Scavi tour booking help please
 

I emailed the scavi tour office a week ago in an attempt to reserve one place for October 24-31 ( I know this is hopeful!).

I have read somewhere that people had received an auto response email from the office prior to notification of whether a place was available.

I have not received any auto response, how long should I wait to receive one? Should I email them again?

I did not provide them with the apartment address in Rome because it had not been confirmed. Would this have made any difference to the booking?

I emailed them twice last year for our reservations and both times I got the auto-response email almost immediately. I had sent the emails to [email protected] and [email protected] and got the automated responses from [email protected].

Thoughout the years, tons of people have posted on their experience with the Scavi Tour reservation system and have read a variety of experiences; autoresponse, booking information with no prior autoresponse, etc... If you had more time, I would say, give them another 1-2 weeks, but you don't have a lot of time to dilly-dally. Send them another e-mail and see how it goes. If no response, then hope for the best. Flexibility on days (including a wide range) is very important.

I've done this tour twice and the second time I wanted to move up the assigned time. I just showed up about half-hour before and asked the guards to let me in to talk to the Scavi Tour Office. If there is less than 10 people/tour, they will let you take it (sort of "stand by"). This applies if you had no reservations as all. The fact it is only one place should give you an edge.

I only have good things to say about this whole tour, including the way they seem to handle the thousands of requests for reservations from all over the world. Best of luck.

There is no rhyme or reason to the Scavi reservations. I waited 10 days to receive the automated response and an additional 8-1/2 weeks to get the confirmation of my reservation. Good luck!

In May I emailed the Scavi office requesting a tour anytime on any day 16-20 October.

Apart from the auto-response I am still waiting to hear if I have been awarded a tour place. How long before your tour did you receive notification, Susan?

OTOH, a friend of mine who is in Rome right now applied a month ago, and received her notification only a few days ago, just before she left.

I am hoping to hear any day now, I will try to wait patiently, but I also want to book for the Borghese and an ancient Rome tour, so I hope the email comes soon...

Lavender,I waited for months for a reservation and did get one a few days before we left ,I did have a priest call a week prior of leaving,whether that did It I couldn't say for sure, but it wouldn't hurt.P.S if you have a phopia of enclosed areas you may want to rethink that tour.

I applied very early. Even with waiting ten weeks total, it was four or five months before my trip that I got the reservation.

Thanks everyone for your informative responses. I will send them another email and keep my fingers crossed.

Lavender, I sent a request for the week of October 3. I received the atuo-response on June 26, shortly after I emailed them.

That's the last I heard from them, and we leave a week today.

Good luck. I'll let you know if I hear anything....

Well, I leave in 2 weeks and still have not heard anything at all from the Scavi office, not even an automated email.

Might try just showing up at their office when I get there on the off chance - anyone know what times the Scavi tours operate?

I leave in a week, and despite emailing in May and giving a window of 5 full days have heard nothing further.

Searching here I found several posts from people who had turned up at the Scavi Office and asked if there were any places on English speaking tours that day. They had mostly been lucky. I read somewhere that there are only 2 English tours a day.

It also states on the Vatican website the following

<< Reservations

Reservations are only accepted in writing (by e-mail: [email protected], by fax: (39-06) 6987-3017, or directly in the Excavations Office.)

The last 5 words give one hope!

Lavender, I'd suspect your original request has been lost in email neverland. Your email and request dates are very close to mine. I sent a request in late August for either October 30 or 31. I received an auto reply within 48 hours and a confirmation for October 30th earlier this week. I don't know whether the lack of a local contact address in your request made a difference, but I suppose that's a possibility. I'd follow Viajero's suggestion and go to the Scavi Office on the 24th. We used a similar tactic to see the Last Supper in Milan without a reservation.

I requested the tour in June for October 23; recieved the auto response the same day. Last week, I received my reservation for 9:30 on the 23rd.

Jean,

I just received my confirmation for 31 Oct. We could have been tour buddies.

Gwen