Has anyone used italytours.eu recently? Looking for recommendations

[mrobinson]

On 5/19/2023 at 6:22 PM, cruisergal 1 said:

We just came back from our Mediterranean cruise last weekend and used Italy tours.eu for Marseilles,  France, and Florence/Pisa. We thoroughly enjoyed both tours. Our tour guides were wonderful, very friendly, outgoing , gave us lots of interesting information, action filled. We would definitely use this tour company again, and recommend them. I have mobility issues and they showed great concern as to how I was doing, very considerate. The cost was very reasonable for what we got. They were very long days, but few saw lots!

Which of their tours did you use for Marseilles. We will be there in October

[TXCruiser2]

We used Italy Tours for three of our shore excursions.  I wouldn't hesitate to use them again.  Informative, professional, on time.  Very good drivers and local knowledge.  Great company to work with!

[AtlantaKelly]

I definitely recommend booking with ItalyTours.eu!

 

We just returned from a 12 night Med cruise. I booked 2 tours with Italytours.eu - a tour to Mt Etna and Taormina and the Amalfi coast from the port of Naples. A few weeks before we sailed, Celebrity changed our port from Messina to Palermo. I contacted ItalyTours and they rescheduled us to Palermo. We then ended up missing the Palermo port due to weather. We exchanged emails and I was reimbursed promptly. 

 

At our Naples stop, Vinny was waiting for us at the gate. He was fun to be with and an excellent driver - which you definitely want driving the narrow road connecting the villages of Positano, Amalfi and Ravello. It was a full day, and time was made for a sea side lunch under vines of lemon trees. Compared to other offerings this tour was very reasonably priced. The van was comfortable, but not a new luxury vehicle, so if this is important to you, you may want to ask about it before booking.

[hoopslover]

8 hours ago, AtlantaKelly said:

I definitely recommend booking with ItalyTours.eu!

 

We just returned from a 12 night Med cruise. I booked 2 tours with Italytours.eu - a tour to Mt Etna and Taormina and the Amalfi coast from the port of Naples. A few weeks before we sailed, Celebrity changed our port from Messina to Palermo. I contacted ItalyTours and they rescheduled us to Palermo. We then ended up missing the Palermo port due to weather. We exchanged emails and I was reimbursed promptly. 

 

At our Naples stop, Vinny was waiting for us at the gate. He was fun to be with and an excellent driver - which you definitely want driving the narrow road connecting the villages of Positano, Amalfi and Ravello. It was a full day, and time was made for a sea side lunch under vines of lemon trees. Compared to other offerings this tour was very reasonably priced. The van was comfortable, but not a new luxury vehicle, so if this is important to you, you may want to ask about it before booking.

Can you give any more specific details of your day on the Amalfi coast?  How long in each city, how much walking, what not to miss, etc.  Thanks!

[yakcruiser]

On 5/30/2023 at 10:39 PM, hoopslover said:

Can you give any more specific details of your day on the Amalfi coast?  How long in each city, how much walking, what not to miss, etc.  Thanks!

We did this trip in late April. I thought it was a very nice excursion. The thing to remember is the driver is not a guide. He will drive you to each city and give you recommendations on what to see and where to eat and drink. You get to decide on how much you want to walk. It is a very hilly though if you decide to venture far from drop off points. You will have approximately 90 minutes per stop. I liked Amalfi and Ravello better than Positano which I found to be a crowded tourist trap. And speaking of crowds the drive there from Naples is insane. Think Highway 1 from Hearst Castle to Big Sur but with a gazillion cars. They do take the back way over the hills so it is not nearly as long going back. The drivers are very flexible about stopping for pictures, potty break and whatever you need. Used Italytours for three ports and have no complaints

[hoopslover]

1 hour ago, yakcruiser said:

We did this trip in late April. I thought it was a very nice excursion. The thing to remember is the driver is not a guide. He will drive you to each city and give you recommendations on what to see and where to eat and drink. You get to decide on how much you want to walk. It is a very hilly though if you decide to venture far from drop off points. You will have approximately 90 minutes per stop. I liked Amalfi and Ravello better than Positano which I found to be a crowded tourist trap. And speaking of crowds the drive there from Naples is insane. Think Highway 1 from Hearst Castle to Big Sur but with a gazillion cars. They do take the back way over the hills so it is not nearly as long going back. The drivers are very flexible about stopping for pictures, potty break and whatever you need. Used Italytours for three ports and have no complaints

Thanks for your personal opinion.  We used a private guide in a mini van when we were there in 2004 and it was a wonderful day.  I was trying to decide on private vs. Italytours.eu.  We have a year to go before we sail so I am just gathering information.  It was very crowded even then but I am sure it is so much worse now.  We did Pompeii on our way back to Naples which we don't care to do again. You can't beat the beautiful views!

[hoopslover]

6 hours ago, HEARTCC said:

We cruised on the NCL Breakaway last May and used Italytours.eu on May 13 for our shore excursion from Naples. The driver was on time and met our small group at the port and took us to Positano and Sorrento along the Amalfi coast. We did not hit too much traffic and were able to enjoy the two towns leisurely. We had lunch back in Naples then the driver took us around the city before taking us back to the ship. I don’t know if this would be the case if the tour were in the height of the summer season. We like that this tour cost so much less than the ship’s bus excursion and had the assurance that we’ll get back to the ship on time. We had 2 other tours with this company: from Messina to Taormina and Mt Etna and from Livorno to Siena and San Giminagno. On these excursions our experience with this company was superb. Be patient however,  their response to emails was not the fastest.

How was your tour from Livorno to Siena and San Giminagno?  We were booked on this tour when covid hit and we were cancelled.  We are booked for next May and are beginning to look at excursions.  Thanks for any additional information or suggestions for this excursion.

 

Donnna

[hoopslover]

5 hours ago, HEARTCC said:

Our driver from Livorno met our small group at the port. He took us just a few yards away from our first stop in Siena where we met our guide. The first stop was a church that is both simple outside and inside yet it had many visitors. Our guide informed us that it has a relic of Siena’s famous citizen, St Catherine of Siena, a Catholic saint.   Our guide is a native of Siena and very knowledgeable about its history and the annual palio (horse race) among contrades (regions). She was quite interesting and passionate about Siena and its traditions. Although it was raining we were able to duck under medieval buildings and through tunnels. We also visited the beautiful cathedral and then spent some time at our final destination, the Piazza del Campo that was truly magnificent! The rain had stopped by then so our photos are fantastic. We had lunch at one of the places in this plaza.

 

We walked a lot  in Siena but we were not rushed. I think the guide led us on safer streets to walk on because of the rain. Siena has many uphill streets but the guide had us go on the easy ones.

 

San Giminagno has the beautiful buildings one sees in brochures. But due to my spouse’s mobility issues on the day of our tour, we were not able to explore the town in its entirety. We could have because we were not rushed by our driver. 

 

On the way back to Livorno, our driver took us off the main highway. So we got to see the beautiful countryside of Tuscany and had glimpses of medieval villages on top of hills.

 

This excursion from Italytours.eu was superb and these two towns should not be missed. My cruise ship did not offer a similar tour.

Thanks so much for the information.  

[fishiecrackers]

On 5/5/2023 at 2:36 AM, bianks said:

loving and appreciating all the feedback, keep it coming - we will be doing a fully private Pompeii, Sorrento & Positano tour with 2 children. I hope we've made the right decision with the children in tow! 

 

On 5/7/2023 at 7:39 AM, fishiecrackers said:

Yikes. That makes me nervous - we are doing the same tour. We are doing a private tour, so I was going to just request to skip Sorrento and go to Positano instead, but in reality I don't really know/care which Amalfi Coast city we go to, I just want to see some of those stereotypical Amalfi Coast views.

 

On 5/10/2023 at 6:26 AM, bianks said:

I have booked a fully private tour with 2 adults and our 2 children aged 6 and 9. 

the tour will be for pompeii, sorrento and requested a swim and look around Positano 

given the traffic etc etc it sounds likely this might not even happen??? Any suggestions? 

Just reporting back on our experience, since we did our tour yesterday. I had asked to spend more time in Positano than Sorrento. We ended up going in reverse through the mountains, to Positano (our port was Salerno, unfortunately). It was probably 3 hours of driving to get to Positano, including several photo stops and a puke stop for my carsick daughter, who refused to take Dramamine. We only had an hour in Positano, which was largely taken by a lunch and bathroom break, unfortunately. I was pretty disappointed (not in our driver, just the circumstances), as I would’ve liked more time to just enjoy the city, but it took us quite a while to find a bathroom and like 20 minutes to wait for a CHEESEBURGER my kid had ordered. 🙄 So don’t do that. We would’ve had time to walk down to the beach but not like enjoy beach time, unless we didn’t pee or eat. We were in Positano from about 11:15-12:15. Then we drove to Pompeii via Sorrento and got there around 1:45. We spent roughly 2 hours there and left about 3:45 for the ship.

 

We did not have the same experience as the previous poster, our driver talked CONSTANTLY, told us everything, showed us everything, and made sure we got great photos on the Amalfi Coast. Pompeii was also fantastic, SUPER glad we got the guide.

 

Overall it was rushed with our port being Salerno to do both Positano and Pompeii, but I really wanted to do Positano and my kids really wanted Pompeii, and this way we all got what we wanted out of the port day.

 

So Positano and Pompeii are possible, just don’t plan to do much else if you port in Salerno. And take your Dramamine and don’t order a cheeseburger!

[TheHawk1]

On 6/2/2023 at 3:04 PM, yakcruiser said:

We did this trip in late April. I thought it was a very nice excursion. The thing to remember is the driver is not a guide. He will drive you to each city and give you recommendations on what to see and where to eat and drink. You get to decide on how much you want to walk. It is a very hilly though if you decide to venture far from drop off points. You will have approximately 90 minutes per stop. I liked Amalfi and Ravello better than Positano which I found to be a crowded tourist trap. And speaking of crowds the drive there from Naples is insane. Think Highway 1 from Hearst Castle to Big Sur but with a gazillion cars. They do take the back way over the hills so it is not nearly as long going back. The drivers are very flexible about stopping for pictures, potty break and whatever you need. Used Italytours for three ports and have no complaints

ItalyTours offers a couple tours from Naples of the Amalfi Coast:  the tour you took and a second one that only goes to Sorrento and Positano, which their web site says has less driving and is more relaxed.  Just curious if you looked at that and why you chose the tour you did?

[yakcruiser]

2 hours ago, TheHawk1 said:

ItalyTours offers a couple tours from Naples of the Amalfi Coast:  the tour you took and a second one that only goes to Sorrento and Positano, which their web site says has less driving and is more relaxed.  Just curious if you looked at that and why you chose the tour you did?

I was looking to take a tour that visited multiple small towns on the coast. And I had read that on some tours that stopped in Sorrento they ran short of time and only stopped on hill overlooking Positano to snap some pictures. Our tour didn't have required number of people until the last minute so I was going with the Sorrento tour as a backup. I am sure that would have been a perfectly good tour too.

[cruisemom42]

14 hours ago, TheHawk1 said:

ItalyTours offers a couple tours from Naples of the Amalfi Coast:  the tour you took and a second one that only goes to Sorrento and Positano, which their web site says has less driving and is more relaxed.  Just curious if you looked at that and why you chose the tour you did?

 

Sorrento is not actually on the Amalfi Coast. 

 

Amalfi, Positano and Ravello are three classic Amalfi Coast towns, each one a bit different, but they do require some driving to reach them.

 

I find Sorrento very "meh". (For the record I've visited it a number of times and even stayed there for a week.). But it's larger, has more options for eating (and shopping, which is apparently like oxygen for some.)

 

[Torfamm]

We just used them for three tours - Taormina and Mt. Etna from Messina, Aix-en-Provence and Cassis from Marseilles, and Pompeii, Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast from Naples.  Our experiences varied tremendously. Their prices are very reasonable.

 

I would not recommend the tour from Messina. First the negatives, we didn't have anywhere near enough time to see Mt. Etna as we literally stopped at the base station of a ski lift for 5 minutes where there was no view. It would have been better to just go to Taormina, which is lovely. The driver spoke very limited English and gave us absolutely no information and he had to stop on the way back to recharge the vehicle. On the positive side it was easy to find him for pick-up, the 6 of us were back at the ship right on time.

 

The tour to Aix and Cassis was nice, but nothing extraordinary. The drive spoke good English and gave us quite a bit of information and did make a real effort to help us see the Calanques national park. She was also friendly and happy to take pictures etc.  Our time in Cassis was very short though.  I'd recommend it. It was nice to see a couple of the smaller towns and a bit of Marseille. We were a group of 8.

 

The tour to Pompeii, Sorrento and the Amalfi coast was a very good experience if you've never been to the area. We were a group of 16 with a driver and local guide. The guide who travelled with us in the van spoke excellent English and gave us lots of information and was happy to help with photos and finding the best spots for them.  The tour is a great overview and the inclusion of a specialist guide in Pompeii is a big plus. The time in Sorrento was limited, but we were able to enjoy a walk through town and a nice lunch. I would definitely recommend that tour.

Edited June 24, 2023 by Torfamm

[bigsky]

On 6/26/2023 at 5:34 AM, gerouxman1956 said:

We enjoyed all 3 of our Italy Tours excursions. They are a very professionally run company with fantastic drivers and guides. They were right where they said would be at pickup locations at port with legible signage unlike some written in pencil so small you needed to hold the paper six inches from your face to read LOL! All drivers and guides spoke intelligible English and moved at a pace to accommodate the wide range of ages and sizes. Their knowledge of facts was amazing as opposed to look left at big building and look right at pretty flowers. We had one issue with Colosseum tickets not their fault. They tried desperately to get the correct tickets but after much tribulation they issued an immediate refund plus an additional good faith amount. Refunds were credited within days not months like some companies. I would highly recommend Italy Tours for any upcoming trips you have planned. Once again thanks to Cristina and her wonderful colleagues. Caio. 

I originally booked three excursions with them. They only contacted me regarding one of them as others booked, so we could continue to book that excursion. They said they needed a minimum of people to book it. They are very slow to get back to me regarding the other two. We are 4 weeks out to go and only one paid and confirmed. I always have all our excursions figured out much more ahead of time. Don't want to be left with no excursions booked for those two. Did you have any issues like this? I want to use them for all of the excursions, but getting nervous about this. I've recently emailed them and asked them to please update me. No response.

Suggestions??

[uncdds12]

Why not go private?  The cost is not much more for our party of four(2 couples) so we elected private excursions to beat the crowds and go at our own pace.  This is the cruise we were supposed to be on in 2020.  The issue of not being confirmed would not sit well with me. I am a planner and want everything ready to go before I get on the ship. 

[gatorchinsky]

14 hours ago, bigsky said:

I originally booked three excursions with them. They only contacted me regarding one of them as others booked, so we could continue to book that excursion. They said they needed a minimum of people to book it. They are very slow to get back to me regarding the other two. We are 4 weeks out to go and only one paid and confirmed. I always have all our excursions figured out much more ahead of time. Don't want to be left with no excursions booked for those two. Did you have any issues like this? I want to use them for all of the excursions, but getting nervous about this. I've recently emailed them and asked them to please update me. No response.

Suggestions??

I have booked 2 tours with them for our November cruise. The one we chose out of Naples, The Classic Amalfi tour, did not have enough participants so we kept contacting them to get updates. They usually responded within 48 hours. The last email I got from them they told me that they only needed 2 more participants to confirm tour. I decided to go on that other social media site which had a group for my cruise and talked about this tour to see if anyone wanted to join. Within a few hours, I received the confirmation from Italy Tours that our tour was good to go.

[bigsky]

On 7/2/2023 at 7:00 AM, gatorchinsky said:

I have booked 2 tours with them for our November cruise. The one we chose out of Naples, The Classic Amalfi tour, did not have enough participants so we kept contacting them to get updates. They usually responded within 48 hours. The last email I got from them they told me that they only needed 2 more participants to confirm tour. I decided to go on that other social media site which had a group for my cruise and talked about this tour to see if anyone wanted to join. Within a few hours, I received the confirmation from Italy Tours that our tour was good to go.

We don't have but a few on our Roll Call. I just emailed them again and hoping for an update. Fingers crossed I hear something soon or I'll need to book elsewhere. I don't want to wait til the last minute and then everything is booked. I'd really like to use this company as I've heard good things about them.

[Fishboy1947]

Just returned from Italy and used italytours.eu for private tours of Amalfi Coast with Pompeii and Florence with Pisa.  Both drivers were very good. The vehicles were top notch. We found the company to be very professional in all of our dealings.
 

On the Amalfi tour the description was Views of Positano. But the traffic was ok and we got an early start so the driver took us down into Positano for an hour on our own. We also had free time in Sorrento which we thoroughly enjoyed and had one of our best meals. I did the Amalfi tour last October and found less traffic this time in June.

 

Our tours included guides in Pompeii and Florence. The guide in Florence, Elizabeth, was very good. We did not like the guide in Pompeii, do not have his name.

Edited July 4, 2023 by Fishboy1947
Sentence error

[TheHawk1]

22 hours ago, bigsky said:

We don't have but a few on our Roll Call. I just emailed them again and hoping for an update. Fingers crossed I hear something soon or I'll need to book elsewhere. I don't want to wait til the last minute and then everything is booked. I'd really like to use this company as I've heard good things about them.

I agree the Roll Calls for Mediterranean cruises on CC are a dud.  I am also waiting for an Italy Tours Amalfi Cost excursion in October to get the right number of people to go ahead. I think I will try posting on other social media sites to see if I can find some others who are interested.

[bigsky]

On 7/1/2023 at 6:35 PM, uncdds12 said:

Why not go private?  The cost is not much more for our party of four(2 couples) so we elected private excursions to beat the crowds and go at our own pace.  This is the cruise we were supposed to be on in 2020.  The issue of not being confirmed would not sit well with me. I am a planner and want everything ready to go before I get on the ship. 

As of now, it's just my husband and I. So the cost for the 2 of us is surely much more than I want to spend. Many ports add up. 

I am very much a planner. When we cruise, I always have our to do's all booked in advance. This is making me feel very uncomfortable. Plus, I need to know more info on the sites tickets which need to be purchased asap. Our cruise is the 6th of August.

[bigsky]

4 hours ago, Fishboy1947 said:

Just returned from Italy and used italytours.eu for private tours of Amalfi Coast with Pompeii and Florence with Pisa.  Both drivers were very good. The vehicles were top notch. We found the company to be very professional in all of our dealings.
 

On the Amalfi tour the description was Views of Positano. But the traffic was ok and we got an early start so the driver took us down into Positano for an hour on our own. We also had free time in Sorrento which we thoroughly enjoyed and had one of our best meals. I did the Amalfi tour last October and found less traffic this time in June.

 

Our tours included guides in Pompeii and Florence. The guide in Florence, Elizabeth, was very good. We did not like the guide in Pompeii, do not have his name.

We have the Amalfi coast/Pompei excursion only booked. Waiting on best of Rome and Florence/Pisa.

 

[bigsky]

2 hours ago, TheHawk1 said:

I agree the Roll Calls for Mediterranean cruises on CC are a dud.  I am also waiting for an Italy Tours Amalfi Cost excursion in October to get the right number of people to go ahead. I think I will try posting on other social media sites to see if I can find some others who are interested.

What other sites to post to?

[bigsky]

On 6/24/2023 at 10:06 AM, Torfamm said:

We just used them for three tours - Taormina and Mt. Etna from Messina, Aix-en-Provence and Cassis from Marseilles, and Pompeii, Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast from Naples.  Our experiences varied tremendously. Their prices are very reasonable.

 

I would not recommend the tour from Messina. First the negatives, we didn't have anywhere near enough time to see Mt. Etna as we literally stopped at the base station of a ski lift for 5 minutes where there was no view. It would have been better to just go to Taormina, which is lovely. The driver spoke very limited English and gave us absolutely no information and he had to stop on the way back to recharge the vehicle. On the positive side it was easy to find him for pick-up, the 6 of us were back at the ship right on time.

 

The tour to Aix and Cassis was nice, but nothing extraordinary. The drive spoke good English and gave us quite a bit of information and did make a real effort to help us see the Calanques national park. She was also friendly and happy to take pictures etc.  Our time in Cassis was very short though.  I'd recommend it. It was nice to see a couple of the smaller towns and a bit of Marseille. We were a group of 8.

 

The tour to Pompeii, Sorrento and the Amalfi coast was a very good experience if you've never been to the area. We were a group of 16 with a driver and local guide. The guide who travelled with us in the van spoke excellent English and gave us lots of information and was happy to help with photos and finding the best spots for them.  The tour is a great overview and the inclusion of a specialist guide in Pompeii is a big plus. The time in Sorrento was limited, but we were able to enjoy a walk through town and a nice lunch. I would definitely recommend that tour.

We do have the  Amalfi coast one booked and paid. Looking forward to it. Did you purchase your tickets to skip lines at Pompei?

[Torfamm]

2 hours ago, bigsky said:

We do have the  Amalfi coast one booked and paid. Looking forward to it. Did you purchase your tickets to skip lines at Pompei?

Our guide at Pompeii had them for us

[TheHawk1]

3 hours ago, bigsky said:

What other sites to post to?

FB usually has a group for specific sailings.  Mine does for Symphony of the Seas in October.