Daily private tour guides?

Rick Steves guide books list local guides that they recommend for different cities. The books are usually available at the library if you don’t want to buy them.

Hi Jennifer; welcome to the forum!
More information would be useful? We need to know about your mother's limitations as not all private guides, whether Rick's or not, are geared to managing certain mobility challenges, and guides and drivers are often considered different roles. That means a payment for the guide, and a payment for the driver.

But we hear you about wanting to make this possibly last trip very special! My guess is that you might want to work with a company that specializes in tours for clients with mobility limitations. You might want to look at this one?

https://www.sagetraveling.com

Road Scholar has small-group tours for customers needing a slower pace but you'd have to scan the details. There are probably others. Thing is, it sounds as if your mom has more than just mobility issues if she can't fly. What are her specific challenges, and would she be traveling with some sort of support?

Which of the European coasts would your mother want to visit? British, Atlantic, Scandinavian, Baltic, Mediterranean, or Aegean? Chances are, she would need to take at least 3 cruises - one transatlantic in each direction, then one for the European ports. Rick's guides would not likely be available for just a part day port excursion, but it never hurts to ask, as long as they happen to live in that port city. You'd have better luck researching local guides in each port. Viator, TripAdvisor, and Get Your Guide, as well as Shorexcursions are 3rd party sources. You can try searching this site for private guides in xyz city. And you can check the Ports of Call forum on Cruise Critic.

I am sure that you are aware that there are two types of transatlantic crossings. There are the regularly scheduled trips from New York to Southampton and back provided by Cunard and then there are the seasonal repositioning cruises that make a transatlantic cruise in spring or fall.

Your first step (and perhaps you have already done this) is to establish the logistics of your cruises. This is give you dates and locations where you might want a guide. There are private licensed guides available in just about every location you could think of.

Here is a possible scenario: Transatlantic from New York to Southampton on Cunard. European cruise based out Southampton (several cruise lines do these). If you were to schedule the return at the time of repositioning, you could have a transatlantic with port stops ending in New York, Boston, or Florida. You could also take Cunard back.

There are some great travel agents out there that specialize in cruises. I would find one and utilize their services. Then I would look for the private guides through viator or get your guide. This forum is also awesome for suggestions if you can give a specific city or location you are interested in a guide for.

Thanks so much! It's less about mobility - she is on Peritoneal Dialysis, and the medical solutions required for the treatment are not available in Europe, meaning that we have to bring all her medical supplies with us on the ship. She's found a Viking repositioning voyage that looks good to her in Feb-March. She's an RN, and I've been trained on all the equipment, so that's not the issue, just an explanation that we don't have leeway in terms of modes of travel.
I will take a look at the books for guide names and check out shoreexcursions.com. Private tours are going to be best for her so she can customize her days and not be obligated to keep up with a group - she's 84 and just gets tired sometimes!