Excursion Suggestions/Questions

[lettrich]

We are going on Celebrity Equinox in July 2012 with 7 people - ages 9,12 then 5 adults in their 40's. Looking at excursions in various places - want to do ship excursions only (worried about getting back to ship & for convenience) So any inside info/suggestions on the following:

 

Sicily - Lovely Taormina? Taormina on your own? Taormina Lava River & Wine Tasting? Taste of Sicily, Mt, Etna & Taormina?

 

Naples: Exploration of Pompeii? Mt. Vesuvius & Pompeii Hike - will it be too hard for kids to do? (hike 5.5 miles but my kids are very athletic/competitive athletes) Taste of Sorrento & Pompeii?

 

Thanks in advance - trying to plan the best vacation ever for my family.

[Softball20]

We were on the Equinox last summer in the Med. Fabulous ship, fabulous ports. Other than that, I can't comment on excursions since we always do private, but you'll love the ship!!!

[Softball20]

By the way, if you decide to explore private options, I'd be happy to give you the names of the companies we used. With a group your size you could do some great days on your own and save a lot of money. In all the times we've done this, we've never experienced anything even close to not being back on time. The vendors are very conscious of the ships' schedules and give themselves plenty of time so as to not be late.

[baggal]

With so many people in your group, you should consider a private tour. The $$$ savings alone will allay any fear of missing the ship. Not to mention that the kids will probably enjoy themselves more in a van than being dragged around on a bus tour.

 

You have plenty of time to make a decision. Look over the reviews of some of the more popular private tours here on Cruise Critic.

[lettrich]

With private tours sometimes the prices arent listed & because we are 7 people we might need 2 vehicles. But if you have suggestions/website for me to look at I will check them out. Thanks!

[Keith1010]

We are going on Celebrity Equinox in July 2012 with 7 people - ages 9,12 then 5 adults in their 40's. Looking at excursions in various places - want to do ship excursions only (worried about getting back to ship & for convenience) So any inside info/suggestions on the following:

 

Sicily - Lovely Taormina? Taormina on your own? Taormina Lava River & Wine Tasting? Taste of Sicily, Mt, Etna & Taormina?

 

Naples: Exploration of Pompeii? Mt. Vesuvius & Pompeii Hike - will it be too hard for kids to do? (hike 5.5 miles but my kids are very athletic/competitive athletes) Taste of Sorrento & Pompeii?

 

Thanks in advance - trying to plan the best vacation ever for my family.

 

We really enjoyed our day in Taormina and think it is a beautiful town. You can easily do this one on your own. We don't eat off the ship often but this is one town to consider lunch or at least a gelato. The kids would appreciate the gelato.

 

Both the Pompeii tour of Mt. Vesuvius and the Pompeii Hike will be very nice. I would likely do the latter. Just remember that what might be tiring is not the length of the hike but the fact that in July it can be very hot and humid. If you are used to the very hot and humid weather than you should be fine if everyone is in good shape but if not that is something to think about. Also, bring plenty of water.

 

Keith

[baggal]

With private tours sometimes the prices arent listed & because we are 7 people we might need 2 vehicles. But if you have suggestions/website for me to look at I will check them out. Thanks!

 

Mostly the vans seat 8 so you should be fine. One of the most popular, is romeinlimo.com There's a very long thread right here on CC about them. I re-read your original post. If you only do one private tour - it should be to Pompeii. They'll get you there first thing in the morning - before the extreme heat and the crowds.

[Softball20]

With private tours sometimes the prices arent listed & because we are 7 people we might need 2 vehicles. But if you have suggestions/website for me to look at I will check them out. Thanks!

 

We had a group of 12 (ages 17, 20 and up) last summer and there was only one operator who had to split us, so you should be fine. Most of these vendors are great to deal with and will promptly respond to all of your questions. (Keep in mind the time differences when awaiting a reply.) With a private vendor, you can also customize your day - you don't just have to go where the bus goes and you can stay as long as you wish at a given site, or leave sooner if you'd rather spend more of your time somewhere else. You can't do that on a ship's tour.

 

For Messina, we used Sicily Life Tours - that was our second time using them and we're using them again next month for Palermo. Taormina is a must see! Lots of nice little shops, restaurants, etc., and the views are incredible. In Athens we used Fotis Koloris -- fotis@athens**************** It was an awesome day, and I would recommend him in a heart beat! We went all over Athens and he took us to the most amazing local restaurant for lunch.

 

In Naples we used TourofItaly.com, and had a wonderful day going to Pompeii, Sorrento, and driving along the Amalfi Coast. They were very happy, as were the other companies to customize our tour. For instance, we only wanted to stay at Pompeii for an hour. For us that was enough, as we wanted to get to Amalfi, but we certainly could have stayed longer.

 

For Kusadasi/Ephesus, we used Hello Ephesus, and our guide was great, as well. Very knowledgeable about all the sites, etc., and another great lunch recommendation!

 

For transportation to/from the ship, as well as for a post-cruise tour, we used Rome Cabs. We've also used them before (I had them do airport transportation for my daughter last year when she went to Rome for her spring break), and they've always been very prompt, professional and easy to work with.

 

On a couple ports we just did our own exploring - which is also quite doable, especially if you do your research in advance. I'm always our group's official planner, and for me, it's half the fun of the trip.

 

You'll find lots of other companies on these boards, so you'll be able to get plenty of information so you can decide what's best for you and your family. Feel free to email me directly if you have any questions!

donna@bridalshowcase.com

[chipmaster]

One thing you also might consider for Naples: Pompeii, Amalfi Coast, Capri

 

I think whether kids are competitive or athletic is only one thing to consider in ports, after all one could always find a swim, run, hike in every port, but not every port has Amafli or Capri as sights :D

 

We are going on Celebrity Equinox in July 2012 with 7 people - ages 9,12 then 5 adults in their 40's. Looking at excursions in various places - want to do ship excursions only (worried about getting back to ship & for convenience) So any inside info/suggestions on the following:

 

Sicily - Lovely Taormina? Taormina on your own? Taormina Lava River & Wine Tasting? Taste of Sicily, Mt, Etna & Taormina?

 

Naples: Exploration of Pompeii? Mt. Vesuvius & Pompeii Hike - will it be too hard for kids to do? (hike 5.5 miles but my kids are very athletic/competitive athletes) Taste of Sorrento & Pompeii?

 

Thanks in advance - trying to plan the best vacation ever for my family.

[blacklabjude]

Hello,

 

My question is for anyone who has used Sicily Life Tours. They are requesting a credit card to secure the tour, but require cash as a payment. I donot feel comfortable giving credit card information over email. Any suggestions. All of the other tours we booked for the Celebrity Equinox Trip in October did not require this? Thanks

[Softball20]

We have used them twice and are using them again in October. We gave them the credit card number in advance and paid cash at the end. There were no problems at all. We've had a few vendors require credit cards to hold the slots and some that don't. We also have had a couple that want deposits. Honestly, IMO, I think it's only fair for the vendor as they're holding the space and committing to us, and I've always been surprised that more don't require something.

 

We really enjoyed both of our days with Sicily Life. On both occasions they were very responsive in the booking/planning process and in tailoring their tours to our requests. For our upcoming trip they're actually taking us to a little village outside of Palermo before we start seeing the main highlights so that I can visit the village where my great grandfather was born.

 

I don't think that you have anything to worry about and that you'll have a great time!

[debra1234]

Here's a repeat of my tour review

You might find it helpful

 

In July, myself, husband and 12 year old son did a tour of TAORMINA & CASTELMOLA & Mt. Etna with Mario Astone tours : marioastone@tiscali.it. He picked us up right at the boat dock with a big sign with our names on it. We opted to have two other couples join us on the tour. It saved us a bit of money and let us meet a some other people from our boat.

 

We had a great time. We headed to Mt. Etna at the start of the day and we got to see some scenic views of the island along the way. Mt. Etna was huge. We went to the site of one of the latest eruptions and saw huge hills of volcanic rock that the kids climbed all around. It was very windy and cool up on the mountain so be sure to dress well.

 

Afterwards we went to the small village of Taormina. The greek theatre was breath-taking and well worth the admission price. We ate at some small restaurants that were recommended, with a great view of the city. We made it back to Messina with an hour to look around the city and see the clock, scenic look-outs and churches. It was a full day of fun and I would recommend it to anyone looking to discover sicily.

[RachelG]

With that many people, I really rec you do private tours. Most tour operators have vans that would hold you just fine. And you will save money over the ships tours, plus have a more individualized time.

Definitely rec Pompeii for kids that age. I think an excursion to Mt. Etna and letting the kids climb around on the volcanic lava followed by lunch in Taormina would be perfect for Sicily. They would probably also like the Greek theater in Taormina. Wine tasting would be boring for them. When we were there, we did a Godfather tour one afternoon, which my son loved, but he is a bit older. Only meaningful if the kids are old enough to have seen the movie, which yours probably aren't.

[CathyCruises]

Many of the regular posters on this board are fans of 'doing it yourself'. I am sure between all of us we have done thousands of excursions, and as far as I know, not one of us have EVER missed the boat by using a private tour operator.

 

With a large group such as yours, a private tour will allow you much more flexibility (if one of the kids needs an emergency bathroom stop, for instance) and the ability to plan exactly what you want to see, how many breaks you want to take, if lunch is sit-down or pizza on the run, etc. Additionally, it will be much more economical than using the very-high-priced (overpriced IMO) ship's tours.

 

The private tour operators stay in business by getting cruise pax back to their ships on time--if they did not do a good job of this, they would not be in business very long--so keep that in mind in doing your planning.

 

Good luck!!

[rlse9]

In Sicily, Mount Etna and Taormina. If you're only going to be there once it's worth combining them into one tour so you can see both. Mount Etna is incredibly impressive and Taormina is really nice, the Greek amphitheater is cool and there's lots of nice shops and restaurants and places to get gelato.

 

The Vesuvius hike wouldn't be too difficult, the paths to hike up Vesuvius are well groomed and fairly easy hiking. It's nice but not that impressive compared to Etna. Pompeii is definitely worth seeing, personally I wasn't all that impressed by Sorrento but I seem to be in the minority regarding that.

[ksps cruise fan]

Hello,

 

My question is for anyone who has used Sicily Life Tours. They are requesting a credit card to secure the tour, but require cash as a payment. I donot feel comfortable giving credit card information over email. Any suggestions. All of the other tours we booked for the Celebrity Equinox Trip in October did not require this? Thanks

 

I don't feel comfortable putting a credit card number in email either. When I need to supply a credit card number but the company does not offer a secure web site -- a https site -- I do one of two things:

 

o make arrangements to phone the company with my credit card number at a specific time. The cost isn't too high if the correct person is waiting for your phone call.

o FAX the credit card information. I guess you could mail the information, too. I just so rarely think of that option in this day of instant communication.

[Softball20]

I've also had a couple companies take the card number in one email and the expiration date in another - kind of breaks up the information, for whatever it's worth. Again, though, we've never had any issues, and we've been happy with the service from Sicily Life.

[D4]

A couple of my credit cards allow me to generate a unique credit card number that can only be used by one merchant. For each unique number, I can specify the maximum value that can be charged to it and how many months it is active. I can also monitor the activity of each unique number online and close them or increase their limits.

 

In cases like this, I generate a unique number with a maximum limit and feel comfortable emailing it. It is important to let your credit card company know if you do this for foreign purchases/reservations because many merchants will test the credit card number when they receive it from you to make sure it is valid. You don't want your credit card company to reject it thinking it is fraudulent. Remember to convert Euros to dollars when setting the maximum limit and allow extra for exchange rate fluctuation.

 

I generate several unique numbers every week because I am a heavy online shopper. I only give a few of my main merchants my real credit card number.

 

The only downside with those numbers is that they require Flash, so I cannot generate them from my iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. I generate them from my netbook.