Drivers in Rome and Naples

[Crusier98]

Hi Foxy,

 

We were fortunate to get Salvatore of ***** as our driver from Naples and the other vans in our group were driven by Adriano and Roberto who also got rave reviews so you can't go wrong.

[Browezilla]

We also used Savatore and have nothing but excellent comments for him. Very professional. I wouldn't hesitate recommending him. In both ports, you can also hire taxi drivers that will give commentary for less money per person, but from my anecdotal reports from other cruisers, it isn't as nice and complete as Salvatore's tour.

[Queenk2]

Just a note to let all of you know ahead of time..some drivers are requiring heavy deposits BEFORE you use them. At this point, I would not agree to this. The reason beiing that itineraries can change, weather can interfer with a port of call, and you willl be left with the charges. As a group I believe we should not agree to this practice!If a company needs a credit card to hold space...fine! DO NOT CHARGE in advance! Again Nello at info@drivesorrento never asks for money in advance..he is a gentleman in every way!

[ILoveMyDogs]

:) We had a perfect day on our tour with Lorenzo . He picked us up at the port of Naples and took on on a fabulous tour of the Amalfi coast, Positano, and Sorrento . He hooked us up with a great guide ( Genero Calebrese ) for Pompeii We had a superb seafood meal in Sorrento. I had initially contacted Jack the driver based on good reviews from this website. Jack was not available the day we needed him so he arranged for Lorenzo Bianco . Lorenzo spoke perfect english, had a great sense of humour and was the safest driver out of all our private drivers. We liked Lorenzo so much we asked him to be our guest in our home in Texas if he ever comes to the USA. (He ioves the NBA)

JAck's website is www.jackthedriver.com

[mert461]

On our 10/15 Med Cruise we had Salvatore for Naples and the Amfali Coast. He was very good. Extremely personable and knowledgable about the area. Man can he drive around those sharp turns on the cliffs!

 

In Florence and Rome we had Claudio. My DH and another gentleman sharing our excursion loved him. He is very knowledgable about both areas, but especially Rome since that's where he lives. My DH is a history major and loved to take to him about what we were seeing. I believe it was the highlight of his trip.

 

Donna

 

(Sharon is you're reading this...tell Dick I called him a "gentleman"!!

[katiebeth]

I have been reading this thread with interest and gathering information on private tours for our Med. cruise next June on Celebrity's Millennium. Initially, I was hesitate to consider private tours because of a bad experience in Le Havre France. We had booked a private tour from Le Havre to Paris through American Express using Sacca Tours. We paid $1200.00 for a 8 hour tour for six people. The driver was over an hour late picking us up at the port and then refused to take us to Paris. I had a confirmed print out of our reservation stating that we were to be taken to Paris. The driver stated that he had not been to Paris in 25 years and he would not take us there under any circumstances. He said that he would only take us to Normandy. Since we were holding approximatley $350.00 in tickets for a lunch cruise on the river Seine, Normandy was not an option. After much heated discussion, he ended up switching with another tour guide who was scheduled to go to Normandy that day and she ended up taking us to Paris. She was very gracious and spoke good English. However, the van's air conditioning system was not working properly and it was extremely hot. In addition, she drove over a 100 miles per hour on the way to Paris. Many others were driving as fast, but it made me extremely anxious. We were traveling with our two children ages 7 and 9 at the time, and I was extremely concerned for their safety. By the time we arrived in Paris, I was a nervous wreck!! I was extremely grateful that they served wine with lunch on our river cruise!!

 

Anyway, I have been reluctant to book private tours in Italy due to my concern about the rate of speed at which many Europeans drive. I have heard that you have to have nerves of steel to drive and/or be a passenger in a car in Italy. We are traveling with our children again, and feel that it is my duty to choose a company that employees safe drivers. As a result, I have been leaning toward ship excursions, because I feel that the cruise line would only deal with reputable companies. However, I am not thrilled about being herded on buses with hundreds of other passengers.

 

I do think we will do a lot of ports on our own. However, I am interested in hiring a driver for Rome and Naples. As far as the Amalfi Coast, how steep and winding is the drive? I don't do well with steep drop-offs with no guard rails. It seems a shame not to see the Amalfi Coast, but am concerned about the winding roads and hairpin curves. I don't mean to sound paranoid, but need to be responsible with our children.

 

Anyway, any thoughts or comments would be appreciated.

 

Thank so much,

 

Nancy

[megrisa]

We Booked Daniele's company for both Florence and Rome on the 8/13/5 Splendour cruise and those 2 days were the best of the week. We had Daniele in Florence and his cousin Fabrizio on Rome the next day, both took very good care of us and we had a blast while seeing everything we wanted to. I highly recommend them

[sebritish]

Hi Foxy,

 

We were fortunate to get Salvatore of ***** as our driver from Naples and the other vans in our group were driven by Adriano and Roberto who also got rave reviews so you can't go wrong.

 

We have two partys of 8 and have booked Salvatore..... do they follow each other and stop together at the same stops?

[Past it]

I have been reading this thread with interest and gathering information on private tours for our Med. cruise next June on Celebrity's Millennium. Initially, I was hesitate to consider private tours because of a bad experience in Le Havre France. We had booked a private tour from Le Havre to Paris through American Express using Sacca Tours. We paid $1200.00 for a 8 hour tour for six people. The driver was over an hour late picking us up at the port and then refused to take us to Paris. I had a confirmed print out of our reservation stating that we were to be taken to Paris. The driver stated that he had not been to Paris in 25 years and he would not take us there under any circumstances. He said that he would only take us to Normandy. Since we were holding approximatley $350.00 in tickets for a lunch cruise on the river Seine, Normandy was not an option. After much heated discussion, he ended up switching with another tour guide who was scheduled to go to Normandy that day and she ended up taking us to Paris. She was very gracious and spoke good English. However, the van's air conditioning system was not working properly and it was extremely hot. In addition, she drove over a 100 miles per hour on the way to Paris. Many others were driving as fast, but it made me extremely anxious. We were traveling with our two children ages 7 and 9 at the time, and I was extremely concerned for their safety. By the time we arrived in Paris, I was a nervous wreck!! I was extremely grateful that they served wine with lunch on our river cruise!!

 

Anyway, I have been reluctant to book private tours in Italy due to my concern about the rate of speed at which many Europeans drive. I have heard that you have to have nerves of steel to drive and/or be a passenger in a car in Italy. We are traveling with our children again, and feel that it is my duty to choose a company that employees safe drivers. As a result, I have been leaning toward ship excursions, because I feel that the cruise line would only deal with reputable companies. However, I am not thrilled about being herded on buses with hundreds of other passengers.

 

I do think we will do a lot of ports on our own. However, I am interested in hiring a driver for Rome and Naples. As far as the Amalfi Coast, how steep and winding is the drive? I don't do well with steep drop-offs with no guard rails. It seems a shame not to see the Amalfi Coast, but am concerned about the winding roads and hairpin curves. I don't mean to sound paranoid, but need to be responsible with our children.

 

Anyway, any thoughts or comments would be appreciated.

 

Thank so much,

 

Nancy

katiebeth,I haven't done the Amalfi trip yet,and I am a bit prone to carsickness on twists and turns.I have booked Daniele from driverinrome and he assures me that there is a metal guard rail all the way as that is why he uses high vans so we get the best views.Also there would be a lot more motion on a bus. I will be taking a towel and a cold face cloth in case!But this trip will be worth it,the well known drivers are very experienced and musn't "lose"many or we would hear about it here.Book early for the best

[virgenia]

katiebeth,

 

We took a ship excursion for our Amalfi coast drive, and believe me, there is no sight more impressive than someone manuevering a 36' bus around those turns!! And meeting another bus coming the other direction. Anyway, there IS a guard rail along the road. Also, the road is so narrow and twisty-turny that a car really cannot go that fast. One thing to be aware of on a private tour is that backups can happen, so be sure to allow plenty of time to get back to the ship. In some of the towns the parking is limited, so if the lots are full, they do not allow additional vehicles in until someone leaves from the town. They actually have police handling this, and if you get behind a group of busses, you may be sitting for awhile.

 

There is a lot of stopping, backing up, and close manuevering on this drive.

[A_Driver]

If you don't enjoy turns and and are afraid of heights, the last place you want to be on the Amalfi coast is on a bus. They most of the times need the two lanes to make the sharp turns, and from your seat it looks like there's no rail. Plus differently then in a car or a minivan, you won't have the chance to talk to the bus driver and ask him to go slower or similar. I also wanted to underline that only busses are stopped by "local police" when there's too many busses in a town or in one specific bit of road that is too narrow for two large vehicles at the same time. In those occasions, busses have to wait, and other vehicles can pass them. By the way, along the Amalfi coast there's plenty of signs that tell bus drivers to stop and let other cars pass them whenever that is possible...basically it takes longer to do this drive on a bus because of the waiting, and some roads like the one driving through the centre of Positano are completely forbidden to busses.

[alinehu]

Book Giovanni of Benvenuto limos. We were in 2 mini vans like he recomended and although I was in the front seat I completely forgot that the roads were famous for being dangerous and all the things they tell they are.I felt very safe.At anytime we felt that we were in any danger or anything. It was a very relax and beautiful drive.It was the same for the other part of the group that was in the other van with Umberto (Giovanni father) I highly recommend them for a very safe and worry free Amalfi Coast drive.

[alinehu]

Dont miss the beautiful Amalfi Coast only for this reason!! It is beautiful! Book a good driver and relax...

PS We also have kids with us on the drive.;)

[Mary72]

Thank you for this valuable information,this site is great!!!:)

[pc21214]

In Naples we used Giovanni Lerusce giovanni.lerusce@tin.it on the recommendation of others on this board. There were 6 of us in his Mercedes van, which felt comfortable and safe. He was a very safe and good driver, even on the scary roads along the Amalfi coast. His rate was also very reasonable too.

[John667]

Ok I will try to contact Giovanni,Thank you!!!:)

[bappo]

Hi, we booked our Amalfi tour 6/4/06 with Aldo. His wife sent us a super e-mail with a great itinerary. What do you feel we must see in the different towns, and is 1 hr enough time to just get an overview of Pompeii? We are more interested in seeing the Amalfi coast, but would like to have a little stop in Pompeii. Thanks.

 

Barb

[LadyoftheLake]

Do you know Gennaro with Sorrento Limo for Amalfi Coast?

[Cellen]

I tried to book Stefano of romecabs for a private Rome tour in July but he was fully booked and passed me onto Claudio of limoinrome who was also booked, and passed us onto his associate Vincent, who we have booked via limoinrome.

 

Has anyone used Vincent and was it a good experience.

 

Also, we are a group of 4, what would you tip at the end of a private day tour like this - assuming everything has gone well?

[TheMiz]

I tried to book Stefano of romecabs for a private Rome tour in July but he was fully booked and passed me onto Claudio of limoinrome who was also booked, and passed us onto his associate Vincent, who we have booked via limoinrome.

 

Has anyone used Vincent and was it a good experience.

 

Also, we are a group of 4, what would you tip at the end of a private day tour like this - assuming everything has gone well?

 

 

Don't know Vincent either and he was recommended to me for a Aug visit to Rome.

[titicaa8396]

Hi Guys,

 

What is the average price for a tour in Rome and Naples? There is only myself and DH. DH likes to do things on his own. I would'nt mind sharing a tour but I know DH. Any info would be helpful before I start e-mailing everyone for tour info and dates.

 

Thanks,

Liz

[perceptual therapist]

Well, we used Claudio who was incredible, but i see that he is booked. Some of our cruisers used Vincent and were happy. Claudio was training another guy, so I would still call him or e him and have him recommend someone. Our tour with him was supposed to be an 8 hr tour, but he made it into more like 10 1/2 hrs. It cost us only 150e each plus we tipped 100e.

 

I highly recommend that you do a private tour unless you know the other parties are as interested as you are! We zipped through the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican museums where we could have stayed for hours, but the other couple wasn't all that interested.

 

Believe me, you will not want to explore rome on your own until AFTER you do a tour. We walked right into the Vatican and he told us a secret way to get into St.Peter's (the line at both places--St. Pete's and the Sistine was miles long!) We did n't have to wait anywhere, including the Coliseum. He will take you anywhere you want to go. The only place we didn't get to was to see the catacombs-it was pouring down rain-so that was ok.

 

Another tip-we were there in late oct and early nov and it was scorching hot. even the most exclusive hotels say they have a.c., HOWEVER, they cut off the main power supply around Sept 1. So when you book a hotel, if you are going in early, be sure to find out if there will be a.c. on the dates you book.

 

Another tip-all the maps make points of interest look close, but they are not. The only short walk includes The Trevi, Via Condotti, Via Veneto, Spanish Steps andall the little shops, one big mall, and lots of fountains.(tip: the little restaurants around the Trevi have good food, but don't expect the pizza to be anything like ours.. it is good, but different) There is a little store right near the Trevi where we bought sweet rolls, salami, bananas, etc because our hotel breakfast costs were exorbitant! happy sailing, wish we were going with you! What a cruise!

[beantownbaby]

I tried to book Stefano of romecabs for a private Rome tour in July but he was fully booked and passed me onto Claudio of limoinrome who was also booked, and passed us onto his associate Vincent, who we have booked via limoinrome.

 

Has anyone used Vincent and was it a good experience.

 

Also, we are a group of 4, what would you tip at the end of a private day tour like this - assuming everything has gone well?

Any feedback on Vincent in Rome? I see Cellen used him in June, and I'm booked in August. Wondering what you think of Vincent.