How crowded are group tours?

[tommyjean]

I don't have a ton of previous cruise experiences to go on here, but I'm curious how crowded Royal's group tours typically are. We'll be sailing on the Allure and I was thinking of booking the ship's tour for a Pompeii tour and considering one of the Rome tours, but don't want to be stuck on a bus with 100 other people. Does anyone have experience with the Med. tours on Allure? Or should I just book a private tour company? Thanks!

[trev71]

I don't know about your tour in general. I have always booked direct. the only time I have though excursions were over booked is for snorkeling. normally its way over packed with two or more boats with about 80-100 people. Makes it a pain but other than that other regular tours didn't seem too bad

[richstowe]

Ship tours generally use large buses . With such a large group , you always end up waiting for stragglers .

We overwhelmingly take private tours . The flexibility you have when you're a group of 8 or so is wonderful .

You can tailor the tour to your own interests and most likely same money at the same time .

I would definitely search out alternatives for both Rome and Pompeii tours .

[griffy116]

We just did this cruise/itinerary two years ago in June, and after checking on the ship's excursions, we went with a Private Tour and guide for Pompeii. There were 5 of us, so the cost was as good or better than what was offered by RCI. They were at the port with a sign as soon as we stepped off the ship and we zipped out of the port quickly in a great mini-van that was spotless. The gentleman that was our guide was FABULOUS. We would not have seen half as much had we gone with the ship's tour and would have understood half of what we were seeing. RCI tours were arriving in large chartered buses. He was able to explain everything we were seeing, zip us past the large groups and to answer all our questions. He also had an ice chest filled with bottled water for us. I can't tell you how much we appreciated that after touring Pompeii in the heat. Best decision we EVER made was to use a private tour and guide for Pompeii. We spent several days in Rome pre and post cruise so we did Rome on our own. You should check with the roll call for your cruise if there are only two of you and see if someone else would like to join you on a private tour to help reduce the cost per person. Six would be ideal. The private tours/guide's reputation depends on being able to give you the most bang for the buck and getting you back to the ship with plenty of time to spare. In fact, my daughter left her purse in the back floorboard of the mini-van and didn't realize it until the driver was well on his way. We called and he pulled over, located the purse and was back at the port with it in no time.

[lakelorain]

We did the Imperial Rome tour. Bus loads were broken down into smaller groups for the tour. Our group was about 15 people. Best tour guide we've ever had.

[cb at sea]

Ship's tours are fine. I know folks call them "cattle herding"..but they're not, really! If you want to do a ship's tour...no worries! They are total "excursions for dummies"...easy and fun.

Edited April 30, 2015 by cb at sea

[Pumbaamd]

We did an 8 day Voyager Med cruise 3 years ago from Venice to Barcelona. Booked an RCCL excursion at every port. Quite a port intensive cruise. Up early every morning to start a new tour. But, that's OK. We were doing something that we may never do again in our life time. Our RCCL excursions were excellent, never waited for a late person. Maybe we paid a few $$ more vs. booking from someone on the dock. That's OK, we were very happy with our excursions, and were never crowded. And, we knew that the ship would wait for us.

Rick and Deirdra

Edited April 30, 2015 by Pumbaamd

[Driftwoodgal]

We did Pompeii on our own with a local bus transfer and then using the train to get there. Used a tour guide there at the ruins. Very inexpensive day, got all of the information how to do this from the boards here under ports of call.

 

It was great to wander on our own and not have to rush. We walked in parts of the ruins that the regular guides weren't taking people. We walked all the way through to a plaza and had lunch.

 

Used Rome Cabs for Rome.

Edited April 30, 2015 by Driftwoodgal

[PLEIKU68]

I don't have a ton of previous cruise experiences to go on here, but I'm curious how crowded Royal's group tours typically are. We'll be sailing on the Allure and I was thinking of booking the ship's tour for a Pompeii tour and considering one of the Rome tours, but don't want to be stuck on a bus with 100 other people. Does anyone have experience with the Med. tours on Allure? Or should I just book a private tour company? Thanks!

 

Depends on how big the bus is. Once you get to the destination you will be just another of the many, many busses there.:)

[tidygirl]

We did the Med in Sept in Naples we were going to DIY but was given a brochure from CBM tours (can't be missed tours) and for 65e got to see the Almalfi coast, Sorrento and go to Pompeii. (not sure if that included the price into Pompeii) I'm guessing their were 30-40 people on the bus.

We were very pleased with them and they had us back atleast an hour early!

[xxoocruiser]

I don't have a ton of previous cruise experiences to go on here, but I'm curious how crowded Royal's group tours typically are. We'll be sailing on the Allure and I was thinking of booking the ship's tour for a Pompeii tour and considering one of the Rome tours, but don't want to be stuck on a bus with 100 other people. Does anyone have experience with the Med. tours on Allure? Or should I just book a private tour company? Thanks!

 

Something to consider when booking excursions is it for some reason the tour is late in returning RCCL will do everything within reason to delay leaving port until all ship's excursions are back. In the unlikely event the ship has to leave before the ship's excursion has returned RCCL is responsible for all costs to get you to the next port. You're on your own if either situation occurs when booking private tour.

[cabarr]

We did Rome last 2 yrs on Serenade and Liberty

Found the family tour to be the cheapest and same tour 2x

Was quite different each time ....

Couldn't beat the price and you have plenty of time to be on your own in Rome

Actually the kids walked faster than the other tours and slept all the way

Back to ship.... Could have heard a pin drop!!!!

On Liberty we actually left stragglers behind after a wait and they were picked up by another RCI tour... Tour leader was furious at them!

In Pompeii we did the most expensive tour..... From Naples ferry to Capri ferry

Back then lunch at a lovely restaurant then short bus ride to Pompeii was worth it....

No stragglers there a long day!!!! 10 hrs????

A warning most of these tours are a lot of walking....

Make sure you prepare yourself!

Have fun!!!!!

[George C]

We are booked on RCCL for Europe next year, having some second thoughts after a very over crowded RCCL Caribbean shore excursion last week at Grand Cayman , just sent a e-mail to RCCL to complain about the excursion

[mjldvlks]

Depends on how big the bus is. . . .

Exactly. I am not aware of any tour bus that holds more than about 40 people so the concern of having to deal with 100 or more is unfounded. We have done both ships tours and private tours [more private tours] and enjoyed both. My experience is that each bus is more or less a separate tour. We have always had good guides on the few ship's tours we have taken. I have found that for tours with several buses that are stopping at multiple locations, the guides try to vary the order they hit each stop so all the buses won't be there at the same time. Of course some excursions don't lend themselves to this sort of variation and not all tour guides are great -- but we have had good luck.

Edited May 6, 2015 by mjldvlks