If only there were a way to request a specific tour guide! My family and two friends did the Roman Guy’s Underground Colosseum + Forum tour at Christmas time and had a great guide. They came back bubbling with interesting anecdotes. I just did the same tour/same company with other friends last week. Our guide couldn’t finish a sentence, fumbled through a well-worn book repeatedly looking for the pictures to show us, disparaged her husband a few times…the whole thing was so strange and disjointed. My friend took her earbud out in total exasperation an hour before the end of the tour. Yet the guide was mentioned by name in earlier positive reviews. Something must have been very wrong. I tried to leave a review with the company and the review link was taken down before I could do so.
Well ya win some, ya lose some. I can’t say “never use the Roman Guy.” It’s just luck of the draw who you get as a guide. And the tour did get us into the Underground, which we wanted. Maybe a recommended private guide is a more reliable choice.