Western Med Excursions (NCL Jewel)

[newcruzrs4]

We will be on the NCL Jewel August 19, leaning towards booking NCL's excursions for the security. Are the buses air conditioned? Do they have bathrooms on board? Does bus stop on the way. Kids may have a hard time on a 2 hour bus ride from port to Rome or Florence unless the bus makes a rest stop.

 

Any thoughts or comments on the following excursions we are leaning towards?

 

Messina -- Taormina and Mt. Etna

Naples -- Capri, Sorrento and Pompei [is this too much for one day?. How strenuous is the Pompeii portion?]

Civitavecchia -- Rome and the Vatican (Regular or Exclusive)

Florence -- Splendor of Florence.

 

Thanks for any advice.

[cruise52895]

Hi

 

We will also be on the NCL Jewel on 8/19 - We booked private drivers in Naples, Rome and Florence. We also have two kids and wanted the flexibility of having a private driver to customize our day so that the kids are accomodated as well. We are using Limo in Rome for Rome and Florence and Salvetore from Drive Amalfi in Naples.

In Messina we plan to just take a taxi to Taormina for a few hours. Not sure about Villefranche because it is the last day and may want to take it slow.

 

Hope this helps

[presbyterianmom]

We just returned from our late July cruise on the Norwegian Jewel, and LOVED our shore excursions with Italy Limousine. Their website and coordinator, Josephine, were extremely helpful.

 

Our family of 5 (kids ages 15, 13, and 10) took the Pompeii/Amalfi Coast tour with Reino. He was very nice. It was a relaxing day with BEAUTIFUL scenery and great food in Positano down by the water. I don't think that a big tour bus could ever get the tourists down the narrow, winding roads leading to the seaside town. Each day every driver was VERY careful to get us back to the ship in plenty of time for departure.

 

Our second day we spent in Rome on a FABULOUS tour with Fabrizio. We saw SO MUCH and learned a lot. Fabrizio's energy and knowledge combined for a perfect day. As he promised, we saw way more than people who were on the big tour buses.

 

Finally, we had a day in Pisa and Florence with another responsible driver from Italy Limousines. For the package of 3 tours we got a great deal. I highly recommend using this company. For our family of 5 it was a much better deal to have a private driver and each driver listened to our preferences for the schedule.

[bandit0000]

Hi,

We are also on this cruise, 26th August & while we are booking a couple of excursions, I wondered if there are things to see & do if you just get off the ship yourself & explore?

 

Any advice, greatly received.

Lisa:)

[betonic]

If anyone is interested in booking with Fabrizio directly you can find him at allarounditaly.net.

 

When travelling with my son I always book private tours because I think that being on a bus all day with him would be very difficult.

 

But to answer your question, I'm almost positive that the buses will have air conditioning and a bathroom.

[hefferproj]

I'm also on the Jewel on Aug 19th with kids aged 11, 13 and 16, and only booked two excursions that are a half day long to Pompeii and Pisa. We did hire a private driver from RomeCabs for the day in Rome because I wanted it to be flexible, and was worried that the kids might not be thrilled with the heat and a long day on the bus. We'll probably do our own thing in Messina and Villefrance.

 

I've heard that many of the buses don't have bathrooms, but will make pit stops. Also, bring your own TP.

[presbyterianmom]

With our 3 kids it did end up being the best plan to do our own thing in Messina and Villefrance. They needed a break from so many "planned" tours and museum visits. The way our itinerary was, we had a great first day in Pompeii and on the Amalfi Coast (3 private tours with Italy Limousines). It was nice and relaxing. The next day in Rome was fast-paced yet informative and fun. By the third day, a stop in Pisa and Florence, people were really tired out. The kids did not want to go into any more museums. I did not want 3 days in a row of touring, but that was just the way the itinerary worked out. Perhaps we should have skipped the Uffizi in Florence or maybe I should have gone alone to that while the kids and Dad enjoyed a nice leisurely lunch.

[Jeralyn]

My husband, two sons (ages 11 and 17) and I booked three private drivers for our shore excursions. Rome...Romeinlimo (Rudy was our guide), Amalifi Coast and Pompeii...Drive Amalfi (Michael guide), and Villefranche...Dream Tours (Jean Marc). We were very glad to have the personal attention and customized tours. We were able to get to small streets that a large bus could not get to. We did not have to wait in line for the Vatican, which was a blessing as is was 108 degrees! We also booked a private tour guide for the Vatican/Sistine Chapel/St. Peter's Basilica as well as our Pompeii tour. It was nice to have these as we they highlighted interesting points that I don't think the boys would have received from reading a tour book or audio tape. I will say that it was so very hot in Italy (we were there during a record setting heat wave), that the air conditioning was on high and it was difficult to hear the driver talk at sometimes. I found our drivers for Romeinlimo and Dream tours were enthusiastic, very accomodating and interesting. The Drive Amalfi driver did not offer a lot of information to us, but we loved the scenery and lunch spot he drove us to.

 

I did talk to people who took the Royal Caribbean shore excursion to Rome and they were very pleased as well. I know they did not have to wait in line for the Vatican, and they had an informative guide.

 

JJ