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Shore Excursion Review: Flavors of Sorrento & Pompeii
Naples, Italy
April 22, 2010
By Lisa Plotnick
One challenge in planning a cruise that calls on Naples is deciding among the vast
number of shore excursions. Our spring 2010 cruise on Norwegian Jade offered no fewer
than two dozen choices, nearly all of which were day-
After balancing our interests with budget, we decided upon Flavors of Sorrento & Pompeii. We figured it would be a change of pace from the big cities we had planned to tour in each of the three prior days—Monte Carlo, Florence, and Rome—and this turned out to be a good call. This was an excellent choice for our family’s first visit to the area, and I recommend it for its natural beauty, culture, history, and vast range of educational experiences. Just be certain to bring a comfortable and sturdy pair of walking shoes.
Naples was our fourth of five ports of call on our Norwegian Jade cruise in the Western
Mediterranean, falling on Day 5 of the 7 day round-
The one-
From there, our bus took us into the village of Sorrento. Our first stop was a showroom
where we learned about locally made inlaid wood items. The process, which is done
manually, is very intricate and time-
Sorrento proved to be a highlight of our cruise. During our free time to walk around
the town (10:15 to 11:15), we took in as much of this pretty village as possible.
Sorrento consists mainly of Medieval-
Our next stop was a family farm a few miles away. It was up in the mountains, and
required us to transfer into smaller vehicles to complete the trip. Once there, we
had a nice lunch of antipasti, pasta with tomato sauce and ricotta, cream-
After bidding our hosts farewell, and transferring back to our bus, we made the 45-
It was also overwhelmingly sad, particularly the plaster casts of several victims, including a dog, caught at the time of the devastation.
Yet, our biggest surprise was… believe it or not… running into someone I knew from home. I knew he and his wife were spending a couple of weeks traveling in various parts of Italy. Yet, what are the odds of all of us not only being in the same city on the same day, AND running into each other within the vast walls and mazes of Pompeii!
Our tour of Pompeii ended at 3:45, which was initially a surprise as we had expected to be back at the ship at this time, and we were still 20 minutes away. Yet, we still made the requisite stop at the cameo factory (interesting, but as I had my box from Sorrento, I didn’t need to spend any more money). We ended up back at the ship at 4:45, which was fine as we weren’t scheduled to depart until 7:00. I realized later that the difference might have been due to a miscommunication regarding ship time (which passengers were following) versus local time (that our tour guide was following). No big deal – thankfully, the tour company had been given the correct time to meet us at the ship in the morning! Nonetheless, it is important for those on independent tours to be aware of time zone differences no matter where they are traveling.
Closing Thoughts
A shore excursion is not required to visit Sorrento or Pompeii—passengers may also visit these locations fairly easily by ferry and/or train. We were glad, however, to have had a guided tour on our first visit, given the distance and the vast amount of information covered. As Pompeii is a popular destination, your tour group may visit at any time of day to help minimize the crowds. We lucked out in that our Pompeii visit was near the end of the day. Pompeii is so overwhelming it would have been harder to enjoy the beautiful coastal village of Sorrento had the order been reversed.
There were just two negatives for me on this tour. The first was the requisite stop at the cameo factory. While intriguing to some, I’m sure, I would have preferred to have had the extra time in Pompeii or Sorrento. Additionally—and this one is easily rectified—I wished our guide had shown us our locations on a map prior to visiting, as our other guides had done earlier in the week. Even though I was aware of the geography due to my research, it would have been particularly helpful for Pompeii.
That said, this was a fabulous tour that I would recommend without much hesitation. In fact, I would even repeat it, after I’d had a chance to see Capri. This is definitely a region of Italy that requires at least several days to fully appreciate, yet this tour gave us a small taste of what the Campania region has to offer.
Naples, Italy
Flavors of Sorrento & Pompeii