Booking Tours On Med Cruise: Some Questions?

[cip]

We are embarking in Barcelona and debarking in Venice, staying 2 nights in each city so we will have time to properly see them.

 

I have done a great deal of research on the net regarding the 9 ports we will be visiting...There are actually way too many choises....I downloaded the Cruise line's Tour listing and have been toying with the idea of taking some of the ship tours in some ports (Florence/Rome/Athens) and doing some other places on our own (Barcelona/French Riviera/Naples-Capri/Santorini/Dubrovnik/Venice).

 

When I was in the Army in Europe in the 60s, we did go to Rome, Florence and Naples-Pompeii. We had our own car then and saw most of the major tourist attractions in those areas.

 

This time, we are going to go to Capri when we get to Naples, so that, I know, we can easily do on our own.

 

Re Rome and Florence, they are tough to decide what to do? We are thinking of trying to see more of the rural countryside and spend less time in the cities than someone who has never been there before.

 

However, we don't look forward to spending alot of time in a packed Tour Bus with 50 +/- other passengers...waiting for stragglers to return to the bus and being on their schedule vs our own...as far as how long you stay at any one location or even which places to see.

 

Many of you are SO well organized and have pre-arranged Private drivers at many ports....I suppose they were referred to you or you had read about them etc?

 

Here is my question: Very little has been posted anywhere about hiring a private driver when you arrive and disembark.

 

When we cruised in the Caribbean, we actually had pretty good luck with the drivers we selected to take us around this or that island....One problem is that they all "mob" you when you are getting off the ship/tender and this makes it difficult to make an "informed" choise.

 

You end up "interviewing" them in a crowded environment and, of course, they ALL are local natives and know EVERYTHING about the place and have a "reliable" car with "Good AC"!!

 

Is this a viable option on a Med cruise.....? What are the pitfalls? Any of you have experience in doing some tours this way? Is this too "risky" to really be a reasonable way of touring an area?

 

Any suggestions or ideas are welcome..!

 

Chuck

[BarbaraB2]

Hi Chuck, we were on the same wonderful cruise last year and used private tour guides in most ports. Actually, they were so wonderful, they truly enhanced our trip.

We met some people through Cruise Critic and shared the tours with them. We used Claudio for a wonderful Tuscany tour that he tailored to our needs. We visited midieval towns, had lunch at a former monastery, experienced a wine tasting in one place and a food festival in another.

In Villefranc (?) we used Michele Legrand for another spectacular tour of the French Riviera and used someone else in Athens (I can't recall his name at the moment). Each one tailored the tours to our requests. They were all professional, courteous, and top notch. Their business is catering to tourists, especially cruise passengers, and they know how to meet our needs. They are mindfull of the times for departure and get you back with time to spare. Of course, there have been situations where they have had difficulties, but they are rare.

Good luck!

Barbara

[jstducky]

I beleive that most tours are booked in advance of going on the cruise.

 

I just got back 2 months ago from a Med cruise and had booked my private tours in advance.

 

I will tell you that at most of the ports I never saw a throng of cabbies or drivers waiting around trying to offer to take people around and be their "guide" for the day. At ports such as Livorno and Civitavecchia, they are both very very commercial so the only people who really arrive at the pier and waite for guests are those drivers that have been booked in advance.

 

I never experienced the "mob" scene that you describe in the Caribbean.

 

I think that you will find that most of the good guides that are talked about on these boards that charge wonderful prices are all booked up months and months in advance.

[Capsu78]

I agree that I would rather have it planned prior as I didn't see any uncommitted drivers at most of the major ports.

That being said, if I wanted to wing it, I would walk up to the other drivers early on and tell them I was looking. It seems everyone has a "cousin" on speed dial, and I would bet you could get set up on the spot more times than not. Down side is waiting for them to arrive, burning precious vacation time.

[Bruin Steve]

I've done four European cruises now, most recently just a couple of months ago...

I've never seen any mob scene of drivers at the port...

In fact, in Athens, my guide was shaking his head and laughing at some disembarking passenger who was looking for a taxi by the cruise terminal...He told us ALL of the taxis in Athens are pre-booked, they're all waiting for someone...maybe that guy will get lucky in an hour or two and someone will have not found their pre-arranged fare...On Mykonos, our ship's tour got cancelled and we wanted to find a taxi with no notice--and couldn't find a single one--ended up walking the long walk into town...

 

I guess what I'm telling you is to find your guides here on Cruise Critic and arrange for them well in advance...Often the more popular guides here will be snatched up by your cruise mates before you get there--Our "first choice" in Istanbul was booked by the time we contacted him and our second choice was snatched up by some of our cruise mates from our Cruise Critic Roll Call--so we had to go with the third choice...

 

A couple little notes to consider:

In Italy, there are two kinds of licenses...most of the drivers you see discussed here are NOT "guides"--they do not have the proper license to take you on any tours within most sites (like the Vatican or Pompei)...You will have to hire an additional local guide at such sites at additional cost...For some tours (like our drive on the Amalfi Coast with Salvatore), the driver is more than sufficeint (and Salvatore was excellent) since there are not many churches, ruins, museums, etc, you go into and the driver can give you narrative in the car...But, for example, when my tablemates on the Millennium took a private driver in Tuscany, he only dropped them off to wander on their own in San Gimignano while our ship's excursion provided a narrated walking tour through town...

 

And, on our Millennium cruise in 2003, where we took mostly ship's excursions, we never had 50+/- on an excursion---Our San Gimignano/Volterra excursion had only 19 passengers and our Renaisssance Rome excursion had but 11...and with TWO guides! It bypassed the long lines at the Vatican and we had a virtual private tour (well, my wiffe and I and 9 others) inside...Obviously, though, it's hit and miss and there's no way to guarantee you'd get small groups...and I do know how you feel about waiting and scheduling...

 

On our most recent cruise, we hired private guides in Istanbul, Kusadasi, Athens and Amalfi, did Venice, Mykonos and Santorini on our own and took half day Shore Excursions in Rhodes, Taormina, Kotor and Dubrovnik...

 

Why the different choices?

Some cities have a good choice of available guides...and one may be really necessary...In others, the cruise line options are actually better than what I could find on my own...and, in other ports, the shorex options left me flat and the availability of local guides at reasonable prices was just not there--or I already knew the port well enough to go it alone...

 

But, bottom line WORK IT OUT IN ADVANCE...

 

Good luck...

[GramaFran]

Cip: We planned our excursions in the various ports months in advance and except for a few places there were no lines of taxi/tours waiting like in the carribbean.

 

We used Romecabs for a tour of Tarquinia and Tuscania at Civit. as we did not want to go to Rome again. Loved Stefano he was knowledgable and very friendly.

In Villefrance we used Dream-tours with Jean Mark - Wow he was great, took us everywhere and had lots of details. He was able to drop us off right at the doorways to the towns no climbing hills to get to the gateway. It was great.

 

In Barcelona - it is a mad house getting off and standing in a taxi line for hours (well seemed like hours - about 30 to 45 min) We had booked Barcelona Taxi to meet us but due to miscommunication they did not show up. But later they met us at our hotel and we had a great tour of everything in Barcelona and I mean everything.

 

I would never just get off the ship and hope to find a driver in those ports as Civit. is a closed port and Villefranche is a tender port.

 

Friends who used ships tours were very disappointed by all the lines and waiting for others to show back up.

Hope this helps,

Francine

[LILynn]

Cip -

 

I totally agree with the previous posters - make your plans in advance for each port and hire your drivers in the ports you want drivers upfront. You can get tons of recommendations on this board - people are great about sharing their experiences.

 

I just got back from my Med cruise. We had drivers set up in Rome, Naples and Kusadasi. I got recommendations from this board and Emailed the drivers - they were all terrific and we had great days with them. In Athens, Santorini, Olympia, and Florence we did ship tours. I was really pleased with every one of the ship tours we took. We got to see a lot and had guides helping us understand what we were seeing. In Mykonos, and Monte Carlo we did our own thing - but I knew in advance what we wanted to do and how to get around, again thanks to this board.

 

Good luck planning your trip - for me that was almost as much fun as the trip itself.

 

Lynn

[debbymark]

Just back from the Med and we took all ship excursions. they were very good and not lots of people. everyone was back in time and no waiting about for anyone.

[MercedMike]

Re Rome and Florence, they are tough to decide what to do? We are thinking of trying to see more of the rural countryside and spend less time in the cities than someone who has never been there before.

 

However, we don't look forward to spending alot of time in a packed Tour Bus with 50 +/- other passengers...waiting for stragglers to return to the bus and being on their schedule vs our own...as far as how long you stay at any one location or even which places to see.

 

Any suggestions or ideas are welcome..!

 

Chuck

 

We too had previously been to Rome and Florence so chose some different options in those ports. I really highly recommend the "Cooking at the Castle" tour which was arranged for us by Dock and Discover. They are great to deal with and we loved the van trip through the hills of Tuscany to the Renaissance Castle for the cooking lesson! Check out our report at

Mediterranean Cruise

for some great pictures.

 

Have a GREAT cruise!

[mringenoldus]

Mike

You did an awesome job with your review. I tried to find the info on the Livorno tour but only found Rome excursions described on the Dock and Discover website.

 

I was wondering the cost of the castle tour and cooking lesson.

[MercedMike]

Mike

You did an awesome job with your review. I tried to find the info on the Livorno tour but only found Rome excursions described on the Dock and Discover website. I was wondering the cost of the castle tour and cooking lesson.

 

Dock and Discover are based in Rome but they will work with you for any port in Italy. I think if you do the cooking tour from Rome (Civitavecchia) it goes to a different castle. Email them and they will give you a price quote. AIRC it was not cheap, but everybody involved agreed it was definitely worth the price!!

 

Have a GREAT cruise!

[mringenoldus]

Thanks - I'll look into it!

[CTKath]

Just back from the Med and we took all ship excursions. they were very good and not lots of people. everyone was back in time and no waiting about for anyone.

Thanks Debbymark, I'm glad to hear that. We prefer to take ship sponsored shore excursions and I'm happy to hear that you were happy with them.

[ljwm67]

Cip -

 

 

I just got back from my Med cruise. We had drivers set up in Rome, Naples and Kusadasi. I got recommendations from this board and Emailed the drivers - they were all terrific and we had great days with them. In Athens, Santorini, Olympia, and Florence we did ship tours. I was really pleased with every one of the ship tours we took. We got to see a lot and had guides helping us understand what we were seeing. In Mykonos, and Monte Carlo we did our own thing - but I knew in advance what we wanted to do and how to get around, again thanks to this board.

 

 

Lynn

Would you mind sharing the drivers you used and how to contact them?

Thanks

[doublefault]

We returned from the Barcelona to Venice cruise this month and we hired all of our drivers before we left including picking up at the Barcelona airport and Venice port. Use the boards and you will get good ones. The private tours we took were about 1/2 the price as the ship tours.

[BCHappyGal]

Like the otheres plan and book your drivers & guides before you leave home.

 

I have done this very successfully in South America & on my recent Mediterranean cruise. Like several others I did not see long lines of taxi's in most ports. Plus not all taxi drivers speak english nor are they guides thus they cannot tell you what you are seeing.

 

Enjoy your trip

[MVPinBoynton]

The time in each port is too precious not to plan your own private tour or pre-book a ship excursion. Don't leave it to luck, or you will be kicking yourself for a long time.