Pompeii Tours

[hyattlois@comcast.net]

Has anyone been on the tour of Pompeii offered by the cruise line? is it good?

happysmiles75

[Cruising-along]

Has anyone been on the tour of Pompeii offered by the cruise line? is it good?

happysmiles75

 

It's been a few years, but yes, we have (twice). We thought it was good. We had great guides, and learned a lot. One suggestion is to read the excursion reviews on the HAL site (listed below each excursion description). That way you'll get more recent information.

[Cruising-along]

It's been a few years, but yes, we have (twice). We thought it was good. We had great guides, and learned a lot. One suggestion is to read the excursion reviews on the HAL site (listed below each excursion description). That way you'll get more recent information.

 

Correction:

We did a HAL tour once, and a private tour once. With the private tour we had to pay extra for the Pompeii guide, as our private guide couldn't take us through Pompeii. Both days were very nice, other than the expensive lunch we had on the private tour. We were taken to a restaurant owned by a buddy of our guide :rolleyes:

[Shetlander]

It is also easy to visit Pompeii by yourself. You can buy a combined tram and train ticket from the kiosk just outside the port. I think there are also options for guides once you reach the site.

[visagrunt]

Also consider Herculaneum (Ercolano). Though smaller than Pompeii, many of the ruins there are in much better condition because they were buried under ash.

[sail7seas]

We toured Pompeii with a private guide and it was outstanding. Very tiring but soooo interesting. HAL's tour would likely be fine and the advantage is that it likely includes transportation from Naples. The down side could be if there were many slow walkers or people with trouble navigating some of the terrain it could slow down someone who is able to move quickly.

 

Edited August 21, 2015 by sail7seas

[rjrpar]

Pompeii is amazing. Get a private guide, meet early and be one of the first groups to enter. It gets very crowded and the early groups can avoid the masses of people

[cruisemom42]

Also consider Herculaneum (Ercolano). Though smaller than Pompeii, many of the ruins there are in much better condition because they were buried under ash.

 

Actually, Pompeii was buried by ash and small lightweight pieces of pumice called lapilli. Herculaneum was buried under a much deeper layer of mud as a result of the pyroclastic surge of Mt. Vesuvius toward the end of its eruption. It was like a gigantic, fast-moving mudslide.

 

There are several reasons why Herculaneum's ruins are in (arguably) better condition, but it's not due to that. One reason is that the solidified mud made the ruins much harder to excavate, so they haven't been subjected to the wear and tear of exposure to light, heat, pollution, water, and the effects of tourism for as long as Pompeii has. Another reason is that Herculaneum has a strong private sponsor/funder and a relationship with a major academic institution that has overseen a lot of renewal and restoration at the site over the last five years (while Pompeii has continued to suffer at the hands of its scandal-ridden administrators, unfortunately, despite huge grants from the World Heritage organization.)

 

A good read here about how what I've mentioned above and how Pompeii may -- just possibly -- make a comeback of its own:

 

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/fall-rise-fall-pompeii-180955732/?no-ist

[KirkNC]

Great link! Its awful how Pompeii has been taken care of.

[Jameseric]

Good suggestions above. We once took the local train that lumbers along from Naples to Pompeii. The onsite visit time was limited by that transport, though it was fun in its own way. Thought it would be faster just to grab a printed tour sheet and skip along from number to number by ourselves. Bad move. Many numbers didn't correspond to reality, and many were missing. Lesson? Either enjoy the odd mix of locals riding the funky old rail cars, or do the ruins completely. What saved me from a cranky aftermath was the sound of Paul Ford's pronunciation of the place in The Music Man going through my head.

[cruisemom42]

Good suggestions above. We once took the local train that lumbers along from Naples to Pompeii. The onsite visit time was limited by that transport, though it was fun in its own way. Thought it would be faster just to grab a printed tour sheet and skip along from number to number by ourselves. Bad move. Many numbers didn't correspond to reality, and many were missing. Lesson? Either enjoy the odd mix of locals riding the funky old rail cars, or do the ruins completely. What saved me from a cranky aftermath was the sound of Paul Ford's pronunciation of the place in The Music Man going through my head.

 

Pompeii is huge and requires some pre-planning if one wants to do it justice on one's own. First thing is figuring out the system of house numbering. Second is asking at the information desk which houses are open on any given day -- most open and close on a rotating basis save a few that are open almost continuously....

 

My last trip I spent two full days there and still barely scratched the surface. It's about time to plan another trip there....;)

[RMLincoln]

We took a half day ship tour and thought it was just what we needed. Very good guide to make the most of our time - Pompeii is quite large, a city and it wouldn't have been easy to orient ourselves quickly. The tour provided us easy transportation and the guide took us over to a shop with restrooms.

 

The walking in Pompeii is a bit difficult in places, uneven stone pavement; unfortunately one man in our group fell but he was not seriously injured. It's a place to be extra careful.

 

We chose not to take the public transportation although friends did and were ok with it. You have to be very cautious of pickpockets especially on the circum-vesuvius train... our friends had encounters with other people's hands in their pockets on the train - empty pockets because of their forethought. But if you are aware and careful it can work out ok.

Hope you have a great visit as it's an amazing place. If you have the option to also see the archeological museum I highly recommend that but it took me two trips to Naples to see both :) Some ship tours do both but we passed on the museum the first time in favor of taking an easier day saving our energy for our next day which was Rome...

m--