Any tours you've taken that you wouldn't recommend?

[klfrodo]

Hoping to tour Italy next summer (2021)

 

I think we've all been excited to do that one tour in our life and when it was over, you said to yourself, "that was a waste".

Of course it's very subjective but I'd like to hear your opinions.

Mine? Gondola ride in Venice. It was okay, but the money could have been better spent elsewhere.

 

What would be your meh tours?

My scheduled stops are: Nice, Florence, Civitavecchia (Rome), Naples, Venice, Split, and Kotor.

[cruisemom42]

Beware of taking any large bus-based tour offered through agencies like Viator in European cities. They often group several languages together on one tour, and the guide has to run through the same spiel in 2 or even 3 different languages for every site and point of interest. It's tedious, for one thing, and also I have found that people are quite rude -- they will talk to each other while the guide is talking in your language and not theirs, making it hard to hear. This happened to me in Rome, more than once. Also in Lisbon. Stopped using Viator shortly thereafter...

 

I don't recall ever really doing a "meh" tour when it comes to what are the main attractions....guess I am pretty good at identifying what's interesting to me. (If it's about ancient Rome, I'm in!)

 

Oh, one other thing -- on travel boards there is a weird preference among many to do things like the "secret" Doges Palace tour or the Colosseum "lower level" tour, even when they haven't already seen the standard sites/tour.  I think it's the idea that they are seeing something "above and beyond", but often at the expense of seeing or spending more time in the areas that are of MAIN interest -- where the art is, where the history actually took place.  For first time visitors, I'd always advise going more for the big picture -- it's better to see the beautiful public rooms of the Doge's Palace (which does include a dungeon or two) than a lot of dusty attic and undecorated areas.  

[euro cruiser]

Not really a tour, per se, but we once paid for a two-day HOHO pass in Barcelona in July and only used part of the first day.  While appropriate for a big, spread out city like Barcelona, it was wildly oversubscribed and we wasted three quarters of a day waiting for a bus at one site, then waiting again at the junction where the two lines crossed.  At that point even my mass transit phobic mother agreed that the subway was the better way to travel.

[cruisemom42]

15 hours ago, euro cruiser said:

Not really a tour, per se, but we once paid for a two-day HOHO pass in Barcelona in July and only used part of the first day.  While appropriate for a big, spread out city like Barcelona, it was wildly oversubscribed and we wasted three quarters of a day waiting for a bus at one site, then waiting again at the junction where the two lines crossed.  At that point even my mass transit phobic mother agreed that the subway was the better way to travel.

 

I had a very similar experience on the Barcelona HOHO -- very crowded; very long waits to get on a bus once one got off at a stop.  

 

Same is true for Rome, where using one makes even less sense. The very slow traffic in central Rome combined with a number of inaccessible (pedestrian-only) areas mean that you cannot stay ON the bus and see some of the most iconic sites -- you have to get off. And once off, it can be difficult to get back as succeeding buses are often too full to allow returning ticket-holders to board.

 

[euro cruiser]

I've said this before on these boards when the subject comes up, I think that HOHOs only make sense in newer, more spread out cities like New York, Barcelona, etc. but even then, it comes down to how well they are (or are not) managed regarding crowding.

 

 

[AF-1]

On 3/26/2020 at 6:34 PM, klfrodo said:

Hoping to tour Italy next summer (2021)

 

I think we've all been excited to do that one tour in our life and when it was over, you said to yourself, "that was a waste".

Of course it's very subjective but I'd like to hear your opinions.

Mine? Gondola ride in Venice. It was okay, but the money could have been better spent elsewhere.

 

What would be your meh tours?

My scheduled stops are: Nice, Florence, Civitavecchia (Rome), Naples, Venice, Split, and Kotor.

In Nice; suggest you go up to EZE.  The ship had this tour;  the town is about fifteen min from downtown Nice and it is cobblestones and shops galore;  the view from up high overlooks Nice.  

In Florence you are a good hour from the cruise port; so that is like two plus hours just in the bus or van.  we did a private tour which covered Pisa and Florence both.  We got to see a lot

Rome; here we also used a private tour company.  Rome is an  hour from the port and there is so much to see and do here; you don't really want to waste your precious time riding in a bus.  

Venice; we have never done shore excursions because we have always stayed their two or thee days pre cruise.  

Split Croatia: you can actually walk off the ship and into the town.  No need to do a tour.  You can see the walled castle and town from the port; and it's a fifteen min walk

Naples;  suggest first timers go to Pompeii

[Hlitner]

yi"Tours we have taken that we wouldn't recommend?"  At the risk of sounding like a wise guy our answer would be "any tour that had more then 4 participants."   And when there are 4 folks, those other two should be friends.

 

To the OP we would say that all the places you mention are fantastic.  With the possible exception of a first visit to Rome, we would not use a tour in any of those places.  But for those that only feel comfortable when part of a tour group we would suggest trying to organize or join a very small tour group.  Otherwise, do your pre trip homework and do it on your own.

 

Hank

[ljandgb]

We typically travel with a multigenerational group of 8 so end up with private tours almost exclusively.  It is the way to go if you can swing it, as if you're not loving something you can redirect.

 

LOVE Split.  By contrast, Dubrovnik was very "meh" for me.  Fortunately, not going to be an issue for you.

 

For your ports, I'd have to say the Uffizi was a disappointment.  My friend and I left the tour halfway thru (this was not a private tour) muttering "if we see one more Madonna and child..."  I really regret not spending that time at the Galileo museum instead.

[bearette]

My mehs have always been going to things I don't like because they are "must dos." When in the museum in Amsterdam,  I turned to him an hour in and asked " are you done" and we're both happy to leave as we both hated it and got out of there ASAP before we wasted anymore time. He was going for me and I was going for him, but we both didn't want to be there. 😆 

 

I also agree with the gondola in Venice, we never did it and never felt like we missed out having ridden on the back seats of the water bus...we felt like we enjoyed it more there as it felt private with only four seats. 

 

 

[Sunny AZ Girl]

On 3/29/2020 at 8:12 AM, cruisemom42 said:

 

I had a very similar experience on the Barcelona HOHO -- very crowded; very long waits to get on a bus once one got off at a stop.  

 

Same is true for Rome, where using one makes even less sense. The very slow traffic in central Rome combined with a number of inaccessible (pedestrian-only) areas mean that you cannot stay ON the bus and see some of the most iconic sites -- you have to get off. And once off, it can be difficult to get back as succeeding buses are often too full to allow returning ticket-holders to board.

 

 

On 3/29/2020 at 11:31 AM, euro cruiser said:

I've said this before on these boards when the subject comes up, I think that HOHOs only make sense in newer, more spread out cities like New York, Barcelona, etc. but even then, it comes down to how well they are (or are not) managed regarding crowding.

 

 

My recommendation for the HOHO bus in any city is to ride it in the complete circuit (without getting off) on the first day to get an overview of the city,  After that, either go back to the places you want to see on your own or use a 2nd day ticket to go back to your highlights.  You can judge on the first day if you would like, what the lines are like to actually hop on and hop off the bus on day 2.  We have actually wasted a 2nd day ticket rather than wait in lines.  It was still worth it, as we really enjoyed the first day general orientation with the narration of the area.  I have not been to Rome (yet), but would probably forego the HOHO bus there entirely as it looks like it is rather compact.  Sometimes a walking tour can do the same thing.  

[Travlin grrl]

HOHO buses can be a hit or miss. I actually really liked London's. Especially going down Fleet street open air seeing all the building and architecture. So I thought all of the HOHO's would be good. Athens....not so good. I felt like I was driving past a lot of grafitti neighborhoods and not so scenic. I think if you have like 3 days in a city, then maybe one day could be a good overview. But if you have 1 day, maybe better to do a tour. Like one of the posters said above...you don't want to waste valuable time waiting for the bus to arrive. 

Here are some pics I took from the HOHO bus in London. I think I was experimenting with an app at the time so the sky is a little enhanced. lol. 

https://travlintheworld.blogspot.com/search/label/British Isles 2014