amalfi coast tour

[den23]

hi all, i haven't been on for a while but now am preparing for next cruise in may and was wondering if anyone has any info on a company called see amalfi coast. thanks in advance

[ama22]

If you are looking to book a driver/guide for the Amalfi Coast. Make sure you get what you want. There is a difference in a guide and a driver in Europe. Salvatore from Drive Amalfi is a driver not a guide. We used him in Sept for the Amalif Coast. He drove us from village to village, asking how much time we would need in each. We had no idea since, of course, we hadn't been there before. He told us nothing about the different villages. Our 8 hour "tour" took us 4 hours including lunch. His cost is 450E for the 2 of us. I wish I had looked into it more, before hiring. I really wanted a guide, but didn't realize that Salvatore is a driver.

[den23]

thanks for your responses. i am only looking for a driver as we like to do our own thing. last year we used francesco marrapese but he has just informed us that he is now not available after initially saying that he would drive us.

[texancruzer]

For a GREAT driver try www.APTours.it

 

We used them last November for our day there.

 

Will customize whatever - wherever you want.

 

We headed to Pompeii first for 2-1/2 hr private tour (they arranged a guide for us ahead of time - extra cost)

 

Then to Ravello, Amalfi, Positano and then Sorrento. We had free time in each village.

 

Then we took the ferry back to Naples instead of driving back thru the area we had just came from....... loved it ! (also extra cost - 9 euros each)

 

Our van was almost brand new.....our driver impeccable. He kept us on time and made sure we got the most of our time there based on what we had indicated we wanted to do.

[texancruzer]

You're welcome.

 

That is the amazing thing about these boards. Everyone is here to share both the good and the bad.

 

This was perhaps my favorite day in the whole cruise.

The Amalfi coast area was so incredibly beautiful..... the people of Italy are so warm and friendly. I can't wait to go back - maybe Sept ???? I am working on it :D

 

HAVE A GREAT TRIP !

[missty]

AP tours will also help you find more people to share the excursion, if you can't find people from your roll call. I think they have a link "specials" check it out. We are using them in May for our cruise. Can't wait!!

 

missty

[den23]

hi missty what date in may are you cruising?

[den23]

hi texancruzer, i know we will have a fantastic time. italy is our favourite country to visit. we have been many times and never get sick of it.i hope you get your wish to go back. work really really hard on it!;)

[skiiergirl]

You're welcome.

 

That is the amazing thing about these boards. Everyone is here to share both the good and the bad.

 

This was perhaps my favorite day in the whole cruise.

The Amalfi coast area was so incredibly beautiful..... the people of Italy are so warm and friendly. I can't wait to go back - maybe Sept ???? I am working on it :D

 

HAVE A GREAT TRIP !

 

Hey Tex....It's Ski! Will you please email me at skiiergirl at ix dot netcom dot com? I have several questions to ask you that would apply to several threads so thought I'd just email them to you if that works for you!

 

Take care!

Ski

[missty]

hi missty what date in may are you cruising?

 

We are sailing on the NCL Gem out of Barcelona on May 25th.

[den23]

we sail on voyager out of barcelona on the 24th. may bump into you out there somewhere:D

[cardamon]

Hi den23. 3 friends and Isail on the Voyager the week prior to your sail- 5/17. I'll try not to wish I were going again as I fly out and you board. We are playing it safe and usung the RC tours because we've never been there before. And the Cannes Film Festival is there during our cruise- can you say traffic? Cardamon

[Host Karen]

Hey Tex....It's Ski! Will you please email me at skiiergirl at ix dot netcom dot com? I have several questions to ask you that would apply to several threads so thought I'd just email them to you if that works for you!

 

Take care!

Ski

 

Just an FYI: Cruise Critic encourages members to share information on the boards so that everyone benefits. Perhaps you could start a new thread and post those questions to texancruzer there.

 

Karen

HostKaren@CruiseCritic.com

[den23]

Hi den23. 3 friends and Isail on the Voyager the week prior to your sail- 5/17. I'll try not to wish I were going again as I fly out and you board. We are playing it safe and usung the RC tours because we've never been there before. And the Cannes Film Festival is there during our cruise- can you say traffic? Cardamon

hi cardamon, to avoid traffic in cannes,stay on the red carpet:D

[gfcleba]

On the GEM June 1st and will also stopping in Naples. Any suggestions for a half day excursion? Does not have to be private can bo on own for 4 people.

[Neil Down]

Chauffeur driven cars in Italy come at quite a price €40+ an hour. As an alternative, particularly if you are moored in Sorrento, why not consider a ferry trip around the coast from Sorrento to Amalfi and the return trip by local bus back to Sorrento or this journey in reverse. It is cheap and gives you views to die for…. Regards Neil

[truckerj1]

Neil,

 

We are going on the Gem June 15. How long does the ferry and local bus trip take? Also what was the cost? Thanks for the great idea! Jay

[Neil Down]

Neil,

 

We are going on the Gem June 15. How long does the ferry and local bus trip take? Also what was the cost? Thanks for the great idea! Jay

 

 

Ferry takes between 1 and 2 hours depending on whether it stops at Positano or not and the bus is supposed to take 40 minutes but can take a lot longer in summer. Certainly gives you enough time for a tour around Amalfi and a coffee and cognac before coming back. The bus ride, for some, is reported as a little hairy but that is mainly by folks who are used to wide roads! Hope you enjoy it ...Neil p.s. they sometimes don't run if it's raining..

[texancruzer]

I am confused.

 

Why would the ferry take 1-2 hours from Sorrento to Amalfi ? Icould see it taking 1 hour if it stopped along the way.....

 

but we took the ferry from Sorrento back to Naples after our private tour of the area last November and it took maybe 35 minutes. The distance is further altho it is a straight shot.

 

Why so long to go a shorter distance ? 2 hrs ?????

[verga]

If you are looking to book a driver/guide for the Amalfi Coast. Make sure you get what you want. There is a difference in a guide and a driver in Europe. Salvatore from Drive Amalfi is a driver not a guide. We used him in Sept for the Amalif Coast. He drove us from village to village, asking how much time we would need in each. We had no idea since, of course, we hadn't been there before. He told us nothing about the different villages. Our 8 hour "tour" took us 4 hours including lunch. His cost is 450E for the 2 of us. I wish I had looked into it more, before hiring. I really wanted a guide, but didn't realize that Salvatore is a driver.

 

This is so true about the difference between hiring a driver and a licensed guide. We were with Galaxy last Nov 07 and did Herculaneum and the Amalfi Coast. We joined with another fellow cruise passenger who booked 6 plus minivans - shared tours for most passengers but a private 13-pax van for my family group which we had prepaid.

 

Closer to the cruise date, I found a well-regarded licensed guide, Anna Maria Esposito, through tripadvisor.com and we hired her for the day (9 hrs). She did an awesome job of taking us through Herculaneum for 2 hours. While driving through the Amalfi coast, she would give interesting info about the different towns that we were passing through, then we stopped at Positano and also at Amalfi for lunch. While we were having lunch, Anna talked to one of the boat operators and arranged for an one-hour boat ride for us at 10 Euros pp. We really enjoyed the boat ride because we got to see the towns from a different pespective. We saw the houses of some celebrities like Sophia Loren and beautiful hotels perched on the cliffs.

 

After the boat ride, she took us into the Amalfi town to a limocello shop where we tasted and bought some limocello. She gave us some time to shop for souvenirs and then we proceeded to drive by the other towns before we returned to the ship.

 

In my first few email with Anna, she had proposed hiring a mini-bus for my group at 400-500 Euros and her guiding services for 350 Euros. The total price she quoted was certainly way much cheaper than what we had prepaid which was about 1,000 Euros for our 13-pax mini-van with an English speaking driver. Unfortunately we couldn't cancel our prepaid minivan but regardless we still hired her anyway and we were glad we did despite the additional cost.

[Neil Down]

Because the ferry has to go west around the headland before turning east to Amalfi from Sorrento, the distance is about 24 miles. The distance from Naples to Sorrento is 15 miles. The distance directly over the hills to Amalfi, the bus route, is about 12 miles. i hope that solves the confusion ....Neil

[joan24]

Has anyone taken the ferry from Sorrento to Capri? Where does it leave from in Sorrento and how long does it take. We did a full day private tour the last time we were in Sorrento and would like to see Capri this time. Our ship doesn't leave until 11:00 p.m. and arrives at 8:00 a.m. I don't think that we could get a driver to take us from Sorrento to the ferry in Capri and I'm sure that a taxi to the Capri ferry from Sorrento would be amazingly expensive. Thanks for any information.

Joan

[texancruzer]

Because the ferry has to go west around the headland before turning east to Amalfi from Sorrento, the distance is about 24 miles. The distance from Naples to Sorrento is 15 miles. The distance directly over the hills to Amalfi, the bus route, is about 12 miles. i hope that solves the confusion ....Neil

 

 

Okeedokee - if you say so :o

[Queeniecruiser]

Verga,

 

Do you have Anna Maria Esposito's contact information? Would you post it? It sounds like you had an amazing day.

[Thebox]

Hi. We too wanted a half day tour in Naples vs. a full day. AP Tours (so happy to see so many positive reviews of this company!) offers 5 hours (port to Positano, time in Positano for lunch and exploring - and return to Port) for E300 for our family of 4. Since our time was limited (and after seeing photos of Positano) we knew this was where we wanted to go so we specifically requested this itinerary. Each additional hour is 60 Euro. Hope this helps! Diane