Naples Shore Excursion: Naples City and Pompeii Half Day Sightseeing Tour

Meting just outside of the cruise port gate area, there were many local tour operators holding up signs searching for their guests, it was chaotic and not easy to locate ours. Once we did however we stood and waited and waited with him w.hile he kept waiting for 6 more people. Finally, the group of us raised a bit of a fuss as our time was wasting and well past our pick-up time. The bus finally came in and we were greeted with a small bus already having 6 non-English speaking passengers on board. Once all loaded on we started our drive and en route picked up a lady who we thought would be our guide but shortly after at the first stop a church she traded out with our actual guide. As there was no mention in the description that we would have an opportunity to enter a church requiring shoulders covered our two wives were left standing outside. After a long wait outside I went into the church to see where the small group and guide had gone, he said he was looking for us? Well, in fact as I've stated, a couple of us had to wait outside. Reloaded onto the bus with the new guide and stopped in a glass-covered market area and I guess expected to buy stuff? Reboardeed the bus, and had very little ENGLISH commentary while making the drive to the Pompeii site. (we were expecting a drive around Naples with ENGLISH commentary which was minimal). At the entry to Pompeii, a lot of time was wasted waiting for groups to assemble and get their ear-piece/radios. But eventually, the original lady guide from earlier took an all ENGLISH group on a wonderful tour of the ruins (she was the most organized and professional portion of this tour !) With limited time she moved along, spoke the whole time, and offered lots of information and anecdotes. Once back at the starting point where we all met it was CHAOS! Various buses all headed for various destinations and instructions were basically just to get on any bus going to your destination? We did arrive back at the ship on time as guaranteed. We did have good exposure to Pompeii for the short time we had there but the rest of the tour was a waste of time.

We visited Naples in mid-October as the final port call on a 9-day cruise. The tour did a good job of keeping us on schedule despite having to break up and re-form groups by language. Their small luxury vans were a welcome change from the larger tour buses used by most operators. We were picked up right on the cruise pier and taken to our first stop, the Cathedral of Naples. There we were able to leisurely tour the magnificent church before it became crowded with other tour groups. The bus tour of Naples itself saved us a lot of walking and we got to see most of the scattered historic areas without draining off what little energy we had left. There was a break for excellent coffee before we moved on to Pompeii which was about 45 minutes outside the city. Our guide, Elisa, was well-informed, entertaining, and full of interesting facts about Roman life in Pompeii. I wish we had a full day instead of about 2.5 hours to see the ruins. They are fascinating! Elisa made sure we saw the highlights of Pompeii and we hope to get back there again some day. The van dropped us back at the cruise pier in time to still walk around the historic area of Naples, shop, and have coffee and cannolis in the indoor shopping center, Bohemki: Galleria Umberto I°, a must see for its soaring glass roof, statues, and marble floors. This is a premium tour and well worth the fee to see the highlights of Naples and Pompeii with great guides.

Passed between 3 different guides and each one was disinterested in doing what we were paying for, there was a baby on the tour and she wanted to play with her we had to ask for info about where we were and she acted like she was offended. All 3 were unfriendly if you asked a question they seemed annoyed.

Picked up in a small van which was too crowded and uncomfortable for our small group. Tour of Naples was very disappointing. A church. Stop to take photos by the sea. Then a square and bakery. Pompeii tour was well-done. Guide was informative and humourous. Headsets were cheap. Total disorganization at the end. Over priced. Would recommend researching another company.

The guide was late. Things seemed a little off but one he arrived his English was fairly understandable. He was knowledgeable and with a nice sense of humor. We loved the tour.

I was pleased that our driver was on time at the appointed meet-up point at our cruise ship port. He had difficulty finding our guide and drove around the city trying to locate him. There was confusion with who was to be our guide and which passengers were to be on each part of our tour. It would be helpful to have a step stool for use when existing and entering the mini-bus/van as getting off required some "jumping". For older passengers, this is hard on their knees. Our tour guide, Andre, was very knowledgeable and answered our questions. It was nice to have the earbuds so that you could hear what he was saying when you were not close to him. Overall, I was pleased with the tour, tour guide and service provided.

Was not impressed with Naples. It’s a very dirty city. We spent the first hour waiting for our tour operator who was delayed due to the subway system closing. Then we spent the next 30 minutes picking up people. Pompeii was nice, but overall not impressed with the whole tour.

Our specific tour guide, Annalisa was very good, but the tour itself seemed disorganized. Or at least it felt that way. In Pompei a number of tours came together, and were parcelled out to new guides, all this amid the hordes of tourists. Then when the tour was done, we were taken back to the meeting point to be parcelled out again, It was very confusing as there were so many groups, and guides, and amid the hubbub, very hard to hear directions..There were literally a few hundred of us on the sidewalk with hundreds of other tours around us,as we were trying trying to figure our which person to follow.

When we booked we were promised a van with no more than 10 people, and this was the case for the first half of the tour of Naples. However, we were moved from van to van at various locations, had different guides, drivers, and different tourists at each van switch. When the van changes happened, it seemed that the tour company did not have things organized well. At one point we sat in the van on the street for nearly 20 minutes waiting for another van to arrive. The city tour is not worth the time as the city is dirty, covered in graffiti, and the tour did not show much other than a panoramic viewpoint and a church tour. Once we reached Pompeii we were combined with groups from other van tours and a bus tour, so our small group grew to approximately 50 people. We were given headsets so we could all hear. We then waited 15 minutes for the guide to get our tickets which were apparently not pre-arranged. The tour of Pompeii is overly-crowded in the summer and I do not recommend a summer visit here. The ruins are fascinating to see. The tour guide was full of information but we felt rushed through and in certain sections were waiting in lines for up to 10 minutes. After Pompeii we were put on a fully occupied large bus and taken back to our cruise ship, once again not being provided the small group tour we were promised. All in all, this is our first disappointing experience with booking a VIATOR tour. I have read other reviews with this bait and switch approach, but have never had the experience until now.

Margarita was truly amazing, from start to finish. We have a great time. She was so knowledgeable, easy to understand, and answered all our questions. She also told us where to find the best pizza in Naples. The only downside of the tour was saying the group is 20 or less people. That was misleading, it was 20 or less until we got to Pompeii, where they added another 24 people to our tour.