Pompeii on your own

[Goofyfigment]

Does anyone have any info on this tour.  We are hoping to do this and still have time to grab some pizza in naples.  We are in port 7am to 5pm.  It says the tour is 4 hours.  So just curious is it 4 hours from when you board the bus at the port or from when you get to pompeii.  Thanks 

[casofilia]

Times on NCL ship tours is based on off ship to on ship

[TrumpyNor]

1 hour ago, Goofyfigment said:

Does anyone have any info on this tour.  We are hoping to do this and still have time to grab some pizza in naples.  We are in port 7am to 5pm.  It says the tour is 4 hours.  So just curious is it 4 hours from when you board the bus at the port or from when you get to pompeii.  Thanks 

Like Casofilia already replied - the time is from leaving the ship until back on the pier.

Just a tip for you:

I have done this tour in the past through NCL (both wiht guide included and "on your own"), and as it only provides transportation from the ship the entrance gate of Pompeii and back to the ship on the "on your own" tour, and NOT entrance tickets, it is recommendable to pre-purchase entrance tickets online. Otherwise you may risk to stand in line for tickets for a loooooong time. Pompeii is also one of the sights where it is recommended to have a guide explaining everything. 

The guides that are offering their services at the entrance of Pompeii are all official Pompeii tour guides, and we just asked "strangers" who were also standing in line to buy entrance tickets if they would like to "share a guide". We ended up with a total of 10 persons and paid only €10 per person for the guide - who was excellent, by the way...

 

And yes - plenty of time for a pizza when you are back in Naples.

Edited June 26, 2022 by TrumpyNor

[casofilia]

We enjoyed the NCL guided tour, not too rushed.   Plenty of information.   Time at the end for a drink/eats. 

 

The point about the tickets very important; we walked straight through and there was a long queue waiting to buy.

[Markanddonna]

If you are going on your own, just download Rick Steve's app on Pompeii to your phone. We did that with another couple and I also tore out the Pompeii tour pages from his book. We were able to give ourselves a very nice, easy tour at our own pace!  Buy a souvenir book that has the pages with overlays to see what the ruins once looked like. A great visual. They have them at the bookstore.

 

Ask yourself: how much info from tour guides have I ever really retained?  I love history and I guess maybe 20% a year later. Free is great.

[Goofyfigment]

14 hours ago, TrumpyNor said:

Like Casofilia already replied - the time is from leaving the ship until back on the pier.

Just a tip for you:

I have done this tour in the past through NCL (both wiht guide included and "on your own"), and as it only provides transportation from the ship the entrance gate of Pompeii and back to the ship on the "on your own" tour, and NOT entrance tickets, it is recommendable to pre-purchase entrance tickets online. Otherwise you may risk to stand in line for tickets for a loooooong time. Pompeii is also one of the sights where it is recommended to have a guide explaining everything. 

The guides that are offering their services at the entrance of Pompeii are all official Pompeii tour guides, and we just asked "strangers" who were also standing in line to buy entrance tickets if they would like to "share a guide". We ended up with a total of 10 persons and paid only €10 per person for the guide - who was excellent, by the way...

 

And yes - plenty of time for a pizza when you are back in Naples.

Awesome thanks so much.  I was researching the tickets to get them in advance and there is one on the website that includes the guide, are you saying i dont have to purchase that ticket and that there will be guides at the site (it would be cheaper to pay the the additional 10euros as i think its 20 more on the website to buy the guides services that way)

 

Pizza is the must do thing on this port but we also said we wont be back so we need to see pompeii as well and then got nervous about not being able to have pizza.  

 

thanks for calming me down 🙂

 

[TrumpyNor]

1 hour ago, Goofyfigment said:

Awesome thanks so much.  I was researching the tickets to get them in advance and there is one on the website that includes the guide, are you saying i dont have to purchase that ticket and that there will be guides at the site (it would be cheaper to pay the the additional 10euros as i think its 20 more on the website to buy the guides services that way)

 

I believe the total price for the guide for 2 hours was €100 - then we gathered a group of people just in front of the ticket kiosk, so ended up with a price of €10 per person. But this was back in 2018, so the prices may have changed since then. I would just book atticket that includes the guide, just to be on the "safe side" - after all, Pompeii is a site where you should make certain to make the best out of the time you have there - especially since you will probably not be back...

Edited June 27, 2022 by TrumpyNor

[Cruiseandgamble]

I did the Pompeii OYO tour last Wednesday.  There was an escort that gave commentary on the bus ride to the site (about 30 minutes) then escorted us from the bus lot to the entrance, gave us the meeting time for the ride back, then we were on our own.  At the entrance, there were two lines, one for those needing tickets and one for those that had purchased tickets on the internet - people on guided tours walked right in.  I paid 16€ for the entrance fee and 8€ for an audio guide (rented across from the entrance behind the ice cream/lemonade stands - you need to leave your ID as collateral) and just wandered around the site.  The time allotted was sufficient to see most of the site.

[ajacobsen]

What website did everyone use to book tickets? Don't want to accidentally book on a site that isn't allowable.

[bruce85]

we did it a few weeks back. Plenty of time to walk around Naples and get pizza. We had some in a great place down a side street, best pizza I've ever eaten.

[Travelling2Some]

We took the train (a/k/a the Pickpocket Express) and there were guides for hire at the entrance.  The guide formed a group of us and then he bought the tickets for everyone.  There was no line for tickets when we were there (October).  I had read in a guidebook that all the guides at Pompeii are reliably good (ours sure was) and that this was the standard procedure.  Pompeii covers a large area so it takes a good chunk of time to see properly.  We preferred to go on our own for that reason.  Also, be warned that there is almost no shade.  If you are going in summer Capri might be a more comfortable option if you haven't seen either.

[Goofyfigment]

thanks so much @traveling2some for that info. We are from florida so i think the heat will be ok.  we havent been to Pompeii, Capri or Naples.  So the plan is to do the Pompeii on your own tour and then once we get back to Naples go on the Pizza tour (we have a list of places we hope to try).  

[redlock]

39 minutes ago, Goofyfigment said:

thanks so much @traveling2some for that info. We are from florida so i think the heat will be ok.  we havent been to Pompeii, Capri or Naples.  So the plan is to do the Pompeii on your own tour and then once we get back to Naples go on the Pizza tour (we have a list of places we hope to try).  

 

We did the same Pompeii trip and, like you, when we got dropped off back at the pier, we headed out to try the pizza.

We went to Pizzeria Napoli in Bocca which is very close to the Cruise Port on the outside of the Galleria Umberto I. 

Fantastic pizza at a great price.

 

 

[spanishguy1970]

Wear proper shoes, the large portion of the tour is walking on cobblestone. We took the NCL tour and it was perfectly timed. We missed getting pizza, unfortunately :-(...

[complawyer]

we got a cab at the pier, had him take us to pompeii,paid to get in, walked around on our own for a few hours,   made arrangements to have him meet us back at a pre-designated spot to take us back to the ship.had a pizza before he got back,  just make sure you dont pay him until youre back at the dock

[Middleager]

1 hour ago, complawyer said:

we got a cab at the pier, had him take us to pompeii,paid to get in, walked around on our own for a few hours,   made arrangements to have him meet us back at a pre-designated spot to take us back to the ship.had a pizza before he got back,  just make sure you dont pay him until youre back at the dock

Can you tell us how much it cost for that cab driver?  Thanks.

[complawyer]

i would love to, but it was a few years ago, so i really dont remember. i can tell you there was me, my wife, grandson and his friend, and it was considerably less than the shore excursion for 4 people.

 

you can take into consideration what  the excursion costs, and then negotiate with the cabbie