Originally posted by f-mattox:
You can take a ship excursion and see all three with time left over.
Are ship excursions worth the money? Are they overcrowded and can you see all that you want to see or are private guides the way to go? It just seems to me that a large group will slow you down.
My husband and I are taking a trip in October with a stop in Naples. Debated ourselves to whether or not to take the ships excursion...Capri/Sorrent/Pompeii or go our own way. After some research and advice from other cruisers..we decided to venture on our own. I was told that when on the ships tour, you are rushed and have limited time in all stops. There right where you dock you can catch either a ferry or hydrofoils (faster) over to Capri after you visit there at your lesiure you can take the same transportation over to Sorrento and then a train to Pompeii. After we worked this out it saved us half the amount it would cost through the ship. We are also considering just doing Capri and Pompeii. Although
Sorrento is doable....we feel we may want to take our time in Capri and Pompeii without being rushed ourselves. Bottom line is whether you do it with the ship or yourself your only there for 8 hours and have limited time in each stop. I have links and detailed info if you like and could provide this to you later when I dig it out of my folders I have set up for each port.
I would suggest that you do your trip in reverse order. Take the train to Pompeii Scavi first then continue to Sorrento and grab a ferry/jet boat to Capri from there and then return to Naples from Capri. By doing this, Pompeii will be less crowded (by getting there early before the ship's tours arrive) and you will be able to buy your boat tickets back to Naples when you get to Capri and know exactly when you will get back. Of course you can do it either way. I found the jet boat schedules online if you want to plan it all before hand
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NCL Dream October 2006, RCCL Mariner OTS June 2007
Originally posted by f-mattox:
You can take a ship excursion and see all three with time left over.
Are ship excursions worth the money? Are they overcrowded and can you see all that you want to see or are private guides the way to go? It just seems to me that a large group will slow you down.
The answer really depends on the traveler. We have been traveling internationally for over 40 years (74 countries) and have very seldom ever taken a tour. This would be very true in Western Europe, where we do everything on our own, whether it be off a ship or when we are simply driving on land. But, many folks (particularly Americans and the Japanese) do not seem comfortable doing anything for themselves, and prefer to pay for tours, whether private of the ships' tours. Are the ships tours overpriced and overcrowded, of course they are and they have become a nice profit center for the cruise lines. Will you see what you want? Well, you will see what the tour wants you to see which may or may not be waht you want. On a ships tour you will generally be on a bus with about 50 other passengers (often with multiple buses). If you book a private tour, you can control the size of the group and the itinerary. If you go on your own, you can control most everything, but this takes research and some travel "smarts."
Thank you Jim!!! Good advice on doing the run from Pompeii first then ending with Capri. Certainly makes sense especially regarding the crowds coming in from the ship tours.
As Hank said...doing the tours on your own takes a bit of homework and some nerve but I fee well worth it just being that we can do what we want at our pace.
I am travelling on the 26th July and one of our party has restricted mobility...walks with a stick. Are there any stops on Med cruise, eg, Livorno, Civitavecchia, Naples or Sicilly that any of you would NOT recommend? Also how do you get from Pompeii to Sorrento by train...can't seem to find a way!
You get on the train in Pompeii and continue on to Sorrento... its easy. Sorrento is the end of the line on the route from Naples to Pompeii. You might have to change trains but its not hard to do. See the "How to guide on train travel in Italy" at the top of this section.
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================================================== ========== Carnival Cruise Lines:
Fantasy 90, Celebration 95, Victory 05, Conquest 05, Spirit 6/06, Freedom 6/08, Holiday 7/08, Victory 6/09, Valor 9/09, Dream 6/10, Splendor 8/10,Conquest 8/11,Magic 11/11,Triumph 4/12,Spirit 7/12,Freedom 11/12, Triumph 2/13 - The fire cruise
NCL Dream October 2006, RCCL Mariner OTS June 2007
The problem with that train is that you will not find it on the Italian railroad (Trenitalia) site or many other rail schedule sites. That is because the Naples-Pompeii-Sorrento train line is operated by a private company called Circumvesuviania Line. However, there is no reason to be concerned about their schedule since they run trains on this line about every 30 minutes.
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