Private or Cruise Line Tour's

First time to travel to Italy. Is it more economical to use the cruise line for excursions or private companies? How about taking a taxi from the port into the city and do your own excursion? Looking for some direction. Thanks

First time to travel to Italy. Is it more economical to use the cruise line for excursions or private companies? How about taking a taxi from the port into the city and do your own excursion? Looking for some direction. Thanks

There's no simple answer. For someone traveling solo, a cruise tour may be a more economical option than a private tour, unless you want to join a group or get a group together yourself. However, there are many people who don't really enjoy the normal 40-person large bus, slow touring experience and find doing it on your own or a private tour is a better experience, regardless of which is more or less costly.

If you do some reading here and in guidebooks like Rick Steves' Mediterranean Port guides book, you'll find many cities can be done on your own either via public transportation (Rome from Civitavecchia, Istanbul) or simply because the area you'll want to visit is close to the port and walkable (Rhodes, Barcelona).

Impromptu taxi tours may not be the best option in Europe. Gas is expensive and drivers charge accordingly.

Most of us that opt for private tours and avoid ship tours usually do so not for reasons of economy but rather to avoid the dreaded bus and throngs of fellow passengers --some of whom selfishly delight in holding up those who are on time or whom delight in monopolizing the tour guide. With private tours no such problems. And more importantly you can set your own agenda based on your interests. If you travel with another couple it might save you a little money ---but if there are two of you it will usually cost more. IMHO it is usually worth it. Frankly in most ports we are DIY preferring to strike out on our own without any schedule constraints.

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We have had good success joining with others on our roll call for shared tours--keeps the cost low and it is much easier dealing with 6 or 8 than 45-50 other pax!

Often it is easy to DIY if the port is right by town (such as Monte Carlo or Rhodes) or near good public transportation. The Rick Steves' Mediterranean port guidebook really can help on this issue.

If not, then arranging private tours for either six or eight people through your cruise's roll call will result in a much better experience IMO than going by bus and waiting in the restroom lines for 40 others. Simply having 40 getting on or off a bus takes up precious touring time.

We very rarely take any ship excursions. Mainly we DIY or book with a local tour company. It just needs a bit of planning and research, but that's also part of the fun.

First, as already mentioned above start researching your ports and figure out what you want to see. Then, if you haven't already checked in with your cruise's roll call, please do so.

Even if you elect to go with the ship's excursions the research will help you pick out your excursions. With that said, while ship's excusions can be the easiest as already mentioned above IMO they're not ideal.

A couple of years ago I made the mistake of being talked into taking ship excusions in Sicily, Athens and Ephesus - lets just say NEVER again (normally). Besides a large bus, people who never return when they're suppose to, etc my biggest complaint was for the most part you're going to very congested tourist areas - and you're not the only group.:eek: In Athens and Ephesus after our tour guide handed us our tickets we lined up to enter, and well we never saw (or heard) our guide again till we were getting back on the bus. :( (This was no fault of the tour guide - the crowds can just so large it's impossible to keep a group of this size together.)

So, that brings us to your roll call. I've found in getting together with other people from my cruise we can get a small group (10 to 12) to go see just what we want to see, a tour guide who can/does stay with us, and a very enjoyable experience. Plus, and it's a big plus, often this is done at a cheaper price than the ship's excursions. So, why doesn't everyone do it you're asking? Well, you need to do your homework and 1) find a reliable company - yes, there's unscrupulous/unreliable companies out there, 2) have someone organize it, 3) have a back up plan, and 4) understand if anything goes wrong which keeps you from getting back to the ship the ship isn't going to wait for you. You remember how I said never again to ship excursions, well there are times to seriously consider them. On a recent cruise we wanted to go to a particular Mayan ruin which was a considerable distance from the port - considering how long the ship was in port we just weren't comfortable going off on our on, and elected the ship's excursion.

Also, you don't mention your ports but please don't rule out the possibility of DIY. As you start your research you'll find Europe is very tourist "user friendly". For the most part ground transportation is readily available, and normally rather inexpensive. (However don't be fooled by the cost for one - multiple it by the number in your group, e.g., Leonardo Express train from FCO to Rome is 14 euros a person - a good deal for two people, but if there's three or four in your group I'd pay 48 euros for a cab.)

As you develop your plan come back with questions, and you'll find there's plenty of answers.

Depends on the port.

Research each port. Check the roll call for your cruise.

Use TripAdvisor's map of the city to find the key sites.

CC is a great source of information. What ports are you visiting?

We are traveling to the following ports:

Florence/Pisa, Cannes, Palma Majorca, Barcelona, Naples, Rome.

Dumb question; What is a cruise roll call?

We are traveling to the following ports:

 

Florence/Pisa, Cannes, Palma Majorca, Barcelona, Naples, Rome.

Dumb question; What is a cruise roll call?

Look under cruise critic's boards under the ship, then find the date of your cruise.

Florence, you should find some good private tours, compare them with the ship's.

Cannes, you can do on your own, unless you take a tour of another city like St. Paul de Vence.

Barcelona, easily do on your own, using metro. Or you can organize a tour on cc with Barcelona Day Tours.

Naples, you can do on your own, take the train to Pompeii or a tour to Capri and the Amalfi coast.

Rome, check out Rome in Limo, or you can DIY Rome on your own. Take the train.

Search on cc.

In Naples, if there is a shore excursion to Herculaneum, I would take that. But generally ships tours are just not that good due to all the reasons mentioned above. We enjoyed Herculaneum much more than we did Pompeii, and we were in Pompeii about 12 years ago before they removed a lot of the statuary and murals with the "naughty bits" exposed (those are now in the Archeological Museum in Naples, which I hear is worth a visit). The day we did the Herculaneum tour, we got back to the ship by Noon, then took a cab to the Museum, which was closed due to a one-day strike by the workers there.

In Naples, if there is a shore excursion to Herculaneum, I would take that. But generally ships tours are just not that good due to all the reasons mentioned above. We enjoyed Herculaneum much more than we did Pompeii, and we were in Pompeii about 12 years ago before they removed a lot of the statuary and murals with the "naughty bits" exposed (those are now in the Archeological Museum in Naples, which I hear is worth a visit). The day we did the Herculaneum tour, we got back to the ship by Noon, then took a cab to the Museum, which was closed due to a one-day strike by the workers there.

Herculaneum is also very easy to reach by train; we had a great time there, went on to Sorrento on the train for lunch and sightseeing, then took the hydrofoil back to the ship--one of our best days ever!!

First time to travel to Italy. Is it more economical to use the cruise line for excursions or private companies? How about taking a taxi from the port into the city and do your own excursion? Looking for some direction. Thanks

If you do a private tour for two of you it can be more than a ships tour. But that depends on what tour you would have done and what private tour you are considering. If you add people then usually price per person goes down. Often roll calls can help to facilitate sharing the tours.

I would look at both. I read recommendation on CC and I also read ones on TripAdvisor.com

Now, this is me but one of my decision factors is where we want to go and what time the ship is leaving. If I am concerned about getting back in time I might go with the ships tour or if I go with the private tour I will have them get us back even with more pad. Traffic can be an unknown as it is anywhere in the world so you don't want to be in a situation where you are caught in traffic and miss the ship.

I come from the school on this where I look at all options. Essentially I look at this as a tool chest and I study the port of call, decide what we would like to see, and then determine whether to do it on our own, via a ships tour or via a private tour and select the method (as you would a tool) that I believe is a good match for the touring we plan to do.

In my case, we usually do a mixture of all of the above.

I posted this recently but sometimes it is the ships tour that gets us to places we would not be able to get to on a private tour whereas sometimes it is in reverse.

Keith

Often it is easy to DIY if the port is right by town (such as Monte Carlo or Rhodes) or near good public transportation. The Rick Steves' Mediterranean port guidebook really can help on this issue.

If not, then arranging private tours for either six or eight people through your cruise's roll call will result in a much better experience IMO than going by bus and waiting in the restroom lines for 40 others. Simply having 40 getting on or off a bus takes up precious touring time.

Read this book, it will help you determine what cities you can do on your own. For us in Italy we do virtually everything on our own.

One of the things you get in Italy is large capacity taxis.

We are a family of five which often means getting two taxis, but in Italy we can fit into one,

We made a trip from Livorno to Pisa return, with a two hour stop-off for €120. The wifi was the best we had all week :).

From someone who did their first cruise overall on your same iten, here is how we did it (family of 4)

1) Rome - Our port of origin. Far away from the city. We did it DYI (because we stayed 2 extra days). Using the cruise ship tours made a HUGE amount of items to accomplish in a single day (Vatican, coliseum, etc) and personally, I wouldn't have enjoyed it. Doing a private tour would have been more relaxing (being in a car vs that bus) but the activities would have still been to much. Doing a DYI here requires a lot of planning, because of distance, traffic, and so many activities. My answer, if you are just stopping and not starting from here, private tour for more $

2) Florence - to me, the more important port of the trip. We did a private tour here, from a teacher specifically trained to work with children. Once again, this port is FAR away from the 2 locations people visit. Like Rome, if you plan to DYI here, you need to plan this out. Always buy your tickets in advance. Pisa is completely DYI, and wont take long if you did your advance work. Florence is amazing, but is easily walkable, and you won't get lost. Because we had children I think our investment was worth it, but if you had a reliable shuttle service to and from the cities, you could easily DYI this port. Getting to the cities is the issue

3) Cannes - can't say, we did Marseille

4) Palma - We did this DYI. got a taxi at the port, knew where we wanted to go, did the beach, taxi back to the port directly from a stand at the beach. Went grocery shopping while near the beach. No issues what so ever, and I can't see how there would be any value using a tour.

5) Barcelona - In hindsight, we screwed this up. We did a DYI here, and while its easy to get a taxi and go anywhere cheap, we were ill prepared for how much there was to do here. We wasted the day away by just doing the aquarium (which was average at best) and shopping in the big outdoor market, which was the same things from booth to booth. There was so much more we could have done here, and the little we did, it did not give me the incentive to go back. I could see how a tour, either from the cruise or a private tour, would be beneficial.

6) Naples - We did the boat tour here, and honestly, it was ok. we decided to do the tour of Sorrento, a city I now would love to call home, and skip the mountain. Sorrento is a bit away from Naples, but nothing like Rome or Florence. I can't imagine driving it, and a taxi would be a little pricy, but once in the city, there is no need for a guide. Go down to a hotel on the docks, pay the fee and rest or walk around the city and buy things in the market. If we had a good shuttle, I doubt we would have needed the boat tour.

In southern France we did a boat tour to a tiny village for shopping and some time on the beach. It was the better of the 2 boat tours we did, and if you didn't know French, it would have been much more helpful than it was for me. I loves seeing the little French towns, and being able to use some of my horrible French skills in live action. The tour was basically a DYI to go around these villages, but the shuttle to and from them took me to places I wouldn't have done in a DYI.

Overall, you need to plan out what you want to see in these areas, and then determine what is better for you. a private tour is more $, a boat tour is more people, and a DYI is more "you". I enjoyed a mix of all 3, it took off the stress of me having to do everything.

Keep in mind many private tours are just drivers, not guides. This is fine for somewhere like the almafi coast, where it is pretty self explanatory, but I wanted a tour of major historical sites to learn more about them. Rick steves has a great ap of audio guides

We did this tour in Barcelona and it was the best tour of the trip. Not expensive and can easily be done with a group of people or on your own. I never had such a good time and saw so much and you do it on your own schedule as to what you want to see. We walked to the place from the ship.

http://www.viator.com/tours/Barcelona/Barcelona-GPS-Guided-GoCar-Tour/d562-5576BCNGOCAR?pref=204&aid=m5543