Giardini Naxos

Does Windstar provide a shuttle to Taormina? The excursions sound lenghty and emphasize shopping. Is doing this port on my own a good alternative? Thanks!

I do believe there is a funicular that takes you right up, also taxis it is not all that far. Have a great trip

I can highly recommend a tour company called Sicily Life.We have used this company twice and have been met at the port.

The first tour we did was to Mt.Etna coupled with wine and olive tasting and the second time we did the 'Godfather tour' which we loved.

This takes you to Castelmola,Savoca and Forza d'Agro, some of the places where scenes for the movie were shot.Afterwards,you can be dropped at the Greek theatre in Taormina if you wish to visit or the Corso Umberto for shopping.The driver will wait and take you back to the ship.

We took a taxi up to Taormina -- I think it was about $20. Easy to get a taxi back -- they have taxi stands.

I used RomeInLimo.com for a full day tour. We went to Taromina and many other places. We shared the tour with people that posted on the rollcall. We also used the same tour co. in Naples. We did a full day tour down the Amalfi coast to Positano including a stop in Sorrento and a visit to a vineyard just below Mt. vesusius.

Giardini Naxos is the port in which the WS motor yachts (Pride, Legend, Breeze) have their special event at the Gambino Winery. You can take the ship's offering tour which will then take you to the event. Otherwise, be sure that you get back to the ship in time to catch the transfer to the event from there. It is simply not to be missed! But then neither is Taormina - if you've not been there before.

Some on our Sep 19th cruise missed the event and were quite dismayed. There was chatter that the bus left a bit early before they got back to the ship... and also some info was given to passengers which included the incorrect departure times...

The WS excursion to Taormina has been specifically timed to get everyone to Taormina as early as possible and then get everyone directly to the special event at the Gambino winery. The logistics of getting everyone to the winery on time would not work well at Giardini Naxos if passengers are using non-WS transportation on this one.

The bus and guide who took us to Taormina in the morning stayed with us and took us directly to the Gambino winery. We then had that same bus back to the tender dock. The bus did not swing through town between Taormina and the winery. It stayed up on a hillside route. The timing was very tight. The two buses to Taormina were the last to arrive at Gambino (about 15 minutes behind the three buses coming straight from the port).

I don't recall the price, but the WS excursion to Taormina was not expensive. And the Gambino winery is far enough out of the port area (and away from Taormina) that I would not want to pay for a car and driver to get me there instead of being on the WS excursion bus or the WS "tender to special event" buses.

And I must say, we found the Gambino winery event to be an exceptionally well done event. We live in a major wine region (Paso Robles CA) and attend winery events regularly. But the Italians put on a party well worth attending. There were a few people on our Star Pride sailing who did not attend because the felt the drive on the bus from the port to Gambino was too long. We would do it again. (If I was 25 years younger, we would just do the drive on a Vespa...to save time! ;))

Del Rio - very well put. The ship tour to Taormina was very reasonable and set up to coordinate well with the event. I believe it left the ship very early to give all the most time in Taormina and then get them to the event as quickly as possible... someone does have to be the last to arrive.

I am not sure if those arriving later got the opportunity to do the extended tour of the winery workings or if it may have been cut a bit short for them - but either way, the best choice for those who have never seen Taormina was the ship tour to get in as much as possible, in my opinion. I am going out on a limb to remember the cost of the excursion and seem to believe it may have been $39 p/p, and well worth every cent.

We actually brought 2 bottles back to the ship and had 6 mailed back to So CA - and we too live quite close to the Central Valley wineries in CA. It would have been nice to have gotten a case to take to the ship but we could not determine what the ship would do about that - hoped that we could get the case back to our room at the end of the first leg of the cruise to use on the second leg.... the shipment was delayed until we got home and only took about 5 days from Sicily to CA. Great Wines!!!!

Del Rio - very well put. The ship tour to Taormina was very reasonable and set up to coordinate well with the event. I believe it left the ship very early to give all the most time in Taormina and then get them to the event as quickly as possible... someone does have to be the last to arrive.

I am not sure if those arriving later got the opportunity to do the extended tour of the winery workings or if it may have been cut a bit short for them - but either way, the best choice for those who have never seen Taormina was the ship tour to get in as much as possible, in my opinion. I am going out on a limb to remember the cost of the excursion and seem to believe it may have been $39 p/p, and well worth every cent.

We actually brought 2 bottles back to the ship and had 6 mailed back to So CA - and we too live quite close to the Central Valley wineries in CA. It would have been nice to have gotten a case to take to the ship but we could not determine what the ship would do about that - hoped that we could get the case back to our room at the end of the first leg of the cruise to use on the second leg.... the shipment was delayed until we got home and only took about 5 days from Sicily to CA. Great Wines!!!!

You may want to know; you received your wine so quickly because it ships our of a North American distributor (I believe in North Carolina). You can "restock" your supply anytime. We will buy some more ourselves, shortly. Excellent wine, especially for the price point.