Pompeii Guides

[janoma]

We have booked AP Tours for a Pompeii/Amalfi Drive tour, but at this point have not had them book us a guide for Pompeii. I recently had someone tell me that, when you arrive at Pompeii, there are guides for hire there. Has anyone gone this route - and is the price essentially the same as the ones associated with our tour cos.? (110E)

[Pandora2im4]

Hi Janoma -

 

There are guides for hire at Pompeii. As soon as you walk into the Scavi, you will see them, hanging out by the ticket counter. If I remember correctly, they are somewhere between e30-50. When DH and I were there last October there were at least 20 of them hanging around in groups of 3&4 passing the time. If there are any ruins of particular interest to you, be sure to let them know.

 

Our experience: We didn't do this trip from a cruise. We combined a 10-day tour of Venice/Florence/Rome with our own wandering around southern Italy for about a week, and took the train down from Naples on our way to Sorrento. Time was not one of our primary considerations - instead of taking a guide we had a nice guidebook and map of the ruins, and wandered around for about 6 hours on our own.

 

Have a great trip!

 

Karen

[texancruzer]

Janoma: we also used APTours and we had them hire a guide for us for Pompeii. We paid 100 euros. Guess it has gone up a bit ????

 

The guides waiting outside the gates (make sure they are licensed !!!!!) usually charge the same amount.....but what they do is try to get a group of 10 and charge 10 euros per person. I would imagine if you wanted to just have a private tour and pay the full amount then they would do it.

 

But if the price is the same.....why not just have APTours arrange one for you ? They will be waiting for you at the gate (your driver will know who it is) and off you go.....no hassle. Our guide, Pina, was really good. She really made the place come alive for us. It is huge and without a guide you really have a hard time knowing what you are looking at etc.

 

Have fun with APTours......this was my favorite day of our first Med cruise !!! They kept us on schedule without making us feel like we were on one. We got to see everything we asked for.

[janoma]

Thanks...I am hoping to be able to use their guide...just wondered whether we could do better on our own...I'll check with the rest of the group...we are only 4 of us now, but if we get to 6, we can get the guide w/o the price being any higher than the ship's tour (which is what I promised I would "deliver" if they did what I wanted!).

[RachelG]

You have to have a "special" guide for Pompeii. They have to have a special specific-to-Pompeii license. So the regular guide that you hire for the rest of the tour can't do it. But they can arrange for one of the special guides to meet you and guide your group. THis is what we did. We did not want to go with a group of 10 people that we didn't know. There were 5 of us, and that worked out perfectly.

[CoralReef]

We were there a few weeks ago (5/28) and there were plenty of licensed guides. The standard price was 10 euros per person, and they took groups of 10 people. We didn't have any problem with the group size, and the guide was good.

 

Whether or not you take a tour, after you buy your tickets, make sure you step over to the Tourist Information booth and ask for the free guidebook and map. They are really good, with nice photos of every attraction, but you have to ask for them.

[jchiefs13]

CoralReef - thanks for your comments. They're definitely going in my trip planning notes and alleviate my concerns about getting a guide ahead of time!!

 

Judy

[Roadtripster]

I am thinking of booking the same APTour as you did.

 

I am just not sure which port to say I am going to be at. I see they say pick up at Naples port or pickup at Sorrento port.

 

I am on the RCI Navigator of the Seas. Can't figure out where I will be at.

 

I really want to see the Amalfi area and Pompeii is a given must see. I tend to lean towards all the historical places I have seen or read about to visit.

[texancruzer]

I am thinking of booking the same APTour as you did.

 

I am just not sure which port to say I am going to be at. I see they say pick up at Naples port or pickup at Sorrento port.

 

I am on the RCI Navigator of the Seas. Can't figure out where I will be at.

 

I really want to see the Amalfi area and Pompeii is a given must see. I tend to lean towards all the historical places I have seen or read about to visit.

 

Please don' take this the wrong way.....but why wouldnt you know where you will be ??? On the itinerary it should say what port you will be visiting. If it says...... Naples then all you have to do is say Naples and the ship name (Navigator of the Seas) and the date you will be there on the reservation and they will know where you are :D

[SunDapple]

Whether or not you take a tour, after you buy your tickets, make sure you step over to the Tourist Information booth and ask for the free guidebook and map. They are really good, with nice photos of every attraction, but you have to ask for them.

 

Thank you for that great advice, and the link to your pictures as well. They made me even more excited for my cruise. Thanks again.

[Roadtripster]

Please don' take this the wrong way.....but why wouldnt you know where you will be ??? On the itinerary it should say what port you will be visiting. If it says...... Naples then all you have to do is say Naples and the ship name (Navigator of the Seas) and the date you will be there on the reservation and they will know where you are :D

 

I can't find the port names on the itinerary. It just says the city names.

 

I see in some of the cities there are several port areas so I want to be sure.

 

I posted this question on the RCI thread and someone kindly gave me the port names to all the cities. Different names to the ports than the city names.

[texancruzer]

I can't find the port names on the itinerary. It just says the city names.

 

I see in some of the cities there are several port areas so I want to be sure.

 

I posted this question on the RCI thread and someone kindly gave me the port names to all the cities. Different names to the ports than the city names.

 

 

I guarantee if you book a private tour and give them the city name of the port, the ship name and the date ...... they will know where to find you :D That is their job....

 

If you are still concerned - voice your concerns in the email correspondence you will have with them when booking the tour..... we have never had a problem. (Be sure it is a reputable well recommended company ;))

[Roadtripster]

I guarantee if you book a private tour and give them the city name of the port, the ship name and the date ...... they will know where to find you :D That is their job....

 

If you are still concerned - voice your concerns in the email correspondence you will have with them when booking the tour..... we have never had a problem. (Be sure it is a reputable well recommended company ;))

 

Thanks for the tip. I am sure they will know where I am at. It is mainly for me, so I could figure out what tours to click on and read about and get a price idea.