As promised here is my review on the Italian Mosaic (with Sorrento Extension) tour that I took from July 16th to August 3rd.
I'll start off with the optional tours. You qill be sent a list of optional tours 3 to 4 weeks prior to departure. Not all options found in your brochure will be offered on the tour.
[u][b]Here is a list of what was offered on our tour:[/b][/u]
Rome - ROMAN HIGHLIGHTS AND DINNER - We Passed on this option and most people that did it were not too happy with the food.
Florence - RENAISSANCE DINNER - We Passed on this option as well, however people that did this tour were much more happy with the food and they said the show was fun. We would have done this option, but we met up with family Florence.
Florence - HIGHLIGHTS OF UFFIZI GALLERY - We also passed on this option because we wanted to see Florence on our own.
Lake Maggiore - ISOLA BELLA - This was a very fun tour. It costs $42US per person and it's a beautiful island. If you like castles, definitely worth it.
Venice - GONDOLA SERENADE - This is a must in my opinion. You ride with 5 others from your tour. It's a lot of fun.
Venice - DINNER BY THE VENETIAN CANAL - We passed on this option because, similar to Florence, we wanted to see Venice on our own. I should also add that the food included in the options does not compare with the food at local restaurants. They are very expensive and the food is of lesser quality. You'll understand what I mean after 1 or 2 options. Important to also note that you have to select all of your options by day 3 or 4 on the bus. Be careful with your selections.
Sorrento - SORRENTO DINNER - We skipped this one as well, but because we added the Sorrento Extension, we visited this restaurant 2 days later as we heard it was a nice restaurant. The food was good, but because of the lemon trees and it being the end of July, there were many mosquitoes in the evening and my wife (not kidding) got approx. 20 bites on her legs as she was wearing a dress. Wear long pants if going to this restaurant and sitting outdoors.
Other options are available when you add the Sorrento extension -- The Globus rep. will provide further details
[size=18][color=red][u][b]Here's my review on the tour.. .. .. .[/b][/u][/color][/size]
We started off in Rome and we stayed at the Cicerone. The Cicerone is in a great location, within reasonable walking distance from the Vatican and the coliseum, Spanish steps and trevi fountain. Overall, the hotel is ok. The rooms are larger than most of the places on the rest of the tour. The hotel staff, however, were not too friendly when you asked a question or directions to a location. The welcome dinner was fun. It's where you meet everyone for the first time and learn all about the tour. The sightseeing in Rome is a full day, from morning - 7:30am to mid afternoon. You really have to get a full night's rest to be able to get through the day, especially if it's hot. We chose to pass on the optional tour and walked to the Spanish steps and Trevi fountain on our own and had a fabulous dinner at a local restaurant.
In Pisa, you get 2 hours. You'll get there around noon, so by the time you eat, it's hard to go up leaning tower or into the church. Pisa is one of those places, where you'll want to hold onto your purses and wallets tightly. There are large crowds and our tour director said people get robbed there once every 30 minutes. Anyways, Pisa is one of those places that you see once and you've seen it all.
In Florence, we stayed at the Grand Hotel Mediterraneo. We were warned that this hotel wasn't the nicest by our tour director ahead of time, but we didn't have any problems at this location, the staff were friendly and the hotel was clean. It was a 10-15 minute walk to downtown Florence (Signoria Square) but it was 41 degrees Celsius out, it was HOT! and extremely tough to walk in. The guided sightseeing was great, we had a terrific local guide. Florence was very elegant.
We left Florence and stopped in Milan for 2 hours for lunch. We got to see the Duomo and the Galleria mall. It was nice, but everything is marked up. Walk 5-10 minutes from the square to have lunch or they'll charge you 20EURO's for a pizza and 5EURO's for a can of coke! The prices on pop are unbelievable.. ..most places charge 4EURO's for a can of coke!
We then crossed the border to Lugano, Switzerland and had a couple of hours there. It was beautiful, very clean and just nice. You have time to walk around by the lake or shop. You then take the bus back to Lake Maggiore and here you stay at the nicest hotel on the tour (unless you're doing the extension), the Grand Hotel Bristol. It's a beautiful hotel with nice, clean, large rooms, by the lake. The hotel staff speaks fluent english and the hotel is clean. The interior of the hotel is very nice and it offers a great outdoor pool. The downtown piazza is approx. 10 minute walk and isn't too big, but Lake Maggiore is a relaxing place. We took the optional tour to Isola Bella and that was a very fun day. We ate lunch across the street on the patio by the lake. I would definitely go back to Lake Maggiore one, it was fantastic.
We left Lake Maggiore and went to Verona for 2 hours to see Juliet's Balcony. This was okay, nothing special. There is more shopping in Verona and lots of stores in the area.
We made it to Venice and stayed at one of the cheaper hotels, the Ambasciatori at Mestre. The hotel itself is run down, the staff is friendly, but the location of the hotel is bad. It's not in Venice and is impossible to walk to the downtown area of Venice. Luckily, the bus takes you to Venice on both days, where most if not all sign up to the optional GONDOLA SERENADE. It's a fun option, and you really get to see Venice, it's approx. a 30 minute ride. You can then join the optional dinner (we didn't) or discover Venice at your own pace. The bus leaves at approx 9pm and you can choose to stay back and continue walking around Venice and then take a cab back OR go back to the hotel. However, there is absolutely nothing to do at the hotel, but if you're tired, get a good night's rest as the next day you tour Venice.
The tour of Venice is nice, you take the bus to Venice and then a boat to get to ST. Mark's square and visit the Basilica, Doges' palace and the bridge of Sighs. You then watch Glassblowers make a voss and then try to sell you glass sets. You finally get to discover Venice at your own pace, you have approx. 3-4 hours and then have dinner with the tour. The dinner was disappointing, as most included dinners at the hotels are.
We then drive to Ravenna for 2 hours to see the BASILICA OF ST. APOLLINARIS IN CLASSE. This church is 1,500 years old and is beautiful. YOU MUST try the lasagne in Ravenna, it's to die for. It's the best lasagne, I've ever had, I'm not kidding!
You get to Assisi and it's beautiful (Assisi is, not the hotel). . You stay at the San Francesco which is located right beside the St. Francis of Assisi Basilica. Luckily you only have one night at this hotel because the rooms are tiny, the showers are very small and they only offer double beds. The hotel only has 1 elevator, which can only fir 3 people. The Basilica though is beautiful and so is Assisi. It's so peaceful, but many of the stores in Assisi close around 7pm. You get there around 5:30 and after a long walk up the hill to get to the hotel, you're extremely tired to go for a walk. We however did and it was nice. The included dinner was one of the better hotel dinner's we had, but again, wasn't close to a 10/10.
You leave Assisi and head to Pompeii for approx. 2 hours. The tour of Pompeii however, seems like 5 hours, it's very hot there. It's a remarkable place and amazing to see, but at this point, the tour is taking it's toll and you find yourself begging to leave because you're so tired and hot.
You finally get to Sorrento and everything seems okay! Sorrento is beautiful and breath-taking. We stayed at the Grand Hotel Cesare Augusto, which is located 2 minutes from the centre of the Piazza Tasso. The hotel is fine, large rooms that feel like mansions after the Assisi rooms. The Piazza Tasso is great, try to have dinner at least once at a restaurant named "Pizzeria Aurora", it's an amazing place if your in the mood for pizza or pasta. It's very affordable and the wait staff are excellent. Everyone is Sorrento speaks fluent English and the piazza Tasso is a lot of fun.
The Excursion to Capri is okay. You take the jet across to Capri and visit the Villa San Michele in Anacapri. The ride up to Anacapri is scary, the road is so small and you are so high up that you don't feel very safe. The bus driver did the sign of the cross before he left, which I thought was strange at first, but after getting half way up, everyone on the bus was doing it
Anacapri is okay, but you don't really get to see the downtown square of Capri and because we were a little tired, we didn't make the effort to find it either. You have approx. 2 hours leisure in Capri. Be careful, a cappuccino costs 3.50EURO's in Capri and in some area's 5EURO's. Very marked up, I personally did not enjoy Capri, but some loved it.
Some people on the tour leave after Sorrento, back to Rome, but if you've added the Sorrento Extension - which I HIGHLY RECOMMEND, the vacation truly begins. It's a very organized transition to the Hilton Sorrento Palace, which is a beautiful 5 Star hotel with 5 mini outdoor pools and 2 small kiddie pools. It's a family-oriented hotel, the rooms are unbelievable and the view is outstanding. The only 2 negatives of this hotel is 1) It's on a hill, roughly 10 minutes away from the Piazza Tasso and 2) It's very pricey. By the pool, it's 10EURO for a hot dog, 5EURO for a coke, 8EURO for a milkshake, just crazy prices. It adds up quite quickly, but the stay at this hotel is great.
There are many optional tours that you can do or you can do them on your own. It's very easy to get to the hydro foil (boat) which takes you to Positano (6EURO per person) and then from Positano to Amalfi (7EURO per person). . Both are a must see if you do the extension. On most days though, we took it easy by the pool and then went for dinner in the square (Piazza Tasso). . I highly recommend adding this extension if you can.
Your then taken back to Rome (we stayed at the Cicerone again) and spend 1 more day there, before your departure the following morning.
[size=18][color=red][u][b]Other notes from the tour:[/b][/u][/color][/size]
1) Everyone on the tour was great, we had 43 people on the bus with us. 17 of us added on the extension.
2) Our Tour director was fun (Laura) and very knowledgeable, and the bus driver (Mauro) was a great driver.
3) Most mornings you're up by 6:30am, breakfast from 7 - 8am and the bus departs by 8 - 8:30am.
4) Lunch at the Autogrill's were sub-par, the bus will stop every 2-3 hours.
5) The bus is fairly comfortable, if you have room in your luggage, bring a pillow with you, we didn't but many did and it seemed quite comfortable.
6) Most Options are pricey and you can do most of them on your own, just don't tell the tour director as they make a small percentage of what they sell and won't be too thrilled with you.
7) The hotels are all average, but most in great locations with the exception of the Lake Maggiore hotel and the Sorrento Hotel (extension) - Hilton, which are both 5 stars, at least in my opinion.
Most places you visit with the tour are safe, only place that seems a little scary is Pisa.
9) There were only 2 young people under 20 on our tour, but they seemed to be having a great time, so kids will most likely have a good time.
10) The Internet is available at most hotels, but costs 5 to 10 EURO for every half hour.
11) DO NOT BUY Calling Card's from home. In Italy, the sell a 5 EURO calling card, which gives approx. 200 minutes to call Canada and the United States. We purchased 3 of these and only ended up using 2, as they gave us more than enough time. They sell these in convenient stores.
12) Bring a couple of t-shirts and pants, as some places will not let you in otherwise. (The Vatican, the church in Florence and the church in Assisi are pretty strict). .
13) The best thing about the tour is your done by early afternoon and then you have leisure time on your own. That was great, but you do have to get up early, it's a tour though.. .. ..you expect this!
14) Buffet Breakfast was not very good at any of the hotels with the exception of the Hilton in Sorrento. They all offer cereal, eggs (runny), bacon (seemed raw), mini-sausages, Italian meats (Prosciutto, salami, etc.), mini Croissants, Fruits (banannas, apples) and juices. The american coffee was horrible, most places however do not charge extra for cappucino and espresso's - those were great.
If you have any questions, post them here and I'll try to respond as soon as I can. I would rate the Italian Mosaic tour an 8/10 without the extension and a 9/10 with the extension.
Frank