A relatively new port for cruise ships is BASTIA, in CORSICA. Our Silver Wind excursion book stated that the town focal point is less than 200 yds.from the dock, and that taxis are readily available "at the pier." Totally incorrect. A "local" person came on board at about 9 a.m. and was alone at the tour desk. She had no local knowledge !!! We walked for half a mile to reach the center of town with its Tourist Office.
There,we were fortunate to take a mini-train for a great tour. The ship excursion , with a guide for a half hour walk on a train stop, was 59 euros. We paid 6 euros !! Fortunately, a taxi returned us to the ship.
No shuttle for passengers who did not take one of the several bus tours.
Monte Carlo.The old town can be reached by stairs from the dock, or tender dock after a 500 yard walk, stated the booklet. Wrong. Probably 900 yds. Taxis available pierside. Wrong again. And to make matters worse, the ship moved from anchor to dock with no signs pointing the way on our return. No shuttle buses.
It appears as though passengers who do not take the ships' excursions are ignored at those ports where a shuttle bus is in order. The ship's director explained that taxi companies will bar shuttle buses from entering the port. False. Even taxis cannot enter the port. Only excursion buses are allowed.
The only way is to phone for a taxi or try to make private car arrangements prior to sailing.
In our many cruises with Regent, there has always been a shuttle service if distances from ship to transportation is relatively far.
Our past two cruises with Silver Shadow and Silver Wind were on a par with Regent, in our opinion, and we so stated in some short reviews of our cruises. However, Silver Wind was a bit lacking , this time. Most of the crew were still being trained and were not as sharp as before. Being in port every day we did not lunch aboard.
Dinner meals dropped a few degrees compared to Regent with regard to the quality of the food.
The welcome parties serve as a means of meeting passengers and are well attended, usually. The farewell party had a very sparse attendance. The usual thank yous and a sales pitch to come again.
But, I suppose it's a tradition.
And so the main fault was the transportation problem.

Regent is outstanding when it comes to providing shuttle service in foreign ports. There are some countries or areas where the shuttle buses are prohibited such as India.

Nevil,

We didn't have a shuttle in Monte Carlo either.

Peggy

I have been in Monte Carlo twice by ship, once docked and once by tender. The time we docked, there was no area for a shuttle to operate that I remember. It was right at the harbor at the base of the city. I honestly can't remember where our guide met us, as we were getting off the ship. Perhaps Karen remembers The other time when we tendered in, again, no room for taxi stands, and our guide for the day met us and walked us to her car. Is this one of those places where it just can't be done?

We walked about half plus a mile to meet our guide - you came out of port and there were shops/industrial area(?) and she was waiting in that area -

Our port was the new port at MONACO, several miles from ther Monte Carlo port, which we found to be quite accessible to transportation on the several times we docked there.

Olivia, I want to say that our guide met us when we got off the ship but I can't remember for sure.