Late search. Need tour to quaint towns from Marseilles

[hubofhockey]

I think you are right about them picking us up. What I read about the the office was from their website. When rereading the email from them, their rep mentioned their set, shared tours required getting to central Marseille but that our tour will be private. So I guess that indicates we are getting picked up at the port (I hope!) I have sent another email to confirm that.

 

Re: the number of people on our tour - too late. There are 4 couples (which includes us) already. On another tour I arranged in Sicily, we will just be 7. Initially the plan was to keep it to 6, but a solo traveler wanted to come and the operator can take 7. I sure hope we aren't TOO squished on the Provence tour. :confused: BTW, have you personally been on a tour with this company? Any other tips you can offer? Anything we should be on the lookout for or be warned about?

 

Thanks again for your input and help!

 

Yes, I did the tour last summer (my reviews are posted under my old username Ljberkow) with Margeline. There are four in my family and we added a couple from our roll call. I believe our van was big enough for seven passengers and they knew we had six. If they know that you have eight, I would think you would get a bigger van. You can follow up with them on that. They got back to us right away on all of our concerns. We originally booked the van for the four of us and it would have been 420 euros. The rate for 6-8 was 480. If you have eight and you got that rate, you will have the best valued excursion of your cruise.

 

Their standard tour was Saint Remy, Arles, and Les Baux. We asked them to replace Saint Remy with the Pont du Gard. I highly recommend doing that if you have a port day of nine hours plus.

 

I really enjoyed Arles and we walked into the arena, which is a better preserved smaller version of the Colisseum in Rome. It is actually still used today for bull fighting (which are night events). It's possible that we should have paid the 6 euro admission. But, oops, we walked right in. The guide walked us through town and we had a good amount of time on our own. This was the first morning stop in the morning and we found a nice creperie and got some of the sweet ones with sugar to hold us over.

 

Our next stop was Les Baux. I think that is the "must see" attraction in Provence. It is a town built into stone. We had lunch there. Unfortunately, we didn't have time for the museum. But we walked around did some shopping and enjoyed it.

 

Our last stop the Pont du Gard. It is historic and another very well preserved structure from the Roman Era. We walked along the Pont, relaxed, got our photos, had some ice cream.

 

On the way back, the guide drove through Avignon and showed us the sights.

 

My thoughts going in after we booked the cruise was that this would not be one of the better port days. We had already been to Rome, Florence, Capri, Nice, Taormina & Mount Etna, and began in Barcelona. We missed our beach day in Mallorca due to a port strike and this was the final port. When I first looked at the port, I thought that a boat ride along the Calanques would be the way to go. Then I visited these same ports of call and was advised that I would be bored by the Calanques and the regulars here advised me to get to Provence. I followed the advice of others and it was very good advice. I also believe that the guides add value. Our guide was knowledgeable and did more than just drive a van. I could be mistaken. But I believe she was a licensed guide.

[mlbcruiser]

;)Well our tour really only consists of Le Baux Provence. We are not in port long enough for the 9 hrs. tours they offer. And our cruise is very port intensive so some of us actually prefer to get back to the ship early in the afternoon to have time to spend on there. Several will have been traveling for a while (in my case, 8 BUSY days in various places in Spain) prior to the cruise. As it turned out, my inquiry has led to a private tour, though, so perhaps we can make some adjustments. I had thought St. Remy would be a plus, and had wished we were going there. A lot has to do with what one has seen before and also where interests lie. I will have to do a search and find your old review. Someone else from our roll call contacted me for the names of our tour guides and anyone else I could recommend for them to use for this cruise. Considering we decided not to drive so late, we began our own search too late! Geez, the trouble I had just finding this one, I may not be very helpful! I did steer them towards these boards and tripadvisor, and so on, though. Thanks so much - AGAIN!

[mlbcruiser]

Hubofhockey, I forgot to mention that the one thing that has bothered me a little bit is that there is always a 2 to 3 day delay from the time I email them until I get a reply. I can understand if there is a weekend in between and imagine they are VERY busy at this time of yr. The answer to my first inquiry was from one woman and the 2nd email from them was from another. Some of the questions I asked were not answered in the reply from the 2nd woman. I emailed them again last night but have still not heard back. surely I will by tomorrow - ? I am not overly concerned at this point because it's the busiest tourist season right now.

 

What is your review under your old screen name titled and/or where can I find it - under your ship's name or in ports of call somewhere?

[hubofhockey]

Hubofhockey, I forgot to mention that the one thing that has bothered me a little bit is that there is always a 2 to 3 day delay from the time I email them until I get a reply. I can understand if there is a weekend in between and imagine they are VERY busy at this time of yr. The answer to my first inquiry was from one woman and the 2nd email from them was from another. Some of the questions I asked were not answered in the reply from the 2nd woman. I emailed them again last night but have still not heard back. surely I will by tomorrow - ? I am not overly concerned at this point because it's the busiest tourist season right now.

 

What is your review under your old screen name titled and/or where can I find it - under your ship's name or in ports of call somewhere?

 

Better yet, this is the link to my more complete review on Trip Advisor

 

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g187212-d2040888-Reviews-Provence_Reservation_Day_Tours-Avignon_Vaucluse_Provence.html

[mlbcruiser]

hubofhockey, THANK YOU SO MUCH for your help, info., and the great link to your (and other) reviews. I called the tour co. this morning to get things wrapped up and our group is all set. There are others on our roll call still asking for help w/tours so you have helped more than just me! :)

[hubofhockey]

hubofhockey, THANK YOU SO MUCH for your help, info., and the great link to your (and other) reviews. I called the tour co. this morning to get things wrapped up and our group is all set. There are others on our roll call still asking for help w/tours so you have helped more than just me! :)

 

You're very welcome. I have gotten and taken so much advice from the regulars on this board that I enjoy helping others.

 

I think you would have enough time to combine Les Baux with Arles and see the Arena, the Van Gogh sites, and walk inside the walled city and even grab a sweet crepe. You may want to ask Provence Reservation if that is doable. I would think it is and recommend it.

 

Have a great cruise and vacation.

[mlbcruiser]

Well, it's been a bit more complicated than usual just to get this set up. Everyone is "on board" w/how it is planned now. Perhaps once we are with our guide and all together in the same spot, we can see if a little more can be added to the tour - the best options and what the cost would be. Had i had more time to spend on it and if communicating was quicker, I would probably have planned on seeing more. The Van Gogh sites esp. interest me.

 

On the regular private tours, they have a 4 hr. create your own tour price. However, it only includes a certain number of km which isn't even enough to do the tour we are getting. Not sure how much they would charge for more km. Right now I am just too swamped with other things to mess w/it. Everyone seems happy with what we have planned now. It leaves time for anyone who would like to spend a little time in Marseille itself to do so. Who knows, though? Perhaps I will end up looking into it later.

 

So much to see; so little time! (And money!)