outside. So no problem walking right now. Ah, there’s a bus sign. Okay, I think we’re I think we’re doing the right thing. And notice green. That’s not just the border cuz it’s not on the top of the sign. It’s giving you the illustration. Context clues. We are here for them. All right, looks like we’re there. That says free shuttle to city center and they got the benches there. And then on this building, there’s the sign saying 1 kilometer or kilometer back to the cruise terminal following the green line. There’s a lure. Nothing that a little Google and a little can do attitude can’t get you. And yes, a large inheritance from my father, Earl Goodman. Oh, you’re wearing Marie today. Very appropriate when you practice scales and your arpeggios. So then when you arrive here to the terminal, they have this sign with the QR codes that you can scan to get more information like a digital map, the shuttle schedules, 4hour circuit, all of that stuff tells you right there. [Music] The bus pulling in now says free shuttle on top. So, we’re thinking that might be the one. Looks like they drop off the passengers there and then should pull up to pick us all up here. And that indeed was the case. Dropped everyone off there, pulled up here, and now we’re getting on board. It’s a big one. Extendo. Yeah, it’s a big big bus. Now, it’s posted that you could wait up to 30 minutes. So, how long? 35. Oh, 35. Every 35 minutes. Okay. We waited like 25 around there. That’s about right. So, obviously it could be shorter or longer just depending on when you happen to show up where the bus is and it’s router. Yeah. I think the key is give yourself plenty of time because you are getting what you pay for and we pay nothing. All right, we have been dropped off. And it drops you off right where it’ll pick you back up. You can see the sign there, free shuttle to cruise center. And that took exactly 15 minutes. So with that in mind, you want to allow yourself at least an hour to get back to the cruise port cuz you don’t know if you have to wait the full 35 minutes, plus you have the 15-minute ride plus around a 10-minute walk if you’re brisk back to the terminal. So I would give at least an hour, probably a little bit more. Yeah, I agree. Okay, we just asked the driver if this is the only stop, and he said he said yes. It’s just here to cruise ship. Here to cruise ship. And I’m going to show you Google Maps here because it said it was going to take us to the city center, which we’re in the the main part of the city. Um, it we’re here. Okay. So, remember when I was talking about the old port? Old port is right here. You can see where it says it there in the center. Um, when we Google mapped uh city center, it like put us about right there, but we’re stopped here. So, you know what Google thought city center was and they’re considering city center. I don’t, you know, could be differences, but I just want you to see via map like this is where they drop you off. You know where we’re at? We’re near the other uh port that I couldn’t think of the name of, which was La Juliet. Ah, okay. So, we’re near the La Juliet port, which is basically kind of is connected to the old port. And as you saw in the sign here, let’s go ahead and start walking. And as you saw in the sign um back at the terminal. Oh, real quick to the ship and the green line to help keep everything organized. How long was that? It said 35 minutes, but the driver just said every 40 minutes. So, I don’t know, something along that. And what did he say was the last shuttle? 5:00. 5:00. So, keep that in mind. Now, for our ship, Gangway’s up at 4:30. So, the 5:00 bus would be very bad, but there’s multiple ships in port. about this. So, at the very very very least, we need to be back in this spot at 3:30. And really, we should be here sooner. Yeah. To be safe. And again, we have another map here right as we exit the gate area. And it clearly labeled as cruise shuttle. So, we’re right here like Chelse mentioned Juliet. And if you want to go over to the cathedral, you can just walk down this way. If you want to go up to the different things, it’s listed here. So you can just get an idea of where everything’s at. Is that a cable car? It is a cable car. It’s so narrow. It looks It looks really crazy cuz it looks so futuristic, but then there’s all these old buildings around. Okay, here’s our somewhat plan for the rest of the day. We want to go see the Long Champ Palace. So, we’re going to go do that. and we want to check out the old port. Um, and I think we’re going to have time to do both of those things. Um, but we’re going to do this whole thing by foot the rest of the way until we have to take the shuttle back to the cruise port. And um, it’s going to be like about a 30 minute walk over to the long camp palace. So, directionwise that’s kind of far for us to give the detailed directions. My recommendation, just have Google Maps for the day when you’re here. Like, just get a travel pass on your phone and have Google Maps and it’ll tell you exactly where you need to go. That’s what we’re doing. And you should be good to go. What is this? The Flat Iron Building? It does kind of remind me of that. [Music] I don’t remember what that arch is called, but I know it’s a big deal and it is quite beautiful. [Music] After approximately a 45minute walk, we have arrived. I think we found it. Holy cow, that is grand. There you go. That’s what you want to look for when you’re looking on a map or doing a taxi or anything like that. I mean, it’s pretty crazy. Obviously, the buildings, the archways, all the statues back there with the water fountain and it flows over like a waterfall and comes down and goes all the way down to this large pond basin at the bottom. And it’s very culturally significant as well. Not only because of the beautiful architecture, but back in the day apparently um Marseilles was having um a very difficult time getting clean water and there was a lot of illnesses due to that. But um this long champ palace was created in order to bring fresh water in from the Durant River, I think it was, um here to Marseilles. So, not only is it beautiful, but it brought clean water to the city, which made the people a lot healthier. And another thing that’s really cool is that it appears to be free to go walk around into it. So, we’re going to go get up in personal with this long champ palace. And it’s a little hard to tell because it is a dreary day, but the gardens are actually quite beautiful. Lots of pretty flowers. They would really pop if the sun was out. Wow. And come up here. You should because you can’t appreciate this waterfall situation from back there. You really need to get up close. It looks like it’s like carved out of a cave. Really great to be up here at the top and get right up next to it. But man, the view from the top is great, too. Look at that. Also, that bowl is deceivingly huge. That is a big bowl. It is. It is actually pretty deceiving. On the camera, it looks much smaller than it is. It’s huge, though. And there’s I don’t know like four of them. We’re outnumbered. [Music] It looks like they do have a natural history museum here as well. We’re not going to be taking part in that, but if you have some time, you want to check it out, maybe keep that in mind. Well, Long Champ Palace was a major success. I in my opinion, I think it’s a musto in Marseilles. I mean, I’ve never seen anything close to this before. It’s magnificent. Now, we were going to only walk today. However, after being ill, I’m a bit winded. And to save on some time, Matt said he saw a taxi stand um across the road here. I think we’re going to take that over to the old port area, so we can check that out before we head back to the cruise ship. All right, they do have taxis like lined up right here across from the Long Champ Palace. Um we decided, however, to go with um a ride share off um option called Bolt. Um, so it’s via app and stuff, so you can pay ahead of time and everything. How much is it going to cost to get to the old port from here? Just under €8. Okay, so perfect. And um, it’s like what, like a 10, 15 minute ride is? Yeah, it wasn’t it wasn’t too long. Um, here I have pulled up here. It’s like 14 minutes. Okay, perfect. Hello. Hello. We have arrived after our little cab ride to Viewport, which is Oldport. Yes. And apparently this is a mustsee. Probably better on a sunny day, but better than not seeing it at all. So, let’s go take a gander. We’re going to take a gander as we make our way back towards the bus stop cuz we are starting to get up against the tide. Yeah, we’re going to have to do like a Griswald like, oh, so okay, let’s go. Yes. Even though it’s not sunny and shining, I can still appreciate it and all of its beauty. What what is wild to me is how close the water is. Like I guess this isn’t that gives more of a perspective. Like it’s not it doesn’t go down very far. Like I could take one little step and I’d be in the water. And also no rails. If you fall, it’s your fault. Also, you see that shine that’s on that water? Me thinks she wouldn’t want to swim in that. I think the coolest part about it all is like how it’s surrounded by all these older buildings, you know? It’s like it it’s just interesting. It’s like building building big water. Okay, I told you it was going to be a Griswald moment because it’s raining, it’s cold, and we have a shuttle bus to pick out. so we don’t miss the ship. That would be very bad. So, we’re going to head there now. [Music] All right, back to this familiar gate and back to this familiar green line. Now we wait. Come on. 356 off the shuttle and head back to the ship. We’re in good shape. Oh, beautiful too. It does have accessibility. They have a for scooters and wheelchairs. So, if anyone needs to know, look at this fella. I don’t know if you can tell via camera, but that’s that’s one large seagull. Also, look at all the beautiful flowers on our walk. It’s just lovely. All right, friends. That’s going to do it for us here. Day number two of part two on all of the season in Marseilles Marseilles France. Uh tomorrow back on Laura of the Seas. Duh. And stopping in Laspetsia. Laspetsia. Weather forecast not good. So we thought today was rainy. Wait till tomorrow. We have an excursion planned, but uh we’ll see. Either way, we’ll have a fun day. So we’ll see you back then. Until then, we’re going to sign off for tonight. See you next time. Happy travels. Oh, [Music]