StanandJim Posted January 26, 2011 #26 Share Posted January 26, 2011 One can hire a driver to transport one from site to site in Europe, or, one can hire a tour guide. This distinction is sometimes lost because the new generations of American tourists feel increasingly uncomfortable with being served. After hiring a well recommended Guide, whose references have been checked, the client will ideally know his landing and sailing times, and be able to discuss a "broad wish list" for the area in question. The client has a duty to know something about the area before entering the discussion, the guide has a duty to know how the mechanics work (i.e. what the train schedules are, or what hours the museum keeps). The guide will come back with suggestions governing the days' sequence, timing, tickets, and transportation. After a bit of give and take, a compromise will be achieved; but the details should be left in the hands of the professional. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caribbeansun Posted January 27, 2011 #27 Share Posted January 27, 2011 Thanks. In fact I contacted 3 guides and ALL 3 suggested a stop at Pisa before going to Florence as it was "on the way" unprompted by me so I was lulled into a false sense of security. If you read the Italy board here it's constantly being suggested. I was not under any illusion that I'd be able to see all of Florence in a day - I did think we'd have had more time there and have seen more than we did however. Had I known then what I know now I wouldn't have made that mistake. Now I'm forced to travel back to Italy ;):D Research is very important in determining what one should see on a private tour. But so is logic. Think about it. Would you try to see Paris and another town in one day? Rome and another town on one day? New York and another town in one day? You can barely scratch the surface of any world class city in a week, let alone a day. Yet people are always trying to squeeze in someplace else along with Florence in one day that involves hours of driving to begin with. It makes no sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wripro Posted January 27, 2011 #28 Share Posted January 27, 2011 Poor baby! Forced to go back to Italy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare ORV Posted January 27, 2011 #29 Share Posted January 27, 2011 We did a tour of Pisa & Florence in 09 and used Romeinlimo. Although there was a lot we didn't see in Florence I thought they did a great job in organizing the day. I would definitely go with them again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winniecody Posted January 28, 2011 #30 Share Posted January 28, 2011 Rumhead: sent a message on the Oceania website re shuttles and ports on the Marina Rome to Venice cruise. Got same day answer. Try that winniecody Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare bobolz Posted January 30, 2011 #31 Share Posted January 30, 2011 My opinion, you can't do Pisa and Florence in the same day. You will lose too much valuable time with the driving. If you can't see them on this trip, go back to Italy and tour by land. We have been to Italy 3 times and stayed at least a week in each region. While in Tuscany we made day trips to Pisa and Lucca and spent 2-3 full days in Florence and I am sure we could have seen more, but were able to see the highlights. Good luck with your planning:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wripro Posted January 30, 2011 #32 Share Posted January 30, 2011 I think many European tour guides have become accustomed to Americans wanting to see as much as possible in their short time so they recommend stopping in Pisa even if it means losing valuable time in Florence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retyredin99 Posted February 2, 2011 #33 Share Posted February 2, 2011 I have been making arrangements with private tour guides for the ports we will be visiting, as the Oceania tours leave something to be desired. If anyone is going on that trip, and would like to join us, olease let me know and I can forward the details;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debs1964 Posted February 7, 2011 #34 Share Posted February 7, 2011 Hi Mura, its Deborah in Malaga. How are you? Did you enjoy the city last time you were here. Kind regards from across the ocean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mura Posted February 7, 2011 #35 Share Posted February 7, 2011 Hi Mura, its Deborah in Malaga. How are you? Did you enjoy the city last time you were here. Kind regards from across the ocean. Hi Deborah, so good to hear from you! We really enjoyed our day in Malaga last spring -- I meant to write you a report and apologize for never having gotten around to it. We spent most of the day at the Cathedral (Howard had to hear every word of the audioguide multiple times) and the Alcazaba, which we just loved. We still have a number of places to visit in Malaga when we return. I was very disappointed for the passengers on Marina's TA when they had to pass up Malaga. They missed a lovely city. The Frugal Traveler in the NY Times did an article on Malaga just this past weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wripro Posted February 7, 2011 #36 Share Posted February 7, 2011 Mura and Debs 1964, I'll be in Malaga for a day on the Marina crossing on March 28th. I've already done the Alhambra and many of the coastal towns so plan to spend the day in Malaga itself. Any suggestions for things not to miss? Was planning on the Picasso Museum and Cathedral to start. Plus lunch, of course. Wouldn't want to miss a meal. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mura Posted February 7, 2011 #37 Share Posted February 7, 2011 Debs is the better person to talk to here, but I agree with the Cathedral. The Alcazaba is only a few blocks away. There is an elevator that takes you up to the top and then you can walk down, taking your time. If you want to see the moorish Gibralfaro Castle, you would walk up. Alternatively you could take a cab to the very top and walk down. For some reason we were discouraged from doing that so we just did the lower half of the trip. Perhaps the castle was closed that day ... I understand the Picasso Museum is a small one as Picasso Museums go but I haven't been there myself. It certainly has a good reputation from as far as I could see. There are horse carriage rides (typically overpriced IMO) which we also did NOT take, but friends on our cruise who took the ride enjoyed it very much. The husband is disabled so this was a much better way for them to get around. Malaga is a lovely walk-around town as well. When we were there the Roman Ampitheatre was under construction so we couldn't really see it that well but it was very close to the Alcazaba, down at the bottom. You might want to check out the NY Times article -- the author was most taken with a tapas restaurant that he was referred to! http://frugaltraveler.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/in-malaga-a-taste-of-picasso-and-iberian-cuisine/?ref=travel Have a good time! Mura Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wripro Posted February 8, 2011 #38 Share Posted February 8, 2011 Mura, Thanks so much for the tips. Will certainly follow up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winegirl Posted February 11, 2011 #39 Share Posted February 11, 2011 I will get blasted for this but here goes... Last summer we cruised for 14 days on Oceania. We were in a different port everyday except for one sea day. Based on popular opinion, I arranged for or joined private tours in all but one port. The single ship tour was pretty good, a good guide, and we got our money's worth in the 5 hours in port. The private tours were a mixed bag. One cruiser who was a glutton for punishment publicized vacancies on 4 tours. We signed up early, but I know many people were scrambling for places at the last minute. That cruiser added more mini-vans or buses to the tour schedule to accomodate more demand. Apparently, for more sign ups, the arranger got tours free. No problems with that in my mind. However, just like on the ship tours, you are placed in a mini-van with people you don't know, and people with whom you may not travel well. For instance, one couple decided to have lunch and over-run the stop time by quite a bit: the rest of us were waiting with the guide at the van for them to show up. Other participants were not able bodied, with mobility difficulties and kept the group moving very slowly. On one tour I personally arranged, the wife just went on ahead, leaving me to navigate her spouse, who was mobility challenged, from the rear in an attempt to keep up. Several of the participants were hard of hearing and constantly complained that they could not hear the guide as the vehicle was driving. Some people just complained period, that's their nature. So my advice: Look for recommended GUIDE/DRIVERS. Some are guides, some are drivers, not all are both. If you hire a driver, they will drive..that's it. You will have to know what you want to see and where you want to go and most of the logistics. Also ask if the van you will be using has a public address system inside: otherwise, only the people in the front row(s) will hear the guide as you drive. Research some of the distances between stops and make an informed judgement about how much you will be able to fit in. One of the really great tours we took had an unreasonably ambitious itinerary scheduled by the cruiser. We got back about 5 minutes before sailing--a close call. In one port, the ship arrived about 3 hours late and that required that we contact the tour guide from the ship multiple times to rearrange the itinerary. Our tour was cut short by this and as the tour arranger, I was responsible for constant updates to the other cruisers and apologizing for the shortened tour plus some refunds. Regardless of the reason for a change in itinerary, some people just don't care and will put you through the ringer. Lesson I learned the hard way: look carefully at the ship's excursions for good values. Try to find cruiser feedback on any ship excursion or private tour you want to take. Be aware that when you are joining strangers on a private tour, you may encounter people who should not be on excursions for reasons of physical limitations or temperment. On future cruises, I will only book excursions for myself and my spouse, unless I know the other parties well. Unfortunately, that renders your options slim since most private tours are quite high in price unless you share. Sometimes, the extra money to have a guide all to yourself is worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tropiclady Posted February 11, 2011 Author #40 Share Posted February 11, 2011 Thank you to everyone for their comments. A special thank you goes to wine girl because I really did want to hear how it is and what people's experiences are. I find that the Oceania excursions look very good but I have trouble with some of their prices as they are almost double some of the private tours. We still have not decided what we are doing yet. There is 10 of us on the cruise so we could possibly have a few of our friends join us on a private tour if they desired. I am leaning towards a couple of private tours just not all. However, my husband still feels that we should stick to the cruise ship tours for peace of mind. We still have 6 months to make up our mind. Does anyone have any idea how fast some of the ship excursions fill up? Should we be worried about booking? Also, how many people can we expect to be on a tour at any given time. Thanks, Tropiclady Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare ORV Posted February 12, 2011 #41 Share Posted February 12, 2011 What we did on our roll call is split up the coordinating of private tours. There was a group of 8 -12 of us that did tours together, not all went on every tour at every port. I handled setting up 2 of them, another member set up 2, another member did 1 etc. It spread the work and the coordinating among the participants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mura Posted February 12, 2011 #42 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Winegirl, I don't see why you should be blasted for relaying your experience. Having organized a very few private tours myself, I know we were lucky with the group composition. But that isn't always the case. On our Australia cruise I spoke to someone who was organizing tours in every port and quickly realized we wouldn't be compatible. His idea was to hit the ground running at as many stops as possible whereas I prefer to do fewer stops in depth. And while we meet online, we can't really know what the limitations are of other people, or even their real interests. Tropiclady, our experience has been that for most tours you have plenty of time to book on board. But that was before they allowed passengers to sign up online. Even so, unless it's a limited tour that will have a lot of demand (say to the Alhambra from Malaga) you should be safe. I think! I will repeat that we've been pretty lucky with our ad hoc touring groups but you do have to bear in mind that things might not be all that wonderful. But they aren't always all that wonderful on ship's tours. On the ship's tours we've taken, virtually always there is someone who doesn't worry about getting back to the bus on time. Your chances of getting a compatible group when you are 8 is a lot better than if the group is a full bus ... Mura Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClaudiaF Posted February 12, 2011 #43 Share Posted February 12, 2011 you wrote in part... We did a private tour in both Florence and Rome in 2006 and used Claudio Caponera, www.limoinrome.com, claudio@limoinrome.com who was outstanding. YES YES YES.. he is wonderful ..I have used his service 3 times. check his web site the various tours then email him and he will help you decide what to see..:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caribbeansun Posted February 12, 2011 #44 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Sounds like you had a very unfortunate experience which is a shame. As a counter-point I'd say that we have been very fortunate with the people we've hooked up with to do tours - NEVER more than 8 and prefer 6. We've always exchanged a bit of info up front in an attempt to avoid matching up with others with issues we don't share. We also do many tours on our own. We've been fortunate to have made some very good friends by sharing a few private tours. Obviously YMMV and hope you'll give another try someday AND even with guides/drivers that have received good praise here we've encountered 2 real duds amongst numerous outstanding tours. ie. Katie Parla who Stan and Jim recommended was absolutely outstanding for 3 days of guided touring in Rome. Sunflower Tours for the Pisa/Florence - uh, not so much. I will only book excursions for myself and my spouse, unless I know the other parties well. Unfortunately, that renders your options slim since most private tours are quite high in price unless you share. Sometimes, the extra money to have a guide all to yourself is worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted February 12, 2011 #45 Share Posted February 12, 2011 We have done several private tours We just make it clear upfront what is on the tour & there WILL be lunch stops. If people want more intensive tours do not come with me ;) Last summer it was the guides that messed up the itinerary but got it sorted and worked out fine. When going with a group of people you have never met ..some flexibility is required ;) Lyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2kiwis Posted February 12, 2011 #46 Share Posted February 12, 2011 There is 10 of us on the cruise so we could possibly have a few of our friends join us on a private tour if they desired. Hi If there are 10 of you on a cruise why not do private tours together and as suggest previously, why not split the destinations between you all and have each person organise one tour. Or maybe three of you do all the organisation. On our last two trips we made up a group (most of whom we knew from previous cruises) and several of us organised trips for the group. Having said that - we have never had any problems with tours we have made up from cruise-critic where we have not meet our traveling companions until we arrived on board. We find people who are prepared to join a group this way are generally like-minded and prepared to fit-in. In our experience, the person who organises the group becomes the "unofficial leader" and usually that person agrees times for being back at the van etc with everyone and we all stick to it. I would really recommend doing private tours especially if you already have a group of Friends to travel with as you can get around quicker and do more than you can in a ship's tour bus of 40 people. We usually check all the ship tours and pick up all the highlights of each tour, and then arrange to do as many was possible with a local guide/operator That way we usually end up seeing all the things say 2 half day ship's tours will do plus extra. We also make sure we know the age and size of the vehicle being offered and that it is air conditioned. We generally organise tours for 8 people and ask for a 10-12 seater vehicle so we have plenty of space and this works very well. We are very rarely disappointed by the transport provided. We also always request to be back at the ship half an hour before we need to be - just to be sure we are not late. If you are considering private tours - have a good look on the cruise-critic boards for recommendations (see under destinations as well) and get on to it now. It is never too early. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kreastman Posted February 17, 2011 #47 Share Posted February 17, 2011 We spent a few days in Rome and a week in Tuscany a couple of years ago prior to our O cruise from Rome to Venice. In Rome we used Claudio Caponera (http://www.limoinrome.com/), highly recommended on these boards. When planning our trip, we asked Claudio about a guide in Tuscany, since he does not cover that area. He suggested Guido Bandinelli (http://www.guidos-tours.it/about.html and he was terrific. We used Guido for three days, and he took us everywhere, including many small towns, wonderful restaurants and excellent wineries. In Florence, he was able to get us into the galleries without waiting in line. Guido has a great sense of humor, and his English is perfect, since he went to college for a while in America. I highly recommend him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
susiesan Posted February 17, 2011 #48 Share Posted February 17, 2011 I often am the one arranging the private tours for myself and husband and the roll call group. But I make it clear that this is my tour, the way I want it, and you are welcome to join us if you like to tour the way I do. If you are not comfortable with my arrangements then it would be better you not come with us, and we go off just the 2 of us. On a Panama Canal cruise on AZ in 2008 I had arranged an all day van tour for 6 from our roll call in Nicaragua to drive to Granada. A couple we met onboard wanted to join if there was space, which there was. I told the wife what we would be doing and she said it was fine. As the day progressed she would try to tell the guide to deviate from the plan so she could go shopping or spend more time at one of the stops which would have put us off the schedule. I had to remind the guide that I was the organizer, it was my tour, and he was not to listen to her. That couple did not try to come along on any of the other private tours I had planned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mura Posted February 17, 2011 #49 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Oh lordy, lordy, Susie ... a bit nervy I would say! I can't imagine joining an already scheduled tour at the last minute and then trying to change the itinerary! And I know from personal experience that you do an excellent job in setting up a tour. If this lady wanted to do shopping she should have taken a ship's tour! I am sure they would have accommodated her. I suppose I should say that I am NOT a shopper, but there have been times when I want to do a LITTLE shopping. But I would never try to take time away from the group to do so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpver Posted February 17, 2011 #50 Share Posted February 17, 2011 As the items treats more or less the same principles of the ships tours and private tours I will repeat some reflexions on this item: - the examples of some shiptours exemples given who seem better. Of course I canot judge these specific ones. Only compare to a real one. Otway Park in Punta Areanas Chili Through CC we were able to book at USD 35 pp for exactly the same tour as organised by the shipping line at USD 89 pp. The comfort was better and more personalised. - Further we are used to travel on individual basis. If you look at rates Kusadasi Ephese (see cc forum) or simply at Pireaus to take the metro at € 1.2 (before € 1) pp each way and the entrance fee at the Acropolis in Athens, or paying €70 for two, with a public bus even to visit the waterfalls of Krka out of Sibenik (inclusive the entrance fee) io us$ 137 per person with the cruise line ... it goes without comments. And these are only a few examples - on the other hand on some destinations indeed is it better to take the cruise tours. Friends of mine (faithfull Oceania) found that in St Petersburg the visa for Russia only (!) was nearly as much as the Oceania ships tour. On top in private you have difficulties to enter easily without baksish the places to visit! And I would add that in a lot of cases the bigger organised groups take you to carpet, jewelry or other shops! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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