Shore excursions, part 3: Naples

Naples - Carol and I would like to do a tour of Pompeii where we are not pressured into hurrying. I would also like to see Herculaneum if we had the time. I have asked Carol to check with her friend Joanne who is a classics professor whose specializes in this area to see if she has any suggestions of how long we should allow in each place and other suggestions.

• Pompeii - There is one big bus tour (NP03) of Pompeii that is 4 hours and costs $69.00, but this also includes the cameo factory. I would be annoyed if we had to leave early in order to see the cameo factory (tourist thingy). The drive to Pompeii is 45 minutes each way. So this means you are in Pompeii about 2 hours. Carol can say if that would be enough.
• Herculaneum - There is one tour (NP06) that runs 3 1/2 hours for $64.00. Guess what, you also get to go to the cameo factory!! The drive is not specified.
  

At this stop I am thinking that we might want to look into a private tour. I have been online and found references to several private tour guides. The most recommended is a woman named Barbara Giambiatissta (barbaraguide@hotmail.com). The last price quote for her was $75 per person, small group, but I am not sure how long the tour, where she picked up, etc. Other recommendations are Salvatore Lucibello of DriveAmalfi who can be contacted at info@driveamalfi.com and Tony at tonyguidepompei@tele2.it. I think we will have to contact some of these to see what the prices will be. Some say that the fluctuating Euro will make it more expensive to do these private tours.

Another question is whether we need to have a guide or can we figure it out on our own? See this discussion at slowtrav.org. Here from Cruise Critic is another take on the matter with a link to another private tour site:

We used AP Tours (www.aptours.it) for the Naples area and while I don’t recall the cost for the 4 of us, it was less than $1000, and we had an air conditioned Mercedes mini van with a wonderful driver at our disposal for the entire day. I discussed and planned our day in advance via email. For example, I just looked and 4-6 people for 9 hours – Pompeii & the Amalfi Coast will cost 475 Euros – total. (Although if you want to see Pompeii, I’d strongly suggest you find the extra 100 Euros for a licensed guide which AP will arrange for you – really made the place come alive for us.)