Has anyone used italytours.eu recently? Looking for recommendations

[bigsky]

1 hour ago, TheHawk1 said:

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

Oh… I already went to that. Not much happening there

[RaleighCruiser19]

We took the Classic Amalfi Coast small group tour last week - Positano, Amalfi and Ravello from Naples. It was a great tour, exactly as advertised, the van was comfortable and the driver/guide did a great job getting us through the itinerary. It was a very long day but just what we hoped for. I highly recommend ItalyTours.

 

I am kicking myself we didn't also take their tour of Cinque Terre in La Spezia. I burned our OBC on the Celebrity excursion thinking they took us to an additional town and would take care of us. I was wrong! The ship's tour shortened our itinerary and kicked us out of the bus directly into a thunderstorm. I am positive ItalyTours would have taken better care of us. Go with ItalyTours 100%!!

[rg123]

We are booked with them as well for Pompeii, Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast. Sounds like a great tour-can’t wait!!

As an aside, 

I saw on Italytours.eu website that they have suspended all their Rome excursions at this time. Check your tours and see who your tour operator is (even if you booked through Viator)
 

This is from their website under the Best of Rome and Vatican Tour: 

“*** We are temporarily suspending all excursions to Rome. Due to unannounced changes and new restrictions by the Vatican and Colosseum, we will not offer this tour until further notice. We deeply apologize for this situation which is out of our control. We are working hard to find a reliable resolution and will resume new bookings as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience!”

[rg123]

On 6/24/2023 at 12:06 PM, 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.

Thank you for the info. We are taking the Pompeii, Sorrento and Amalfi Coast tour. Glad you enjoyed it!

[bigsky]

9 hours ago, RaleighCruiser19 said:

We took the Classic Amalfi Coast small group tour last week - Positano, Amalfi and Ravello from Naples. It was a great tour, exactly as advertised, the van was comfortable and the driver/guide did a great job getting us through the itinerary. It was a very long day but just what we hoped for. I highly recommend ItalyTours.

 

I am kicking myself we didn't also take their tour of Cinque Terre in La Spezia. I burned our OBC on the Celebrity excursion thinking they took us to an additional town and would take care of us. I was wrong! The ship's tour shortened our itinerary and kicked us out of the bus directly into a thunderstorm. I am positive ItalyTours would have taken better care of us. Go with ItalyTours 100%!!

Well, if they get back to me, that would be nice. What did you do in La Spezia? We want to do the Florence/Pisa excursion with them. 

[bigsky]

7 hours ago, rg123 said:

We are booked with them as well for Pompeii, Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast. Sounds like a great tour-can’t wait!!

As an aside, 

I saw on Italytours.eu website that they have suspended all their Rome excursions at this time. Check your tours and see who your tour operator is (even if you booked through Viator)
 

This is from their website under the Best of Rome and Vatican Tour: 

“*** We are temporarily suspending all excursions to Rome. Due to unannounced changes and new restrictions by the Vatican and Colosseum, we will not offer this tour until further notice. We deeply apologize for this situation which is out of our control. We are working hard to find a reliable resolution and will resume new bookings as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience!”

Good to know! Now I'm not sure what we should do. Haven't heard from italytours, but finding this out from you. I wonder if all excursions are suspended at this time? Do you know what the new restrictions are? We need to check into another company I guess.

[rg123]

3 minutes ago, bigsky said:

Good to know! Now I'm not sure what we should do. Haven't heard from italytours, but finding this out from you. I wonder if all excursions are suspended at this time? Do you know what the new restrictions are? We need to check into another company I guess.

The number of people visiting Rome right now is unprecedented. My understanding is that the Vatican and Colosseum are restricting the number of tickets they give out and release them only a few weeks ahead of time. So when third party tour operators try to get tickets, many times they are unable to and so then have to cancel their already booked tours. No fault of theirs. People are feeling safe by booking through viator (which is really only a booking site that uses multiple tour companies) but some of their operators have had to cancel too since they can’t get tickets. 
 

I would check with Italytours.eu. Maybe it’s only for now. I really don’t know. Just wanted to give folks a heads up. 
 

There is much chatter on that other unmentionable social media site about tours being canceled (not just by one particular company). Some people have been lucky, others cancelled the night before 

[RaleighCruiser19]

21 minutes ago, bigsky said:

Well, if they get back to me, that would be nice. What did you do in La Spezia? We want to do the Florence/Pisa excursion with them. 

We took the Cinque Terre Villages shore excursion Celebrity offered out of La Spezia.

[bigsky]

27 minutes ago, rg123 said:

The number of people visiting Rome right now is unprecedented. My understanding is that the Vatican and Colosseum are restricting the number of tickets they give out and release them only a few weeks ahead of time. So when third party tour operators try to get tickets, many times they are unable to and so then have to cancel their already booked tours. No fault of theirs. People are feeling safe by booking through viator (which is really only a booking site that uses multiple tour companies) but some of their operators have had to cancel too since they can’t get tickets. 
 

I would check with Italytours.eu. Maybe it’s only for now. I really don’t know. Just wanted to give folks a heads up. 
 

There is much chatter on that other unmentionable social media site about tours being canceled (not just by one particular company). Some people have been lucky, others cancelled the night before 

So do we just buy tickets ourselves now and then try and book the company to take us? I'm assuming when we book them, we still have to get our tickets on our own??? I want the skip the line tickets.

Going to the Carribean is so much easier! : )

[rg123]

22 minutes ago, bigsky said:

So do we just buy tickets ourselves now and then try and book the company to take us? I'm assuming when we book them, we still have to get our tickets on our own??? I want the skip the line tickets.

Going to the Carribean is so much easier! : )

There is an official Vatican site and one for the Colosseum. I know that the Vatican does a guided tour of the museums/Sistine Chapel. You have to do St Peter’s on your own or with a tour company as the Vatican does not offer a tour. 
There is also an official site for the Colosseum, but the tickets are only released 30 days out. I have read that it is a very frustrating process as tickets are gone within minutes— hundreds of people trying to get a very few tickets. Not sure if these are just entry or if you can get a guided tour. 

[bigsky]

1 hour ago, rg123 said:

There is an official Vatican site and one for the Colosseum. I know that the Vatican does a guided tour of the museums/Sistine Chapel. You have to do St Peter’s on your own or with a tour company as the Vatican does not offer a tour. 
There is also an official site for the Colosseum, but the tickets are only released 30 days out. I have read that it is a very frustrating process as tickets are gone within minutes— hundreds of people trying to get a very few tickets. Not sure if these are just entry or if you can get a guided tour. 

We have Rome on the 10th of next month. So I'm pressed to figure this out. I need to find another company to work with. Are you going to Rome? Who r u using if you are.

[rg123]

12 minutes ago, bigsky said:

We have Rome on the 10th of next month. So I'm pressed to figure this out. I need to find another company to work with. Are you going to Rome? Who r u using if you are.

We are supposed to do the Colosseum with Walks of Italy at the end of September. I tried to contact them about cancellations, but they never responded. 
Might do the Vatican official guided tour

[rg123]

I’m not sure it matters who your Colosseum tour is with. It just depends if they can snag tickets like everyone else. I think some days they do, some days they can’t?

[seba1]

22 hours ago, bigsky said:

We have Rome on the 10th of next month. So I'm pressed to figure this out. I need to find another company to work with. Are you going to Rome? Who r u using if you are.

We have Rome on 8/3 and did a custom private tour that included the Colosseum, but not the Vatican (we have been there). We haven't seen any cancellations so far, but wonder...I saw somewhere, maybe here, that tour companies can't actually purchase tickets until 30 days prior which may be why some haven't received a cancellation (if theirs is in fact cancelled).

 

Stephanie

[upslash]

34 minutes ago, seba1 said:

We have Rome on 8/3 and did a custom private tour that included the Colosseum, but not the Vatican (we have been there). We haven't seen any cancellations so far, but wonder...I saw somewhere, maybe here, that tour companies can't actually purchase tickets until 30 days prior which may be why some haven't received a cancellation (if theirs is in fact cancelled).

 

Stephanie

 

I recommend contacting to confirm. You are correct, the tour operators can only purchase tickets for the Colosseum 30 days in advance, even if you purchased the tour months ago.

We are visiting Rome in a few weeks. I called my tour operator (not ItalyTours) yesterday and they confirmed that they were able to secure tickets for the Colosseum, but the time had changed by 45 minutes because those were the only time slots available. My Vatican tour time did not change.

I can only imagine how busy Rome is going to be. I keep reading about the massive influx of tourism they are seeing this year.

Edited July 6, 2023 by upslash

[bigsky]

18 minutes ago, upslash said:

 

I recommend contacting to confirm. You are correct, the tour operators can only purchase tickets for the Colosseum 30 days in advance, even if you purchased the tour months ago.

We are visiting Rome in a few weeks. I called my tour operator (not ItalyTours) yesterday and they confirmed that they were able to secure tickets for the Colosseum, but the time had changed by 45 minutes because those were the only time slots available. My Vatican tour time did not change.

I can only imagine how busy Rome is going to be. I keep reading about the massive influx of tourism they are seeing this year.

My tour operator has not even gotten back to me to tell me if they have enough people to go! I only have one confirmed with them. I have continued to email them and they don’t respond. Guess I need to call them! Everyone says they love them and respond so quickly. 
Who are you using?

[bigsky]

55 minutes ago, seba1 said:

We have Rome on 8/3 and did a custom private tour that included the Colosseum, but not the Vatican (we have been there). We haven't seen any cancellations so far, but wonder...I saw somewhere, maybe here, that tour companies can't actually purchase tickets until 30 days prior which may be why some haven't received a cancellation (if theirs is in fact cancelled).

 

Stephanie

They haven’t told me if they have enough people to even go. I need to call early am with time difference 

[upslash]

6 minutes ago, bigsky said:

My tour operator has not even gotten back to me to tell me if they have enough people to go! I only have one confirmed with them. I have continued to email them and they don’t respond. Guess I need to call them! Everyone says they love them and respond so quickly. 
Who are you using?

 

I am using City Wonders for my Rome tours and ItalyTours for 5 other cruise ports.

 

ItalyTours is pretty slow to respond, but I booked all of my tours 4 months ago.

 

[seba1]

19 minutes ago, bigsky said:

My tour operator has not even gotten back to me to tell me if they have enough people to go! I only have one confirmed with them. I have continued to email them and they don’t respond. Guess I need to call them! Everyone says they love them and respond so quickly. 
Who are you using?

We are using Italy Tours. They tend to get back, but it takes them awhile. I think they are overwhelmed. We have 4 tours with them (and their sister company in Barcelona).

 

Stephanie

[bigsky]

12 minutes ago, seba1 said:

We are using Italy Tours. They tend to get back, but it takes them awhile. I think they are overwhelmed. We have 4 tours with them (and their sister company in Barcelona).

 

Stephanie

Yeah, same here. Only one confirmed tho, the Amalfi coast. Two others asked if they have enough people. How many times do u have to ask them to please reply? Been a few weeks now

[bigsky]

16 minutes ago, upslash said:

 

I am using City Wonders for my Rome tours and ItalyTours for 5 other cruise ports.

 

ItalyTours is pretty slow to respond, but I booked all of my tours 4 months ago.

 

I booked about 4-5 months ago as well

[upslash]

11 minutes ago, bigsky said:

Yeah, same here. Only one confirmed tho, the Amalfi coast. Two others asked if they have enough people. How many times do u have to ask them to please reply? Been a few weeks now

 

I have waited up to 1 week for a reply, but never longer than that.

[seba1]

Quick update. I emailed Italy Tours yesterday and they responded today. Our tour, including the Coliseum, is happening and we have tickets. I am glad I contacted them and recommend that to others to do as well within the 30 day window if you aren't sure about your tour. 

 

Stephanie

[bigsky]

On 7/7/2023 at 1:57 PM, seba1 said:

Quick update. I emailed Italy Tours yesterday and they responded today. Our tour, including the Coliseum, is happening and we have tickets. I am glad I contacted them and recommend that to others to do as well within the 30 day window if you aren't sure about your tour. 

 

Stephanie

What email address are you using? I can NOT get them to respond to me.

[seba1]

@bigsky I have been using their general email: info@italytours.eu. 

 

Hope they get back to your soon. Sometimes it takes them days and then other times they get back right away (well, within 24 hours).

 

Stephanie