onivek

We booked three tours with Italy Tours on our recent NCL Escape cruise - small group Etna/Taormina tour out of Messina, small group Amalfi Coast/Pompeii tour out of Naples, and a private tour out of Livorno to Florence and Pisa . Each of these tours was wonderful, and each was better than the last. In Messina, we got off to a bit of a rough start when other members of the tour went to the wrong meeting point (in their defense, the NCL signage and instructions definitely left something to be desired). Our driver Gabriele was understandably stressed as a result of the delayed start, but he handled it professionally and successfully managed to find our missing people and make up that lost time. Gabriele was engaging and informative, full of fun recipe suggestions for me during our stop at Oro d'Etna, and did a great job showing us around the craters at Mt. Etna. He was prompt and professional for our pickup in Taormina and we felt confident in his driving and navigation skills. In Naples, we had Giuseppe as our guide and Alfredo as our driver. In Pompeii, our guide was Gino. All three were SO FUN! We had such a great time with all the commentary, and they were informative and funny. Pick up and transportation was smooth and prompt, and the tour itself was really wonderful and well run. The Amalfi coast was beautiful, and although we didn't get as much time at Pompeii as we had hoped (owing to traffic, which they absolutely warned us about!), Gino did a fabulous job of hitting the highlights. And then Florence and Pisa ... We cannot say enough good about Carlo and Sylvia! They were absolutely FANTASTIC. Fun, engaging, informative, responsive, helpful... just everything we had hoped for in this private tour. They were lovely about making sure we saw and did all that we wanted to see and do, and we absolutely LOVED this tour! Cristina was wonderful to work with in setting all of this up, and communication before, during and after the tours was excellent! I also want to mention that we were traveling with my mom, who has some mobility issues, and every single one of these drivers and guides was patient, compassionate and kind. I would, without hesitation, recommend Italy Tours and each of these drivers and guides.

I, too, booked my cruise (online) and later received a voicemail and email from a gentleman introducing himself as my PCC. However, several days later when I called with some questions, he denied that he was my PCC, told me he didn't have time for me, didn't know how I had possibly gotten his name or extension, etc.. He said he'd call me back when he was available. That was 4 months ago... Of course, I have since called back and spoken to other representatives, and some were more pleasant than others, and some were helpful and others much less so. It's pretty inconsistent. This is my second NCL cruise, and I'm sadly finding that this seems to be typical. It's unfortunate. they have great itineraries, but my experiences with customer service so far have been rather lacking.

So... does this mean that airport testing is no longer an option? We sail in the June 30 Escape out of Rome, and the original email we received indicated these two options PLUS the option to test at the Rome airport upon departure. But this (which matches the email we received) doesn't seem to contemplate that. Does that mean that Italy is no longer offering testing at the airport as of those dates?