Pompeii

[Milwaukee Eight]

On 4/8/2019 at 3:22 AM, vinob said:

Hi Folks, it's a shot in the dark, but hoping someone out there can help.

Has anyone done royal Caribbean's 4 hour (half day) tour of Pompeii which gives you about 2.5 hours in Pompeii, if so can you remember how large your group was.

I have hearing difficulties and worried will not be able to hear guide if its a very large group.  Did you think it was value for money, or does anyone have recommendations for company that does tours in smallish groups.  Thanks in anticipation.

We were on Royals full day that included Pompeii and were given a device to hear the guide. We had a group that would fill a large bus. 

[vinob]

10 hours ago, nasus2 said:

 

I can recommend ap tours - they do small groups and you don't have to organises a whole group you can sign up individually and they organise the group of 8. Used then 2 years ago and have also booked them again for June this year.

 

43 minutes ago, vinob said:

Yes two of our group have hearing problems, we do try to get as close to guides as possible, but if you are in a group of 50/60 people that can sometimes be difficult, especially as some people walk faster then others, but we will try informing the guide and see if we can keep close, many thanks for the advice. Kind regards Viv.

 

43 minutes ago, vinob said:

Yes two of our group have hearing problems, we do try to get as close to guides as possible, but if you are in a group of 50/60 people that can sometimes be difficult, especially as some people walk faster then others, but we will try informing the guide and see if we can keep close, many thanks for the advice. Kind regards Viv.

 

10 hours ago, nasus2 said:

 

I can recommend ap tours - they do small groups and you don't have to organises a whole group you can sign up individually and they organise the group of 8. Used then 2 years ago and have also booked them again for June this year.

 

15 hours ago, xpcdoojk said:

 

So, when we were there in 2004 we had a villa with four other couples, in the town of Maiori, which is next to Minori, (major and minor).  The villa is called La Nave it is still available for rent, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.  We arrived independently at our villa then we went shopping at the local store in Maiori for beer, wine, food, coffee, Lemoncello, and everything we need for a week on the Amalfi Coast.  Our villa had an infinity pool, and about a 1000 step (somewhat treacherous) hike down the cliff to our own private grotto like on Capri.  It was such a great spot that daily we had small tourist boats bringing people to our grotto.  Above the villa carved into a cliff was a monastery.  At dinner time we would sit on the patio and you could hear the monks forks and knives on their plates.  

 

Anyway, first night, lots of wine, and wonderful food, as myself and one of the wives are really good cooks and we made a wonderful meal with lovely fresh pasta from the store, that was open about 6 hours a day max.  Anyway, we had, also, found some Cuban cigars in our shopping and on a beautiful fall evening sitting by the pool we hit the Lemoncello and scotch.... about an hour in all the guys were naked in the pool a couple of the wives joined us.  

 

Good times.

 

One of the best vacations ever.  Later in the week we bought some wedding ravioli from the store, OMG....

 

jc

Your villa holiday sounded blissful, but definitely think I’m past skinny dipping  🤣🤣🤣

[Snit13]

1 hour ago, vinob said:

Yes two of our group have hearing problems, we do try to get as close to guides as possible, but if you are in a group of 50/60 people that can sometimes be difficult, especially as some people walk faster then others, but we will try informing the guide and see if we can keep close, many thanks for the advice. Kind regards Viv.

Also have mobility issues but good guides wait until all in group are gathered around.  If they start without me I let them know, but always with a smile.

[bigeck]

3 hours ago, vinob said:

Hi, thanks for the info, so your guided tour was just done in English, you didn’t have to wait while the guide translated into other languages. Been on the Pompeii ticket site now about £35 for skip the line/guided tour, but worth it if smaller groups. I’ll see if I can download the maps to see where the station is and I’m banking it will take us young OAP’s about 20 mins to walk it, someone did say there is a red bus runs to Pompeii from the port, thanks for taking the time to reply.. 

The group I was with was all English speaking.

The guide stopped and we gathered round and she spoke to us making sure we can all hear.

[Carol M]

Check out italytours.eu.  We are taking a group tour in May with them for 69 euros.  Several from our ship have signed on and there will be less than 14 people total.  Includes Pompeii with guide, Positano, ama

fi Coast, etc.      Another I see good reviews for is italydriver.com.

[LauraLL]

Last year i did a land trip with my family.  We did both Herculaneum and Pompeii tours.  Both are extremely interesting and worth seeing.  Herculaneum site has more shade, smaller in size but much better preserved than Pompeii.  If you want a small group tour I highly recommend doing a search for local Italy tour guides. Our guide, Paolo, was an archaeologist and did an absolutely fabulous job.  He was able to provide so many interesting details and insight, as well as tailor it for my family.

[Desert Cruizers]

Daughter & I will be taking our first Western Med cruise Oct 2020 and am very interested in all the recommendations as we will be visiting Naples, Florence & Rome to name a few.. Would have liked to have done the Greek Isle but the Western Med & TA back worked out better for us.  

[Ashland]

2 hours ago, Desert Cruizers said:

Daughter & I will be taking our first Western Med cruise Oct 2020 and am very interested in all the recommendations as we will be visiting Naples, Florence & Rome to name a few.. Would have liked to have done the Greek Isle but the Western Med & TA back worked out better for us.  

Since it was our first western med cruise .... we opted for the ship's DIY Pisa/Florence...Naples/Monte Carlo, but booked an amazing private tour with RomeInLimo for Rome adding the Vatican....Such a wonderful trip. Enjoy !

[Desert Cruizers]

Ashland, thank you i am sure we will truly research this one to its fullest and I will check out all the wonderful suggestions others will provide. I call this my dream trip although I would have enjoyed seeing more ports.  with a Greek Isle. 

 

Gay

[2Long2NxtCrz]

10 hours ago, Desert Cruizers said:

Daughter & I will be taking our first Western Med cruise Oct 2020 and am very interested in all the recommendations as we will be visiting Naples, Florence & Rome to name a few.. Would have liked to have done the Greek Isle but the Western Med & TA back worked out better for us.  

When we did our Med cruise, because Florence and Rome are a bit of a drive from the port, we did a private tour for each port.  It was expensive, but worth every penny.  In both ports, we had a private driver waiting for us right at the end of the ramp and then he immediately whisked us off with commentary during the drive.  We were taken to all the best photo spots, great food, no waiting in long lines, and we got to talk to someone who lived there and clearly loved their home.  So we got a great perspective on the cities and the people.  And learned a bit about the rivalry between Rome and Florence. 😄

 

We used EnjoyTuscany which I found on TripAdvisor.  We saw so much more than we could have in a large group and everything was at our own pace.  So we could speed up or slow down, race through some things and savor others.  Just tell them what you want to do and they'll make it happen.  If you want any of the museum tours, make sure you let them know and arrange to buy your tickets in advance.

 

I feel like it was the only way to do Florence and Rome in a day.  And, they will definitely get you back to the ship on time.  There was a huge traffic jam on the highway from Rome back to the port and our poor driver was working with his dispatcher to find alternative routes because, as he said "I enjoy your company but I really don't want to drive you another 4 hours and then have to drive back".  He got us there with time to spare and beat a couple of the ship's tour buses.

 

The cost is for the day for the car and driver, if you can find another couple to go with, the cost is barely more than any of the large bus tours per person.  They also do vans for larger groups.

[Desert Cruizers]

Thank you I am pretty sure knowing some of the people already from previous cruises,  someone will get a private tour arranged. I agree this would be the best way and with a smaller group. Our roll Call is just getting started so a few I do know just got off a cruise so will probably begin posting more. We will do the Allure TA afterwards. on Nov 1st 2020. 

 

Gay 

[Ashland]

7 hours ago, Desert Cruizers said:

Ashland, thank you i am sure we will truly research this one to its fullest and I will check out all the wonderful suggestions others will provide. I call this my dream trip although I would have enjoyed seeing more ports.  with a Greek Isle. 

 

Gay

I know you'll enjoy your Med cruise...and all the research you'll be doing for this one.

I am so excited for our May Med/Greece..just an amazing itinerary!

[Desert Cruizers]

Seeing parts of Italy has always been a dream of mine. I was able to full fill my husbands when we flew to Sydney, Australia and cruise NZ so now I will be able to see Italy  with the daughter. To bad we can't handle a land trip and spend more time but we will be in each port until 9 pm so this will give  us valuable time there.

 

Gay

[Cruisen Elf]

Another vote for Rome In Limo tours.  We also did a small group tour with them that included the Amalfi Coast (Sorrento, Positano) and Pompeii.  Wonderful!

[Desert Cruizers]

That is one I am very interested in seeing. Earlier I wrote down several of the suggestions listed here then did a search and printed out the information on each. 

[waterbug123]

On 4/8/2019 at 3:22 AM, vinob said:

 

Has anyone done royal Caribbean's 4 hour (half day) tour of Pompeii which gives you about 2.5 hours in Pompeii,

 

Haven't done a Royal tour of Pompeii but visited on our own during a land-based trip.  For various reasons we only had about 2 hours at Pompeii and I felt very rushed; would have preferred 4+ hours onsite.  That said, I took 2 years of Latin in school, which included a lot of Roman culture so I found Pompeii extremely interesting.  If you just want to visit to check it off a list, 2.5 hours might be ok.

[vinob]

On 4/10/2019 at 4:42 AM, Desert Cruizers said:

Daughter & I will be taking our first Western Med cruise Oct 2020 and am very interested in all the recommendations as we will be visiting Naples, Florence & Rome to name a few.. Would have liked to have done the Greek Isle but the Western Med & TA back worked out better for us.  

While on holiday in Rome a few years ago, we did a tour of the Vatican with a guide who only does the Vatican, I'm sure they only took a max of 20 in each party, on the day there were only 12 of us, he took us straight past all the Q's waiting to get in.  I also recall the tour been very reasonable for the time we had in there, I think it was called 7 Hills tours or similar. Of course it a few years (about 5 years).  it might be worth trying to google it.

[vinob]

Thanks to everyone for so much information, now looking at a number of options for Pompeii.

[vinob]

1 hour ago, waterbug123 said:

 

Haven't done a Royal tour of Pompeii but visited on our own during a land-based trip.  For various reasons we only had about 2 hours at Pompeii and I felt very rushed; would have preferred 4+ hours onsite.  That said, I took 2 years of Latin in school, which included a lot of Roman culture so I found Pompeii extremely interesting.  If you just want to visit to check it off a list, 2.5 hours might be ok.

I know what you mean waterbug, we spent 3.5hrs in Pompeii armed with a very good guide book when we were on a land holiday and still felt we only saw about a quarter of it, that why this time I'm looking for a guided tour but in a small group this time as we have friends with us who haven't been to this part of the world.. RC's tour is very reasonable but just think with 40/50 people you ain't going to see much unless they expect you to sprint around the site, just thinking how long will it take them to get 50 people through the small brothel let alone the other sites.