Island of Capri - cruise tour or on own?

[Travel luv]

Hello,

 

Trying to decide if we should book the Island of Capri tour with Lunch tour with our cruise line for $149 or just do this on our own? Any recommendations? Is it an easy tour to do on your own? If so, what are the places we "must" see.

 

What are the pros/cons to having a guided tour versus doing tour on own?

 

Thanks

[operafan]

Capri is really easy to do on your own. The hydrofoil station is right outside the port and even with tickets, funicular ride and lunch won't cost anywhere near the $149 of the excursion.

[sneffles]

Do it on your own. Must see: the wonderful view from the top of Mount Solaro. Take the chairlift from Anacapri to the top of the mountain

The chairlift station is near Piazza Vittoria. Some refer to the 20-minute ride to the top of the mountain as “the chairlift to heaven.” This is not much of an exaggeration. If you do one thing on Capri, do this. You will never forget it.

[cruisemom42]

Capri is quite easy to do on your own. I can't imagine what a tour would add to the experience.

 

With apologies to Hank (Hlitner, a DIYer), I can almost visualize the tour guide saying "And here is a nice place to stop for coffee. And here is a shopping street -- no, no! Don't stop! Stay in line and follow me....." :rolleyes:

[rlse9]

We did a boat tour around the island. It was great, it's a really pretty island. It was only 14 euros, well worth the price. Took about 2 hours. It stopped at the blue grottoe, which is really famous apparently. You can take a boat ride inside in a small row boat but it's 10.5 euros and only lasts a few minutes. It was pretty but not worth it in my opinion. But the boat tour around the island, definitely, it was excellent.

[Travel luv]

Thanks everyone. I just found out that my cruiseline changed the port to Salerno. What does this mean in terms of getting to the island of Capri? I had been originally researching it coming from Naples?

 

Thanks

[euro cruiser]

Your options for Capri from Salerno are greatly restricted. There's only one company that I am aware of that runs ferries and high speed boats on this route, Alicost.

 

You can see their current schedule here: http://www.lauroweb.com/orariotariffe/partenzealicost2010.pdf

 

There are three morning boats, slower ferries at 7:50 and 8:40, or a fast boat at 8:15 (arrives 9:25). Each makes between one to three stops before arriving at Capri (at Minori, Amalfi, Positano).

 

The return is more difficult, you really only have one choice and if it doesn't fit with your schedule, you may be out of luck. The return leaves Capri at 3:30 and arrives in Salerno at 4:55.

[spangnash]

Thanks everyone. I just found out that my cruiseline changed the port to Salerno. What does this mean in terms of getting to the island of Capri? I had been originally researching it coming from Naples?

 

Thanks

 

We are on a Med Cruise with Royal Caribbean in September and were initially planning to do Capri on our at the Naples port; our port as well was just recently changed to Salerno and I am now leaning towards taking a ship excursion to Capri instead. We have never done a ship excursion since they seem to be so over-priced and we have fun just wandering around on our own. However, it seems like getting to Capri from Salerno can be pretty tricky and a bit risky to try this on our own; I don't want to be stressed the entire day worrying about making sure to catch that one ferry back to make it to the ship on time (and I have read that sometimes they get canceled if the water is too rough?). (We have already seen the Amalfi Coast - which is GORGEOUS - which is apparently alot easier to do out of Salerno than Capri.)

[1stCruiser]

We did a boat tour around the island. It was great, it's a really pretty island. It was only 14 euros, well worth the price. Took about 2 hours. It stopped at the blue grottoe, which is really famous apparently. You can take a boat ride inside in a small row boat but it's 10.5 euros and only lasts a few minutes. It was pretty but not worth it in my opinion. But the boat tour around the island, definitely, it was excellent.

 

Do you have the website for this boat tour that you did?

 

Thanks!

[BigGuy25]

Capri is really easy to do on your own. The hydrofoil station is right outside the port and even with tickets, funicular ride and lunch won't cost anywhere near the $149 of the excursion.

 

This was exactly our experience a few weeks ago. The "high-speed" ferry was 14.5 euro (one-way) and had very comfortable "airline" style seating. You can purchase your round-trip ticket right at the beginning and then, when you're ready, take any boat back to the mainland. Ask for the flyer that gives you the return schedule times when you purchase your tickets.

[Goes Cruising]

Do you have the website for this boat tour that you did?

 

Thanks!

 

A bit more expensive, but worth considering. Last July we did a 4 hour private gozzo tour of the island with Gianni's Boat. It was just the 4 of us, and Gianni made us feel like family. We wandered into the numerous coves, and stopped occasionally to take a swim. It was 240 euro for the tour, and one of the highlights of an outstanding 12 day med cruise.

 

I tracked Gianni down through http://www.capri.net. He was very responsive on email!

[retcap]

I'm in the same predicament; Constellation has moved from Naples to Salerno in September & will be tendered. Will require extra time to transfer from ship to shore to ferry and, as already mentioned, the ferry schedule may change without notice. I've tried a search for private charters and found a few. You can gather a small group to split the cost, but the only "safety net" is the cruise ship's tour & I agree, it is overpriced.