AMALFI COAST & POMPEII BY LAND AND SEA

[TnWildcat]

Has anyone done this RCCL excursion from Naples?  Is there another private tour that might be similar and better?  Thanks in advance!

[mapleleaves]

you'll need to post a link to this excursion if you want feedback.  And you might have better luck on the RCI forum.

 

I did an NCL cruise in Sept and we looked at the Pompeii /Amalfi excursions but they were too short on time to do justice to either location.  It seemed like you got 2 hrs in Pompeii, then lunch in Sorrento and photo stop at the Positano overlook.  We decided that the Amalfi coast was our priority so we gave up Pompeii.  Hired a private driver for the 4 of us and he drove us to Positano, where we took a ferry to Amalfi, then drove to Ravello and back to Naples thru the mountains.  Beautiful day, beautiful drive, beautiful ferry ride !  There are quite a few shared tours and private tours available ..... just look at the details to ensure you're getting what you want.

[TnWildcat]

Here is the link to the excursion I mentioned above: http://www.royalcaribbean.com/shoreExcursions/product/detail/view.do?sourcePage=shorexByPort&ProductCode=NPK4&DestinationCode=

[mskaufman]

We did this excursion and were very happy with our choice.  It was on our first trip to the area and had difficulty making a decision on whether to go to Pompeii or the Amalfi Coast.  This gave us both.  Here are a couple of links to our picturs.

 

https://markandkareneurope2012.shutterfly.com/pictures/973

 

https://markandkareneurope2012.shutterfly.com/pictures/1076

 

 

[hellokittyluver]

I was also looking at this excursion. My concern was I get carsick if this excursion goes through winding roads. Please help.

[cruisemom42]

11 hours ago, hellokittyluver said:

I was also looking at this excursion. My concern was I get carsick if this excursion goes through winding roads. Please help.

 

If you are talking about the same excursion to which the link is posted, they mention a "drive along the picturesque coastline" -- that is a road with a lot of winding roads, curves, and steep drops to the water below. 

[Bruin Steve]

I have booked this tour during our upcoming Celebrity Infinity cruise this July.  Normally, I would book a private tour...and have here several times in the past, but, this time, I had an overabundance of nonrefundable OBC, so we booked a lot of shorexes.  In the past, we had booked, for example, a full day Amalfi Coast  private tour, and, last visit, a private half day Amalfi Coast combined with half day Herculaneum...

 

From my experience, you are not likely to find something similar to this (half day boat, half day Pompeii) offered or pushed by the local tour providers...here's why:

 

Most tour providers you find on the internet or recommended here on Cruise Critic, are not licensed tour guides but, rather, drivers.  Their value is really based on them driving you around in a car or van.  So, when they package Pompeii or Herculaneum...or something like a boat ride, they have to subcontract that out.  For example, when we paired the Amalfi Coast ride with Herculaneum, our tour company actually hired a separate LICENSED guide to meet us at the site and take us through that...the "driver" is not allowed, by Italian law, to step out of the vehicle and provide commentary or to take passengers through the historical and cultural sites...

 

So, to create the value they are selling, they really have to drive you down the Amalfi Coast...

 

Now, that said, it may be possible to have a provider book you on a boat ride and hire you a guide at Pompeii, but they'd probably have to tack on a hefty surcharge to make it worth their time--especially since they'd still have to drive you from one to the other...But you won't see it on any of their websites..

 

One reason that we chose this particular shorex is that it will be different from what we have done in the past...

[mapleleaves]

17 hours ago, TnWildcat said:

Here is the link to the excursion I mentioned above: http://www.royalcaribbean.com/shoreExcursions/product/detail/view.do?sourcePage=shorexByPort&ProductCode=NPK4&DestinationCode=

 

Looks like a great excursion ! 

The advantage of this  tour is that it's 9 1/2 hrs.  The private/group tours by companies like italytours are usually 8 hrs which is why you get shortchanged on the sites.

You could do it cheaper if you replicate the tour using a private driver and buying tickets for the ferry.  Then post on your roll call for another couple or 2, to reduce the cost.  We were a group of 4 so we had the 8 pax mini van to ourselves. It was 400E for 8 hrs, and 40E per hr for additional hrs. 

 

[TnWildcat]

16 hours ago, mskaufman said:

We did this excursion and were very happy with our choice.  It was on our first trip to the area and had difficulty making a decision on whether to go to Pompeii or the Amalfi Coast.  This gave us both.  Here are a couple of links to our picturs.

 

https://markandkareneurope2012.shutterfly.com/pictures/973

 

https://markandkareneurope2012.shutterfly.com/pictures/1076

 

 

Thanks for your feedback and I love your pictures!  I think we have decided to do just an Amalfi Coast tour, so going to do some research in that direction.  Thanks again!

 

[TnWildcat]

2 hours ago, mapleleaves said:

 

Looks like a great excursion ! 

The advantage of this  tour is that it's 9 1/2 hrs.  The private/group tours by companies like italytours are usually 8 hrs which is why you get shortchanged on the sites.

You could do it cheaper if you replicate the tour using a private driver and buying tickets for the ferry.  Then post on your roll call for another couple or 2, to reduce the cost.  We were a group of 4 so we had the 8 pax mini van to ourselves. It was 400E for 8 hrs, and 40E per hr for additional hrs. 

 

Thanks for your feedback!

[TnWildcat]

2 hours ago, Bruin Steve said:

I have booked this tour during our upcoming Celebrity Infinity cruise this July.  Normally, I would book a private tour...and have here several times in the past, but, this time, I had an overabundance of nonrefundable OBC, so we booked a lot of shorexes.  In the past, we had booked, for example, a full day Amalfi Coast  private tour, and, last visit, a private half day Amalfi Coast combined with half day Herculaneum...

 

From my experience, you are not likely to find something similar to this (half day boat, half day Pompeii) offered or pushed by the local tour providers...here's why:

 

Most tour providers you find on the internet or recommended here on Cruise Critic, are not licensed tour guides but, rather, drivers.  Their value is really based on them driving you around in a car or van.  So, when they package Pompeii or Herculaneum...or something like a boat ride, they have to subcontract that out.  For example, when we paired the Amalfi Coast ride with Herculaneum, our tour company actually hired a separate LICENSED guide to meet us at the site and take us through that...the "driver" is not allowed, by Italian law, to step out of the vehicle and provide commentary or to take passengers through the historical and cultural sites...

 

So, to create the value they are selling, they really have to drive you down the Amalfi Coast...

 

Now, that said, it may be possible to have a provider book you on a boat ride and hire you a guide at Pompeii, but they'd probably have to tack on a hefty surcharge to make it worth their time--especially since they'd still have to drive you from one to the other...But you won't see it on any of their websites..

 

One reason that we chose this particular shorex is that it will be different from what we have done in the past...

Thanks for your feedback!

[mike72ss]

Check out the small group tours at https://italytours.eu/   

 

They seem to have great reviews here on Cruise Critic and Tripadvisor.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2479169-has-anyone-used-italytourseu-recently-looking-for-recommendations/?tab=comments#comment-53415968

 

https://italytours.eu/naples-tours-napplessorrentoamalfi/pompeii-sorrento-positano/

 

 

Mike

[mskaufman]

On 1/20/2020 at 1:13 PM, TnWildcat said:

Thanks for your feedback and I love your pictures!  I think we have decided to do just an Amalfi Coast tour, so going to do some research in that direction.  Thanks again!

 

 

So, we were back in Naples the next year and did an Amalfi Coast tour.  More pictures.

 

https://markandkareneurope2013.shutterfly.com/pictures/717