Naples recommendations

[owl61]

We port at 7 am and embark at 5:30 for a 6 pm departure. Can folks who are knowledgeable recommend how we ought to structure our time in this port?

I have been to Pompeii, the wife has not. I would like her to see this site, but I have also read postings that tout Herculaneum as the better of the two. Can we take in both? Is that recommeneded or is the Amalfi coast, Sorrento or another place preferable to seeing both archeological sites?

 

I have read that driver/guides are different than guides for these archeological sites? Is there a driver who is also a good tour guide for the sites? What should I be expected to pay if we put together a group of 6 or 8? Can any other sights sensibly be incorporated into a visit to Pompei and/or Herculaneum?

[nancy anne]

We port at 7 am and embark at 5:30 for a 6 pm departure. Can folks who are knowledgeable recommend how we ought to structure our time in this port?

I have been to Pompeii, the wife has not. I would like her to see this site, but I have also read postings that tout Herculaneum as the better of the two. Can we take in both? Is that recommeneded or is the Amalfi coast, Sorrento or another place preferable to seeing both archeological sites?

 

I have read that driver/guides are different than guides for these archeological sites? Is there a driver who is also a good tour guide for the sites? What should I be expected to pay if we put together a group of 6 or 8? Can any other sights sensibly be incorporated into a visit to Pompei and/or Herculaneum?

 

 

We were in Naples in Oct. We had a private driver/guide by the name of Marcello Maresca. Marcello asked us up front if we wanted to see the Italy created for the tourists or "his" or the real Italy. We chose his and had the best tour of any of our others. We went to the Amalfi Coast, Sorrento and Positano. Rather than going to Pompeii or Herculaneum, Marcello took us to the Stabiae excavations on a hillside overlooking Naples with Mt Vesuvius in the background. The excavation is much smaller than then others but NO crowds and no admission---just off a little dirt road. We were able to see Roman baths and different rooms with intact frescoes in this Roman villa. They are still excavating it and say when it's all done that it may be as large as Pompeii. He took us to an open air family run restaurant on top of mountain and we ate lunch looking down at the Mediterranean Sea. There were no menus----they just kept bringing us different dishes and also provided pitchers of red and white wine, bottled water, dessert and Limoncello. We all thought we had died and gone to heaven!

 

His contact address is marcello_maresca@yahoo.it or marescainfo@seesorrento.com. We paid 550E for 8 people which was much less than the ships tours. Hope this is what you're looking for.

 

Nancy

[dancing]

Nancy Anne

 

Sounds like a great day. Questions---------- was lunch included in his price? if not how much did you pay? and where did you get his name and information from?

One silly question I am still trying to figure out euro's to dollars so how much in US money? Did you meet the other people on board or were you all friends to begin with? I find that meeting up with new people who want to go on an adventure with you is so much fun.

[nancy anne]

Nancy Anne

 

Sounds like a great day. Questions---------- was lunch included in his price? if not how much did you pay? and where did you get his name and information from?

One silly question I am still trying to figure out euro's to dollars so how much in US money? Did you meet the other people on board or were you all friends to begin with? I find that meeting up with new people who want to go on an adventure with you is so much fun.

 

The lunch was another 20E. We met all the other couples on the CC board for our sailing. We started talking almost 14 months before the cruise. We have over 8,000 posts and are still going strong. Since then, we still keep in touch with the others---e-mails, Christmas cards, and on the BOS board. We are already going on a mini-cruise with 3 other couples we met and have plans for a reunion cruise in 2010. We met some long-lasting friends on these boards.

As for the exchange rate between Euros and dollars--not sure what it is now but when we went in Oct we paid 1.43 dollars for 1 Euro.

We got Marcello's name and recommendation from these boards. One of the other gals did a huge research on each port from these boards. She chose drivers in each port by who had the most recommendations and what the cost was. You'll find that it is a competative field, so most of the driver's costs are similar.

 

Nancy

[Mike073]

Our group of 9 managed to get off the ship, were picked up by our guide, and headed to Sorrento for a 45 minute look around. Then off to Positano for about an hour. Neither of these places allowed time for shopping which was OK with everyone involved, but you got to walk though the town for a brief look at all the beauty. On to Amalfi for a wonderful lunch at a cafe at the port. Then up to Ravello again for an hour look around. We got back to Pompeii for about two hours. Not really rushed, but no linger time in the shops anywhere.

 

This being our first time in the area we chose quick look arounds knowing we would be back some day. Going back this summer for two days in the area.

[texancruzer]

We were on the Brilliance 11/23 sailing. Last one before she headed back across for Caribbean sailings this winter. We docked in Naples on 11/24.

 

We booked a driver with APTours with 3 other couples from our sailing. We split the cost 4 ways. This was 125 euros per couple for the whole day. They arranged a private guide for Pompeii for another 25 euros per couple for @ 2 hr. tour. After Pompeii we went to Ravello with free time (@ 1 hr )to explore. Then to Amalfi with free time of @ 1.5 hr (we ate lunch on our own there) then to Positano - also free time (@ 1 hr) and finally to Sorrento. We all chose to ride the ferry back to Naples instead of driving over the same area we had just come. This was 11 euros per person. It gave us more time to visit the villages as it took 30 minutes to ferry and 1 hr to drive back. Also gave us a beautiful perpsective of this gorgeous area from the water. The sunset at the very end was pretty nice too.

 

I agree with the above poster.... this area cannot be fully explored in one day. We chose to get an overall feel and plan to come back :D

[prophotogirl]

We were on the Brilliance 11/23 sailing. Last one before she headed back across for Caribbean sailings this winter. We docked in Naples on 11/24.

 

We booked a driver with APTours with 3 other couples from our sailing. We split the cost 4 ways. This was 125 euros per couple for the whole day. They arranged a private guide for Pompeii for another 25 euros per couple for @ 2 hr. tour. After Pompeii we went to Ravello with free time (@ 1 hr )to explore. Then to Amalfi with free time of @ 1.5 hr (we ate lunch on our own there) then to Positano - also free time (@ 1 hr) and finally to Sorrento. We all chose to ride the ferry back to Naples instead of driving over the same area we had just come. This was 11 euros per person. It gave us more time to visit the villages as it took 30 minutes to ferry and 1 hr to drive back. Also gave us a beautiful perpsective of this gorgeous area from the water. The sunset at the very end was pretty nice too.

 

I agree with the above poster.... this area cannot be fully explored in one day. We chose to get an overall feel and plan to come back :D

That sounds perfect for what I wanna do! Do you still have any info on APTours that you would be willing to share?

[texancruzer]

That sounds perfect for what I wanna do! Do you still have any info on APTours that you would be willing to share?

 

Unfortunately I did not set up the tour package.....another one of the couples sailing with us did.

 

However. If you go to www.aptours.it you will find their home web page. There is info there as well as contact info - your best bet would be to email or call them. Tell them what you want to do and request a quote. I know the price is more or less set and then depending on how many you get to join your "group" the cost goes down for each couple. Originally the couple who organized our tour was only going to have 3 couples but then decided to look for one more couple (lucky us :D ) which really put the price in a very reasonable range.

 

We joined this private tour through our Meet & Mingle roll call thread. If you havent done so - I would suggest that you head over there...... perhaps there is already some people looking for more people to share the day :) If not - put out a request and see if anyone responds.

 

We plan to head back to Italy next spring....land vacation. We loved it !