Eye707

Hi,

This doesn't have anything to do with this post, but I was wondering if you ever did fly NorwegianAir and, if you did, how did you like it?

Thanks!

irene

I just got an email from Julia yesterday saying she had been away, so maybe you'll get your answer now that she's back...

I'm sorry you had such a different experience with them. I can only write about the experiences we had, and before, during and after our tours I had nothing but excellent ones. Each time I wrote to Julia before our trip I received prompt responses. When I had a question about paying the balance of one of our tours by credit card instead of in euros, she handled that as well without any problem. So I have to stand by my review and commend them for our tours because we really did enjoy their services immensely...

We are a group of 8 adults. We used Smart Cruise Tours for ship excursions in Palermo (Palermo/Monreale/Mondello) and Marseille (Marseille/Aix en Provence/Cassis). What a wonderful, professional company! I was very leery about booking anything but a cruise ship excursion for fear that we would have problems and wouldn't get back to the ship in time. No worries with Smart Cruise Tours! We had drivers/guides that lived in the areas we toured, so they knew all the short cuts and hidden sites that regular tours have to bypass. We were also lucky because we had our own van (spacious, clean and efficient) so we were able to get closer to the sites than the tour bus would be. Our drivers were so personable, too, and we covered so much in so short a time.

Special thanks to Giovanni, our Palermo guide, especially for singing to us in Italian! He was so helpful when we came upon one of those famous instant strikes that Italy has, because he knew how to back-track to get us out of the area. All the tour busses were stuck there. It was obvious that he loved his country and loved showing it to us. Martial, our driver in Marseille was equally knowledgeable, and he lived in Aix en Provence!

If you have any doubts about using this company, please don't. These tours were highlights of our cruise and I will definitely use this company again when we go to Europe in the future!

Are you planning anything for Tunisia? I think we're sitting that port out. Last year's fall cruise there changed the port to Sardinia, and that is my hope for this year. I know each port (and every day, considering what happened yesterday in Boston) can bring something, but I think sailing to a port where there is constant turmoil and they've had problems with Americans in the recent past isn't a place you should be sailing. Sorry to hear that they haven't decided to change it yet, because I wrote and asked last week. They said we will hear from them if they decide to change the port, but only close to the sailing date...

I've done a lot of searching, too. Calvi looks like a relaxing place, and, outside of the Citadel there, don't know if there's too much to explore. Maybe we'll need a restful day anyway. I read in a post that a couple toured the little town, went back to the ship for lunch, and then went back to the beach for a swim - sounds good, but the bunch I'm with only has a couple of swimmers in it to begin with.

We did make reservations for the Pinnacle Grill's Le Cirque dinner that night; the menu looked yummy and we usually go to one of the alternate restaurants for one evening when we cruise. Hope it's worth it!

As for our other ports, I'm all done booking excursions except for Barcelona, that's my next 'job.' I'm surprised at how little choice HAL offers and how expensive some of the excursions are compared to other cruise excursion offerings. I found a nice one that will go to Aix en Provence and Cassis for a whole day which is costing just $20 more than the HAL offering of a 1/2 day in Aix. I read a few reviews where cruisers felt very rushed on their tours and I don't like that. Privately, we can stay as long as we like. Not happy that Marseille is the longest port stop, either, especially since it's on a Sunday. And the tour company we booked with gave me a discount because we booked our Palermo excursion with them as well.

We're on the Noordam June 8th and stopping in Calvi, too. Not too many tours when you go online. I hope someone answers you!

irene