Describe The Very Best Port Tour That You Have Ever Enjoyed?

I have done quite a few port tours, mostly private from 2-8 people. The very best of the best was in St. Petersburg, Russia. We had a private guide and driver for two days. Yes, it was pricy, but we received way more than we paid for those two days...we never stood in line, ate in our own private restaurant and got the royal tour everywhere and up the back staircases too!:cool: My second best was in Lake Como, but unfortunately not a port!

A private tour that someone on our Roll Call arranged when we were in Cherbourg has to be in the top 2. The gentleman who did the tour in his beautiful Mercedes mini van was part time tour guide of the Normandy beaches and 6 months of the year he was/is the personal attache' for Prince Charles! He has a passion for the Normandy sites and the day was fabulous. We were gone about 10 hours, and didn't stop a moment except for a lovely lunch in a great local place. I wish I could remember his name. He and his wife operate(d) a B&B/chateau in northern France. I would do the tour again. He even sent us 40 pages of reading "homework" beforehand! It was an amazing day.

We did a tour in Arica, Chile up into the Andes mountains. We went about 15,000 ft. above sea level to a large lake with flamingos in it amid snow capped mountains and a small village. The changes that height makes to your system is amazing. Movements were slower, breathing more difficult. The scenery changes at the different levels were amazing. From low level farms, to barren moonscapes, to desert cactus, to increasing plant life as water from snow caps melted. It was interesting to see the people living there who were acclimated to that difficult altitude.

We enjoyed our 2-day Holy Land tour in Israel and the adjacent Palestinian-controlled religious sites. It was nice to retrace the religious events taught in school.

We also liked the 2-day St. Petersburg tour. Not a minute nor a dollar wasted. Well worth it.

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Forums mobile app

I have done quite a few port tours, mostly private from 2-8 people. The very best of the best was in St. Petersburg, Russia. We had a private guide and driver for two days. Yes, it was pricy, but we received way more than we paid for those two days...we never stood in line, ate in our own private restaurant and got the royal tour everywhere and up the back staircases too!:cool: My second best was in Lake Como, but unfortunately not a port!

St. Petersburg and our 2 day tour was my most favorite and well worth all we spent tour.

I don't know if we would ever get back to that beautiful city again, but the private tour took is to all we wanted to see, had dinner land ballet too!

It was money so well spent to see all St. Petersburg and the surrounding areas has to offer.

Amazing!!!

They even took us to an obscure museum my husband wanted to see.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Rome Private excursion- fourth or fifth tour in Rome and all great but this was SPECTACULAR! Highlights plus history from a multigenerational born Roman archeologist! Discovered hidden treasures like the Diocletian baths....

Looking to tour a Lake Como - who did you use? [emoji846]

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Love Rome. We have never done it as part of a cruise.

Did both day and night am cart tour of Rome.

It was fantastic!

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

And it is wonderful if you have any walking issues.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Amalfi Coast, originating in port of Salerno, private tour with eight of us, getting to Positano early, shopping for a couple hours, then went to Ravello for a couple hours, ending in Amalfi for a few more hours. Absolutely fell in love with the Amalfi Coast and the cute cafes and the scenery

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Patrick's Tours in Bora Bora, an absolutely amazing experience! I would do it again in a second..

Sent from my SM-T350 using Forums mobile app

Private tour organised by Nick at Privatesantorinitours. His attention to detail in the planning, the driver/guide he provided, the high quality vehicle and his ability to organise a special meeting point avoiding the dreaded chair lift and donkeys made our day tour of his beautiful island of Santorini our very best ever port your. We stayed well away from the cruise crowds all day which meant we had free access to all the important sites on the island. Would do the whole cruise again tomorrow just to revisit Santorini!

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

I enjoyed a private seaplane tour in Ketchikan flying through Misty Fjords.

Another tour that I loved and think of as one of my favorites was in Kusadasi going to Ephesus, Terrace houses, Temple of Artemis(at least what's left of it), Mary's house, and Sirince. That was an amazing day that I'm happy we got to do before all the cruise lines started cancelling Turkey.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Forums mobile app

We took an all day tour from Celebrity. We docked in Naples and did/saw all the following from 7:30 am until 7:30 pm. 2 hyrofoil rides: Capri and back, plus some time there; tour inside Pompeii, delicious lunch at a hotel on the Bay of Sorrento, tour of Cameo factory, tour of inlaid wood factory. It was a beautiful day - saw a lot of amazing things. And bought a cameo and some inlaid wood pictures and an inlaid wood music box.

Difficult to choose between St Petersberg where 4 of us did a 2 day private tour highlighted by a canal boat where the 4 of us and our guide had a boat for 50 for the 5 of us.; or 3 days in Rio where a group of 12 had the best time for 3 days.

Interesting thing the couple we did St Petersberg with were also on the Rio tour, nothing like meeting cruise buddies on CC who become real friends.

Private tour organised by Nick at Privatesantorinitours. His attention to detail in the planning, the driver/guide he provided, the high quality vehicle and his ability to organise a special meeting point avoiding the dreaded chair lift and donkeys made our day tour of his beautiful island of Santorini our very best ever port your. We stayed well away from the cruise crowds all day which meant we had free access to all the important sites on the island. Would do the whole cruise again tomorrow just to revisit Santorini!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Oh yeah, we took his tour, too. I had forgotten about that Loved our Santorini day for sure.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

We've experienced so many brilliant tours as a family that my list would be very long :D. From 2 great days in Bangkok; a Bear experience in Hoonah, Alaska,; St. Petersburg overnight; the Billy train in Melbourne; a fabulous penguin experience in NZ to the mansion houses in RI and that's without touching on the glacier visit, the dolphin swims in the Caribbean; the Panama Canal in all its glory or the magnificent sights of Europe......sorry, just can't choose :) :confused:.

Looking back over many tours some of the most special times are when we have revisited somewhere. Whereas on a first visit it is all about the 'must do' sights and experiences on a revisit you are more likely to sit back a little and just soak in the atmosphere....

So despite competition from sea plane flights in Alaska, train rides in Norway and snorkelling in Bora Bora my vote goes to a DIY trip to Athens...We returned to Plaka, an area we visited just after our marriage (more than thirty years ago). We left the main area searching for a quiet bar.....We found a spot with views over the acropolis and not a tourist in sight. We ordered beers and a pizza to share, then another delightful cold beer and reminisced about times past and delights to come, quite magical!

Great reading about other's experiences. Mine was in Naples, we did a hike to Vesuvius which was wonderful and felt like an achievement and then in the afternoon did Pompeii which has always been on my list of 'must dos' and I wasn't disappointed, was also introduced to limoncello which is still a firm favourite.

Lagoon Service Bora Bora, was the best tour ever. Swimming in that gorgeous crystal clear water in the middle of the South Pacific with black tip reef sharks everywhere and huge lemon sharks, being sang to on an outrigger by Tau, our amazing guide who made it quite possibly the best day of our lives. It was a "pinch me, is this real?" day!

Great thread, BTW! Fun to read.

Best guild we had was Abdullah , he took us into Petra

http://www.abdullah-privateguide.com

We have had many memorable tours (and some not so memorable), but the most amazing tour was in Le Havre:

We took Overlord Tours with William to Normandy – it was a private tour booked by CC Roll Call people. We saw amazing sights (including the beaches, American and German cemeteries, little villages key to the battles, a wonderful aviation museum) and heard amazing stories told with reverence. William made history come alive that day. The people of Normandy love Americans, per William, because of our actions in WWII and said that school children are required to visit the American Cemetery every year so that they will never forget (there were groups of school children there that day).

The most memorable place we visited was the American Cemetery. When our guide heard that 2 of our group of 8 had relatives buried in the American Cemetery in Normandy, he called ahead to have them arrange a ceremony for us. It turned out to be one of the most moving things I have ever been involved in. My father’s favorite uncle died there and I had found his burial info online and bought flowers for the grave in a little Normandy village. One of the people at the cemetery (a wonderful and beautiful place) greeted us and the other person in our group with a relative there and took us to the graves by golf cart. He had a little ceremony with sand from Omaha Beach, placed French and American flags at the graves and thanked us for our relatives’ sacrifice. The 4 veterans in our group saluted the graves – it was so beautiful and there were no dry eyes in our group.

They gave me the flags and a packet of information about my great uncle that I brought back to my dad, who has never visited the cemetery. He was so touched by this ceremony and it helped him get some closure. This tour launched an interest for me in WWII and I have probably read more than 30 books about WWII since that trip and have shared them all with my father, who has greatly enjoyed our shared interest. I still get chills when I think about that day!

1-Venice, an evening Celebrity ship tour; after hours with a guide visit to San Marco with a ride through the Grand Canal. We had a midnight departure so this ran from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm. I don't remember what we did for dinner, but I think in 2003, there was a special dining area near the buffet and we ate a late dinner there. I could be remembering wrong - memory being selective.

2-St Petersburg, a 2-day tour with Red October. Six of us (3 couples who were strangers) were taken everywhere possible in the time by our Russian guide (teacher), and we opted for the in-home lunch with a retired ballerina, her mother (who spoke no English but was great fun) and her daughter (a graduating student who spoke English very well). We learned so much and our guide told us everything we could want to know.

Those are my favorites. We book ship and private tours, neither one exclusively. There is something to be said for each style of traveling.

Thanks for asking this question and for wording it this way. We need that focus on positive events in life.

Beth

Best ever has to be with 16 of us on an overnight cruise on Indochina's Dragon Pearl from Ha Long City, Vietnam over to Bai Tu Long Bay. Wonderful crew, superb food, and cozy cabin with private bath. Enjoyed many diverse activities - kayaking, cave exploring, evening swim, floating fishing village, cultured pearl farm - but most enjoyable were the outstanding scenic views of the limestone karsts and isles.

Has to be the tour we did from Haifa in 2011 from the Silhouette. It started with a view of the Mount of Olives and then we went to Masada and a swim in the Dead Sea after. It was one of those amazing days. The tour guide was a young professor from the University in Jerusalem and he really brought the scriptures alive - he sang a Psalm in ancient Hebrew as we left Jerusalem. Just an incredible day.

On another note - on P&O we did a sail and swim in Corfu on our anniversary last year. A beautiful day sailing out to a Greek port and then sailing, swimming in beautiful clear waters and a Greek meal. It was just amazing.

There are many others though !

Of all the cruises I've been fortunate to take, without a doubt the most rewarding tour I've been on was with Overlord tours out of LeHavre.

I arranged it (and no, I did not receive any benefit) for 7 others and we had a university professor as a guide. It was amazing...the good, the bad and the ugly.