Poll: Guides & Drivers in France & Italy

[watercruise]

I hope someone has more information and ideas for trips and drivers in Villefranche- everyone i have tried is booked..likewise trying to find someone for a civitavecchia trip ( estruscan towns).
tried [email="RTCarbone@yahoo"]RTCarbone@yahoo[/email] which someone recommended, but email doesn't exist.

thanks

[CamelliaCity]

Does anyone have a picture of Claudio and his drivers:)

Thanks

[rogeralan]

We had some wonderful tour guides in Europe and some that left a lot to be desired.

Villefranche: The best, unanimous among our group of 7, was Fredrico with dream-tours.com in Villefranche. He could not have been more enthusiastic and accomodating we had a wonderful day with him. We went to the market in Nice, up to St Paul du Vence, to the Rothchild chateu, to Montecarlo and finally had to tell him we couldn't go any more. He never ran out of steam or information. A wonderful person.

Naples: Allison (with a non-English speaking driver) was our guide for our trip to the Amalfi coast and Pompeii. She was extremely pleasant, knowledgable, and easy to be with. She spends half the year in England (her native country) and half the year in Naples (her husband's birthplace).

Venice: Our walking guide was Alvise with [url]www.tourvenice.org[/url]. His passion for his city was contagious. He was born and raised the Venice and knew all the back streets and canals. Our trip included the highlights of the city, a gondola ride, a visit to a gondola builder, and dinner (about 9 hours). Although we saw so much, we felt like we had just scratched the surface. We did sleep very well that night.

Rome: A driver from [url]www.driverinrome.com[/url] met the ship and then when we got to Rome we picked up Claudia our guide. She was fun, very accomodating. We drove around many sites, and stopped whenever we requested, although it was raining. We had lunch in a small family restaurant near the Vatican were Danielle also had a group. He came over and was very charming. Our driver kept calling the Vatican ticket office to check on lines and then rushed us over once the lines were down. We walked right up to the ticket counter and into the halls of the Vatican to the Sistine chapel. No wait. Claudia keep tabs on us from a distance since she said she was not allowed to give tours in the Vatican. We dropped Claudia off near the outskirts of the city and the driver took us back to the ship.

Florence: A complete disaster which almost prompted us to cancel driverinrome for the Rome tour. Our guide was Daniel, a young Canadian, who had a real attitude and offered very little in terms of a tour (other than dropping us off in the center of Florence). He made the trip to Florence and Pisa much less than it should have been. His political ranting about the US was completly out of order and he should not ever have been a tour guide. He got no tip from us and a complaint to Daniele. We had previously read about some problems with some of the driverinrome tour guides and had specifically questioned Daniele about them. He assured us that we would get his best since we were booking for both Florence and Rome. He didn't follow through on that promise and I would think twice about using his company again, although Claudia in Rome could not have been better.

We were generally very fortunate with our guides with only one out of four not getting a recommendation. While the companies may be reputable and have some excellent drivers, it boils down to the one particular person that is sent to meet your ship.

Hope this helps and if anyone has any questions, I will try to answer them.

[Crusier98]

The two best Drivers and Guides we used were Michel Legrand of Revelation Tours from Villefranche and Salvatore Lucibello of DriveAmalfi out of Naples

[Crusier98]

Michel Legrand is at [email="reveletationtours@aol.com"]reveletationtours@aol.com[/email]

[jeno]

[quote name='LINGBER']Supernaturalblonde,

That is so strange! I booked Papillon for a Florence tour late last year. Lina was very responsive. We are going in June so I emailed her a few weeks ago just to touch base and she was very prompt in her reply. We have even had several emails back and forth over what we will be seeing on our tour. I booked them because of the reviews I read and because they were more competively priced at the time. I hope they come through with flying colors. I will post when we return and let everyone know how they did. We also have tours with Spiros in Athens, Claudio of limoinrome, Salvatore of Drive Amalfi and Michel of Revelation. It will be interesting to see if they all live up to the great reviews found on these boards.[/QUOTE]
Please let us know how the guides worked out. I hope you trip was great! Jeanne

[jeno]

[quote name='JMTtor'][COLOR=Navy][FONT=Palatino Linotype] Monia is Daniele's fiancee (see the home page of the website) and the person who handles all of the e-mail correspondence.

We're on the 5/14 sailing of Speldour of the Seas and have booked driverinrome for the Rome tour (eight of us from the ship are going) and limoinrome for Pisa/Florence (six of us going on that one). I guess we'll find out who we like better in a couple of weeks! We've also booked with Salvatore of DriveAmalfi for a Pompeii/Amalfi coast trip from Naples.

I'll post to the boards when we return after 5/21 to do our reviews.[/FONT][/COLOR][/QUOTE]
How did the tours work out? I hope you had a great time! Jeanne

[tpaatl]

ZEBRA We are also from Tampa,and are going on the Liberty in Sept. Any info you can share about Rome,Tuscany and Naples would be appreciated. We also stop in Messina,Dubrovnik,Cannes,and Barcelona if you have anything on them also. THANKS!!!

[Hot2Travel]

[b]Our CC group used Claudio for our Rome on Sept 2, 05. He is a real gentlemen and extremely knowledge and educated guide/driver. He goes 'extra mile' to make your tour complete. [/b]

[b]I forgot got my Rx glasses in his van. Went to my cabin and phoned him on his cell asking him to mail them to my home in the states as I had a spare. He quickly replied that my glasses would be at the dock in Naples the next morning. WOW! Sure as God made little green apples, one of his drivers had a tour in Naples with my glasses. BTW, he refused to take a tip.[/b]

[CamelliaCity]

[quote name='Hot2Travel'][b]Our CC group used Claudio for our Rome on Sept 2, 05. He is a real gentlemen and extremely knowledge and educated guide/driver. He goes 'extra mile' to make your tour complete. [/b]

[b]I forgot got my Rx glasses in his van. Went to my cabin and phoned him on his cell asking him to mail them to my home in the states as I had a spare. He quickly replied that my glasses would be at the dock in Naples the next morning. WOW! Sure as God made little green apples, one of his drivers had a tour in Naples with my glasses. BTW, he refused to take a tip.[/b][/QUOTE]

[b]Hi Neighbor[/b]:) We are from Slidell, Louisiana.

How was your cruise? Had you been to Europe before?

Our little group of 6 will be using [b]Claudio[/b] on October 21 for a full day tour of Rome. We will be using one of his drivers on Friday, Sunday, and Monday.

Do you have a 'pic' of Claudio?;) I'm happy to read your post about him.

[grace5]

Hot2travel. Thanks for the up date. We are looking forward to touring with Claudio on Nov 10.

[happy46]

[quote name='mert461']Thanks to everyone who replied to my original poll and questions. We've booked Villefranche and the Amalfi Coast.

I'm still trying to decide for Rome and Florence. It appears driverinrome might be the one to choose?

Donna[/QUOTE]

Donna,
We just returned last week from the Liberty and were quite happy with using Tuscany by Taxi for our driving excursion to Florence. Our driver was Maximo (i'm not sure of the spelling), and although he did not speak much English he was a very nice and courteous man. The price was 320 E for the whole day for a van that sat our group of 8 plus Maximo.

[Turtle Derf]

It sounds like there a lot of good choices. Last week we used Stefano Costantini for the Rome trip and he was just great! [u][email="romecabs@yahoo.com"]romecabs@yahoo.com[/email][/u]

[pc21214]

happy46,
Good to hear that you like tuscanybytaxi. I am thinking of using them for our day in Florence. Did you book with them in advance and specify an 8 seater van?
The e-mail I got from stated that the taxis take up to 6 people. While there are only 4 in our group, it would be great to recruit 4 others to share and bring down the cost consdierably.
Thanks!
Pia

[Dbedros]

We recently got back for the August 25, 2005 sailing of Oceania's Insignia.

We used Carla at ABC Wine for Florence. We did not want to do Pisa so we did San Gimignano which is her home. It was wonderful and we could not have asked for more. We had lunch there at a place she recommended and it was wonderful and inexpensive.

We used Stefano at Rome Cabs for Rome. We saw the usual places and some other places like a monastery with a peep hole that lets you look at three countries at once and has a beautiful view of Rome from the grounds.

Both were outstanding and took us very close up to all sites to eliminate excess walking. They went with us to to the cites and gave excellent commentary. Their price was extremely reasonable. I highly recommend both.

Carla can be reached at [email]info@abcwine.it[/email] and Stefano at [email]Allagrande@hotmail.it[/email] or [email]romecabs@yahoo.com[/email] if you are interested.

[Chan gang]

We were on the Carnival Liberty October 05 cruise, we used both driverinrome for Rome, Florence/Pisa and Naples. and Michel Legrand of Revelation Tours for the French coast tour. They are both excellent and provided a wonderful tour. I will recommend both for their tour services. They are the best.
Laris

[Gypsy76]

Hi happy travellers

I see no mention of my favourite driver in Naples - Alberto :) [EMAIL="aptours@libero.it"]aptours@libero.it[/EMAIL]. He is great and so friendly, perfect English and a smile that warms even the coldest of hearts.

We had a tour with him of the beautiful Amalfi Coast and Pompeii, he made every second memorable. Took us to Positano, Amalfi and Ravello, stopping in Ravello at a fantastic family run restaurant. We stopped along the coast for some great photo stops, and then made our way to Pompeii where he had a guide waiting for us ; this was great as we could ask questions as the guide was just for us. He then delivered us safetly to the ship, in time for a Neapolitan express (the best coffee in the europe) before boarding.

[Debordo]

We read your note and sent an email to [email]aptours@libero.it[/email] to see if Alberto is available. We have not seen anything else about Alberto. How did you hear about him? We've never booked a private tour before so would like any information you could provide. Thanks

[J18ktleo]

I found the names of Sylvia & Luciano with Tuscany Trips somewhere on these boards and have been unable to unearth the info again...has anyone done their tours?
I have loads of offers for tours to Siena & San Gimignano and have to decide who to use...want to make the best choice, especially since there's only 2 of us now and don't know if we can rustle up more to join in...:rolleyes:

Jeani

[pdesai]

We will be on the Celebrity Millinium in June--We will be in Livorno, Rome and Naples (all one day excursions). We have never been on a 13 day cruise and personally never took a shore excursion via cruise line. We want our excursions to be personal and not sure what kind of $$ we are looking at for some of these excursions via private car for 2..would you recommend the private car or cruise excursions since its just us 2:)

[wongri]

Morning all.
My group of 12 were thinking of booking with Lina of Papillon for Rome, Florence and San Gimignano tours and transfers to the ship but after readling the recent posts on this board I am having second thoughts. Has anyone used Papillon services recently and what did you think of them?
Also considering Stefano of Rome Cabs and Claudio.
Rita

[Dbedros]

Hi Rita,

I can recommend Stefano, who will give you an excellent price and a tour from someone that truly loves his city. He will take you to the regular places and some unique places that other guides do not. He drives you right up to the places and gets you in avoiding the lines. You control your tour with his guidance. He is friendly without being offensive and knows his history.

Please let me recommend Carla Giomi with ABC Wine Tours. Do not be put off because of the name, I did not do a wine tour. I used her last September to do Florence (I had been there before) and San Gimignano. She is reasonable priced, takes you right to the sites, is very knowledgeable, and San Gimignano is her home. We had lunch in San Gimignano at a restaurant that she recommended where the wine, food, and price were all good. Because San Gimgnano has a lot of small turns we asked if one of us got lost what to do. She laughed and said tell anyone that we were with her and they would find her for us. Her web site is [url]www.abcwine.it[/url] please check her out. San Gimignano was beautiful and the towers look just like the pictures.

I only post if someone is very good.

Norma

[Felice]

We have booked Florencetour with Paola as our driver/guide in Florence. She comes highly recommended by friends of mine. email is [EMAIL="info@florencetour.com"]info@florencetour.com[/EMAIL]

Check it out.

Felice.

[joinitalia]

Has anyone heard of Prestige Rent Italy? 5 of us are traveling together and we are thinking of going with Prestige in Florence/Pisa and Pompeii/Amalfi coast. 6 person van for 550 Euros each trip. This is our first cruise, first time in Europe and I am travelling with 4 seniors,
thanks,
Jo

[tedturn]

[COLOR=#002e82][FONT=Arial] We used driverinrome.com in September and had a fabulous day in Rome. Daniele assigned Many as our driver. He made our visit very special. He was waiting for us when we arrived in Civitavecchia and made use of every moment of our day. We did not expect to see as much as we saw that day and never felt rushed.We did not use a tour guide for the Sistine Chapel.After the Visit to the Vatican Museum we hade lunch at Bella Napoli .Great choice!!!! I can't say enough about Many and driverinrome.[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#002e82][FONT=Arial][/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#002e82][FONT=Arial]Ted [/FONT][/COLOR]