Pompeii: DIY or ship's excursion?

[momto3gr8boys]

Hi everyone...I've been reading many suggestions on here and am debating what to do in Naples.

 

As of right now we have the ship's excursion booked (Capri, Sorrento, Pompeii through Royal Caribbean). We are in port from 7-7 and the excursion hours are 7:30-6:15. The excursion includes the hydrofoil ride to Capri, a ride up the funicular, some sightseeing, ride back down, bus to Sorrento, lunch, then the bus ride (claims one hour) to Pompeii. Tour of Pompeii, and then "time permitting" a stop at a cameo factory on the way back. I realize this is most likely going to be "fit in" at the expense of something else because these factories are money makers for the tour.

 

My question is, has anyone ever done this or a similar excursion? Was it worth it? I'm primarily interested in Pompeii, with the others as an interest to see other parts of the area. However, I do want a good tour of Pompeii with a knowledgable guide.

 

I'm starting to lean more towards doing it on my own. If I were to do that, I understand I can take the train to Pompeii and just hire a guide once I'm there. Are they good? Does anyone know of any good independent tours? I'm aware of RIL, however I am looking not so much for a car and driver as I am for a good tour of the actual sites. If I did Pompeii for a few hours, would I have time to head to Sorrento on my own?

 

Any input is appreciated! I have read a number of posts here regarding this, I just haven't come across anyone doing this tour who can tell me how in depth it was at Pompeii. Also, I have read that you can catch a cable car of some sort to the train. Where would you find that?

 

Thanks!

[hylasgirl]

Have you thought about a private tour? It really isn't just about a car and driver. We toured with Romeinlimo on several occasions and they are just fantastic. We hired a private guide at the gate of Pompeii and within our group it didn't add up to much additional money when added up. They really do guide you through a great day... they just cannot accompany you into Pompeii. We had a guide by the name of Lucia and she was amazing! She was coordinated with RIL and everything worked perfectly!

[hall4me]

hi we were on the dream in april and we did the sorrento+pompii tour it was well worth it cause in sorrento time was your own we had a few hours then it was up to pompii which was a in depth tour very good by the way well worth doing the two in one day .keith

[eh2zed]

You can certainly use the train to get to Pompeii and do it at your leisure and then on to Sorrento and return. The guides at Pompeii are all approved so I imagine there is some accreditation process. The main area of Sorrento is very pedestrian although you may want to take the tourist bus down and up the hill to the sea. Very doable and a great day at much less cost. Of course you aren't getting Capri which is a treasure itself.

[sunsetbeachgal]

Great suggestions, however Sorrento is wonderful but most of the little shops (with the exception of the very touristy merchandise ones) close in the afternoon for "siesta". So if you plan to visit there, keep that in mind!

[pete_coach]

We did a similar ship tour 2 years ago. I felt it was very well worth it.

Pompeii is really better if there is a guide. We were there for about 2 hours which, in my opinion was just right. The guide was knowledgeable and we kept moving so we never got bored. There is no place to sit so you are standing or slowly strolling along. 2 hours was enough for us to get a good overview of the city and the event.

The tour also let us off in Sorrento for a couple hours on your own and on the way back, it stopped at a lemon grove/vineyard/olive oil site. It was very nice to see those things. The lunch stop in Sorrento could be tight, lunch is a leisurly event for Italians.

We did not go to Capri and judging by what we did, it seems that with Capri, it would be a very busy day.

What I did find was the the buses had the right of way wherever they went, everybody else backed up or waited for the buses to get away or disembark their passengers. It was also nice to be able to stand up and stretch your legs while en route.

[wcook]

hydrofoil ride to Capri, a ride up the funicular, some sightseeing, ride back down, bus to Sorrento, lunch, then the bus ride (claims one hour) to Pompeii.

That's going to be some bus ride!!

 

Anyway, when we were at Pompeii the ticket buying line was chaos. In additional to helping you understand what you are seeing inside the gates, working with a private guide allows you to cut in front of everybody in line.

[momto3gr8boys]

That's going to be some bus ride!!

 

 

Lol, I meant boat back to sorrento and then a bus from sorrento to pompeii.

[soccermommie]

We did Pompeii on our own using the train. Instead of hiring a guide at Pompeii, we downloaded a Rick Steves audio tour onto our MP3 players. We felt it was a very thorough and informative tour through the site, and we were able to pause the audio guide and look longer/closer as we chose. We liked being able to move at our own pace.

 

We used many of Rick Steves' audio tours (Acropolis, Agora, Colosseum, Pantheon, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica, Forum) for DIY tours. We had a private guide/tour for a few sites as well. For our needs and interests, which may be different than yours, we much preferred the audio tours over the private tours. The private guides seemed to have their own agenda - as you said we were sure to get through the sites quickly enough so that we could visit certain restaurants, vendors, etc. Our preference would have been to spend longer enjoying the history, architecture and ruins rather than enduring a hard sell for items we knew we would not purchase.

 

You can print off maps that go along with the audio tours from Rick Steves' website to take along with you to help navigate through the sites. The audio guides are free, and you can download them onto MP3 players, iphone, android phones and/or ipods.

[William Dean]

As of right now we have the ship's excursion booked (Capri, Sorrento, Pompeii through Royal Caribbean). We are in port from 7-7 and the excursion hours are 7:30-6:15. The excursion includes the hydrofoil ride to Capri, a ride up the funicular, some sightseeing, ride back down, bus to Sorrento, lunch, then the bus ride (claims one hour) to Pompeii. Tour of Pompeii, and then "time permitting" a stop at a cameo factory on the way back. I realize this is most likely going to be "fit in" at the expense of something else because these factories are money makers for the tour.

 

I'm exhausted even reading this!

 

The Capri part of the trip will not give you time to see much. The best bits of Capri are not in Capri Town itself, and you would be doing well to fit in seeing Via Krupp and the views around there. The town itself is just a collection of expensive shops. Anacapri, which is bus or taxi ride away, is far nicer, far quieter and is what I think of as the true part of Capri. It seems this tour will show you the surface, and miss the glories.

 

As you recognise, the Cameo Factory will be the one thing that is not rushed. On the other hand, Pompei will be - my wife and I went to Ercolano which is a much smaller site and found two hours was only enough time there. Pompei is a larger site.

 

Unfortunately, one cannot "do" the Naples area in one visit.....

 

WD

[eyeball652009]

Negotiate a price with one of the many taxis and tour buses after you disembark. You will get a marvellous tour at about 1/3rd of the onboard tours.

[Langley Cruisers]

We took a ship's tour there last week. Having never been to Europe at all, we were simply more comfortable doing a ship's excursion and yes we know, it was way more expensive. BUT, for us the peace of mind was well worth it. Having a guide in Pompei alone was worth it. I cannot imagine trying to negotiate it on your own because it is absolutely huge. We saw people just wandering around with maps; for us, it was great because our guide took us on a very specific route and showed us things that we might not have otherwise found.

 

The cameo factory is at Pompei. It's a large store which obviously the cruise line has a "deal" with; don't poo-poo it too quickly because if you are on a ship's tour, this is where you can use the bathroom for free. :) You can also use the free bathroom next door at the Hotel Vittoria. Anyway, the cameo demonstration was only a few minutes long and it was intricate and fascinating. It will not be offered at the expense of something else; it's a stop on the excursion.

[MeHeartCruising]

On my first Mediterranean cruise (Royal Caribbean) I took the exact cruiseline excursion you describe. At the time, since I was in awe of everything Europe I found it to be a worthwhile long day. However, since then, I have been back to Naples a 3 times on cruises and have found that I much prefer picking a smaller set of locations and focusing on them. In hind site, the megatour really did little justice to Capri. By the time we rode the funicular up, we only spent about 45 minutes walking around and didn't really get to spend much time on our own doing anything. Sorrento really was nothing more than a lunch stop with maybe 15-20 minutes of free time after lunch to walk around on your own. I think it did an OK job with Pompeii (the guide was great), but again, we weren't there much longer than 2 hours. If you have a real interest in Pompeii, I would suggest to go there and get your guide (or just use the guide book they provide) and spend as much time as you want there. The time you spend there will probably depend on the temperature of the day. Going on to Sorrento for lunch might still be worthwhile since you could spend more time there. But I would not do all 3 of them. If you're willing to do it, it's very easy to do Pompeii and Sorrento via the train on your own.

[rsquare]

The cameo factory is at Pompei. It's a large store which obviously the cruise line has a "deal" with; don't poo-poo it too quickly because if you are on a ship's tour, this is where you can use the bathroom for free. :) You can also use the free bathroom next door at the Hotel Vittoria.

 

Just so that the pit stop doesn't become decisive, you should also know that there is a modern building inside the ruins which contains a cafeteria and bathrooms.

 

We've been to Pompeii twice on our own, first time using Rick Steves' walking tour and the second time after reading Mary Beard's Fires of Vesuvius, which gave us specific buildings to look for. One of the great advantages of on-your-own, to me, is the ability to call a time out and just sit on a convenient ledge and let the sweat evaporate or strength come back to the legs. You can't do that with a tour, and you don't want to do it with a private guide because the meter is ticking.

[Ingakatrin]

Right at the port entrance is a newsstand that sells train tickets to Pompeii including the streecar that starts right there and takes you to Pepe where the trains to Pompeii start.

 

I would suggest to do it yourself, you will be glad to sit down and take a short break, it can be very hot.

We did it, actually a little late and it was wonderful after all the cruisers left about noon.

 

As to your planned excursion, I think it is a good example why Americans are known as hard core tourists in Europe.

[Langley Cruisers]

Just so that the pit stop doesn't become decisive, you should also know that there is a modern building inside the ruins which contains a cafeteria and bathrooms.

 

Sorry, but why did you quote me on this thread? I know there is a WC inside the ruins but I mentioned the one in the Cameo factory and the hotel because sometimes ya just can't wait. ;)

[smitnik]

Don't miss Herculaneum if you go to Naples. All my family found Pompeii cool and Herculaneum cooler. It's better preserved and less crowded. Try to do both if possible. We used ItalyCarService and they did a great job.