Magical Italy - 12 Days (Spanish Guided)

Customer Reviews

• AM

  Andrew

  · November 6th, 2024
  We had a fantastic time on the tour. Our tour guide Nikki and driver Luige were fantastic and nothing seemed to be a problem. Would recommend this tour for sure.
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  Trip date: October 2024
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  Mark

  · October 10th, 2023
  Right out of the gate, our shuttle from the airport was an hour late picking us up and the contact phone numbers for the shuttle comapny were worthless. It took 5 phone calls to the Carrani emergency contact to straighten out. When we signed up for this, "Click Tours" was listed as the company providing the tour but when we got there, somehow, Carrani Tours was actually the company. The first 5 days were with one tour group of 26 people, but periodically we'd get crammed together with another, non-English-speaking group for some of the day rides to sites. There were, at times, definitely more than the promised "45 maximum" in the group. One of the hotels, Una Vittoria in Florence, was awful - bizarre decor, cramped room, and uncomfortable bed. The optional Venice night tour by boat went way too late in the evening given that there was a day of travel beforehand. Our guide, Nicole, was adequate, but never made any kind of effort to learn anyone's name and spent the bulk of her time on the bus conversing loudly with the driver (Giovanni) in Italian (who had zero to say to the rest of us). On the 6th day of the tour, our first guide left us and, from then on, there was no consistent guide - only people who showed up to get us from place to place and local guides at some of the sites, like Pompeii. Communication was awful during the second half of the tour - we were just given a single sheet of paper with the bare bones of where to be and when. There was no "tour group" for the second half - a few of the people we had been with continued on with us, but by the last 2 days we knew no one. The bus rides for the latter half of the tour were also very full and consistently with a majority of non-English speaking people. On a brighter note, the Hotel Villa Maria in Sorrento was marvelous with great meals - the best of the trip. You don't need the "required" sport coat for dinner for men there. Maybe you did at other hotels, but not that one. From lunch on the 2nd to the last day to the end there were no organized activities - just free time in Anacapri. We were told that we would be shuttled to the pier there for a return to Rome at 3:00 PM but that was it - no other instructions. We asked at the hotel and, then, they told us that the hotel was responsible for the shuttle. When we got to the pier, no one was there to greet us - I had to call a guide from the previous day and was told that someone would be there at 4:00 PM. Then, the guide on the bus didn't have the right information on our hotel in Rome and that had to be sorted out. That guide, Mateo, was thrown into his role there and did a great job - friendly, helpful, and humorous. With the exception of the Villa Maria, the meals were nothing special and a couple were downright awful. Breakfasts were good, but nothing better than what we can get at home. Italian breads and pastries, in my opinion, are no better than we have at home. We had a voucher for our dinner in Anacapri at the restaurant Le Arcate. The "meal" consisted of a first course of a homemade pasta which was quite good. The 2nd course was, get this, a breaded chicken breast (the kind you get in the frozen foods as Walmart) and microwaved frozen French fries. It was disgusting. One of the biggest disappointments was the lack of continuity and communication on the tour. We did this once before and were with one group of English-speaking people and one guide the entire time. It made for a great experience as we got to know our fellow travelers and could easily communicate with them. This tour was just the opposite: our group and guide were gone after 5 days and the rest was cobbled together. The fellow travelers were constantly changing and half of them couldn't speak English. In summary, I was disappointed with the tour operation by Carrani Tours and also the response I got from Tour Radar when I emailed them about some of my concerns after our very first night. Their response did not actually address my questions/comments and was dismissive and snotty. I was VERY happy with the first tour I booked through them but would be reluctant to use Tour Radar again.
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  Trip date: September 2023