Mediterranian Criuse - Use Shipmate for Excursions

[edmund36]

Booked Mediterranean Cruise. The Excursions they offer do not go to Sorrento and Amalfi Coast. Shipmate has them. Should I trust a Shipmate Cruise?

Do I have to worry the Ship wont wait for me if a little late?

[Girr]

Due to extreme traffic issues large buses have been banned from the Amalfi Coast - thus the cruise lines have drastically reduced tour options for Sorrento and Amalfi if not even totally removed them.  So, for the most part, you're limited to smaller, private tour companies which provide tours in smaller 15 passenger buses/vans.  Traffic in this area is BAD.  I know last year I ended up doing an NCL excursion (ugh) just to Sorrento, and we were 50 minutes behind schedule before we even got to Sorrento!

 

Do ships wait for non-cruise affiliated excursions - No.  There may be exceptions, but it isn't the norm.  Last year many NCL excursion were running late in this area due to traffic so some may say they got back late and the ship waited however it was for the NCL excursions they waited, and they just got lucky.

 

I'm not familiar with Shipmate Cruise so I cannot comment on their services.  There are several major well known travel companies in the area which "guarantee" getting you back to the cruise ship (now is that Naples or your next port?).  I'd recommend going over to the Port of Call Board and check out Italy Ports where you'll see this topic often discussed.

[N-8]

We did Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast through a private company MAINLY because there was a bus strike for a couple of days of the cruise (but not during that portion of the trip so we could have used NCL's excursion) and booked everything through a private company. It was great BUT like said above, the traffic was TERRIBLE. I would definitely make sure you understand the private company's policy and guarantees on return time. On the way back, there was an accident and we still made it back to the ship in time but I was a little nervous. The "good" thing about it was that all the excursions were coming back late due to the accident so we beat most of the NCL sponsored excursions back to the ship. 

[Sailing12Away]

No, the ship won't wait. Haven't you seen all the hubbabaloo over the group in Africa that was left behind when their private tour ran late?

 

If you book independently, go with a small group (private to your group only if possible/affordable) and give yourself a lot of extra time. If the ship is schedule to leave at 5pm, tell the tour guide you have to be back at 3pm. Better to cut it short and not miss the ship than to be SOL and stuck in Italy without recourse.