Poll: Guides & Drivers in France & Italy

[wongri]

Thanks for the suggestions to everyone.

Norma - I have emailed Carla for info and availability.
Looking forward to exploring San Gimignano.

Happy cruising!

[ddjwms]

We just came back from Rome and used Stefano Constantini with Rome Cabs. He was quite knowledgeable and spoke excellent English. He was very prompt in responding to our e-mails and most helpful in setting up just what we needed quickly and efficiently. You can reach him at <allagrande@hotmail.it> or <utenti.lycos.it/romecabs/?>. If he were in the poll, he would get my vote!

We, too, were traveling with young children and found smaller tours MUCH preferable to the larger ship sponsored shore excursions. Plus some smaller providers do not charge for young children as the ship does, so we almost always paid substantially less than we would have through the ship, while getting the more personal attention and service of our own guide/driver.

[beantownbaby]

In early August 2006, my family of 7, which included my 80 year old father, and 8 and 10 year old nephews, took NCL's Jewel to the Med. I heard Paola Migliorni was the best, so I spent several nights engaged in, shall we say, unaccomodating email exchanges with her. I had been to Florence in the past, so I wanted to deviate from her standard itinerary. She said it was fine, but said she wouldn't discuss it with me until I arrived. Despite being the most expensive guide EVER, I begged her to be our guide, and she agreed. Florence was our third port, and off the bat she was the least warm of any of our previous guides. In her defense, she was 7 months pregnant, but I think I'm being generous. She didn't seem particularly fond of my nephews, and I must say they were on pretty good behavior for 8 and 10 year olds. She would stop talking when they weren't paying attention, like a teacher. Let's face it, 8 year olds don't know the difference between Galileo and Gollum from Lord of the Rings. My favorite was when she threw her lunch order in with ours before we had a chance to offer, then went back for a second sandwich. She did the same when the boys stopped for ice cream. Oh wait, my real favorite, was when she pawned us off on her husband (who, by the way, is an absolute doll) because she double booked. All in all, this woman had a superior attitude and significantly detracted from our Florence experience, one of my favorite European cities. Do not use Paola!

[beantownbaby]

I chose Aldo for our Amalfi Coast tour because I liked that he visited Pompeii at the end of the day, and his wife, Chris, writes on great email in perfect English. On the day of our tour, I saw Aldo waiting for us at the bottom of the stairs, but alas, it wasn't Aldo, it was Carmine. Apparently, Aldo had an emergency dental appointment and sent Carmine in his place. Had Carmine not been such a doll, I might have been upset. We had a fantastic day with Carmine. My nephews, 8 and 10 years old, LOVED him. He took us to a great little restaurant near Positano, and seemed to know a great deal about the area. He was our favorite guide of all the ports we visited. In addition, the guide Aldo arranged for us at Pompeii, Pina, was the best. She made Pompeii come alive for us. Ask for Pina!

[MavisMarie]

Has anyone had experience with Francesco Marrapese as a driver on the Amalfi Coast? I would love to hear your comments.
Thanks

[LILynn]

I just got back from our Med Cruise. We used Stefano and Marco from Rome Cabs in Rome. They were great and I would highly recommend them. They were so knowledgable, friendly, fun and prompt. We got to see a lot more than we expected in the 2 days we were with them in Rome. I would tell anyone to use them.

In Naples we used Mariano Fiorentino. He was awesome. He had such a passion for the area. He showed us Sooreento, Amalfi, Positano, and Revello and then we went to Pompeii for a few hours. I loved every minute we spent with him and he was also a little less expensive than some of the other drivers I had contacted and well worth every penny.

Have a great trip!

Lynn

[basler]

I can recommend two driver guides for Tuscany. If you're a group of four or more and need a calm, well-informed driver, Giovanni Sirabella is great. He has air-conditioned minivans and does shore tours of Tuscany out of Livorno. [URL="http://www.sunflower-tours.com"]www.sunflower-tours.com[/URL]. For four or less, Angie does great wine tours. I use her if I have friends along and we plan to "taste" a lot of wine. Air-conditioned car, highly knowledgeable about all things Chianti. [COLOR=#008000][URL="http://www.greve-in-chianti.com/angela.htm"]www.greve-in-chianti.com/[B]angela[/B].htm[/URL] [/COLOR]

[mountainmare]

Over a year in advance I booked with Claudio for Florence and Rome based on reviews on cruise critic.
I asked who our guides would be and was given Fabrizio for Florence and Claudio himself for Rome. I confirmed this two days before we left.
Because we are history buffs I was specific about what we wanted to see in Rome, and that going into the Coliseum and walking in the Roman Forum were important. We were debating about the guide for the Vatican, or even going to the museum but decided that private guided tour would make seeing the Vatican museums (Sistine chapel) doable.
First--Fabrizio was wonderful!!!! Please request him!!!!

We arrived at in port--one person from another group had been told that Claudio's van was broken, then when we met our guide Roberto we were told Claudio was sick. You can read in detail what happened in my trip report about our Oct 5-17 Millennium cruise. But the guide listened to talk radio when driving to Rome. We had to literally have a fight with him about the forum and the Vatican guide for 120 euros did not gain us any advantage in the line--as a matter of fact we lost time by waiting for him,he was nasty and was a crook who over charged us to get into the Vatican and then ripped off everyone by getting paid twice.
Lesson learned---even if you are very very careful and ask the right questions you can still be taken!!
In any case: AVOID ROBERTO!!!!!DO NOT GET A PRIVATE GUIDE FOR THE VATICAN!!!

[crusana]

Hi,
Add [url]www.benvenutolimos.com[/url] to the list. We just used them and they were excellent!!
crusana

[Kenwoody]

We just returned from our cruise in Oct. , we used Limo in rome , Claudio Caponera was our guide in Florence, he was wonderful. He gave us a lot of tips and it was a very enjoyable day. Then Claudio booked us with Carlo for our Rome tour, whom we also enjoyed and would recommend. He booked a guide for the Vatican, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peters Basilica 120 euro, she was well worth the money. Our last was Fabrezio in Naples who took us to Amalfi Coast and Pompeii, he was a lot of laughs. And he took us to our favorite eating spot in Positano. All men were different, but all were enjoyable and knew the history. I would repeat all tours and recommend all 3.
This is such a neat trip, you will enjoy.
My only negative was don't eat at Nino's in Rome. Stuffy waiters and had better food elsewhere.

[mountainmare]

Kenwoody--we also loved Fabrizio.

We had contacted Claudio over a year in advance and had been e-mailing him about our interests. I know that things sometimes happen, but a few weeks before our cruise there was a post by someone else that Claudio had farmed out to another, not very good guide for their group.
Even though arrangements were made in advance, and it was October--somewhat off season (we were there Monday Oct 9, another cruise critic group had their guide switched by Claudio Sunday Oct 8--but were happy with who they got) I felt that we not only got the bottom of the barrel, but that the Vatican guide was definately a con-man.
We still had the trip of a life time, and other people on our cruise also had glitches with other tour companies.
This is just a heads up that even with all the research and preparation you do--things may not turn out as planned.

[PTC]

[quote name='mountainmare']Kenwoody--we also loved Fabrizio.

We had contacted Claudio over a year in advance and had been e-mailing him about our interests. I know that things sometimes happen, but a few weeks before our cruise there was a post by someone else that Claudio had farmed out to another, not very good guide for their group.
Even though arrangements were made in advance, and it was October--somewhat off season (we were there Monday Oct 9, another cruise critic group had their guide switched by Claudio Sunday Oct 8--but were happy with who they got) I felt that we not only got the bottom of the barrel, but that the Vatican guide was definately a con-man.
We still had the trip of a life time, and other people on our cruise also had glitches with other tour companies.
This is just a heads up that even with all the research and preparation you do--things may not turn out as planned.[/quote]

Did you contact Claudio and let him know you were dissatisfied with the driver ? The guide his company booked at the Vatican? And his response was?????

PTC

[NANCYR2]

The tours and guides we booked for our Oct cruise were wonderful. All of our tours were booked months in advance.

We booked Claudio's company(limoinrome.com) for Florence and Rome. We had a driver and an excellent guide(Claudia). She made our day. We saw so much. In Florence we had Daniele, and he was great. We were to have Claudio, but he was ill. The day in Florence was super, we passed up going to Pisa and toured the the Tuscany countryside.

Salvatore and Nello were are drivers for the Amalfi Coast. We were a group of 16, so we needed 2 vans in some areas. We had lunch in a hillside cafe enjoying Italine cuisine and local wine. It was a perfect day.

In Nice we booked revelation-tours and had Michel Legrand. He was so professional and kept us on a schedule, so we could see the most in the 9 hours we were with him.We loved the village of Eze, St Paul, Tourettes, Monte Carlo, Flower Market of Nice.

These tours made this cruise on the Millennuim so memorable.


Nancy

[mountainmare]

I have heard back from Claudio--and I admit that I did write my review before contacting him. But the facts of our Rome tour would still be the facts.
I realize that his windsheild was broken the day before he was to meet with Nancy and her group in Livorno. We were warned by Fabrizio that Claudios van was damaged and we might get a different guide in Rome.
In Rome we were told that Claudio was sick (Claudio did say that his van was damaged and was not repaired for five days--and he did catch a cold, something that as cruise passengers we did want to avoid).
I know that finding a guide for 8 people in Rome at the last moment is difficult. We would probably not have been as dissappointed if it wasn't the problem with both Roberto, who we knew was a driver, not a liscenced guide and the Vatican guide.
Claudio advised that if we not satisfied we should have asked for a partial refund.
With someone yelling into the phone (in rapid Italian--I had learned a little, but not enough to follow everything) asking for a partial refund did not occur to us.

So--again the bottom line is--
Things can go wrong.
It is YOUR vacation--speak up and let the driver know if there is anything that YOU have dreamed about seeing and would be very disappointed to miss.
If you are extremely unhappy with the service provided, have the courage to tell the driver at the end of the tour--do not be shy.
I don't know if Roberto would have felt that he could offer a partial refund for our Vatican situation, but I am sure that Claudio himself would have tried to make things right.

Talking with members of Nancy's group I know that they lucked out with a good replacement for Claudio in Livorno and had a great guide booked through Claudio for Rome.

We had a great guide booked through Claudio for Livorno and were not so lucky in Rome.

Another group, through a completely different company had a guide message them right before Naples saying that they were not showing up for a group of 16 people.
Other passengers did not like their guide booked through the ship.

You hear good and bad for all cruises, all cruise lines in all ports.
This is not to ruin Claudio's business--this can happen with any company you use.

I just want people to be better travelers and informed consumers when booking tours not only in Europe but anywhere!!!

Linda

[Queenk2]

I still vote for Nello for the Amalfi coast..a terrific and professional individaul. He is entertaining and very well versed in the history of the area. He can be reached at [email]info@drivesorrento.com[/email]

[NANCYR2]

Nello was terrific!!!!

Nancy

[BarbMatt]

Just got off a Med Cruise last week and for the Naples port we used Marcello Maresco of [URL="http://www.seesorrento.com"]www.seesorrento.com[/URL] - words cannot describe the amazing time we had with him - so good I didn't even want to return back to the ship. I'm actually in the midst of posting a review on his tour. Reasonably priced and amazing guy - not a big company - he's your guy - remember it's about the "experience". He's the guy for you if you're interested in seeing anything around Naples - like the Amalfi Coast. His website outlines details.
Good luck
: )

[Karamel2373]

Without a doubt, Giovanni, from Tour of Italy is the absolute BEST!! We took the Amalfi Coast drive with him and it was the most spectacular time. He really made it a special day. [URL="http://www.tourofitaly.com"]www.tourofitaly.com[/URL]

You will not be dissapointed!

[kbemje]

Can anyone give me some feedback on the above tour/drivers?

Thanks!
Bonnie from Atlanta

[alinehu]

I can talk about Benvenuto.Thats quality, you can book them with your eyes close.Their services were excellent and a highlite of our trip.

[kbemje]

Our Emerald Princess group has a reservation for 2 vans with Salvatore's company. Salvatore is the driver of one of his vans and the other is Roberto of his company. I hope that this is not the same Roberto that others wrote about but it is in a different city. I have also asked Salvatore to get us a private licensed guide for Pompeii since we will be cramming it into 2 hours.

I am thrilled with Salvatore. Has anyone used Roberto of Drive Amalfi? If so, I would appreciate your feedback.

Bonnie from Atlanta

[bandmom1]

[quote]Has anyone had a problem with Daniele responding to an email.It has been several days since I contacted him.
Joan
[/quote]Joan, I corresponded with DiR for over 6 months and they were always very prompt and efficient :o

I just returned last week from our wonderful cruise in the Med :D

I will never use another company when I return to Italy. Drivers in Rome were prompt, efficient, FUN, very informative. I never felt unsafe with their driving. I used them in Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast, Rome and Florence. Our driver was Manny and he was GREAT !

Wonderful company to deal with !!!!!!!

:o Vicki

[Past it]

I booked driverinrome 12 months out and was expecting Daniele,was very disapointed when he wasn't on the dock. We had Guiseppe,who explained that Daniele doesn't do many tours now,too busy. well I soon got over my disapointment as we had the best day in Rome. We saw heaps and had a lot of fun as well.No one could have made our day better :D

[Bunky3131]

If you are looking for a great driver, bed and breakfast, wonderful food and and all around terrific time, you must use DriverinRome. They made our trip even more special. They arranged all our tours, got tickets for us, took us to restaurants that were off the tourist track and had the best food ever. Thank you Remo, Angela, Daniele, Luka and the rest of the group. You were wonderful. We will be back. Anne and Bill Plutt, Clarkesville, GA

[Jade0308]

We used RomeinLimo in Rome and Sorrento Limo at the Amalfi coast. Perfect service, promptness, etc. from both.