Need Optionions on Optional Excursions
 

ive rec'd. my itinerary for globus tour. my questions have to do with the optional tours. <BR>for $59 theres a tour of villa adriana or the villa d'este gsardens and fountains in tivoli followed by country style dinner w/spumante, music and wine. <BR> <BR>$28 st. paul outside the walls and the catacombs. <BR> <BR>$45 scenic drive past the pope's summer residence at castel gandolfo to frascati and 4 course dinner w/wine. <BR> <BR>uffizi gallery - $28 - i think i'd like to see this <BR> <BR>$28 - baroque palace and peacock gardens of isola bella. <BR> <BR>$29 serenade ride in traditional gondola. doesnt say for how long. and i guess there are as many people in the boat as they can fit. <BR> <BR>$42 wine and dine at local restaurant along grand canal <BR> <BR>$53 lagoon cruise w/lunch or dinner in burano. 4 course lunch/dinner with drinks included. coffee or tea is served. i know you can get to burano for nothing to see the lace factories. <BR> <BR>$20 tarantella dance includes 2 drinks. <BR> <BR>$20 cheerful neapolitan live stage performance of famous songs and tarantella folk dancing. <BR> <BR>

Ro, <BR> <BR>It sounds like you are going on the Italy at Leisure trip. I tried to book that trip but it was sold out. I used Globus a few years to Italy and I do have some advice on their optionals. I would definitely take the tour of the villas, I heard that the catacombs were cool (but not if you are claustrophic - spelling?), the dinner in frascati was great, I think you can order tickets on line to the Uffizi and they are cheaper(uffizigallery.com), you can take the ferry to Isola Bella and save money but the tour of the mansion is nice, the gondola ride was "just" ok and the tarantella was "just" ok. Hope this helps.

Hi <BR>I haven't taken your tour, but I think one of the factors might be where in each city you are staying. <BR>The Uffizi is centrally located in Florence, and as mentioned you can order advance tickets on your own. You can spend whatever amount of time you want there, and then go elsewhere. However, if you are staying well outside Florence, you might feel that the convenience of being transported back and forth to the Uffizi is worth it. <BR> <BR>The $42 wine and dine in Venice could be a good deal I suppose, if they pick a good restaurant. You can dine for much less or much more on your own, depending on which restaurant you choose. For me, it would be more interesting to choose a restaurant on my own--a restaurant that can accommodate a large tour group all at once might not necessarily be my first choice. Ditto the Burano meal. <BR>For much less money, you can easily take a vaporetto to Burano on your own, and include a stop at Torcello and/or Murano if you like. <BR> <BR>As for the "cheerful neapolitan live stage performance", you'll have to decide that one on your own I think.

Ro: Based on where your hotels are located, you may be forced to take at least some of the optional tours. If your hotel is not located in a central area, you will be stuck in the hotel without a whole lot to do. My general opinion is that if you are taking a tour or a cruise, etc. it generally makes sense to take the optional tours. If you were the adventurious type and liked to do things on your own, you wouldn't be on a tour. If the particular tour sounds appealing to you I wouldn't let the extra few dollars the tour company is charging be an obstacle, it's worth the convenience. You will find varing opinions based on peoples likes and dislikes, only you can decide. As an example, we took the American Express Gondola Serenade and thought it was great, it lasted about 45 minutes and we had about 10 people in the gondola, there were about 6 gondolas in total. We left at dusk and did both the Grand and side canals. We were lucky to get the gondola that had the singer and accordion player in it. It was much less expensive than doing a gondola ride on our own. What ever you decide, have a great time.

I meant to add, if you have plenty of time in Rome, the Catacombs tour might very well be worth it, IF you wanted to see them, because they are not quite as easy to get to on your own as they are a bit outside of central Rome.

My top picks would be: the Uffizi, Isola Bella, the gondola ride (cheap at that price and a pricelesss experience), and for $20 I wouldn't miss the Neapolitan live stage performance for anything. I've found that, generally speaking, the optional dinner experiences on tours are pretty disappointing and I wouldn't choose them. I'd do Burano and Torcello on my own. Spending time outside Rome would depend on how much time you have to see Rome on your own, which is infinitely more interesting than the optionals, IMO. <BR>

I was on a different Globus tour in 1998 and, in common with your tour, we went to Venice and Lake Maggiore. <BR>On the entire 16-day tour, the ONLY optional that EVERY tour member chose was the gondola ride in Venice. <BR>There were 4 to 6 people in each gondola and all our boats stayed close enough together that we could hand our cameras across to tour members in another boat so they could take a pic of us in our boat, etc. One gondola carried two or three musicians so we could always hear their serenading. <BR>I really don't remember how long the ride lasted, but it was sufficient. I was glad I went. Also, it's a nice photo op. <BR> <BR>I didn't opt for Isola Bella. For us that excursion landed on a Sunday morning and I thought I'd rather sleep in and have a little "down-time". The people who did go to Isola Bella said it was very beautiful and seemed to be glad they had gone. <BR> <BR>Contrary to the impression some people have of organized tours, I must say that I NEVER felt pressured to buy any optional excursion or activity. Possibly other tour directors or other tour companies are more assertive about it, we didn't have that experience. <BR> <BR>As far as optionals including dinner, on our particular Globus tour, the nights when optional dinners were offered were only when the hotel was in or very near the city center. Any time the hotel was out in the 'burbs the dinner was always included in the over all tour price. So if you choose not to go on an optional dinner, you should be able to explore and have a choice of places to eat on your own. <BR> <BR>Enjoy your trip!! <BR>

in looking over the optional package of excursions/tours over the weekend, we decided we'd like to see the catacombs. <BR> <BR>as for uffizi gallery, as mentioned we can do it at our own pace and order the tickets thru internet. <BR> <BR>for the isola bella i think we're going to skip that. <BR> <BR>we're going to take their gondola ride and if we don't like it, take one on our own. i'm sure the only difference is the amount of people in the gondola with us. <BR> <BR>food:i think i'd rather choose my own restaurant. the information on this board is so bountiful that it would be a shame not to utilize some of the info. especially the suggestions of restaurants from richard and many others. <BR>elaine your right about burano. once i explained to my husband that we can take a vaporetto to burano/murano and torcello, he agreed we'd do it on our own. <BR>carol: i am going to take the neapolitan live stage performance. i think thats part of the culture. <BR>i have the list of hotels and my next thing is to find out where they are. if not, there's always a cab to town. <BR>boomer babe: thanks for the info on globus. did you enjoy your trip? did you find there was enough time to do what you wanted? <BR> <BR>thank you all very much. i certainly appreciate all the input. i'm starting to excited i have 18 days to go. <BR> <BR>my husband wants to know what im going to do with the note book that i have with all the suggestions from other fodorites on this board. just wait until he sees the wealth of information i have accumulated from all the wonderful people on this board. thank you again!

Dear Ro, I would recommend seeing Isola Bella. It's a very interesting villa with beautiful gardens & statuary - if you enjoy that type of thing. The views of Lago Maggiore are spectacular. We stayed on Isola Pescatore 2 nights. Out of the 3 islands Isola Bella was the most beautiful & interesting. PS: There is a fantastic gellato shop in Stresa off the main waterfront street & next to a little piazza.

Hi Ro, <BR> <BR>I agree with Dale, Isola Bella is a unique and beautiful place. I wasn't too impressed with the inside of the palazzo, but found the terraced gardens with the white peacocks gorgeous.

<BR>Hello again Ro, <BR> <BR>Yes, I very much enjoyed the Globus tour I took (I think it was called Town & Country, we hit 8 different countries in 16 days) and intend to use them again sometime in the future for a tour of Germany. <BR> <BR>And yes, we usually had at least a morning or an afternoon in the large cities to go our own way. Of course, when there is an optional excursion you choose not to go on you have even more time on your own. <BR> <BR>Only 18 days to go, WoooooooHoooooo, I'm excited for you! <BR>ENJOY!!!!

i think its just great that your going. enjoy your trip and take it one day at time.