Golfer501

Hi everybody, we are going to book our private port tours in Italy (Livorno, Civitaveccia and Naples) with www.shoreexcursionsinitaly.net.
Does anybody already toured with them? We saw good reports on them on other forums but we want to know some fodorite opinions. Thanks!
Golfer501

loop

We used shoreexcursionsinitaly.net last year on recommendation of some friends of ours. They picked us up at the 3 main ports of Livorno, Civitavecchia and Naples. We were met by our drivers, always on time at the dock and by far, the best we ever had! They tailored the days to meet our needs and showed us very interesting and sometimes unusual places where no tourists at all! The English they spoke was excellent and for sure we will use this company again!!

appaloosa

Hi "Golfer501", You cannot be wrong with this company. My wife and I toured with them last summer during our Med cruise, from Civitavecchia port to Rome and Naples port to Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast. It was a great experience thanks to the information given by our 2 driver-guides who, apart of showing us the best of the cities we visited, also helped us giving tips and taking us to local restaurants, for outstanding meals.
We can recommend to you "Shore Excursions in Italy.net" for sure.

ziptrippin

Shore excursion by private taxi on sharing basis and local driver as guide, was a better fun.

walkerby

We hired Shore Excursions in Italy.net last summer for customized tours of Cinque Terre area from Livorno port, Rome from Civitavecchia and Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast from Naples port. All the shore excursions were excellent!
The 3 drivers we had were very informative and engaging.
We cannot believe we were actually able to cover all the sights we wanted to see on our tours.
They exceeded our expectations!
Brand new vans and good local meal recommendations completed the excellent and funny tours with them!!

roll

Hi, we booked our Naples shore excursion with www.shoreexcursionsinitaly.net 2 years ago. Carlo was our driver guide and we had a fantastic tour with him! He drove us to Pompeii, giving us a good introduction and then we hired a local tour guide booked for us by the same company. We went then to Positano and he dropped us off just in the city centre, showing us the best pastry shop for a wonderful "Lemon Delice" (amazing lemon cake typical of Positano). Then he took us to Sorrento where we had a fantastic lunch (not expensive)in a local restaurant recommended by him near the water called "Il Delfino" (we always have a look to the beautiful pictures we took there in the bay)and we came back to the ship perfectly on time.
We highly recommend this company to all of you!! (ask for Carlo, he's amazing!!)

Dayenu

Weird. All recommendations from new posters only. Looks suspiciously like a promotion of one site.

roll

Hi Dayenu, I'm new on Fodor's because I used to post on Trip Advisor. When, having a look at Fodor's, planning my new trip to Italy, discovered that someone was asking for info regarding this company, since we used them 2 years ago and we were very satisfied with these guys, I just wanted to give my positive contribution to their choice...that's it

Runner60

We used www.shoreexcursionsinitaly.net during our after Christmas Cruise stopping at Livorno, Civittavecchia and Naples.
We were on the "Serenade of the Seas" and we had a great time with Shore Excursions in Italy company. From Livorno we went to the Cinque Terre, from Civitavecchia to Rome and from Naples to the Amalfi Coast.
Very new comfortable vans and informative driver-guides.
We had advanced reservation for the museums so we really avoided very long lines.

Golfer501

Hi guys, thanks so much for your recommendations. This company seems the way to go so I'm going to book my shore excursions with them and will let you know.

gowestman

Do their driver-guides enter with you the sights or we have to hire a local guide? We will stop at Civitavecchia port and will go to visit Rome so I was thinking to enter the Colosseum and the Vatican museum inside and I want to be sure if we need to book in advance a local guide or not....Thank you!

Runner60

Gowestman, the driver-guide we had could just explain the most important information from the car because he told us that to explain inside museums and churches you need to be a licensed guide with the specific authorization to do that. The driver-guide is just an authorized driver who to make a more interesting tour explained us enough to know about the history. He gave us tips as well on where to go to eat and shopping. You will be very satisfied with his explanations. Anyway as we did, you can hire a licensed guide, worth in the Vatican museum and the company itself booked her for us.

winner99

Hi "Walkerby", since I am interested in visiting the 5 Terre area this summer and I saw you have been there during your shore excursion from Livorno port, may I know the villages your driver took you and how much time did you spend each? Tks for any additional tip you can give me!!

walkerby

Winner99, yes we went to the Cinque Terre last July, during our cruise stop at Livorno. We started the tour early at 07.30 a.m. as they suggested, in order to visit 3 of the 5 towns. The first stop was Monterosso, where we had a good coffee, in a bar outside, before starting to visit the village. We walked around a little bit and we enjoyed the town (we did not buy anything cause it was pretty expensive!)
From Monterosso, our driver drove us to Vernazza. We walked into the Church of Santa Margherita, near the beach and took beautiful pictures to the castle. From Vernazza he drove us then to Corniglia, where we stopped for lunch in a restaurant he recommended called "La Posada", gorgeous view from the terrace over the sea and we ate very fresh seafood! After so much food and the best white wine, we were ready to take a nap on the way back to Livorno. Memorable trip, we will remember forever!!

papillon58

Hi, since we will take a Med cruise that will stop at Livorno, Civitavecchia and Salerno ports, we saw that most of the people used Shore Excursions in Italy.net for Pisa and Florence or Cinque Terre tours from Livorno, Rome from Civitavecchia and the Amalfi Coast from Naples Ports, but since we already have been there, can someone recommend other interesting tours offered from the same ports to different destinations, worth to be visited?
Thanks so much for your help!!

Eschew

Papillon58, not sure how much time you have spent in Rome or Naples but you can spend weeks or months without visiting the same attartcion.

Capri, Pompeii are all worthwhile stops at Naples. We actually spent half a day one time wandering the local streets.

Depending how much time you have, you can customize a Rome tour with a limo or private guide. We spent a week there and we are itching to go back. There are so many under-rated or not so famous stops as almsot everyone stops at the same place and the other places are "neglected" or missed.

As an example, we love Santa Maria degli Angeli. We have been there 3 times within the same week. Our hotel was only 2 blocks away . St. Ignazio Di Loyola is famous for it's "dome". San Giovanni in Laterano probably is less visted and less known than St. Peter's Basilica at Vatican but yet it is the more important church than St. Pete's in the whole grand scheme of things.

We did not use any of the companies mentioned in this thread. We walked everywhere, and taking an occassional taxi. Since you are coming in from the port, you may want to take the train or use a car service like Rome Cab. Rome Cab is the name of a tour company that can provide a car and a driver.

papillon58

Eschew, thanks for your help. We know that in Rome there are so many things to do and different sights to be visited but this time we were thinking not to go there and go to a different destination. Capri, we think is a good alternative during our Naples stop together with Hercolaneum, cause we already have been to Pompeii. We will check with the limo company and see if they have something like this available for us...

papillon58

Hi, we finally booked our shore excursions with shoreexcursionsinitaly.net. Monica answered so promptly to our questions and she built up an itinerary right for us!
From Livorno port we will go to visit the Chianti wine area, with stops, as she said, to a couple of wineries and a real castle in the middle of the countryside.
At Civitavecchia, since we have already been to Rome, she suggested the "Etruscan tour" with stops at Tuscania and Tarquinia.
From Naples port, willl go to visit Hercolaneum, Sorrento and since we wanted to visit Capri as well, they will take us to Sorrento port, in order to take a ferry to the island.
So we will have free time there and then with a different ferry will sail back to Naples directly.
We are so excited!! We will give you a feedback when will come back!

flyer99

Hello, we contacted Shore Excursions in Italy to plan our inland tours during our next cruise in the Mediterranean. Since we already visited Pisa and Florence a few years ago, we want to go somewhere else and they suggested us Siena and Sangimignano or Volterra and the Chianti wine area. They both seem very interesting!! Can someone recommend which one of the two tours we can choose? Thanks for your help!

TPAYT

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