Private tours/drivers in ITALY (help!)

[BCreative]

In Naples, we used SeeSorrento.com Marcello is the owner. he is wonderful. His driver, Eugene is also wonderful. We used them before and have already hired them for next May. They take you to a wonderful place for lunch with very fresh foods. They will tailor the tour for you. You can do Pompeii or a smaller estate that was buried, which doesn't cost anything additional

[corvettelover]

We also used Romeinlimo.com for tours of Rome and the Amalfi Coast, and both tours were excellent, surpassing our expectations. When you have such a short time in each port, you need to make the most of the time you have, and romeinlimo delivered!

Duman and Rafffielle were knowledgable, safe, and efficient, and were a joy to spend the day with.

I don't think anyone on our cruise saw more of Rome in one day than we did, and the lunch stop we made, based on Duman's suggestion, was wonderful... I could have sat there all day!!!

With R's help on the Amalfi Coast we had a great tour of Pompeii and the Positano/Sorrento area. We opted to take the ferry back from Sorrento to Naples, which was a great choice, because we had more time for touring without having to worry about the long road trip back to Naples.

When we make our plans to return to Italy in a year or so, my first call will be to Jany at romeinlimo.

[PanchoV]

We found RomeinLimo off the Cruise Critic board. We hired them for three tours. Naples, Rome and Florence. We were very pleased with everything about the company. The drivers were there on time or early in every port dressed in a suit and tie! The automobiles were clean, new Mercedes sedans. Our drivers and tour guides were very professional and knowledgable on every aspect of their city. They had itineraries planned but we were free to break off the beaten path at anytime to see something interesting if we wanted. Being on a cruise ship's time limit was not a problem for them or us. They were able to give us so much history and highlights of each city in the time allowed. We NEVER felt rushed nor did we feel we missed anything. In fact, when back onboard and comparing sites we visited with other passengers, we realized that we saw so much more than most other tours. I cannot say enough nice things about this company and if I ever get back to Italy, they will be the only company I call.

[Kathy130]

We also used Romeinlimo this past July for an incredible Med. cruise. We used them for three ports, and can't say enough good things about them. Not only was the service they delivered outstanding, but the contact information was exceptional. You can ask ques. after ques. during the months leading up to the cruise, and it is answered immediately. Jany and Duman are my new Italian friends, and will be the first contact I make when we plan out next cruise or land vacation for Italy!!!

[MikeKam]

We used easitalytours this past summer and did the "First of the Day" tour in which we had a guide (Giulia) take us through the Sistine Chapel as one of the first visitors of the day. This allows you to view the Sistine Chapel without feeling overwhelmed with the crowds. Giulia was really wonderful and this tour was a highlight of our trip. If you would like to know more information just let me know.

 

Did easitalytours help with putting together an itinerary? Right now we vaguely have an idea of what we want to see of course all the major sights we have marked off but we want a tour company that can also take us to some great places off the beaten path.

[bigbinfl]

We (a group of twenty four people) used Rome Cabs in November of this year. We used them for transfer from airport to hotel / from ship to airport. As well as two days of touring Vatican/ City tour.

 

Stefano the owner could not be any more accomadating. He responds to phone/email messages almost instantly. If Stefano says don't worry then believe me there is no need to worry. . His cabs were clean and fairly new. His drivers were prompt,courtious and all spoke English very well.

 

 

 

;)

[WaveRider75]

Hi Jane - what was the cost per person for the transfer from the airport to Civitavecchia with Romecabs? I'm trying to locate a reasonable transfer price for four of us...

Many Thanks!

[eekconway]

My Wife & I enjoyed our Honeymoon by Sailing for the Carnival Dream Oct 15th 2009. We were looking bypass the Cattlehearding of large Cruise company tours & also to cut our expenses as much as possible. So while in Italy I arranged Our Transfers from airport to downtown Rome, then Rome to Citavecchia, as well as Our Naples excursion that took us to Pompeii, Sorrento, Positano, & the Amalfi Coast, and our Livorno excursion to Florence & Tuscan Countryside & winery. For all of this I used Fabrizio from allarounditaly.net (allarounditaly . net). From the start of my dealings with Fabrizio, he was always professional with great communication & quick repsonses to my many questions. Fabrizio was among the most least expensive which is always great AND exceeded ALL the rest of the companies I spoke with in quality & profesionalism before our trip & made us feel totally comfortable & confident in our 1st experience on a private excursion in a foreign country not knowing the language. He & all his staff are english speaking drivers/guides VERY IMPORTANT not all companies are. He is extremely easy to work with, which is important, some companies I spoke with charged full price for the excursion even if our ship missed a port due to weather or whatever(which happened to us in one of our other ports). All the transfers were prompt & on time with No worries or stress of being late or even cutting it close. Fabrizio himself did our Naples Excursion and exceeded our every possible expectation, without a doubt the experience he provided for us was the highlight of all our 16 day trip. From the moment he picked us up he was professional & had a great sense of humor to keep things informative yet, fun. He was willing & accomadating to do whatever we wanted , kept us clear of the tourist traps & stopped at all the right spots for great pictures. But the highlight was his recommendation for the one of the best meals/experiences we've ever had in our lifes. He had told us of a great place he'd like to take us that serves the food for free but, you have to pay for the view. His description was 100% accurate. Although the lunch was a little pricey, we would have been willing to pay double if we knew the experience that we we going to have. The view was truely breathtaking & lunch was completely made fresh on the grounds from the Ravioli, tomato & Mozzarella, Brushetta, sauteed vegetables, Red & White Wine & dessert. I really could go on & on about that meal. Also, He arranged for one of the best licensed tour guides for Pompeii.

He then arranged for one of his guides Simmone, to do our Livorno Excursion. Simmone did a great job as well & he was extremely professional, friendly, knowledegable, & accomadating. He also knew all the great local spots to stop for pics, & advised on the market in florence. He then gave us a great tour of the Tuscan Countryside, took us for a great authentic Italian lunch & to a spectacular Vineyard/Winery.

We will definately be going back to Italy at some point & we will ONLY use Fabrizio of allarounditaly. net. Remember you get what you pay for & if you want to have to have a priceless experience let "the best" Fabizio & his associates provide it for you, you wont regret it!

 

Ed

[maryann ns]

I made a mistake in my above posting. Of course it was in Sorrento that we had our excellent tour with Marcello of SeeSorrento!

[audmartg]

Braydon was our guide for our Jewish tour of the Vatican. I cannot say enough kind words for her. My husband is handicapped and she made sure we would see everything with the rest of our group. She helped him up and down the stairs and was most knowledgeable. Even though we had been to the Vatican before; it came alive with her expertise. Thank you Rome/limo and thank you and kudos to Braydon.

 

For our tour of the Jewish Ghetto we used Micaela of Jewish Roma. She was excellent. When you go on your own, even with the use of guidebooks, you are missing out by not having someone who lives in the area and can tell you so much more. Micaela seemed to know everyone we passed while walking through the Ghetto.

[Barbie075]

We used Romeinlimo for all of our stops on Italy's west coast. That included Livorno (Florence), Rome and Sorrento/Pompeii. I highly recommend them. Their prices are rasonable, they were always on time, the drivers were extremely knowledgeable and willing to do whatever you wanted. We were extremely pleased and would definitely use them for future trips.

[floridatravelersforlife]

On the last Ancient empires Cruise on the Equinox, this past October, we used ItalyLimousine for the Amalfi Coast tour out of Naples and a day tour of Rome before we flew out of FCO in the early evening.

 

Having done previous tours in both sites, we asked for the other things to see.

 

For the Amalfi tour we went backwards starting out at Revello, then Amalfi and then Positano. We beat all the traffic since we were always driving against it and we were able to enjoy more time during the stops. Point is, ItalyLimousine were experienced to understand and make adjustments.

 

For Rome, our tour guide Giovanni took us to places we never heard of and showed us perspectives of sites from the other side of the view.

[pamkev]

We just got back from our cruise and used Rome Cab for our transfer to the hotel and did a tour with them, they were great and we would not hesitate to use them again when we go back again.

 

Pam

[GRAMMYTAN]

My Wife & I enjoyed our Honeymoon by Sailing for the Carnival Dream Oct 15th 2009. We were looking bypass the Cattlehearding of large Cruise company tours & also to cut our expenses as much as possible. So while in Italy I arranged Our Transfers from airport to downtown Rome, then Rome to Citavecchia, as well as Our Naples excursion that took us to Pompeii, Sorrento, Positano, & the Amalfi Coast, and our Livorno excursion to Florence & Tuscan Countryside & winery. For all of this I used Fabrizio from allarounditaly.net (allarounditaly . net). From the start of my dealings with Fabrizio, he was always professional with great communication & quick repsonses to my many questions. Fabrizio was among the most least expensive which is always great AND exceeded ALL the rest of the companies I spoke with in quality & profesionalism before our trip & made us feel totally comfortable & confident in our 1st experience on a private excursion in a foreign country not knowing the language. He & all his staff are english speaking drivers/guides VERY IMPORTANT not all companies are. He is extremely easy to work with, which is important, some companies I spoke with charged full price for the excursion even if our ship missed a port due to weather or whatever(which happened to us in one of our other ports). All the transfers were prompt & on time with No worries or stress of being late or even cutting it close. Fabrizio himself did our Naples Excursion and exceeded our every possible expectation, without a doubt the experience he provided for us was the highlight of all our 16 day trip. From the moment he picked us up he was professional & had a great sense of humor to keep things informative yet, fun. He was willing & accomadating to do whatever we wanted , kept us clear of the tourist traps & stopped at all the right spots for great pictures. But the highlight was his recommendation for the one of the best meals/experiences we've ever had in our lifes. He had told us of a great place he'd like to take us that serves the food for free but, you have to pay for the view. His description was 100% accurate. Although the lunch was a little pricey, we would have been willing to pay double if we knew the experience that we we going to have. The view was truely breathtaking & lunch was completely made fresh on the grounds from the Ravioli, tomato & Mozzarella, Brushetta, sauteed vegetables, Red & White Wine & dessert. I really could go on & on about that meal. Also, He arranged for one of the best licensed tour guides for Pompeii.

He then arranged for one of his guides Simmone, to do our Livorno Excursion. Simmone did a great job as well & he was extremely professional, friendly, knowledegable, & accomadating. He also knew all the great local spots to stop for pics, & advised on the market in florence. He then gave us a great tour of the Tuscan Countryside, took us for a great authentic Italian lunch & to a spectacular Vineyard/Winery.

We will definately be going back to Italy at some point & we will ONLY use Fabrizio of allarounditaly. net. Remember you get what you pay for & if you want to have to have a priceless experience let "the best" Fabizio & his associates provide it for you, you wont regret it!

 

Ed

 

(Hi Ed:)) - great post.

 

This was our second grand med cruise and we used Stefano for all of our transfers from airport to the hotel in Civi, ship to Rome post cruise, and hotel to airport after our stay in Rome. We met Ed on our roll call and joined him and his group on the Livorno excursion and were completely pleased - great job newbie! After reading his review above, I just wish we had been in his group for the Naples excursion as well.

[globetrecker]

Did easitalytours help with putting together an itinerary? Right now we vaguely have an idea of what we want to see of course all the major sights we have marked off but we want a tour company that can also take us to some great places off the beaten path.

 

 

Yea we spoke with Mario who really helped us a plan some wonderful days touring. He walked us through what sights to see and also gave us his honest opinion about what places were really worth a visit. He also suggested how much time we should spend at each place.

[Grandpaul]

When we were in Rome we used Romeinlimo and had a great time. It was an eight passanger van but plenty big enough. Trust me some of us were "large". I would imagine a full tour bus would have a difficult time getting as close to some of the areas as we did to park and return to the vehicle. Made for easier tours and quicker exits. Got to see more. Rome to me looks like a city that would be very difficult to try and tour on your own. So much to see and spread out. Plus between the cars and scooters it gets a little fast paced. And there is so much history you can learn from your driver like we did. Had to be one of the top tours we were ever on. Going back in less than a year for more.

[starr_sun]

We used Mariano Fiorentino and his tour was wonderful. I've recommended him before and all of the people who have used his company have been very, very happy with his services:

 

http://www.pleasantravel.com/tours_excursions.htm

 

 

I totally agree with Wheretonext. We used Mariano's service in October 2009 and were THRILLED with the tour. Many of the people in our group had been to Pompeii before so he customized our tour. We felt like we were part of his family. He gave us the RED CARPET treatment and when we return to Italy....we will use him again. He is very reliable, knows the area very well (we took many short cuts to avoid the traffic). He took us to the best places for pasta, gelato, cheese, and pastries. If you want anything just let him know and he will find it for you. He set our standard SO HIGH for all of the other private tours that we took and nobody was as good as he was.

[travelgrandpa]

Our group of 10 toured with carsorrento.it in November, 2009. Our ship docked in Naples and we toured Pompeii with a private guide and then the Amalfi Coast. Renato Cuomo was our guide and accommodated our schedule perfectly. He was a pleasure to spend the whole day with. You cannot go wrong touring with Renato Cuomo. His email is : recuomo@tin.it. Enjoy.:o

 

 

We are sailing on Oceania in June 2010 from Venice to Rome with our 18 year old daughter. Never been to Italy, only UK and France. I have found on past cruises CC members always have the straight dope when it comes to ports and the lay of the land.

 

Looking for suggestions and apporximate cost of good/reliable drivers or private tours in Sorrento, Amalfi/Capri, Monte Carlo, Taormino and Rome. We like kind of off the beaten path stuff and are not huge on crowds or buses, that is why we are straying away from the Cruise Line Tours.

 

Wondering..

 

• How far in advance do you need to book.
  
• PP approximate cost.
  
• Great experiences anyone has had with a particular company
  
• Any of these palces easy to navigate on your own-no help required
  

We are psyched and can't wait. Any help is greatly appreciated!

[madmarti]

We were on the Legend in June. We used Romeinlimo for Rome, Tuscany, Florence and Naples. They were great. The guides were always on time, picking us up at the pier, knowledgable and alot of fun. We were so impressed with them, my husband wanted me to cancel the ship's tours and try to get in touch with them for the ports we didn't book. I hope we will get to use them in the future. I can't say enough about them.:)

[Billiam]

We were on the Century in October and used Giovanni @ Sunflower Tours at Livorno. He was a hoot and we did a half day in Florence, half day in San Gimignano and a photo pass by at Pisa. A great day and I highly recommend him. In Naples we used Tour of Italy (again) and had another wonderful day. We chose to tour the Amalfi Coast and finished the day with a ferry from Sorrento. Giancarlo and Giovanni (Not Sunflower Giovanni) are great, the price is right and they are local. Giovanni has worked in the States and their english is very good, nearly new Mercedes vans too. They were also kind enough to arrange a tour for some of our cruisemates in another of their cars which they said was the highlight of the cruise. We will neve use anyone else in the Naples area and after 2 trips I consider them friends and highly recommend. Happy cruising

[AlaskaJune]

Has anyone used "Driver Guide Service" tours? Cruising in May and trying to make a decision on a tour company. So far been very impressed by this company by their pricing and offerings. Any input would be great.

Thanks

[euro cruiser]

Has anyone used "Driver Guide Service" tours?

If you use the "search this forum" function you'll find several mentions, including this dedicated thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1100874&highlight=driver+guide+service

[SASSYIN2]

Which ship and what date in May? You may find some others on your roll call to meet up with that have booked tours too

[Crusier98]

Rome Cabs for Rome, Stefano Costantini in particular and DriveAmalfi for Naples and take your pick from Salvatore, Roberto or Adriano they are all excellent

[szdiver]

Our cc group used Romeinlimo for our tours of Rome, Florence and Pisa and also for private tour to Pompii - they were great and drivers were always polite and friendly. We use them each time we are in Italy. The prices are usually about the same with all of them. Have a great time.....