Which ports should I book a private tour?

[Bincent]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if I could get a little advice about which ports would be better to arrange a private tour/taxi/limo. After reading a number of threads on here, I've gotten an impression that I should just go with the Ship excursions for some of the ports because some ports just don't have tour companies that are worthwhile (or reliable). :o

 

I really don't mind spending the time to research and book the private tours but I need somewhere to start off. I'm not sure if there is one tour company that covers all of those locations, but any recommendations on tour companies would be helpful.

 

These are the stops that the ship will be stopping off at..

Barcelona, Spain,

Nice (Villefranche), France,

Florence/Pisa(Livorno),Italy,

Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy,

Naples/Capri, Italy,

Santorini, Greece,

Athens (Piraeus), Greece,

Dubrovnik, Croatia,

Venice, Italy

 

This is the itinerary for the Celebrity Summit on July 21-Aug 2, 2009.

 

Also, what is the approximate cost that I would be looking at when hiring a private tour/taxi? Right now it would just be my wife and I but it may be possible to hook up with some other CC members to bring down the cost.

[mountainmare]

Please read this post http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=974252&highlight=

The most important think is to take a good look at your travel style and comfort zone. Go to your rollcall--I am sure that people have already started to form private tours there.

I am assuming that this is not your first cruise, but is your first Med. cruise. just be aware that this is very port intensive and that you cannot se everything--even with a private guide so only you can decide what to pick and choose. In general--with sharing with other cc members when we have taken private tours plan on spending less than ship tours. A very rough estimate would be to plan on 100euros pp for each port day (sometimes more--most of the time less) if you are having lunch and going into museums.

[Longin2cruise]

For Athens I recommend that you do NOT take a ship's excursion. The port is quite a ways from Athens proper & traffic is as horrible as I've ever seen anywhere including Istanbul. We spent most of our 6 hour tour of Athens stuck in traffic jams & breathing diesel fuel. In the past I've read here about people using the subway very successfully. If you're not comfortable doing that then I would say go with a private tour. Private operators seem to know how to maneuver in traffic much better. As terrible as this sounds, I did not enjoy Athens at all & it was largely due to the traffic problems. Wish I had investigated more before the cruise. Hopefully you can get together with someone on your roll call to share the cost.

 

As for Rome, traffic is bad there also but not as bad as Athens. I recommend that you consider using Rome Cabs which is actually a limo service. They get good reviews both here & Trip Advisor. You can check out their website at http://www.romecabs.com

Here again, perhaps you can find someone on your roll call to share the price.

[Fafos]

Here are some posts about Athens and Santorini:

 

Athens: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=940363

 

Athens: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=976078

 

Santorini: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=978893

 

Rent a car: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=976706

[sandinmyshoes]

I can help you with advice for Florence/Pisa, Rome, Naples/Capri, Dubrovnik, Venice, and Barcelona.

 

For Barcelona I would recommend taking the hop on hop off bus. It's quick, efficient, cheap, and takes you everywhere I can think you might want to go. We did private tours in most ports, but this one was easy to do on our own and save money by just using the "hoho bus". You should be able to google "Barcelona" and "hop on hop off bus" and get their direct website telling you the stops, where to catch it from the ship, etc. The fare includes personal earbuds so you can hear the commentary on what you are passing. It's very informative and interesting.

 

For Croatia I would just suggest taking a taxi to the walled city and from there just doing it on your own. It's a very confined area, easy to navigate and you can't get lost. There lots of things to see here and you can climb the stairs and walk the wall to get a great view of the sea and the city if you are interested. I think that costs a small fee though. Try taking some side streets not many people are going down because you will find the most interesting shops with great prices on nice souveniers that are out of the ordinary.

 

Now for all stops in Italy, I highly recommend skipping the 40 - 50 person bus tours through your cruise line. You can actually get cheaper and more interesting costumizable tours by going with a private company. The one we used was Rome in Limo (http://www.romeinlimo.com). Although their name says limo, they don't drive limos because you just can't get around in the confined cultural areas in a large car. They drive new clean Mercedes Benz vans and sedans. We used them in Rome (3 days-precruise), Florence/Pisa, and Naples/Pompeii/Sorrento/Positano/Amalfi Coast. Their driver/guides were safe and spoke clear English and took us to out of the way places of interest as well as the major sites. Their tours were completely customized to our group's interest and they got us back to the ship with plenty of time each day. They gave us an authentic Italian experience along with seeing the major points of interest. We got to chose if we wanted a quick bite to save time and see more or a longer, more traditional meal and all of the places they took us had excellent food at a reasonable price.

 

With the ship's tours you can be stuck on a bus with many other people and have to wait on those who don't have a good sense of time and don't make it back at the prearranged time. This wastes your touring time. Also, they can't get you close to the sites with the big buses so you have to walk more than necessary. Europe is a lot of walking in the first place, why add more when you don't have to? Rome In Limo's drivers always took us right to the front, dropped us off, and were waiting for us at the front at the arranged time. It was great and we got to see a lot more than we ever would have with a ship tour.

 

One more thing...although private tours can be a bit pricey (although worth every penny in my book) you can easily cut the cost to lower than the ship's tours. Just go on your roll call for your ship's sailing and request others join you. I was nervous about being responsible for a group, but it worked out perfectly. Jany, the lady in charge of reservations at Rome in Limo worked out all the details and made it so effortless. I got two other couples from our cruise to join us and I just emailed them before the cruise with a meeting place and time on the ship and then we all got off together and met our drivers. Each couple paid the driver individually at the end of the tour, so I didn't even have to worry about that part. It couldn't have been easier. All of their details and tours are listed on their website, but if you have any specific questions, just send them an email through their web link and Jany will respond. She answered all of my many questions with grace and never made me feel silly for asking what had to be dumb questions. This was a great team and we will be using them again when we go back to the Med next Spring!

 

Good luck and rest up. The jet lag and all those ports will wear you out! It's a fun worn out though and it should help you sleep on the long plane ride back to the States. Enjoy! :)

[secret-agent]

We are on the same cruise as you... we have decided to go it alone at every port apart from Florence/Pisa... where we have decided to take the ships Florence and Pisa on our own tour.

 

After a little research with lonely planet guides and info from here we are looking forward to our go alone days. We are both (my finacee and I) into our photography and just hate being hearded about as ANY tour i've ever been on in my life does... We tend to prefer just walking about places and seeing the sites without getting to into the history or detail of them... we like just walking streets seeing, smelling and tasting life. I guess we are seasoned travellers... me more so than my fiancee... but hoping on and off of trains etc really does not phase me... also I just dont see how the tours are value for money in any way! For instance the Rome VIP tour is £250 a day per person... You could have a weekend in rome inc flights for that! Its all about what you enjoy though and tours just aint for us...

 

But i'd say if you are strugling... live a little and go alone!

[CathyCruises]

That's funny--on our first cruise together in the Med, the only tour we took was in Florence, (not 'on your own') and hated it--swore off all ships' tours after that experience. The itinerary was crazy (they took us to see BOTH the real and fake Davids???), we never had a chance to sit down for 4 1/2 hours, we were constantly waiting for people to show up, and we just detested the herd mentality. The worst part was our lunch--at a lovely old restaurant--where they served us roast beef and mashed potatoes! I was outraged!!

 

Anyway, it taught us a valuable lesson, and we have done all ports on our own since then, saving money and having a much better experience (IOO) to boot.

 

If I ever go back to Florence (avoid it like the plague (or swine flu) now) I will be sure to just wander about on my own and at my own pace--I'm sure I'll have a much better impression of it!

[mountainmare]

Again--please take a good hard look at your own personal comfort zone and the type of traveler you are. Like many other posters here we do not like ship tours (well I think we wouldn't like one--have never taken one) and we only use private tours when the logistics make it unreasonable to go on our own (like getting to the pyramids in Egypt), but this is not the best plan for everyone. Our friends did one day with us and decided to go with tours after that.

Do your research--go to your rollcall--read as much as you can and decide what is best for you.

CathyCruises comment made me smile--for our first trip to Rome we had a private guide and rushed to see everything---I HATED Rome. When our next cruise left from--Rome--I cursed the day I tossed the stupid coin in the stupid fountain, but taking time to get to know the city I got over my grudge. This time we could have flown right out--but took a few days to stay in Rome--so Cathy...don't give up on Florence (did you pet the pig's nose in the market in Florence?)

[KCcruisin07]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if I could get a little advice about which ports would be better to arrange a private tour/taxi/limo. After reading a number of threads on here, I've gotten an impression that I should just go with the Ship excursions for some of the ports because some ports just don't have tour companies that are worthwhile (or reliable). :o

 

I really don't mind spending the time to research and book the private tours but I need somewhere to start off. I'm not sure if there is one tour company that covers all of those locations, but any recommendations on tour companies would be helpful.

 

These are the stops that the ship will be stopping off at..

Barcelona, Spain,

Nice (Villefranche), France,

Florence/Pisa(Livorno),Italy,

Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy,

Naples/Capri, Italy,

Santorini, Greece,

Athens (Piraeus), Greece,

Dubrovnik, Croatia,

Venice, Italy

 

 

We did Florence and Pisa on the shuttle-bus-train with a CC group.

We did Naples as a shore ex to be able to see Capri, Pompeii, and the Amalfi Coast. You can take the hydrofoil to Capri on your own.

Dubrovnik: we took a local bus to the walled city and walked the wall there with pizza at Mea Culpa. (Don't forget to take the original of your passport here.)

Venice: we did Venice on our own seeing St. Mark's Basilica and since it rained we took vaporettos to Burano and Murano. (Loved them!) Be sure to take a small map. The canals are a little confusing.

[Bincent]

Thanks everyone for all the fabulous information.

 

I also detest being herded around in large groups. There are too many variables at play and it takes much longer to do things vs. smaller groups.

 

We're in our 30's and pretty active, so walking around isn't an issue. My wife likes to shop and I like to sight see... unless she's getting a fantastic deal or it's an item that can only be bought in the location we're in, I am usually able to convince her that she can shop when we're back home... :rolleyes:

 

Since this is our first time in Europe, we don't want to waste our time in transportation and trying to figure out local bus/trains (unless it's really simple)... that's why I'm thinking that a taxi/guide/driver would be easy to deal with.

 

I've already signed up in the roll call and the Connections party for this sailing so I'm sure that we'll be able to arrange something with other CC members.. :)