any experiences with smart cruise tours?

[jonnyb1425]

Hi everyone,

I have been looking for a bus/walking tour of Rome when we go on July 11th and stumbled across the Smart Cruise Tours website. This one appears to have everything I would want but I am having trouble finding any reviews of them. Has anyone had any experiences with them?

[Susan-M]

If you put "smartcruisetours" in the "search this forum" box at the top of the Italy forum, a few threads show up.

[nw_man]

We took a gamble and went with them in May, you are correct, not many reviews around.

 

Here is what I put in my review :

 

ROME :

Rome, Shuttles are laid on to get you to the port entrance as it is a long way from where the ship docks. Its a little chaotic getting a shuttle though with thousands all trying to get on.

Why oh why people insist on taking seriously expensive ships tours to Rome is beyond me. As an example, this time NCL wanted $99 US per person just to take you to Rome, no guide, no nothing. Take you and drop you and return you back. Scandalous.

Previously we have taken the train ( easy ), but this time we stuck our necks out and went with a new company, smartcruisetours.com who have a number of options, including a fast train service, a Rome on your own ( same as NCL ), or a guided bus tour.

Rome on your own involved getting a coach and being taken from Civitavecchia to Rome centre and then you doing it yourself. Remember the NCL price, $99 per person ? Smartcruisetours.com price ? 19.50 Euros !!!!!!!!!

For personal reasons we opted for the guided tour of Rome by bus, this was an absolutely fantastic trip, cost ? 29.50 Euros !

We boarded the bus, had a little information en route to Rome and then just outside St Peters square a Roman tour guide got on board and introduced herself. She then took us on a 2 hour walking tour of Rome, visiting the Trevi Fountain, Pantheon and Piazza Navona before we jumped back on the bus and went round some other ancient sites and onto the Coliseum where we had a 20 min stop, not really enough time and certainly not enough to get into the Coliseum itself, but of course we only had one day.

And the final excellent thing ! We once again got off the bus and the guide took us into St Peters Basilica and gave us a guided tour.

I simply cannot find a fault with this tour, the price is utterly outstanding for what we got.

[T.O.cruisers]

We took a gamble and went with them in May, you are correct, not many reviews around.

 

Here is what I put in my review :

 

ROME :

 

Rome, Shuttles are laid on to get you to the port entrance as it is a long way from where the ship docks. Its a little chaotic getting a shuttle though with thousands all trying to get on.

 

Why oh why people insist on taking seriously expensive ships tours to Rome is beyond me. As an example, this time NCL wanted $99 US per person just to take you to Rome, no guide, no nothing. Take you and drop you and return you back. Scandalous.

 

Previously we have taken the train ( easy ), but this time we stuck our necks out and went with a new company, smartcruisetours.com who have a number of options, including a fast train service, a Rome on your own ( same as NCL ), or a guided bus tour.

 

Rome on your own involved getting a coach and being taken from Civitavecchia to Rome centre and then you doing it yourself. Remember the NCL price, $99 per person ? Smartcruisetours.com price ? 19.50 Euros !!!!!!!!!

 

For personal reasons we opted for the guided tour of Rome by bus, this was an absolutely fantastic trip, cost ? 29.50 Euros !

 

We boarded the bus, had a little information en route to Rome and then just outside St Peters square a Roman tour guide got on board and introduced herself. She then took us on a 2 hour walking tour of Rome, visiting the Trevi Fountain, Pantheon and Piazza Navona before we jumped back on the bus and went round some other ancient sites and onto the Coliseum where we had a 20 min stop, not really enough time and certainly not enough to get into the Coliseum itself, but of course we only had one day.

 

And the final excellent thing ! We once again got off the bus and the guide took us into St Peters Basilica and gave us a guided tour.

 

I simply cannot find a fault with this tour, the price is utterly outstanding for what we got.

Your review is great. I was looking at this company for a day in Rome. I also think this tour is great value. Did you have any leisure time on your own to do any shopping. I would hate to be in Rome and not have any free time.