Private drivers

[lmsmink]

Can anyone recommend private English speaking drivers on any of the Greek Islands? Also in Dubrovnik and Kusadasi.........Thanks...........

[ClaudiaF]

For Corfu try Dimitrius uses Mercedes sedans .

For Rhodes use Nick of Rhodes private tours ( ditto on the car type)..

For Athens George the famous taxi driver.

 

George

http://www.greecetravel.com/taxi/

Nick

http://www.greecetravel.com/rhodes/privatetours/

 

Dimitrius email direct:

taxi116@in.gr

[lmsmink]

Claudia,

thanks for the info. We had booked George a few years ago but 911 forced us to cancel. I'd lost his address. Will get in touch with him asap.........

[ClaudiaF]

You are very welcome. Have a great time!

[cdbisme]

I'm sure this is not common because I've only read good things about George, but another couple who cruised with us in summer 2003 booked George and were unhappy. It turned out that George had double booked himself that day and so another driver showed up. This other driver was not up to par for them. I believe their specific complaint was that on the drive out to the Temple of Poseidon (which was over an hour away), he was extremely slow. Cars kept beeping and passing him and they felt unsafe. Plus he was paid by the hour and they were losing their tour time for the rest of Athens. The ended up cancelling ti halway through and not doing a whole day. Like I said, that's probably an isolated incident.

 

We used Petros Petrou - I don't have his contact info anymore, but I got it off this board originally. He was great. He also sent a substitute driver, but we knew about it in advance and were okay with it. The guy that we had, Demetrios, was excellent.

 

Anyhow, one thing I learned was that this double booking is common (at least for our cruise) and a lot of people ended up with drivers that they didn't expect. If that's a concern for you, make sure you know who is going to show up to drive you around.

[ClaudiaF]

Agree with you. What I would suggest is to keep in touch with the driver/company you hire. I know I usually wind up booking my drivers months ( many too many) months in advance to make sure I get the guys I want and to know that those I book will be there at the dock waiting for us.. Have only 1 time had a problem and that was in Spain and that guy will never be recommended by us EVER ( "wowspain" keep away from them)

 

What I am saying is if you email a company /person. get some kind of relationship going - even if it takes a year, email alot.. remind them you are coming.. remind them every month and remind them before you leave and DO GET A comfirmation.. by email.

the folks that we all have used on these boards are being passed around and making a great living on us. These people we refer are usually terrific.

PS

If anyone asks you for deposits in advance tell them to forget about it.

[CarolC]

Last year we also booked several drivers recommended on this board. Even though I booked months in advance and communicated on a regular basis to discuss and confirm, 2 of the 4 sent other drivers. I corresponded with Max Leotta in Rome 8 months before our trip and selected our tour days based on his schedule as I told him he personally had been so highly recommended , I wanted to be sure we were with him. After all our planning and reconfirming, he sent someone else. Likewise in Athens, after emailing from the ship to confirm and receiving an affirmative reply, we had a different driver meet us when we docked in Piraeus.

While both of the substitute driver/guides were delightful and very accomodating, we were disappointed as they were clearly not as knowledgable

or experienced as the others were described to be.

[Live the good life]

lmsmink,

We used Petros Petrou for Athens. He was a very pleasant, kind, and enthusiastic narrater/tourguide. The cost for this 8 hour tour was much lower than the others we had paid (about 300 euros)...We were able to visit many sites (Acropolis, Olympic stadium, etc...) and took photos with the guards at the change of guard ceremony. His phone: 011 30 6944322679

 

For Santorini, we highly recommend Mr. Nikos the private tourguide/professional photographer at http://www.santorinidaytours.com Photography services were complementary for us. We were able to visit all the picturesque/historical sites of the island. We paid 400 euros plus tip...

 

Both tourguides were exceptionally fluent in English.

In Italy, we used driverinrome and In France, Revelation tours.

Kim

[lmsmink]

Like the rest of you, we've had the same experience with "switched" drivers,no matter how far in advance we book. In Naples we booked Marcello for last summer because we'd been with one of his drivers the year before. He emailed me that someone else had wanted him for the same day but he told them he was booked. I invited them to join us but they were a group of 6 already. To make a long story short, when we were met at the ship he was there, and drove the other party and put us with one of his drivers. .....fortunately for us. We'd met the other group on the ship and had a great time with them and actually went to most of the same places and arranged for us all to have lunch in Amalfi. It turned out that Marcello was a real "motor mouth" and never shut up, and our driver was a delight!! You never know...........

 

Anyhow folks, thanks for all your input and happy cruisin'...

 

Linda

[Aussie Gal]

I do not think you need a guide at all in Dubrovnik. Our ship ran a shuttle to the city centre and we walked the wall and then walked inside the wall. Everything is clearly marked and you can do it yourself.

 

The guide we used in Athens this year was Spiros who was very good. His email address is *****@yahoo.com

 

I was recommended to him by a few people from this board in 2003.

 

Jennie