Shared group tours

[scooterj]

I have a quick question. My husband and I are sailing on the Celebrity Equinox in October from Barcelona for the 12-day cruise. Selecting the excursions is so very overwhelming. I noticed on Trip Advisor as well as the roll call for our ship that people are trying to get together group/shared excursions with private companies. These seem to be full at this time as I guess I am a day late and a dollar short; however, I found another company that does the same which is called Share A Shore Excursion. Is anyone familiar with this company and do you recommend it? They seem to have very favorable feedback on Trip Advisor.

 

Also, another question regarding excursions is that it seems Viator has much less expensive excursions also. Previously on a 2-week France trip I did book many excursions with Viator which much success and they too seem to be cheaper than the cruise excursions. Thoughts on this please?

 

Thanks so much!:)

[neverbeenhere]

We have found that the reviewing website that you mention is quite accurate. But we have no experience with the particular company you mention. As for any company that you have used in the past with success, we say go for it. Call them for further details.

[Essiesmom]

Have you got a copy of Rick Steves' Mediterranean Cruise Ports? You might find that you can do some of the ports on your own and don't need tours.

 

Have just looked at your itinerary. Only two places I would suggest tours: Villefranche, and Naples. But in Naples, I suggest the ship transfer to Pompeii, and use maps and ipod/mp3 downloads from Rick Steves' websites, free audio tours. There are also maps and audio tours for Venice.

Florence, again use Rick Steves' audio tours and maps, but if you want to visit the Accademia to see David, book a reservation online ahead of time.

Kotor is a walled city, very small and walkable. You'll need a Lonely Planet guide, but you can download/buy just the chapters you need from their website. Dubrovnik old tosn is easy to get to with Rick's directions, and tour on your own. EM

[CathyCruises]

This is what we did in Naples and had a GREAT day!

 

Just wanted to report on our DIY day in Naples a few weeks ago now. We had heard that the bus to Herculaneum was no longer running, which was my #1 option. But right at the port entrance we were able to buy a combo tram/train ticket for I believe euro 2.90 each. Walked to the middle of the road and hopped on just as the tram was leaving. The only tricky part was figuring out where to get off--I happened to see a small sign that said Circumvesuviana and we jumped off at the last second. I believe it was the first stop after the tram turns left and goes up the hill.

 

Got on the train and weirdly ran into my daughter who was headed to Pompeii! The ride to Ercolano takes about 20 minutes IIRC. When we got off we had no idea which way to go, but I recalled a post where somebody said to head downhill, so we did, and after 10 minutes or so we arrived at the entrance. I LOVED Ercolano--to me it was much more interesting and intact than Pompeii, and I loved being able to actually walk into and around the houses rather than just peering in through grates. We did rent the audioguides (E. 10 for 2) which helped a lot. We spent 2+ hours wandering about and really enjoyed it. Very uncrowded as well.

 

To save our tootsies, we took a cab/bus back up to the train station (I have a slowly recovering broken foot to deal with). We had asked the girl who sold us the train tix about going to Sorrento and she told us it was about half an hour beyond Ercolano, so we decided to go for it. To my dismay, it was 24 stops down the road!!! Took over an hour. But so worth it when we got there.

 

We wandered around this beautiful town, had a great lunch, shopped, took photos, just loved it there. I'd move tomorrow if I could figure out a way to support myself! But to avoid the long train ride back, we hopped on to the ferry for E. 9/pp, which took about 45 minutes, and dropped us right at the port next to our ship! Ended up being a great day, minimal cost, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. There's really no need to spend hundreds of dollars in this port to see and do a lot!

[Knolmom]

We were on the Solstice Med from Barcelona two years ago and did the ships tour to Florence by Bus. It was an all day tour with a very nice lunch in a banquet room. we visited a church, the leather market, the main square where the outdoor David and the Rape of the Sabines is located . We also walked over to the famous bridge where the gold merchants are and then came back past the Duomo and went to the Academia. All in all it was a full day but we got our money's worth and would do it again. I have some mobility difficulties and use a rollator and was able to keep up with the guide. Last year we did the Med on the Silhouette and did many private tours with cruise critic groups but in the instance of our ship's tour in Florence, I would say that it was just as enjoyable as any of the private tours we did last year.

[CathyCruises]

Conversely, the last ship tour we did, or will ever do, was the Florence tour with Celebrity many cruises ago--absolutely hated it! Yes we saw all those things, but at the pace of the slowest person in our group; made us realize that group tours are not for us. It was a lot of money, too. Now we figure out what we want to see in each city and how to get there on own--we always have a fantastic time, move at our own pace, stop and have coffee when we want one, and spend a lot less money too. To each his own.

[Callyscally]

I have a quick question. My husband and I are sailing on the Celebrity Equinox in October from Barcelona for the 12-day cruise. Selecting the excursions is so very overwhelming. I noticed on Trip Advisor as well as the roll call for our ship that people are trying to get together group/shared excursions with private companies. These seem to be full at this time as I guess I am a day late and a dollar short; however, I found another company that does the same which is called Share A Shore Excursion. Is anyone familiar with this company and do you recommend it? They seem to have very favorable feedback on Trip Advisor.

 

Also, another question regarding excursions is that it seems Viator has much less expensive excursions also. Previously on a 2-week France trip I did book many excursions with Viator which much success and they too seem to be cheaper than the cruise excursions. Thoughts on this please?

 

Thanks so much!:)

Hi

We used this company in 2011 here is our review

 

Just to let everyone know what a superb time we had when we went to Florence/Pisa, via the Tuscan landscape and the next day to Rome.. We can't say enough good things about this company and it's staff. From the minute we stepped onto the minibus, both Gian in Florence and Daniel in Rome, nothing was too much trouble for either of them and their knowledge of both cities was brilliant. I know that the people in the other vans we booked were also of the same opinion and without exception both my wife Angie and myself can thoroughly recommend this company.

The beauty of the smaller vans that held 8 was that they were able to drive very close to all the sightseeing areas that we wanted to see and that was a definite bonus in terms of not having to walk very far. To also have pre booked tickets meant very little or virtually no waiting in long queues, this was much appreciated given that the temp was 90plus degrees.

Again I cannot reiterate enough how good the days were and if anyone who is reading this and is thinking of a private tour in Italy then you cannot go wrong if you choose this company.

 

John & Angie Callcott

North Wales UK

Visited August 2011

 

hope this helps

Callyscally:)