6 Day Cruise Tour in Italy

[Squire5000]

Has anyone taken the 6 day cruise tour in Italy offered by Princess Cruises?  If so, could you please provide some details on your experience?  Thanks

[BarbinMich]

What's the itinerary?  We've done a non-Princess/non-cruise related land tour there and have done multiple pre-cruise stays in Rome.  So would be happy to advise once I see the itinerary.  Or are you just interested in how Princess handles the pre-cruise tour?

[Coral]

I know for a British Isles Princess land tour - they use Globus tours for their tour company. My sister recently booked one of those and I researched it before hand.

 

Is this what you booked (I know it is not a US site): https://www.princesscruises.se/en/cruise-tours/europe/classic-italy  

 

 

Edited August 3, 2019 by Coral

[knbcruisers]

I would love to hear feedback on this Cruisetour.  It seems very pricey? From other reviews and blogs it seems I could do something similar for less on my own?

[Casey12]

There are some benefits to land tours. I didn't know Princess offers this one.

[BritinSoCal]

9 hours ago, Coral said:

...Is this what you booked (I know it is not a US site): https://www.princesscruises.se/en/cruise-tours/europe/classic-italy  

 

 

So effectively a day in Venice and Florence, day and a half in Rome - reads like a box-ticking exercise. Personally I'd pick one or two cities (me? Florence and Rome although we spent a week in Rome and still only really scratched the surface). Head over to TripAdvisor, work out what you want to do and see, take advantage of public transport, the fact that all three are pretty walkable and DIY-it...

[BarbinMich]

If you never been to Italy, this would give you a taste of what's in Venice, Florence and Rome.  Then you might decide to fly to Europe sometime in the future and spend more time in one or more of those cities.  For example, we did a one-week tour of central Italy through my husband's professional association (we did several of these one-week tours in different parts of Europe)  We stayed a few nights in the northern spa town of Chianciano and from there had day trips to San Gimoignano, Florence, and Assisi.  Then spent a few nights in a spa town near Rome from whence we spent did several day trips into Rome.  It was a wonderful introduction to the country and since that land trip we've enjoyed our cruise stops in Genoa, Livorno, Naples and Civitavecchia (usually the start or end of a cruise, but once was a stop for those wanting to go to Rome).

[murdy]

We took the Classic Italy Cruise Tour in July, 2 nights in Venice, 2 nights in Florence and 2 nights in Rome.  We had a tour guide with us throughout the trip, and for the individual cities we had a local tour guide giving guided walks. We thought it was a wonderful way to see Italy before we boarded the ship.

 

 

 

 

[Coral]

11 minutes ago, murdy said:

We took the Classic Italy Cruise Tour in July, 2 nights in Venice, 2 nights in Florence and 2 nights in Rome.  We had a tour guide with us throughout the trip, and for the individual cities we had a local tour guide giving guided walks. We thought it was a wonderful way to see Italy before we boarded the ship.

 

Perfect - could you tell what company the guide you had through out the trip worked for?

[murdy]

Aloschi & Bassani European Tour Operator.

[Coral]

8 hours ago, murdy said:

Aloschi & Bassani European Tour Operator.

Thanks!

[StillGoinStrong]

On 8/4/2019 at 8:23 PM, Coral said:

Perfect - could you tell what company the guide you had through out the trip worked for?

We are considering the Classic Italy 6 Day Princess Cruisetour, as opposed to doing a Princess Med cruise, and spending two or three days in Rome prior to boarding ship on our own.  If anyone has taken this cruisetour, could you please tell us if you have time to actually go into Vatican City, actually tour and see the Sistine Chapel, as opposed to a drive-by.  Not being able to spend time in the Vatican St. Peter's Square/Museum area/Sistine Chapel would be a deal breaker.  Thanks in advance for any advice.

[BarbinMich]

2 hours ago, StillGoinStrong said:

We are considering the Classic Italy 6 Day Princess Cruisetour, as opposed to doing a Princess Med cruise, and spending two or three days in Rome prior to boarding ship on our own.  If anyone has taken this cruisetour, could you please tell us if you have time to actually go into Vatican City, actually tour and see the Sistine Chapel, as opposed to a drive-by.  Not being able to spend time in the Vatican St. Peter's Square/Museum area/Sistine Chapel would be a deal breaker.  Thanks in advance for any advice.

I'm confused:  one can't do a cruisetour without doing a cruise before or after.  In reading the description of the tour on Princess' website, it sounds like you would actually tour the Sistine Chapel, the Vatican Museum and St. Peter's Basilica.  You can't really "drive by" these places as they're arranged around St. Peter's Square.  We've been there several times and really enjoyed all it has to offer:  magnificent architecture and art work.  Even though we're not Catholic, we have watched Xmas Eve services broadcast from St. Peter's for many years so it was wonderful to see it in person.

Edited November 16, 2019 by BarbinMich

[donaldsc]

Six days to see all of Italy.  Hardly seems worth the effort.  I would pick 1 or 2 places to see instead of running around for 6 days.

 

DON

[RANA_5041]

did anyone do this?  I'm looking for "details" so I can book additional excursions as necessary to "fill-in" open times.  THANKS

[wcflats]

Agreed concentrate on one or two places you want to see and don’t try to pack too much stuff into a couple of days .    Definitely go with a private tour company.

 

[spookyfudge]

On 4/15/2023 at 1:22 PM, RANA_5041 said:

did anyone do this?  I'm looking for "details" so I can book additional excursions as necessary to "fill-in" open times.  THANKS

Yes we did this last november it started in Venice and joined the ship in Rome.  The six days are fairly filled with tours so you need to do additional tours before you join the land portion.

[RANA_5041]

1 hour ago, spookyfudge said:

Yes we did this last november it started in Venice and joined the ship in Rome.  The six days are fairly filled with tours so you need to do additional tours before you join the land portion.

THANKS ... the info we received ...

Monday Venice Morning Sightseeing

Tuesday Train to Florence 2 hours, dinner

Wednesday Florence half-day tour

Thursday Bus To Rome stop San Gimignano

Friday Rome Morning tour afternoon at leisure

Saturday morning tour then bus to ship

 

so it seemed ... we had quite a bit of time to do some things on our own ... 

Monday Venice afternoon + evening

Tuesday Florence a few hours after hotel check-in until dinner

Wednesday Florence - afternoon + evening

Thursday Rome - a few afternoon hours after hotel check-in + evening

Friday Rome - afternoon + evening

 

Did they offer additional tours? ... Your Tour Director will be available to assist with questions about area attractions and activities as well as organized optional tours. These tours are available for your convenience and will be at your own expense.    was wondering what optional tours were offered.

 

I was just thinking about attempting to reserve a couple Museum passes in Venice or Florence (Uffizi), Gondola ride in Venice (high priority for my traveling companion), maybe a Catecombs tour in Rome ... and was trying to figure out the timing.

Also ... were there any sites that were "see outside of" vs "go inside and get a guided tour"

 

THANKS

 

[RANA_5041]

On 4/15/2023 at 12:53 PM, wcflats said:

Agreed concentrate on one or two places you want to see and don’t try to pack too much stuff into a couple of days .    Definitely go with a private tour company.

 

THANKS

 

This will be my traveling companion's (neighbor) 1st International trip ... I have traveled internationally - and have actually been to Venice, Florence and Rome - so those are a repeat for me.  

 

It was important to her that we were with a CruiseTour for most of the trip ... we already booked this Tour.

 

Since we are going during a busy time - I'm trying to pre-book a couple high-priority experiences that don't appear to be included in the Tour - so was looking for additional details from folks who had used this Tour.

 

5 years ago traveled with my son to Italy and we spent 2 weeks on our own with just carry-on luggage.

 

It's a very different situation when it's 2 women - 1 with no International travel experience - both "mature citizens" - with more luggage (3 total weeks - including some dress-up clothes for the cruise).

 

Maybe - if there's a "next trip" - I can talk her into being a bit more adventurous.

 

Appreciate your insight.

[spookyfudge]

13 hours ago, RANA_5041 said:

THANKS ... the info we received ...

Monday Venice Morning Sightseeing

Tuesday Train to Florence 2 hours, dinner

Wednesday Florence half-day tour

Thursday Bus To Rome stop San Gimignano

Friday Rome Morning tour afternoon at leisure

Saturday morning tour then bus to ship

 

so it seemed ... we had quite a bit of time to do some things on our own ... 

Monday Venice afternoon + evening

Tuesday Florence a few hours after hotel check-in until dinner

Wednesday Florence - afternoon + evening

Thursday Rome - a few afternoon hours after hotel check-in + evening

Friday Rome - afternoon + evening

 

Did they offer additional tours? ... Your Tour Director will be available to assist with questions about area attractions and activities as well as organized optional tours. These tours are available for your convenience and will be at your own expense.    was wondering what optional tours were offered.

 

I was just thinking about attempting to reserve a couple Museum passes in Venice or Florence (Uffizi), Gondola ride in Venice (high priority for my traveling companion), maybe a Catecombs tour in Rome ... and was trying to figure out the timing.

Also ... were there any sites that were "see outside of" vs "go inside and get a guided tour"

 

THANKS

 

They did set up a Gondola ride in Venice as part of the tour (extra cost) and a free tour of the glass works in November.  In Rome you get in late, we ate at restraunt however down the corner is a outdoor cafee we ate at the second nite in Rome.  Venince we had a full agenda.

[RANA_5041]

1 hour ago, spookyfudge said:

They did set up a Gondola ride in Venice as part of the tour (extra cost) and a free tour of the glass works in November.  In Rome you get in late, we ate at restraunt however down the corner is a outdoor cafee we ate at the second nite in Rome.  Venince we had a full agenda.

THANKS - very helpful