Bonnie and I will be on the NCL Epic beginning June 15.
I am strongly considering hiring a car service for 6-8 people to transport us around Naples, Rome, and Florence. This is MUCH more flexible and cheaper than hiring excursions off the ship. Has anyone tried this, and if so, were you satisfied?
Anybody here going to be on the same ship at the same time? If so, are you interested in “car pooling?”
Bob
We took the cruise last June and loved it. Instead of booking the excursions through the ship we used shoreexcursionsgroup.com.
By booking a package of 4 excursions we saved about 30% off the ships rate but our main reason for selecting them was the size of the group. We averaged about 25 people on each excursion. We ran into the ship’s excursion in Pompei which was a mad scene of approx 100 people while we were 25 or so.
Some comments:
The Almalfi Coast is an amazing trip. Not for the faint of heart with the narrow roads, sharp turns and cliffs
Naples does have some of the best pizza I’ve ever tasted.
We did Rome, The Vatican and The Colliseum in one day which was to much to cover and we were running
all day. The lines at the Vatican were huge.
The ruins of Pompei are a must see.
We did visit the one Casino in Barcelona and were in and out in 10 minutes. Nothing playable.
Have a good time. It’s a great trip.
Joel
On Friday, April 25, 2014 7:50 AM, Bob Dancer <bobdance…@…com> wrote:
Bonnie and I will be on the NCL Epic beginning June 15.
I am strongly considering hiring a car service for 6-8 people to transport us around Naples, Rome, and Florence. This is MUCH more flexible and cheaper than hiring excursions off the ship. Has anyone tried this, and if so, were you satisfied?
Anybody here going to be on the same ship at the same time? If so, are you interested in “car pooling?”
Bob
I have done it and it was the best money I spent in Europe.
From: “Bob Dancer” <bobdance…@…com>
To: vpf…@…com
Sent: Friday, April 25, 2014 7:50:10 AM
Subject: [vpFREE] xvp: NCL Epic from Barcelona June 15
Bonnie and I will be on the NCL Epic beginning June 15.
I am strongly considering hiring a car service for 6-8 people to transport us around Naples, Rome, and Florence. This is MUCH more flexible and cheaper than hiring excursions off the ship. Has anyone tried this, and if so, were you satisfied?
Anybody here going to be on the same ship at the same time? If so, are you interested in “car pooling?”
Bob
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Bev and I, with a couple of good friends, did just this a couple of years ago for this itinerary and found it both efficient and immensely satisfying. We booked a driver and a Mercedes mini-van through www.romeinlimo.com. The firm was outstanding to work with.
Company assigned excellent drivers who doubled as good tour guides, helping us choose between the multitude of sightseeing options. For the Vatican Museum, the company arranged expedited entrance tickets and a private guide who made the experience much more manageable and interesting in the limited time we had on our hands than were we to have toured independently or as part of a large group.
Bonnie and I will be on the NCL Epic beginning June 15.
I am strongly considering hiring a car service for 6-8 people to transport us around Naples, Rome, and Florence. This is MUCH more flexible and cheaper than hiring excursions off the ship. Has anyone tried this, and if so, were you satisfied?
Anybody here going to be on the same ship at the same time? If so, are you interested in “car pooling?”
Bob
I’ve not been on the Particular cruise you mention, but have been to all three places, first on a Perillo tour, then on a Carnival Med cruise.
A couple of thoughts: we were warned (strongly) to be “very careful” in Naples due to pickpocketing and other types of petty crime. Not much to really see in Naples, anyway, basically an ugly city with many downtown buildings representative of Mussolini’s taste in architecture. Better to avoid the city altogether and do a tour of Pompeii, which is excellent.
In any place you choose to do a tour, try to hook up with a company that can get you expedited entrance into the venue. There was a line perhaps 2-3 blocks long to get into the Vatican that we completely bypassed with Perillo. Another key factor is getting someone who speaks English well, and is a knowledgeable guide to the
venue.
Both Rome and Florence have MUCH more to do than can be done on a one day tour. So do your research and pick your advantage plays ; )
In Florence, the statue of David in the Academia gallery is an unbelievable sight, as is the hallway leading up to it. The hallway is lined with ‘unfinished’ statues by Michelangelo, where the figures seem to be emerging on their own out of the blocks of marble. The Duomo and the baptistry across from it are breathtaking. The Uffizi gallery contains a large number of fabulous masterpieces. The Ponte Vecchio is lined end to end with jewelry shops, specializing in gold. (significant other alert!)
Rome also has a number of must-sees, but again, you can’t see them all. The Vatican is a must, as is St. Peter’s. The scale of the latter is awesome: there are markings on the floor that tell you where various churches would fit within its walls. BUT, if you don’t have a very knowledgeable guide,
you won’t know what you’re looking at.
The typical ship excursion will buzz you around the outside of many things and rush you through a few highlights. But I think specific tours will be much more satisfying.
Enjoy: this should be the trip of a lifetime!
Certainly the game is rigged. Don’t let that stop you; if you don’t bet, you can’t win. -Lazarus Long
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is. -Yogi Berra
There is no such thing as luck. There is only adequate or inadequate preparation to cope with a statistical universe. -Robert Heinlein
From: Bob Dancer <bobdance…@…com>
To: “vpf…@…com” <vpf…@…com>
Sent: Friday, April 25, 2014 7:50 AM
Subject: [vpFREE] xvp: NCL Epic from Barcelona June 15
Bonnie and I will be on the NCL Epic beginning June 15.
I am strongly considering hiring a car service for 6-8 people to transport us around Naples, Rome, and Florence. This is MUCH more flexible and cheaper than hiring excursions off the ship. Has anyone tried this, and if so, were you satisfied?
Anybody here going to be on the same ship at the same time? If so, are you interested in “car pooling?”
Bob
We took this cruise also in June of last year, but in February we did a cruise out of Rome and during the 4 days we stayed there we used “Rome In Limo” also for a private tour of the Coliseum. She was excellent even though it was raining like crazy all afternoon and we were soaked. They even offered to let us cancel due to the rain and not charge us (which is nice and unusual). They were also recommended by our Barcelona tour company (Barcelona Day Tours) who we used for a very nice tour of BARCELONA AND MONTSERRAT which was small group of maybe 10.
Dave