1. Does anyone know how far in advance one can purchase tickets for the ferry?

Tirrenia.com only allows purchase through Jan right now. We'll be travelling in June.

2. AND they only have the overnight ferry from Naples to Cagliari departing once a week. Am I right to assume that in June this route will be offered more often?

Thanks,
dina

anyone, please??

Hello Dina4 (again)

our routes are crossing this time and may be physically - in early July we are planning to drive - Uk to Nice, ferry to Bastia drive to Bonafacio - ferry to Sardinia drice to Cagliari, ferry to either Naples or Sicily then drive back through Tuscany and Bavaria.

The Sicily route will obviously pile the miles on - we have looked at Tirrenia and have encountered the same problem - we are phoning them next week to finalise the routes.

That sounds like a great trip, Mark!

Let me know if you have luck calling Tirrenia.

I'd love to book that overnight ferry and get it out of the way...

Good luck!
dina

In June last year, Tirrenia had one sailing a week from Napoli to Cagliari, on Thursday nights, and from Cagliari to Napoli on Wednesday nights. There are sailings every night between Cagliari and Civitavecchia near Roma.

Geoff,
I'm trying to get to northern Sardinia -- Olbia or Palau.
Do you know about ferry schedules to there from naples?
thanks,
dina

i realize my post says cagliari -- we've changed our plans since then. maybe i should repost...

For the best ferry info visit

www.slowtrav.com

and to to forumns then to Italy.

once in the Italy forumn. Use the find button to locate GAC. He has all the info on ferries. he is an expert.

He helped me with info on ferry from Rome/Civitavecchia to Olbia.
We spent a week in Cala Gonone which is in the Golfo di Orosei, paradise.

We purchased our tickets online while we were in Venice, three weeks before out trip to Sardinia.
The ferry was almost deserted. This was the first week of June 2007.

boun Viaggio,

susan

There was no service from Napoli to northern Sardinia last year, but Di Maio Lines ran a summer service from Salerno to Olbia. Their website still shows the 2007 schedule (www.dimaiolines.it). The sailing should give views of the Amalfi Coast.
Four companies run from Civitavecchia to Olbia or nearby Golfo Aranci:
www.tirrenia.it
www.corsicaferries.com
www.snav.it
www.moby.it
Because of the competition, they should have some cheap fares. They won't be busy in June: the peak season starts in July.

Geoff,
Thank you so much for the information!!

I checked that one website that offers the salerno-olbia line, and it isn't available on the day I want -- June 23rd. However, I can't quite tell if it the schedule is 2007 or 2008. When I try to buy tickets, it says they are not available -- although this could be because it's too early?

Now I'm getting worried because we will be in Capri and want to get to Costa Smerelda. I was REALLY hoping to ferry out of Naples, but it might not even work to ferry from Salerno.

I wonder which is easier and most cost effective:

Make our way to Citavecchia from Capri to get an overnight ferry to Olbia

or

Take an overnight ferry from Naples to Cagliari, rent car and drive to the northern part of the island.

What do you think??

thanks again!
dina

Dina4,

we took the overnight ferry from Naples to Cagliari last June. It was once a week, so I don't think they offer it more often in June. I tried to use the Tirrenia website but there were some problems with it. I called them, too, but they eiher did not speak English or hung up the phone. We finally booked the tickets through a travel agent in London (lots of British people travel to Sardinia). Very easy. I called her, we discussed all the details, gave her credit card information, and the tickets arrived in mail. I don't remember exactly but, I believe, we ordered the tickets in early March for travel at the end of June.
We also booked a return ticket from Golfo Aranci to Civitaveccia through another agent in Corsica.
If you want, I will try to find her contact details. It will save you lots of headache.

Gina
that would be awesome, if you don' t mind.

email would be preferred -- we live in Los angeles.

Thanks!

I just found my e-mail to her (Roberta) on 3/7/07. The address is

[email protected]

Can't find their phone number in my records but google gave me 020-7244-
8422 (I think there should be an area code 44), and it seems to be the same agency in London.

You may also try Viamare. Their contact details are on their website (viamare.com) and you can send them an e-mail from there. I called them, too, last year, and they sounded very professional but we ended up booking the tickets not through them. The prices quoted by both agents were pretty similar. Good luck.

Gina,
thanks a million!

dina

Di Maio Lines have published a schedule for this summer for sailings from Napoli to Sardinia
(www.dimaiolines.it).
From 13 June to 6 September, they're doing Napoli-Olbia on Monday nights, Napoli-Cagliari on Wednesday nights, and Napoli-Palau on Friday nights.
These are in addition to Tirrenia's weekly service from Napoli to Cagliari, on Thursdays.

Is this a new line or it existed before? We couldn't find anything from Naples to Northern Sardinia last year.

Last summer, Di Maio Lines ran from Salerno to Olbia. In 2006, Medmar did Napoli-Palau.
These summer ferry routes change from one year to the next, often being advertised at short notice.

thanks, Geoff!! Napoli - Olbia on a monday night is exactly what i need! Now to navigate the Italian website. i can't seem to find an english version!