tours by locals

[fabnfortysomething]

looking for private tour guides for Corfu Santorini.Katakolon Duprovnik Split and found toursby locals .com but cant find recommendations on cruisecritic

 

have anyone used them or have alternative suggestions

[pjn]

looking for private tour guides for Corfu Santorini.Katakolon Duprovnik Split and found toursby locals .com but cant find recommendations on cruisecritic

 

have anyone used them or have alternative suggestions

 

I have just booked with them for a Dubrovnik tour in October. When you visit their website, you can pick your city and tour and guide. There is information and reviews on the site. My guide has been very responsive to all my e-mails. I would also be interested in hearing from others who have used them.

[Hlitner]

I want to choose my words very carefully. Tours by locals is not a tour provider in the normal sense of the term. They are a company (I believe based in Canada) that is essentially a clearing house for individual tour guides. They apparently recruit guides from around the world based on an application and some references. So when you deal with this company you are essentially using a Canadian clearing house to book an independent local guide. Is this a good thing? Well, personally, if we want to book a private tour we would prefer to deal with local reputable company rather then a clearing house that might be located half way around the world. My advice would be that if you decide to deal with Tours by Locals you get the name of your guide well in advance (and before you pay any money) and carefully check-out the guide. In the end its all about the individual guide, not a clearing house from Vancouver. But this is just our personal preference and others might feel differently. But at this point the silence is deafening regarding this company.

 

Hank

[fabnfortysomething]

thanks Hank

 

you've just echoed my thoughts-I like to book direct with local guides and the fact their prices are listed in dollars rather than euros gave me pause.

 

Yes there are reviews on their website but I prefer to get recommendations here on cruise critic and the fact I could only find 3 mentions of them using the search button isn't good

 

I have used tour guides in Italy and Greece and Turkey from recommendations from past visitors and was hoping to find similar companies in Croatia etc

[Jemmm3]

thanks Hank

 

you've just echoed my thoughts-I like to book direct with local guides and the fact their prices are listed in dollars rather than euros gave me pause.

 

Yes there are reviews on their website but I prefer to get recommendations here on cruise critic and the fact I could only find 3 mentions of them using the search button isn't good

 

I have used tour guides in Italy and Greece and Turkey from recommendations from past visitors and was hoping to find similar companies in Croatia etc

Has anyone used Cruise Compete powered by Shore Excursions? Kindly comment. They offer 4 & 5 port packages. Thanks for your help. Jack & M

[Funsun60]

On our Med Cruise, we went throught ToursbyLocals for 3 different countries. Although the bookings were coordinated through their office in Vancouver, BC, all our correspondence via email was with the tour guide directly. We had wonderful tours. Unfortunarely, we had to cancel the tour for Tunisia as the ship skipped this port due to civil unrest. We emailed the company/guide from the ship and within 48 hours our credit card was refunded for the entire cost..no questions asked. The change in itinerary meant we arrived earlier in Malta. Again, we contacted our guide and she rearranged her schedule to accommodate us. We are taking another cruise to the Black Sea next year, and will certainly look at Toursbylocals again. Their prices are equal to or less than many other options, and the tours were wonderful. Our fellow cruisers were quite jealous when we compared what we had done/seen on the port days.

[Hlitner]

thanks Hank

 

you've just echoed my thoughts-I like to book direct with local guides and the fact their prices are listed in dollars rather than euros gave me pause.

 

Yes there are reviews on their website but I prefer to get recommendations here on cruise critic and the fact I could only find 3 mentions of them using the search button isn't good

 

I have used tour guides in Italy and Greece and Turkey from recommendations from past visitors and was hoping to find similar companies in Croatia etc

 

I am assuming you have already made up your mind that you must have guides/tours in every port. But many (if not all) of your ports can be done on your own (with a little pre trip homework) at great financial savings. For example, most folks who go to Dubrovnik for the first time will spend their time in the city. You can get to this town on a cruise line shuttle bus (for a price), taking the local bus (for very little money) or even walking (it does take about 40 min). Once in the town its easy to get around (you do the same thing the tours do which is walk) you can walk the walls if you please, enjoy some food at a café, visit one or more of their museums, take the cable car, etc.

 

We routinely do all of your ports without tours (except we have not been to Split). This may not be for you...but it's always an option.

 

Hank

[fabnfortysomething]

I am assuming you have already made up your mind that you must have guides/tours in every port. But many (if not all) of your ports can be done on your own (with a little pre trip homework) at great financial savings. For example, most folks who go to Dubrovnik for the first time will spend their time in the city. You can get to this town on a cruise line shuttle bus (for a price), taking the local bus (for very little money) or even walking (it does take about 40 min). Once in the town its easy to get around (you do the same thing the tours do which is walk) you can walk the walls if you please, enjoy some food at a café, visit one or more of their museums, take the cable car, etc.

 

We routinely do all of your ports without tours (except we have not been to Split). This may not be for you...but it's always an option.

 

Hank

 

hi Hank

 

thanks for your suggestions

the reason we do private tours is that my husband has walking difficulties and having a vehicle to take us from one area to another or when he needs to rest can make all the difference

unfortunately that means the cheaper options of public transportation or walking just aren't feasible

 

We've done Italy and mainland Greece and found plenty of local companies recommended here and on trip advisor but am finding less options for Croatia and Greek islands

 

Lyn

[hazeleyez3]

We used ToursByLocals for different cities in Italy, and had wonderful guides, a couple which we still keep in touch with.

 

I, like your husband, have walking difficulties. If you tender in Split, be cautious about getting off the tender. We were there in September and it was a 2ft-3ft step up to get on to the pier.

[agabbymama]

looking for private tour guides for Corfu Santorini.Katakolon Duprovnik Split and found toursby locals .com but cant find recommendations on cruisecritic

 

have anyone used them or have alternative suggestions

 

I have used viator dot com for various countries. They also are a third party vendor, but a little better known than toursby locals. It doesn't look like you have to be a licensed guide (as some countries require) to be one of their guides. Sounds more like locals that just want to do a little guiding.

 

We hired taxi drivers a few times right at the port. They aren't registered guides, but they do know the local area too. Lots of recommendations here on CC too. Go to the Port sections for those ports and see what people have done with whom. And be sure to check out your Roll Call, there may be folks looking to share (saving money).

 

Santorini is the one stop we did do a ship's tour, as I wanted to avoid the cable car or donkey ride up the caldera. We were tendered to a different port where we boarded a bus to go up the caldera.

 

Corfu and Katakolon are both easy ports to do on your own. We have limited mobility and still managed to walk around. Taxi to Corfu town, then we did a carriage ride around town for about 40 minutes. Katakolon was just a long walk from the pier to the town center. The train was not running to Olympia, so just stayed in town, then back to the ship for lunch. No guide needed.

 

Haven't been to Dubrovnic or Split, so can't comment on those.

 

Enjoy your trip, whatever you decide to do.

[Keith1010]

Often you will find reviews on Crystal's sister site http://www.tripadvisor.com

 

Keith

[fabnfortysomething]

as the OP thanks for recent responses since posted this question in September

 

I have indeed looked at trip advisor and Viator and contacted several local companies-if can get together fellow cruisers from roll call will make it cost effective

 

I put more weight on reviews on cruisecritic than those on trip advisor as the latter tends to be more anonymous and cant tell if reviews have been sourced from friends of the company!

[cruisemom42]

Somehow I missed this thread before, but I have used Tours by Locals once and had a very good experience (a much higher level than the canned tours I've taken through Viator). The guide was knowledgeable, very personable and spoke English well. I realize you've probably got most of your plans made by now but it may be helpful to others.

Edited December 8, 2013 by cruisemom42

[lineage84]

I have used viator dot com for various countries. They also are a third party vendor, but a little better known than toursby locals. It doesn't look like you have to be a licensed guide (as some countries require) to be one of their guides. Sounds more like locals that just want to do a little guiding.

 

We hired taxi drivers a few times right at the port. They aren't registered guides, but they do know the local area too. Lots of recommendations here on CC too. Go to the Port sections for those ports and see what people have done with whom. And be sure to check out your Roll Call, there may be folks looking to share (saving money).

 

Santorini is the one stop we did do a ship's tour, as I wanted to avoid the cable car or donkey ride up the caldera. We were tendered to a different port where we boarded a bus to go up the caldera.

 

Corfu and Katakolon are both easy ports to do on your own. We have limited mobility and still managed to walk around. Taxi to Corfu town, then we did a carriage ride around town for about 40 minutes. Katakolon was just a long walk from the pier to the town center. The train was not running to Olympia, so just stayed in town, then back to the ship for lunch. No guide needed.

 

Haven't been to Dubrovnic or Split, so can't comment on those.

 

Enjoy your trip, whatever you decide to do.

 

We also used Viator in Rome on 3 different days and had wonderful tour guides, we did a lot of research on them and others experiences, we are headed back to Europe later this year and are looking to use them again.

[lineage84]

Somehow I missed this thread before, but I have used Tours by Locals once and had a very good experience (a much higher level than the canned tours I've taken through Viator). The guide was knowledgeable, very personable and spoke English well. I realize you've probably got most of your plans made by now but it may be helpful to others.

 

Sorry you didn't have a good experience with Viator, we've used them on 3 different occasions and had fantastic experiences.

[cruisemom42]

Sorry you didn't have a good experience with Viator, we've used them on 3 different occasions and had fantastic experiences.

 

Viator is a middle man, so the quality of the tour depends on the actual provider. I've traveled extensively and from time to time have booked a Viator tour, usually when I couldn't figure out who the local provider was. In Lisbon and Rome I had bad experiences with them (although we did get a partial refund on one of the tours where the guide actually skipped a scheduled stop and then abandoned us at another stop); in Japan two tours went well.

 

Luck of the draw I guess, but I'm no longer willing to take a chance in locales where I may not have a chance for a "do over" if the tour gets cancelled (happened on another Viator tour) or doesn't go well....