Well, everyone's got an opinion on the private versus cruise line shore excursion thing...
And a lot of folks tend to abhor the cruise lines' excursions for one of a few reasons:
1) They think they can save money hiring their own
2) They think they'll see more hiring their own
3) They dislike doing a tour with 40 people on a bus...
All are valid to some extent or another...Yet, when we did the Venice to Barcelona on the Millie, we opted for ALL Celebrity shore excursions...(Our prior Baltic Cruise, we did half and half)...
Here are my thoughts...
With Private drivers, you can hire a car or van often for up to six people...If you do it for two, you'll generally pay considerably more than a shore excursion...For four, you're somewhere around break even...for six, you'll be ahead price-wise--AND, you'll be on a tour for six rather than one for 40...So, you'll get more in because the logistics are easier...you can also customize to your desires (assuming the other two couples are agreeable)...
The problems are 1) Finding people with whom you are compatable with who=m to share the tours...and 2) in some countries, like Italy, many of the private drivers are forbidden from giving actual "tours"--they can drive you around but cannot provide any insight or explanation...
Also, consider that the shore excursions generally include admission charges and, on full day tours, lunch...You need to add these costs into your figuring on a private tour...
So, when we did the Mediterranean this past August, we opted for the ship's tours...We did not want to deal with finding tourmates or commit to large charges without guaranty of someone to share the costs...The Celebrity excursions fit well into our budget and , having visited most of the ports before, we didn't care if we crammed as much as possible into the day, only wanted to "see enough"...
And, as one would suspect, it turned out some excursions were a tad disappointing while others were downright exceptional...others yet were just as expected...
The best:
"A Walk through Renaissance Rome"--only 11 passerngers on the excursion...they put us on a "minibus" and it was able to shortcut and use restricted roads, saving us lots of time...they added several attractions to the tour...and there really wasn't that much walking...With 2 tourguides and 11 passengers, we got fairly personalized service...Hit most of the highlights of Rome with visits to the Trevi, the Piazza Navonna, the Pantheon, the Vatican, lunch included and an extra bus tour past the Coliseum, Forum and more...
"Tuscan Countryside"--only 19 of us on this one...Tour of San Gimignano and Volterra and the most memorable lunch in the cellar of a small winery--outstanding...
The good:
"Capri, Sorrento and Pompeii"--Well organized and efficient, covering a lot of ground...an exceptionally well-informed and intersting guide with great explanations of Pompei...and a really good lunch in Sorrento...
AS expected:
"Athens and Cape Sounion"--standard tour of Parthenon, okay lunch, drive out to Cape Sounion--Probably would have gotten more out of it with a private driver...
"Corfu: Achellion Palace, Paleokatstritsas, etc."--Pretty standard fair...worthwhile though for trip out to Achellion Palace and scenic drive around island, still leaving plenty of time in afternoon for shopping...
"Santorini: Akrotiri Museum"...Standard tour...probably could have done Museum opn our own, but drive around island, views and winery made it worth the money...toss-up with renting a car for the day and finding stuff on your own...
"Barcelona City Tour"--Standard overview at very reasonable cost...
The disappointing:
"Nice, Eze and Monte Carlo"--Good lunch in Eze, but failed to get us to promised views in Eze and guide basically lost half the group in Monte Carlo...Guide was worthless...
"Dubrovnik and Cavtat"...Wouldn't go back to Cavtat...Better shot would have been no tour, buy a guisebook and wander Dubrovnik on our own...
The flat-out bad:
"Flamenco Show" in Barcelona...DON'T...absolutely awful...waste of money and time...
Good luck...
