We are taking a 12 day Med cruise on May 27th. We depart Venice and visit Dubrovnik, Athens, Santorini, Naples, Rome, Livorno, Villefranche and arrive in Barcelona where we will spend two addtional nights. We would appreciate input regarding exceptionally good or bad tours, "must" see sights and which tours might be better served by (more expensive) cruise line advance or dockside booking. Any suggestions will be appreciated.
John and Dee

www.driverinrome.com is great. Heard a lot of great reviews about them. We will be using them for Rome and Naples this June.

My husband and I are doing the same cruise itinerary with another couple on June 20th with Celebrity. I have found some good information on the website: www.europeportreviews.com We have booked a few excursions in Venice, Rome, Santorini and Livorno. I believe it looks as if the other ports would be easy to get where you might want to go by train or bus or taxi. For Athens, I bought a book about the Metro System. "Don't Miss the Metro". It has great details regarding the Metro stations and detailed walks to see the sites from different stations.

I would love for you to post details of trip when you return. Enjoy!

I can help you with Paola Migliorni of Florence Tour [email protected] for Livorno and Salvatore Lucibello of DriveAmalfi [email protected] for Naples

Thanks for the info. We are also using Celebrity. I will do some more research.

John

Without a doubt the best thing we did a couple of years ago while going down the coast of Italy was hire a private driver in each of the ports. Frankly, since it is their livelihood, any reputable company will do. We used Daniele, I believe it is "Driverinrome.com" I am sure of the name, not of the web site, however, on the appropriate boards, you'll find references to Daniele. Barcelona was easy. Walk up to the top of Las Ramblas and there are red route and blue route buses. They will take you all over for just a few dollars and narrate for you. (Take both routes if you have the time). Barcelona is lovely and it can be seen very well in a couple of days. Villefranche, again we hired a driver. Picked us up at the tendered port and we had a great time. Hope this helps. Take plenty of film or memory cards, you will need them!