Recommendations on Alain Dream Tours or Michel of Revelation Tours

Six of us will be cruising with Brilliance of the Seas in early June 2005. We have never been to the Mediterranean, but have traveled quite extensively. The two tour operations for private tours in Villefranche appear to be the above I just mentioned. I would appreciate any feedback on them, as well as recommendations for private tours to:

Taormina, Sicily

Livorno, Italy

Barcelona, Spain

Thanks in advance for any help.

Doc in Atlanta

We used Dream Tours last year in September when we were in Monaco. We didn't actually have Alain, though I dealt with him and he was very efficient, answering emails promptly etc. I originally chose him because he did not need a deposit or payment up front.

We had Jean Marc and he was terrific. We went to Eze and St. Paul de Vence and my husband said it was the best day of our cruise even though we had been to the South of France previously.

We had Jean Marc to ourselves and he was a most pleasant and personable guide. I would definitely recommend Dream Tours.

Jennie

I would recommend Michel with Revelation Tours. He is a gentleman and was very knowledgable about the area and his english was completely understandable. We couldn't have enjoyed our day more!

We used Revelation Tours in July. We did not have Michel, but he send another guide who was excellent. Also, I am recommending him because he booked with me at the last minute when another guide cancelled on me a few days before departure. He saved the day for us.

We just booked Michel at Revelation Tours for our cruise next Aug. 1st on Carnival's Liberty. He was prompt and courteous with his emails. We did not need a deposit either. I am sure we will have a wonderful day with him.

Sheryl

We thought Dream Tours was just wonderful when we used them in May of this year. We had Jean-Marc for a driver (he's also a guide and knows a lot about the history of the area, speaks several languages since he is married to an Italian, etc.), and it was a magical day. We have used a lot of private drivers in many ports over the years, and we have not had a bad one (fortunately), but this is definitely one of the best operations.

In Livorno, we used Papillon (http://www.papillonservice.com/index.htm) and had Max for a driver. Max is an interesting guy (race car driver and a lot of other neat hobbies), and was great too.

I love the private tour experience and hope you have a great time.

Donna

Just back from Star Princess Med Cruise .. we had Michel from Revelation Tours at the first stop in Monaco -- What a treat ,, can't say enough good things about this man ,, his professionalism and the wonderful job he did for us .. ( we had 6 people ) on an all day tour -- started at 7:30 am - till 4:30 pm .. You can't get a better tour !!!!!!!!

Highly recommended ........

Joe

We used Revelations and had Isolene as a guide and enjoyed our day with her.

We just booked with Revelation for 10/15/05. Michel gets back to you very quickly when you email him. I'm looking forward to using his services.

Donna

Our family of 4 were on the Millenium 06/26/04 Barcelona Venice for 12 nights...

We had the most enjoyable journey and memories to last a life time...

Part of this great experience was from having reliable, enjoyable, and informative private tour guides in almost all of our ports!!!

Of all the exceptional tourguides we had, Michel Legrand from http://www.relevation-tours.com was the best. His English is top notch...All of us felt that we learned so much from this licensed tour guide, as he was so eager to narrate during our drive, alternating it at times with music to put us in the mood of the region, and with pre-recorded narration by a pleasant American lady's voice...We were each provided with a customized folder with maps and information on the places we would be visiting. Then, at each stop, he would give us an extra copy of a Revelation's customized map of the site and region, with clear directions, and explanations on the site we were visiting, designed to facilitate and enrich our visit of that particular site (for example, Monte Carlo, Cannes, Nice, Eze, or St Paul de Vence...) We found Michel extremely professional, always patiently waiting for us at the sites, showing a lot of enthusiasm when narrating during the drive, and feeling very comfortable throwing in jokes to keep us entertained. We also found this tour to have had the best value, as Michel's discounted rate was lower than the rates by other tour guides in VilleFranche and Italy...He was also very fair. We were late to our appoinment with him for an hour because of the tender situation, yet he did not charge us anything extra. We spent the full 9 hour with him for a very pleasant day, and decided to give him a big tip...We plan to return to Provence, Cannes, Nice , Monte Carlo in Spring of 2005 for a land (non-cruise)vacation, and will certainly use his services again...Also, the free mini-bar in his AC van was a nice perk for a hot summer day...

For Livorno, we used Daniele and Fabritzio Melarago from http://www.driverinrome.com. They were both fantastic, both with a great sense of humor, and serious about taking care of their customers...We were very impressed with their work and business ethics...Needless to say, they both spoke English fluently. Daniele was with us for the Tuscany tour which included Florence, Pisa, and Sienna...Fabritzio was with us on the Amalfi Coast day, and we had a very entertaining time, visiting Ravello, Sorrento, Positano,Pompeii etc...We also plan to go back to the Amalfi Coast during Spring/Early Summer 2006 to also visit Portofino!!!

Enjoy the Med, you can't go wrong with either of these 2 companies...

Kim-LTGL

As a reply to the above, we used Alain as our guide for our group of 18. He was so knowledgeable, pleasant and helpful as were the other 2 guides who traveled with us. I can't recommend him enough! Alain's English is perfect (he even has family in L.A.) and were share his secrets on the bests with his guests. Trust that he will do as he says and that in the end, you will have a wonderful experience.

Mari

Just back from Star Princess Med Cruise .. we had Michel from Revelation Tours at the first stop in Monaco -- What a treat ,, can't say enough good things about this man ,, his professionalism and the wonderful job he did for us .. ( we had 6 people ) on an all day tour -- started at 7:30 am - till 4:30 pm .. You can't get a better tour !!!!!!!!

 

Highly recommended ........

 

Joe

Help, I want his e-mail please!!!Michel Legrand from Revelation Tours and Jean Marc from Dream Tours:eek:

Jennifoof,

I made a typo on the contact info on above post. The correct one is http://www.revelation-tours.com. Once you enter the web, you can e-mail him under "contact.

Kim

Alain's website is www.dream-tours.com and his email address is infos@dream-tours.com.

As I said earlier on, we used his company last year and had Jean Marc who was a great guide.

Jennie

Anyone know what's up with Alain of Dream Tours? I have emailed him twice over the past 3 weeks to set up a tour for next summer and have not received any confirmation yet. I did receive a brief email reply a couple weeks ago that said he would respond in a few days, but I've not heard from him. He seems pretty reliable from what I've read here. I don't know whether to wait for his response or go with another company.

When I communicated with Alain in 2002 for last September, 2003 he was very prompt, in fact I think he always answered straight away. Perhaps he has been extremely busy or had an unseen mishap occur.

I would not give up yet as you do have time on your side.

Jennie

He's probably just really busy!! They do a great job, I'm sure he'll get back to you. Maybe you should just try to contact him again.

Hi

I can't say enough good things about Michel Legrand and Revelation Tours - we had a terrific tour from Cannes to Monte Carlo from our stop in Villefranche during the Galaxy Transatlantic cruise in May.

First, I want to tell you that Michel and Revelation Tours are exceptional for many reasons.

We found out when we boarded the Galaxy that the itinerary had been changed and that we'd be in Villefranche a day earlier than originally planned. With less than 2 weeks notice and during their busy season, Michel was able to make this change for us. Also, as word spread onboard about our Villefranche tour, we asked Michel to accommodate 16 more Cruise Critic folks in 2 minivans, and he did it for us. He had to sub-lease the vans from another company and arrange for these vans to have the same amenities as Revelation Tours vans, but he did it.

Another special note is that Michel and Revelation Tours did not mind if each of our vans - and we had 5 in total - had a different itinerary, nor if we changed the itinerary as the tour went along. Moreover, Michel went out of his way to draft three different itineraries for us based on the interests of our Cruise Critic groups, rather than demanding that we choose from the existing tours in the Revelation Tours brochure.

We had three vans doing an all-inclusive tour - from Cannes in the west to Monaco/Monte Carlo in the east. Two vans visited Nice, Juan les Pins, Antibes, St. Paul de Vence, Eze and looked out over Monaco/Monte Carlo from La Turbie. The start was delayed by an hour by French police checking paperwork and such. And later in the day, the second van developed engine trouble. In spite of that, we all felt the tour was A1 and were not grumbling about these events. Michel approached me - not the other way around - and advised he would not charge us at all for these two tours. He would not listen to us saying we had had an excellent tour in spite of the delays and would not even consider accepting 50% of the tour cost. Our van thought well enough of him and the tour that we tipped him equal to most of the tour cost.

Everyone in all the vans got an information kit with a copy of the itinerary for the day and historical information about the places being visited. Each van - even the non-Revelation Tours vans - offered an audio presentation for each visit site and free non-alcoholic drinks too.

The weather was perfect, the scenery was divine and the service we received was outstanding. We probably had the best shore excursion we've ever had and thought it was a perfect day! You can check out the Revelation Tours web site at http://www.revelation-tours.com or contact Michel Legrand at revelationtours@aol.com

Bev

Agree with all of the comments about Revelation Tours and the great customer service provided by Michel. We had Isolene as our guide and she was superb. If you go with Revelation Tours, you will not be disappointed.

Revelation Tours offers a fixed itinerary as well as a personal itinerary. The fixed itinerary is at a lower cost and they may add others to the group to fill the minivan.

Is there any disadvantage to the fixed itinerary, since it goes to all the places we would request on a personalized private tour? What have others chosen?

We are using Alain from Dream tours next week. He has always answered my e-mails within hours! So far, we are very impressed. We will let you know when we return how it turned out. Also using driverinrome for Florence and Rome.

Does anyone know what the customary tip is above the tour price? We are leaving in two days and would appreciate any help you could give. Thanks!!!

Psygist, the 4 of us went on a personalized tour, cost for this tour in June (in my recollection) was 500 euros...We visited Cannes (at the Film festival), had lunch at the Carlton hotel; visited Nice promenade; then Vence (must not miss); then Monte Carlo; passing by all 3 corniches...Had photo stops at other view places...Eze as well. We had a fantastic 9 hour day...In VilleFranche, one can walk around on one's own after the tour; nice place to hang out at a cafe or to have dinner...

Enjoy, Kim

Linny13, customary tip is 10% and should be sufficient; We tipped 15-25% just because we thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated our guides...

Thanks soooooo much

Linny

Will echo all the excellent comments about Michel of Revelation Tours!! We used him from Villefranche early this month and could not have been more pleased with our tour with him.

Bud Laumann

Galaxy- Rome to Baltimore 9/3-9/17

Six of us just returned from our cruise to the Med. and Michel of Revelation Tours was by far the best tour guide we had!! He was a gentleman, courteous, and had a wonderful sense of humor!! Michel made our trip unforgettable!! He was extremely knowledgable and I have to say of all the ports we toured, Nice, St Paul & Eze are places I would choose to return in a heartbeat!! Don't hesitate to use him.....you will not regret your decision!!

Kathy

Millennium - 9/6/04