Exclusive Best of Rome

We loved the Tours, Tour Guide & Bus Driver. Everyone was so knowledgeable. We have told our friends how much we enjoyed your Staff and how proud everyone is of their area and Country.

The tour guide was excellent!!!!! BUT there were many problems.....#1 no sign on the bus, so some late people did not know we were the tour bus they were scheduled for.....ALSO our tour was scheduled to leave at 7AM, but we WAITED for one hour for 4 passengers to leave their ship and try to find an unmarked bus (no tour sign on it). Once we took off we visited some great places, but each time had to wait for people to meet up with us thereby taking extra time off the tour. By all the waiting for people to meet back up and waiting for the couples to start the trip with us; we were unable to enter the last tour and see the Vatican inside. That was so discouraging and EXTREMELY frustrating for those who were on time and met up when we were told to meet up. I wanted to give this tour a 3 but, felt that the tour guide herself would be disregarded. She did fantastic and was very personable!!!!

We had a great time and our tour guide Davide was very informative. Tour was great.

Our guide was quite knowledgeable and a lot was done in a short period of time. Other than the heat it was quite enjoyable

Pros: 1) Max will get you very efficiently to the major sites of Rome, filling you in on some information along the way. 2) Max will even take pics for you w/your camera while he is driving, as he motors you around Rome. 3) The van that Max drives can only accommodate about 7 people, so the tour is very intimate and private, as opposed to riding in those big buses w/hoards of sweaty people. We were the only family of four on the tour that day, which was great! 4) Max can take you to a local pizza place that generally caters to the locals, as opposed to the tourists. 5) You can modify your tour, as you desire. Try to take in 10 sites of Rome or just focus on 1. I'd advise shooting for about 4-5 sites at most. Cons: 1) Max does not actually walk the sites with you. But, he is an accomplished driver, who gets you around busy Rome, as efficiently as possible. 2) It is a little pricey per person, but if you are in Rome for only 1 day, it is worth it.

This was an excellent excursion and I highly recommend it. We enjoyed the various locations we visited: the Colloseum, the Pantheon and Vatican City. All were incredible. Our guide (Dani) was fun and knowledgeable. She made sure we saw some amazing sights and were informed of what we were seeing. It was a long, full and rewarding day.

Fantastic tour of the highlights of Rome! Our guide was knowledgeable and balanced out the tour with some free time for us to explore.

Covered alot! It was a little rushed but Meke was very informative!

Excellent tour to visit the major attractions in Rome. Tour guide was friendly and knowledgeable.

This is an intense excursion. Rome could be difficult. Nice to see all the different things but high paced and crowded. Guide did a good job keeping up with us. I would like to have seen the Sistine Chapel.

The tour guide was extremely well-versed in the area and offered many insights. The fact that we were given priority to enter the sites leveraged our time in Rome. After all, who wants to spend valuable vacation minutes waiting in line?!!!

Muy organizado y pudimos entrar al coliseo, el PartenÛn y la BasÌlica de San Pedro. Muy buena guÌa con un buen control del pequeÒo grupo. Lo recomiendo.

This tour was excellent if you want to see a lot in a short period of time. Yet, there is little to no time for lunch. This is a problem as the tour is very long and people were hungry. We had 20 minutes to find a place and that is very difficult with thousands of people in the same area doing the same thing. I would highly recommend people bring snacks/food to eat on the bus rides. You can also leave your stuff on the bus (safely) so it is a good idea to bring food/water. Also, most do not speak any other language than Italian and most do not take credit cards. They want Euros so if you don't have any you can't buy anything. We were told the banks would exchange money but they all shut the doors to us saying ""NO EXCHANGE."" Be prepared as we were not. The tour guide was excellent. Its a very long and exhausting day but worth the money

In as much, we had to wait for our tour guide at the pick up point (she was late) all was fine...She was thorough and kept us on schedule. My only suggestion is that this tour include enough time for lunch. People that have diabeties etc need to have this be part of the excursion. We only had 10-15 to grab a quick snack...perhaps it's because she was 1/2 hour late!

Our driver was the best. He gave us a little history of each destination we visited before we left to explore on our own. Davide took good care of all of us from the start of our excursion to the end.

Tour guide Maria was very knowledgable and pleasant. Very nice tour.

Daniela, our guide, was amazing. She explained the culture, history and facts about the Colosseum,Vatican City, etc. We were able to have a great lunch on the sidewalk and listen to a musician playing an accordian in true Italian style. Prepare for large portions and prepare to eat everything on your plate. They get very insulted if you leave food. We shared an entree and was completely satified.

Max was our driver and there were just two of us.he drove us everywhere we wanted to go and more. Our only complaint would be that we only had one day and that would not be the way to see roma. Since it was just two of us, we had some instruction but had to do all without a guide. It would have been nice to have that. It was a good day though and max was a capable driver/pseudo guide.

Tour guide was there waiting for us right at the pier we had a nice comfy bus ride.. The view were amazing.

We were surprised and disappointed the tour guide did not accompany us in to the coliseum. Many unanswered question arose due to this. We then walked through the city to see the city fountain which was under construction but still amazing. Left on our own to get lunch, we ate less than thrilling pizza per our guides recommendation. Oh how we wanted to sit at a table and order all the good food we saw as we walked by! On to the Vatican. Our guide did her best to keep us together and try to minimize the lines. Took about a half hour to get in. Again amazing place. The tour did not give us time to see the Sistine Chapel which in retrospect was a mistake. We were right there! We did have time after the tour to waste in a gift shop. Time could have been used better.

Enjoyed being part of small group travelling in small bus. Our excellent guide was able to interact much more easily with us and get us so quickly into sites.

It was great to see Rome from an Italian perspective. It was even better seeing a Cardinal walk the elevated walk way like in The DaVinci code

Small group allowed us to be in an SUV to better maneuver traffic than a bus. Protests had streets blocked. Guide was able to rearrange schedule and accommodated individual interests.

great guides, excellent trip!

We saw an awful lot in a very short time. Really enjoyed it.

Our guide was outstanding and I liked that there were only 8 people on the tour. Pre-purchased entrance tickets to the Vatacin would have helped with the time constraint.

We were thrilled that we could see the Vatican and St. Peter's Basilica. Wish we had less time at the Coliseum and were able to visit Sistine Chapel.

Like all of our tour guides in the 7-city Shore Excursions Group package, Daniella was great. Commentary was informative, and headsets meant we could hear plainly. The Coliseum is the high point, but you see all the other sites listed in the tour description. You will not likely have time to go into St. Peter's Basilica, but having free time to explore the Vatican area is a plus. It's hard to imagine seeing everything that we saw in one day on your own.

We went on this tour in late september...Rome is very crowded, I cannot imagine trying to see all that we did on your own. Our guides were very helpful and knowledgeable. The only disappointment was that the guides did not accompany us into the Colleseum...something about the type of pass that they had for that day. All in all a good experience! You will not forget this excursion!

Most of the tours were great and they were small in comparison to those who booked excursions with the ship.

This was a good tour. We received Priority Tickets inside the Colosseum (virtually no wait because of that). We saw the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon. We were free to have lunch in a nice square inside Rome. My only recommendation for this tour is that I would have been willing to pay a little bit more so that when we got to Vatican City we would have had priority entry into St. Peter's Basilica. Unfortunately, there was a huge line. The tour guide did not recommend buying priority entry tickets from vendors on the street. We had about an hour in Vatican City which would have been better spent inside the buildings than hanging out in the square. I think it would be in everyone's best interest if they just added advanced tickets into St. Peter's Basilica to the price of this tour to avoid any disappointment.

Our guide was wonderful. Knowledgeable, kept us all on a timeline so we could get the most out of our excursion and Evan humorous when necessary!

Well organized. The tour guide makes the whole thing work. We toured 12 cities in 14 days and the guide makes all the difference. The Shore Excursion Group tours were far superior to the ones available from the cruise line (Celebrity)

Our guide was very good and she did her best to take us inside the Basilica in the Vatican. It was very, very busy and a lot of tourists, this is one place that I probably will not go back.

Our tour guide was great, he timed everything perfectly so that we could get the most out of the time that we had. He made us laugh all day and we would love to have another adventure with him.

Due to the port location, it required a fairly long bus ride to get to Rome. However, once we arrived and met our guide it was a wonderful experience. The tour guide provided a head set for each participant to use which made hearing her great, regardless of how close you were to her. It was a lot of walking, but that was required to see everything. The tour also allowed time for us to explore on our own which was great.

My husband and I travel frequently and this was our first experience with using Shore Excursions instead of the regular cruise ship choices. We were extremely pleased with the quality of the guides and the overall experience. It is true that we had smaller groups, usually slightly shorter excursions and we avioided most of the ""gift shop"" stops my husband hates. We are using Shore Excursions again on our South American cruise.

More then what we expected. Driver in Rome Gian Margo trip Advisor was excellent! Made my 50th birthday the best ever. He was very well educationed and his english was very good. We loved him. I highly recomed him. There was only 4 people in our tour so we saw more then we were suspose to. Much better then the cruise tours.

A wonderful day with a well informed guide. So much to see in Rome but we really hit the highlights.

Our guide was very knowledgeable and able to answer questions immediately. The sights of the Coloseum, The Vatican, Trevi Fountain and many in between were spectacular. Actually being in these historic places was very moving. Great tour for the money but a long day. Would do it again in a moment.

We signed with ""Shore Excursions"", for the ""Exclusive Best of Rome"" tour and were not disappointed with either the tour or tour guide. The tour was exactly as explained in the on-line information provided by ""Shore Excursions"". The directions to the meeting place on leaving the ship were clear and concise. The tour guides were waiting for us and easily recognized by the sign they were holding. The guide was knowledgeable, passionate about her city, easily understood, and able to provide information in an interesting way. We were a small group organized by ""Shore Excursions"", travelled in a comfortable large van and thoroughly enjoyed all the sites listed with enough time to shop and enjoy a lunch at one of the many venues. We booked other tours with ""Shore Excursions"" for this cruise (Exclusive Best of Florence and Pisa, Exclusive Pompeii and Amalfi Drive, Exclusive Wonders of Istanabul, Exclusive Athens with Free Time in the Plaka with optional Acropolis, which option we were glad to have taken) and were equally pleased with each one. On one tour, there was only our family of three. At the time of booking, we were provided with our Electronic Ticket showing information for Meeting Instructions, Contact Information, Recommended Dress, Restrictions (level of difficulty)Ship Itinerary Changes, and Emergencies, which information gave us confidence that ""Shore Excursions"" was professional and competent enough to handle any foreseen and unforeseen concerns we may encounter. With so much overwhelming information now available on-line about tour companies/excursions at the various ports, we found our one-stop tour shopping was made easy with ""Shore Excursions"".

The guide was very knowledgeable and helpful. Kept us on time too so no worry getting back to the ship on time.

My husband and I took a cruise for our honeymoon. We decided to go with Shore Excursions Group rather than booking our excursions through our cruise ships. We were so glad that we did! We got a better quality tour for a fraction of the cost! The tours were exhausting; LOTS of walking, but how else would you get to see everything, especially in a city like Rome where there is SO MUCH!!! We really fee that we got our money's worth! The only reason I didn't give 5 stars was that the tours kept getting held up by people who wanted pictures or didn't use their visit time wisely. Either allow extra time for it, or leave them to fend for themselves!

It wasn't clear from the description how much of the tour would be guided. I was very pleased to find that not only did the guide lead us through every site, but that our guide, Suzanne was knowledgeable and thorough. She did a great job navigating and working through the crowds at all the amazing sites we had a chance to see. The provided headsets helped make sure that we could hear what she was saying. Clearly one the of the best tours of Rome for the price.

this was an educational experience for me. I fully enjoyed my tour

The tour guide was very knowledgable, friendly and fun company

The guide provided us with ear pieces that allowed us to hear her without being really close. This was great and allowed us some freedom to look around on the tour.

We were a group of 12 on the May 15th sailing of Nieuw Amsterdam from Barcelona to Venice. Booked 5 excursions with Shore Excursions and loved it. Meet by guide and small bus driver and driven to Rome. Toured inside Colosseum, driven to Trevi Fountain, walked to and toured Pantheon, Piazza Navona for lunch. Afternoon, toured St. Peter's Basilica. Could not believe we saw this much in one day.

This was a great tour, saw many things but Rome is TOO fabulous to see in a day. Our tour guide was delighful and very knowledgeable!!

We had a wonderful time. We saw a lot and learned a lot.

We had a driver/tour guide that was so proud and excited about showing us the sites of Rome. Very knowledgeable and so accommodating, as all of the Shore Excursion people were on our trip. It was very memorable and we will always use this company in any future travels. - The greatest!

This is a great tour to take. Very informational.

Guide was friendly, informed and fun to be with.

I would have like to have spent more time in Rome.

The guide is very informative and entertaining. Well worth the price. Will join this tour again.

Daniel and Big Luc were absolutely great.

The use of ear phones was perfect for visiting all the interesting monuments, etc. that way even if the guide was a bit ahead of the group, you did not feel like you were missing any information.

This was a great tour, however you will not see the Sistine Chapel. The group was fairly small and the guide was very knowledgeable. It is a fast moving pace, but you see most sites in Rome and the Vatican. Warning, there is not a lot of time to shop, which my wife didn't like. I would recommend this tour due to the price and smaller group.

The tour to Rome was fabulous. Our guide Ramos was so informative and a pleasure to be with. He has a natural way with people and was an asset to the tour. Raphael who was our guide to the colluseium and St. Peters was very good, but Ramos made the day. I would recommend the tour with Ramos to all my friends that travel.

This was very well organized. Our tour guide spoke English very well and the tour was well-planned. Time was evenly spent at the stops with enough time for lunch and a little shopping for souvenirs.

The tour in Rome was well organized, and schedules were very timely. We enjoyed the brief tour around the city for a day although it would have been better if we stayed a little bit longer for free time since we still had enough time available.

so glad to not be on the masses of buses tour with the cruise company

This was such a great trip! The tour guide knew what she was taling about. We got to go to a lot of different sites in one day.

great tour,