Differences for Pompeii tours on Reflection- confusing

I did not post this on the Italy board, because I am hoping to get some

clarification of the various Pompeii Shore Excursions offered on the

Celebrity website.

What would be the difference between the: Pompeii Small Group for $99.00

lasting 3.5 hours and the Pompeii Celebrity Priority Access for $79.00 lasting

4 hours?

Also, there is a tour for Sorrento and Pompeii for 8 hours at $219.00 and a

"Taste of Sorrento and Pompeii" lasting 8 hours for $139.00

The descriptions are virtually identical; so I am wondering if anyone has taken

any of these through the shop and what did you think? We have always wanted to visit Pompeii.

TIA!

I haven’t taken those specific tours, but from a similarly named tour with the name ‘Small groups’ attached and priced a bit more, they cover the same, but as listed, the one priced higher has a smaller bus and tour instead of a larger group. The more expensive Amalfi-Pompeii tour has the ‘small group’ attached so again, it’s the same tour but small group.

We enjoyed the smaller tour at a different port, but obviously didn’t take the standard And the small group one to do an apples to apples comparison.

Den

Thank you. That helps a bit.

I am thinking that the priority access might mean that your tour départs the ship early and arrives and enters before the gates are open to the general public. The eating Sorrento might mean a lunch or a tasting as opposed to lunch on your own. We loved Sorrento. Nice to walk around, eat and shop without the crowds of Positano. Sorrento was the first stop on our Amalfi Coast tour and we ate « breakfast », which was a pastry and coffe and then I purchased some capidomonte flowers and a beautiful music box. Spent about an hour, maybe an hour and fifteen there. I was unable to walk down to the shore but others did. There is a cute little train that takes you around,too. We are on the Refection 9/21 and for our stop in Naples we will be going to Capri.

We did the taste of Sorrento and Pompeii last year. It was advertised as small group. It pretty much did the same itinerary as the big group but cost more.

We were 24 people on a full size bus. We stopped at the same shopping shops as everyone else. There was a tasting at a farm that was included (that was nice, but we were there with all the other groups).

The one thing we got in Pompeii that maybe no one else did was we got VR glasses to put on at each stop that showed what life was like there.

Honestly, I thought that the tour was a little misrepresented, as I'm used to the small private tours. And, for the extra money, the experience wasn't different enough.

So much nicer and easier to do on your own! Walk to train station- about 15 min, take the Circumvesuvius to Pompeii, then board and go onto Sorrento.

Then either take the train or boat back to Naples.

Tour at your pace, no waiting for 30 people to use a bathroom, and no forced stops at "recommended" shops.

We did the all day most expensive tour last summer. The day was long, but we saw so very much. I would recommend it.

Thank you all for your contributions- a big help!

So much nicer and easier to do on your own!

I agree that the tour on your own or with a small private tour. But, I do recommend hiring a guide to go with you.

We have been to Pompei twice. We did a small group tour each time. We got so much out of it the second time when we hired a private guide. :)

Texted is right. Going it alone thru Pompeii is not the best way. Go on a tour or private guide is essential. Pompeii doesn’t have lots of self guided info and the guides allowed to lead have access to many of the various private villas and of course tons of info.and are well trained.

Been through Pompeii four times through the years and each time I learn more.

Herculiam is also extremely interesting. More compact and a very different villzge/city.

Den

So much nicer and easier to do on your own! Walk to train station- about 15 min, take the Circumvesuvius to Pompeii, then board and go onto Sorrento.

 

Then either take the train or boat back to Naples.

 

Tour at your pace, no waiting for 30 people to use a bathroom, and no forced stops at "recommended" shops.

Agreed, but you forgot to mention the cost savings as well. It's been several years, but I think we paid around $10 US for the train from Naples to Pompeii and maybe another $5 from Pompeii to Sorrento. We arrived in Pompeii ahead of the tour crowds; had a fantastic leisurely lunch in Sorrento; and then caught the hydrofoil back to Naples, where the hydrofoil port is right next to the cruise pier.

Also, those tours to Pompeii always seem to be late returning to the ship because traffic is bumper-to-bumper on the coast road coming back from Pompeii. Do you really want to spend 2 or 3 hours of your limited port time on a tour bus just travelling to and from Naples?

Thanks! I did not know yet about the train and hydrofoil.

Do you need reservations for either?

Did you arrange for a tour guide at Pompeii?

Thanks! I did not know yet about the train and hydrofoil.

Do you need reservations for either?

Did you arrange for a tour guide at Pompeii?

don't need reservations for either. Never hired a guide as found it more pleasant to walk on our own and had a guide book. We prefer to soak in a site's atmosphere on our own instead of concentrating on a bunch of facts from a guide

I did the Taste of Pompeii and Sorrento excursion last month and would not recommend it.

The good:

We had a very good guide and the group size was about 24 people, so we didn't fill the bus.

Sorrento was beautiful.

The Farm you visit is charming. We enjoyed wine, bread, caprese salad, salumi, and a limoncello tasting.

Pompeii is fascinating.

The Bad.

Despite being in a smaller group, as previously mentioned, you still go many places where you are crowded in with lots of other big groups. This was particularly true and frustrating in Pompeii.

We didn't get any sort of VR goggles at Pompeii - it was a standard tour.

Even though it's an all day excursion, you only have about 2 hours in Sorrento and 2 hours in Pompeii.

You waste time stopping at an overcrowded limoncello factory, an inlaid wood factory, and a cameo factory. All together, this killed at least 1 1/2 hours of our precious time. I'm used to there being one stop like this, but three?!

While the farm visit was nice, in hindsight I'd rather have had more time in Sorrento and Pompeii.

Recommendation:

Make your own arrangements or book a private tour, but either way get to Pompeii as early as you can to beat as much of the crowds as possible.

There is an alternative to hiring a private guide for Pompeii: SharedTours.com [in arrangement with Rick Steves, but you don't need to buy his book to take them]. We did their 2-hour tour of Pompeii and it was great [and cheap]. They also offer combinations with Sorrento and/or Amalfi.