Naples Tours

[kayo kruiser]

Hi everyone,

 

We're cruising the Med on RC Brilliance of the Seas (depart Aug. 15th). One of the ports of call is Naples.

 

I'd appreciate anyone's suggestion as to what sights (including Pompeii as a definite) should be crammed into a 1 day tour.

 

Also, your suggestions for a tour guide would be appreciated.

 

For those on the same cruise, we're looking at sharing some tours so let me know if you're interested in joining us (my husband and I - mid/late 40's; and my 22 yr. old daughter).

 

Hope to get some feedback!

[KathiB]

Kayo Kruiser,

 

I gave you our hotel info for Barcelona so now I will share our Naples tour guide info. We are traveling with our two daughters , ages 15 & 19, on the Brilliance June 16. We have booked a full day private tour with Marcello Maresca. He was very highly recommended on these boards and our communications thus far have been great. We will go to Pompeii and also the Amalfi coast with stops for lunch, photos, wandering when we want. We got a couple from our roll call to join our tour. Total cost is 550 Euros and he can take up to 6. You can reach him at marcellomaresca@tin.it or check out www.seesorrento.com.

 

KathiB

[Mike Andrews]

I can highly recommend Salvatore Lucibello of DriveAmalfi (*****) for a tour of Pompei and The Amalfi Coast or the Amalfi Coast.If you are visiting Pompei it is advisable to make it your first stop in the morning when the crowds are less and before the sun gets up.Take a bottle of water with you and comfortable shoes.

 

Mike

[cccruiser59]

Kayo Kruiser,

 

I gave you our hotel info for Barcelona so now I will share our Naples tour guide info. We are traveling with our two daughters , ages 15 & 19, on the Brilliance June 16. We have booked a full day private tour with Marcello Maresca. He was very highly recommended on these boards and our communications thus far have been great. We will go to Pompeii and also the Amalfi coast with stops for lunch, photos, wandering when we want. We got a couple from our roll call to join our tour. Total cost is 550 Euros and he can take up to 6. You can reach him at marcellomaresca@tin.it or check out www.seesorrento.com.

 

KathiB

 

Thank you Kathi for this info. I prefer private tours rather that the ship's excursion.

[fern]

If you really want to do it on your own and very cheaply ,take the circumvesuviana train to Pompeii and Sorrento. The train stops right at the entrance of Pompei Scavi and goes into Sorrento.

You can get guides for Pompeii at the entrance.

Sorrento is lovely to explore on your own.

Happy cruising

[kayo kruiser]

Hi KathiB

 

Thanks, again, for your suggestions. I posted a notice on the Roll Call for some other shared tours a couple of days ago. Our cruise isn't till August. About how long did it take for someone from your Roll Call to offer to share your tour?

[kayo kruiser]

Thanks Mike.

 

My daughter (22 yrs old) visited Pompeii a few years ago and she's also been to Sorrento & Capri but not to the other sites in the Naples area. She's excited for my husband and I to visit Pompeii with her. We probably won't get a tour guide for inside Pompeii. Do you think a couple of hours there would be enough time so that we could see the rest of the area (ie. Salvotore's Amalfi coast tour)? If we wanted to stay an extra hour in Pompeii, are there other stops along the Amalfi coast that we could cut out to make up the time?

 

I'd appreciate your thoughts.

[wwinfl91]

We did a private tour with 3 other couples that we met on the roll call for our cruise in 2004 on the Golden. We went to Pompeii, Herculaneum and then back to Naples for the Museum of Archeology and some other sightseeing in Naples itself. We were there on a weekend and our driver suggested that if we tried going down the coast we would be mainly sitting in traffic. We joined up with the other 3 couples who were together on the cruise for 3 tours, Monte Carlo, Naples and Istanbul and had a great time on all three trips.

 

The company we used was Sorrento Limo. Here is their web site.

 

http://www.sorrentolimo.com/index.asp

 

We had a driver not a guide although he did assist us in deciding what to see and do. We had a licensed guide in Pompeii.

 

Have a great next cruise.

[kayo kruiser]

Wwinfl91

 

Can you give me your opinions of Pompeii vs. Herculaneum? If we could only chose one, what would you suggest (as noted, my daughter has been to Pompeii and couldn't get enough of it. She'd love to go back.)

[JHUNTGOLF]

I can highly recommend Salvatore Lucibello of DriveAmalfi (*****) for a tour of Pompei and The Amalfi Coast or the Amalfi Coast.If you are visiting Pompei it is advisable to make it your first stop in the morning when the crowds are less and before the sun gets up.Take a bottle of water with you and comfortable shoes.

 

Mike

 

 

kKayo kKruiser,

 

I agree completely with Mike's recommendation. We booked the Pompeii and Amalfi Coast tour through Salvatore Lucibello. He can be contacted at salvatoredriveamalfi@hotmail.com or *****. To get you more excited about your upcoming cruise, here's what I wrote in our review regarding our stop in Naples:

 

It was another sunny day in Italy. We had previously arranged via e-mail with Salvatore Lucibello for an all day tour of Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast. The 16 of us met Anna, our guide, and her driver, Agastino, shortly after 8:00am. Our first stop was the ruins of Pompeii. The entrance fee was 10 euros per person. Anna then took us on a guided 2 hour tour of the ruins. It was fascinating standing among the ruins and just trying to imagine what it looked like before disaster struck. The consensus in our group was that 2 hours was about the right amount of time for Pompeii. We then got back on air conditioned bus and headed for the Amalfi Coast. We passed through or saw many towns, such as Sorrento, Positono, and Amalfi. The views along this scenic and very winding road were just spectacular. The homes and villas just seemed to be cut into or away from the sides of extremely steep slopes. I have to say it again—the views were spectacular!!!! We stopped for lunch in an out of the way restaurant in Ravello. Tomato and cheese pizza was 3.5 euros and a 1 liter carafe of the local red wine was 6.2 euros. We had a great day with Anna. The cost of our tour for 16 was 1,100 euros (68.75 euros per person), excluding lunch and the Pompeii entrance fee. A similar tour with Carnival was $165 per person. There is one note of caution to mention about the drive along the Amalfi Coast. It is a very curvy road and two guys got very queasy stomachs from the ride. They were both very happy we stopped for lunch so that their queasy stomachs could get a rest. Also, if you want the best views, make sure you sit at the window on the right side of the bus.

I hope this helps.

John

[fmax]

Used Seesorrento for Naples. Had a great day. There were 4 of us. We decided the day before we wanted a guide for Pompeii so emailed Marcello and he arranged it for us. Because it was last minute they changed the order and we did the Amalfi Coast drive first, stopped for lunch and then two hours in Pompeii. Our private guide was excellent.

 

Frances

[Bettybooptravel]

I agree with the above post, sometimes it is better to do Pompeii last, as it is definetly quieter, all the coach tours do morning half day tours to Pompeii and more important you are closer to the ship, our driver Alberto of APTours had to take us through the back streets from Pompeii to Naples port as there had been an accident of the mortorway, he was brilliant.

 

You must have a guide in Pompeii, they just bring the place to life in front of your eyes, they explain why certain signs are on the floor or the wall, they point out tracks that normally you would just step over, my personnal pet hate is not knowing what l am looking at.

[wwinfl91]

HI,

 

Herculaneum is much smaller in area than Pompeii but because it was covered by a mud and lava flow the building and even the roofs didn't collapse the way they did in Pompeii which was covered by ash and pumice. Because of the different ways the two cities were destroyed the ruins are in many ways quite different. We spent about 2 hours at Pompeii with a licensed guide. We probably only saw 1/4 of the city if that. We spent 2 hours at Herculaneum on our own and probably covered 2/3 of what was available. Now we were moving pretty fast in Herculaneum while in Pompeii we moved at the pace the guide wanted us to maintain.

 

Pompeii is on an open plain with the volcano overlooking the city. Herculaneum is in the middle of the modern village of Eurculano and the ruins look like they are in the middle of a quarry.

 

We were there in July and it was hot both places but in Pompeii you get a little breeze while in Herculaneum because it sits basically surrounded by high cliffs there were no breezes and it was very hot.

 

The building in Herculaneum are in much better shape than the ones in Pompeii (except for the ones that have been recontructed there) and so you get more the feeling that you may turn a corner and run into someone in a toga. It was also much less crowded than Pompeii.

 

All that being said, I would say if you haven't seen Pompeii and can only go to one of them go to Pompeii and plan on visiting Herculaneum sometime in the future. If you can arrange it visit both and enjoy the visit.

 

Have a great next cruise.

[fern]

It really is personal as to which of Pompeii or Herculaneum you prefer. For me Herculaneum was more "realistic" and helped to relate to the eruption of Vesuvius more, but then we liked Pompei as well. But I have been back to Herculaneum 3 times and Pompeii twice and if I went back it would be Herculaneum again as more places are being excavated.

On the Amalfi drive there are very few places to miss out as it is the nature of the (horrific) road which dictates the time. Have to admit part way through the drive on all 3 occasions I have turned green!!!

Enjoy your cruise

[goldencup]

Just to agree with posters above that if you go to Pompeii (and nobody should miss it) it's essential to take some sort of guided tour or you will miss so much. I was there in August and it does get very hot and crowded so buy lots of water on the way in.

[katiebeth]

We are planning on taking the ship excursion which visits Capri, Sorrento, and Pompeii. We will be on Celebrity's Millennium in June Barcelona to Venice. I have read positive comments from those that have taken this particular tour.

 

The tour includes taking the hydrofoil from Naples to Capri (with a few hours touring in Capri) and then the hydrofoil from Capri to Sorentto with shopping and lunch and finally a motorcoach to Pompeii and then back to the ship.

 

My question is how is the drive from Sorrento to Pompeii and then on to Naples? I am specifically not touring the Amalfi coast because I do not do well with heights and hairpin curves. Are there steep drop-offs and lots of curves from Sorrento back to Naples?

 

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks,

 

Nancy