Taromino, Sicily

[kcbmarek]

This is stop #1 on our cruise. Has anyone done a private tour up to Taromino? Did you just rent a driver to take you to the top or did you do a private tour? RCCL is charging quite a bit just in transportation to the top.

TIA!

[loveactually]

Are you going on the 7 day eastern med. cruise? We did that in May. I would try to hire a driver to take up to Mt Etna and then go to Taromino. It is very beautiful and has a great long walking street. Check out cruise critic for reviews of companies (find the message board specific about your cruise) and see if you can join someones private group which could make it cheaper then doing it yourself. Plus if you get enough people to sign up RCC throws a "party" for the people on cruise critic (think the chance to win a free prize and free glass of champagne)

We did the RCCl tour and it was okay though long. I wish we could have found a private tour so we could have gone at our own pace.

If you do end up doing the tour through the boat...get up early and go down to where you have to meet to get your bus. The earlier bus you get on the less crowded it will be and earlier you will get back to the boat.

If you are going to Ephesus I can recommend a tour company to go through. It was so much better because we got off the boat right away and made it up right away before it got too hot and overcrowded with a million tourists.

[kc18]

My BF and I took a Mediterranean Cruise through Carnival in October. One of the stops was Messina. It was awfully rainy the day we were there, so we found another couple who wanted to explore, so we all took a cab to Taormina for the day (It wasn't too bad since we split the cost with the other couple. I can't remember how much, but probably $50 US per couple). It was such a cute little town. We just walked around the Greek Theater and explored the city. Got Gelato and souveniers. Then our cab driver just met up with us later that day and drove us back to port. I found that it's cheaper to just find your own transportation and excursions once you dock vs. booking ahead through the cruise operator. They typically charge you an arm and a leg, and the downside is that you're with a guided tour with a 100 people who slow you down. I'd wait until the boat docked to find transportation. That's what we did and it wasn't a problem.