Feedback on "Sicily Life" or any other Taormina guide needed

[JeterCab]

I am looking for a guide/driver for Taormina-

(shopping, beach, Godfather tour etc.)

Has anyone used Sicily Life? If so, how was the experience and is there a driver you suggest?

Can anyone recommend any other tour guide for this area?

Input is very much appreciated!

[Dorothy]

I'll be sailing on June 18th and have a tour scheduled with Sicily Life on the 20th. I can let you know how that turned out when I get back.

[SueMo]

We used Sicily Life last year. Our driver was helpful & pleasant, but was limited in his English (name was Diego). We first went to a mountainside village called Savoca, where the Godfather was filmed. We parked and walked up a narrow winding single-laned road to the church where Michael Corleone married Apollonia. The driver got someone to open up the church so we could go inside. He then had someone open up & show us around a little history museum that was very interesting. Diego wanted to show us to another mountaintop town, but we opted to skip it and went to Taormina and had a lovely afternoon shopping & relaxing. The price of the tour was less than the transfer to Taormina offered through the ship & we enjoyed ourselves very much.

[JeterCab]

Dorothy and Sue,

Thank you both for taking the time to reply.

Have a wonderful time on your vacation Dorothy! You leave in less than 2 weeks! :) Hopefully you're all set to go.

I look forward to hearing back from you how your day in Taormina is as well as the rest of the trip. (Have you been assured at all about the driver that you'll have? Did you plan what you'll do that day?)

This was the one tour company that I had read a few posts about. I am so surprised that only one person can offer any information. (Thank you Sue!!!)

Sue- just a few more questions if you have the time to reply. Did you have any input into what your plan for the day was or did you follow their suggestions. Do you recall what you did for lunch that day and did they suggest a certain restaurant? I am glad you enjoyed your day there and they attempted to be personable.

 

Thank you both for your time and help!

[luvz2run2000]

I strongly encourage you to use another company. We had a tour booked with Sicily life during our cruise last month. The contact person from the company was wonderful to work with precruise, offered an excellent plan for the day, good price, etc. The day of the excursion the driver showed up 45 minutes late. He didn't know anything about the traditional Sicilian lunch the company had offered to set up for us, didn't take us to the winery we were supposed to go to, didn't take us to the seaside village we were supposed to go to, and just ignored our questions if he didn't want to answer them. We thought we were the "unlucky van" but we heard that at least two other groups from our roll call had booked them as well and had gotten pretty much the same treatment.

 

We had friends who booked with Sicily Tours (ironicly because Sicily Life was full) and had a great day. I would suggest you check with them. Sicily Life had rave reviews on this board and tripadvisor last summer, but something has obviously changed. It was the worst (and most disappointing) day of our 16 day vacation.

[cawhite]

Luvz2run2000 - Thanks for this helpful information. We too booked with Sicily Life and are scheduled to go in a few weeks. We read lots of good reviews previously about this company. Can you tell me the name of the driver you had?

 

Thank you very much. We're from Carlsbad, by the way!

 

Carole

[SueMo]

We followed the itinerary suggested by Sicily Life...We didn't plan a big Sicilian lunch. We ate pizza and pasta at an outdoor cafe in Taormina (ask a local shopkeeper for suggestions as to inexpensive, good food) and it was great. It's unfortunate others had a bad experience. Perhaps our expectations were different as we were just looking for a driver to show us some sights & take us to Taormina, which is what we got. And considering the price (split between 8 people), we felt we came out well ahead of those who spent much more for just a ship's transfer to Taormina.

[luvz2run2000]

SueMo - All of the reviews I read last year both on here and trip advisor were glowing. That was why we selected Sicily Life. I just know that last month there were three groups of people on our roll call who were all very disappointed with their day. All of the drivers showed up 30-45 passed the agreed upon time and no one got the tour they had agreed to. Not all of the groups had selected the lunch option, so that was specific to our group's experience.

2 of the groups e-mailed the company from the ship and I e-mailed the owner as soon as I got home. As far as I know, no one has gotten a response yet.

[suezcruise]

Hi Jetercab:

 

We have booked a tour with Sicily Life for our June 12 Carnival Liberty cruise.

 

Will post review upon returning home.

 

Cio

Sue Z.

[cawhite]

luvz2run - Do you recall the name of the driver(s) involved that were late and / or weren't very good?

 

Thanks.

 

Carole

[luvz2run2000]

I believe our driver's name was Ross. I'm not sure of the names of the other drivers. I do know that all of the Sicily Life groups drivers were late so it wasn't a problem with a particular driver.

[Bob7]

Hi Jetercab:

We have booked a tour with Sicily Life for our June 12 Carnival Liberty cruise.

Will post review upon returning home.

 

Cio

Sue Z.

Hi Sue, we go mid July and are booked with Sicily Life, very interested in how your tour goes, please let us know. We're only getting a driver to drop us in Taormina for the day, no guide. Are you requesting someone other than Ross? ... I think we will. Of course, a sourpuss would save on the tip :-))

-Bob

[cawhite]

Thanks luvz2run - Maybe Ross was a substitute or new driver? We will request that we do not have him. Thanks again.

 

I have been re-reading some of the reviews on Sicily Life and people seem to have a great day with them, so I'm expecting it willl be the same for us!

 

We'll be writing a review of all of our ports upon our return.

 

Carole

[luvz2run2000]

cawhite- My suggestion would be to check the dates of the reviews you're reading. We read glowing reviews as well both here and on tripadvisor last year before booking with them. There were three different groups from our roll call who booked tours with them last month and we all had the same experience. 3 different groups, 3 different drivers, 3 bad tours.

I think one of the most upsetting things is that I know all three of the people who made contact with them, and organized the tours for our groups, have e-mailed them and no one has gotten a response. He was always very prompt in replying to e-mails until the day after our tour.

[cawhite]

Luvz2run - You're correct... the reviews I am referring to are from summer of 2005. I haven't seen any other reviews lately. I just assumed that was because most of the travelers probably visit them in summer. I know, for our cruise, the Carnival Liberty just started up it's 2006 Med. itinerary.

 

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a great time in Sicily and that if they did receive complaints on particular drivers, that they are no longer using those drivers.

[luvz2run2000]

We were on the Liberty May 19th sailing. You are going to have a ball. We stayed in Rome for a few days post cruise so we've only been home a couple of days. Check the Carnival board for our review later this weekend.

[cawhite]

I can't wait to read your review, luvz2run. I'll look for it over the weekend!!

 

Carole

[Trixsea]

I used Sicily Life for a tour in October. We also did some of the sights form the Godfather and than on to Taormina. It was a wonderful tour. We decided against the lunch they would provide, but the guide did recommend some restaurants and there was time for lunch on your own.

 

Hope you enjoy your tour as much as we did.

[cawhite]

Hi everyone,

 

Well, here's an interesting update....

 

I wrote to Sebastiano (of Sicily Life) about our upcoming tour with them so he would know not to give us "Ross" as a driver / tour guide. He says Sicily Life is not affiliated, in any way, with anyone named Ross. He says Ross is with Sicily Tours!

 

Maybe people are mixing up Sicily Life with Sicily Tours?

 

I am expecting a great day with Sicily Life. I will report back to everyone when we get back in mid-July (sorry, but we're going to London and Paris after the cruise and won't be home until then).

 

Carole

[luvz2run2000]

Hi everyone,

 

Well, here's an interesting update....

 

I wrote to Sebastiano (of Sicily Life) about our upcoming tour with them so he would know not to give us "Ross" as a driver / tour guide. He says Sicily Life is not affiliated, in any way, with anyone named Ross. He says Ross is with Sicily Tours!

 

Maybe people are mixing up Sicily Life with Sicily Tours?

 

I am expecting a great day with Sicily Life. I will report back to everyone when we get back in mid-July (sorry, but we're going to London and Paris after the cruise and won't be home until then).

 

 

Carole

 

Nope,no mix up, at least not in our case. We booked with Sicily Life through Sebastiano. Sebastiano is the one we called when our driver was late, in fact all three of us had the same name and number so we made one group call. The drivers who showed up all had the little papers from Sicily Life with our names on them. Interestingly enough Sebastiano still has not responded to any of our e-mails about our tour.

 

The people from our roll call we had booked tours with Sicily Tours were all very pleased with their day.

 

I truely hope you get the tour that you have arranged and agreed to.

[cawhite]

This is all so strange! Well, I'll definitely report back next month and let you know what transpired during our day in Sicily!

 

Carole

[JeterCab]

Thanks to everyone for their feedback.

(luvz2run2000, SueMo, cawhite, Trixsea, suezcruise,Dorothy and Bob)

 

I also booked Sicily Life for the end of July based upon many positive reviews and I also realized that many of these were from last summer. I assumed now that they are probably even more established at this point. I posted because I wanted to see how some of the more recent excursions have been. I was assuming it would be consistently positive with what was posted last summer.

I was wondering Luvz2run2000, were you just following up with a letter to them to see how professional he was in response to your tour? Did you speak to him the day of your tour or has he at any point apologized to you?

I'd also like to say it was one bad driver and that he would be concerned enough for the name of his company and that he would rectify this.

It is odd that he would deny that Diego works for him. I wish there was more feedback on other drivers.

 

I actually ended up calling his cell phone to book this with him. He was pleasant and he was well spoken. Perhaps anyone who has a tour coming up can request that he personally will be the driver/guide. Has anyone emailed him asking him to address possible concerns and have you heard back? That is what I planned on doing after people posted feedback. I will post when I hear back from Sebastiano.

 

Thanks again!

 

*If you're reading this and have used another tour guide please post feedback.

[cruisingmimi]

I used Sicily Life for a tour in October. We also did some of the sights form the Godfather and than on to Taormina. It was a wonderful tour. We decided against the lunch they would provide, but the guide did recommend some restaurants and there was time for lunch on your own.

 

Hope you enjoy your tour as much as we did.

 

I was on the same tour as Trixsea and second her comments! We had a wonderful day. Taormina is an absolutely gorgeous place to visit.

 

Mary

[Looking for Sunshine]

Does anyone have a website for this company?

 

Thanks!

[Dorothy]

I emailed Sebastiano to confirm my tour on June 20th and I also asked if he will be our driver. He said one of his partners will be our driver and be much better than him. I not only told him my concern, but emailed him a cut & paste of the unfavorable post, so he can understand my concerns. I still plan to use his services and I will report back when I return.