Bad Guides for the Med?

[janazaz]

Seems that everyone just raves about their guides in the Med. Some get more press than others that are just top notch and sought after. I'd like to know if you've ever had a bad tour and if so, which companies are questionable or just didn't live up to expectations? I'm booking last minute so this info is important to me.

 

Thanks!

[luvz2run2000]

Sicily Life in Messina heads the top of my all time bad tours list. Our tour guide was Ross but we had two other groups from our roll call who had bad tours with them the same day and they obviously had different guides.

[CoachN]

Our tour guide was Lucca. He took us whereever we wanted to go. He was a super nice guy. I would recommend him to anyone.

[The PTCruisers]

Would never use Travel with Friends again! They are just drivers - some speak hardly any english.

 

My all time FAVORITE guide was Nello Russo of Drive Sorrento from Naples!!! Use him if you can.

[like2cruise]

We just used 3 private guides for our cruise. I would highly recommend Mariano in Naples (our absolute favorite) and Stefano in Rome. We booked Paola in Florence and got her husband. We enjoyed her husband, but we paid for Paola who charges a higher fee. She double booked and so I can't recommend her!

[janazaz]

I'm looking for a guide in the Nice vicinity. Any recommendations? I could probably search the threads for this info, but if you know if any one, let me know.

[rogfam]

We are using Sylvie Di Cristo next month in Monaco. She comes highly recommended, and has been very professional in all her correspondence. Website:

http://www.azur-guides-interpretes.com/

Glenn

[The Traveling 4]

We just got back from our Med trip and we booked Fabrizio in Rome and Naples and he was WONDERFUL!!! He made our trip...He was professional, funny and took us to great places for lunch.

 

The traveling 4:)

[luvz2run2000]

For Nice I would recommend Jean Marc from Dream Tours. We loved him and have already recommended him to several friends. It was the best day of our cruise.

[willy paul]

we are also using Sylvie in October, she came recommended by Catherine from Provence Travel and Catherine was the best guide we ever hired.

 

As for bad guides, we had Marta in Rome a few years ago and we were disappointed in her attitude toward people. She made fun of one of the couples in the group in Italian thinking no one understood Italian but her and the driver. She made a bad decision, some one did understand Italian, and it cost financially as well as recommendations later on. She just did not treat other guides well ( she yelled at them) and she was an embarrassment. jusst a few peoples opinion.

[EGG]

We used one of the recommended guides to the Amalfi coast. We were a group of 7 and my husband and I sat in the back seat. While the driver/guide talked a great deal, we had to constantly ask him to talk louder. Neither of us has ever been accused of being hard of hearing. On the way back we changed seats, but by then the commentary was minimal.

 

My complaint is that in the back of the minivan with a guide driver, make sure the driver will use a microphone. This person charged top dollar. We would have gotten the same value from a less expensive driver/guide.

[DALSAL]

We just returned from our cruise and in Athens,we used GreekTaxi..Jimmy (Pauls son)was WONDERFUL..to say the least.We were 30-45 mins late getting off the ship and he was still there holding up his sign with out name..and since we were late,he extended our time which I feel he didnt have to do...hes not a guide,but he knew the areas history (besides,I dont care for a guide telling me what I have to see) and knew to tell us all the little short cuts so that we could make the most of our time.He took us to a wonderful place to eat,and the staff seemed very eager to please.Id go with them again! Dot

[drwong]

We'll never use Malta Travel Net (Maltatravelnet) again. They were totally unreasonable when our ship was delayed due to heavy weather, although we gave them over 24 hours advance notice that we would be arriving in Malta after dark, eliminating any opportunity for touring. They had asked for and received our credit card number in advance for the deposit, and they refused to refund it, so we went ahead and drove through a darkened city where all the museums and public buildings were closed.

[BCHappyGal]

Sicily - DO NOT USE - Sicily Tour

Owners / guides Stephen & Lucia Davies & Douglas Kenning

 

They will tell you that they will provide a tour for you - I booked a group tour with them over a year in advance and was in continual contact. Then at the last minute they cancelled out and left my group with a tour.

 

In other words they got a better offer from someone else.

 

Very arrogant!