Naples, Sorrento, Capri - take tour or can we easily do on our own?

We can give you more useful advice if you can answer these questions for us:Approximately how many total hours do you have to actually see things, starting from the time you get off the cruise ship until the time you want to reboard the cruise ship?Where exactly are you getting off the cruise ship?What is the latest time that you have to or want to reboard the ship?

I believe we get into Naples at 7:00 AM and depart again at 7:00 PM. I have never been on a cruise before but I am under the impression that although the ship leaves at 7:00 you have to be on board at 6:30. Also, I'm not sure how long it will take to disembark from the ship in the morning. I've heard that if the ship just docks, disembarkment is pretty fast. However if the ship has to use tenders then it can take a bit longer with preference being given to those with tours arranged by the cruise line.

Hi Janice.......I seriously doubt that you could arrange to see all of these places on your own for much less than the $600 - I'm very surprised that all of this would even be offered in one tour by the cruise line on one day.....I would imagine that it will be a VERY long and hectic day.
I would suggest that you research each of these places and maybe see one or two at the most, otherwise it will just be a whirlwind of activity with little time to rest and enjoy your surroundings.
We went on a Caribbean Cruise a couple of years ago and did a day-long tour of one of the islands that we stopped at, and we felt we spent 90% of the time in the bus or getting on/off the tour bus, rather than enjoying the places we briefly stopped at - feeling rushed to see it ALL really takes away from the enjoyment....which I think you might feel if you tried to see all of these places around Naples in just a few hours.
We stayed 4 nights in Sorrento and never had the chance to see Capri, so I can't help with your question about which one to eliminate.
Enjoy your cruise!

Still looking for some advice. Has anyone done this on their own?

Not doable in a day. Pompeii will easily take four hours to really appreciate it and since Sorrento is fairly close by, you could do that, but the ferry to and from Capri is easily an hour (mine was fairly slow) each way. You will have to hire a car to take you to Pompeii and/or Sorrento, so you will have to factor that in to your expenses. As an alternative you could just do Capri. The ferry dock will be a short taxi ride from your ship. They might even furnish transportation to and from. There are great views and equally great shopping (expensive) in Capri. There are open air taxis in Capri that will give you a tour of the island (60 Euro). I was there in May last year and and am going back to Italy this May. Have fun!

p.s.--cruise ship tours tend to be overpriced. Do your research, but time is ticking.

Thanks for the advice. I think we will try Pompeii and Sorrento on our own - via train, and save Capri for another trip. That will give us a good excuse to go back.

Maybe on your return trip to you could "skip" the cruise and actually spend more time seeing Italy...

The cruise is provided through an award program my employer participates in. If it were up to me I would be staying on land and lingering longer in each location to better experience each city. I'll be back to Italy again so I'm not worried about trying to see everything on this trip.

I am trying to do some planning, however, so that we can make the most of our small amount of time in port and not break the bank at the same time. I'm not usually a tour person because I like to move at my own pace. If I'm not enjoying something I move on, or if I'm enjoying it a lot, I want to linger.

It sounds to me like the train station is near the Naples port. We can take a train from Naples to Pompeii Scavi and then on to Sorrento. From what I've read, guides are generally available at the entrance to Pompeii or audio guides are available.

Most of the antiquities recovered from Pompeii are how housed in a musuem in Naples. Maybe you would like to visit Naples while your ship is docked in the Naples Port?

I'm not sure of the schedule or timing, but you could concieveably take the Circumvesuviana train from Naples to Pompeii for sightseeing. Continue onto Sorrento via the same Circumvesuviana to see the town. Then you could take a Hydrofoil from Sorrento back to Naples port.

Pompeii, Sorrento and Capri actually sounds impossible to me, and am surprised to hear the ship offers such an excursion. We have cruised many times, and yes, you are required to be onboard at a time earlier than your posted departure. The ship will make it clear to you when you must return...signs are posted as you exit (and even the waiter at breakfast can tell you). And yes, the ship will tender excursion people before others, and will wait for THEIR sponsored excursions should they be delayed, something that will NOT happen if you are out on your own. I would hightail it into Naples, grab the Circumvesuviana to Pompeii and toodle around on your own...they provide an excellent tour book with admission and it's easy to just wander around with or without detailed info on every site. If time permits (we spent almost 9 hours at Pompeii ourselves) the train continues down to Sorrento about 30 minutes south of Pompeii. I would get the nerves about the timing myself, and while many folks adore Sorrento I thought it was pretty and that's about it. If you stop somewhere else on the coast, consider whether rushing down to Sorrento and back to Naples for the ship is worth it to you. Have fun.

My husband and I recently went to Naples via cruise ship and took the pompeii excursion on the boat for about $60 a person. We took the pompeii tour and hopped on a train to Sorrento. The station is about a block from the pompeii entrance. We spent about $3.00 on the ticket and walked around Sorrento for a few hours. We then took the hydofoil back to the cruise ship. For about $9.00 it dropped us off right at the port of Naples. I highly recommend this is you are looking to save some $ and see as much as possible. I don't think that you will have enough time to see all three on the time frame of the cruise ship. We did not get to see Capri that trip.

My suggestion is to see Pompeii. It would be easily doable from Naples and not too expensive. You can take the Circumvenza train from Naples to Pompeii. From there hire a guide at Pompeii and that is a couple of hours. We were there in March and loved it. We stopped on our way to Positano. You definitely have time to do this. Then you can take the train back to Naples and even do the museum there with artifacts from Pompeii (we did not have time to do this). Rick Steves talks about thisi his guidebook. Very easy to do and timing should not be an issue. The price of the guide is expensive but a must to really get the most out of Pompeii. Enjoy.

I will be taking a cruise in sept and stopping in Naples/Capri...I think i would rather spend the day in capri what is the best excursion to take that not too much money...would rather not book any excursions from the ship..

Janice...What did you end up doing and how did you like it?

My boss is on one of those cruises we looked into that excursion and found you are boated over to capri with like no time look around the ferried over to sorrento for a few hours and then over to pompeii another hour or two then back to naples not much time for enjoyment or sight seeing. What I ended up booking for him was a private car to pick up him and his wife and another couple that was going with them to take them to Amlfi then to Sorrento and Pompeii this is doable and it was going to cost 600.00 split between the two couple was 300.00 each. I would at the very least do Sorrento and pompeii there is not much in Capri other that the rip off blue grotto lots of money for not much and your nickled and dimed the whole time. Cliff

Everyone has their own expectations. We love touring on our own. Just the experience of meeting the local people on the way is part of the fun. If you do reseach this trip can be done on your own. We would not do it any other way, get the true feel of being part of Italy.

Please realize this post is over a year and a half old. Janice took her cruise over a year ago. Sharon, instead of re-starting an old post, which will confuse people, why not start a new post with your question.

What we ended up doing is taking the train from Naples to Sorrento. The train was rather inexpensive as I recall and drops you off right in Sorrento. We spent the morning poking into the little shops and then left around 12:30 or 1:00 to go back to Pompeii. The train drops you off write across the street from the site. We spent the afternoon in Pompeii and then got back on the train and returned to Naples. It was really very easy and inexpensive compared to the tours that were offered by the cruise line. We decided to save Capri and the Amalfi coast for another trip where we would have more time to savor the experience.

Sorrento enchants, not only for its scents of oranges and lemons which inebriate and remain impressed in your heart and mind even when you return home; not only because it offers you daily, the pleasure of admiring a natural display of a thousand colours which play and pursue each other between land and sea; but also because it permits you to reach a thousand precious pearls which narrate the history, places full of uncontaminated scenery to discover, rich in...magic. http://www.europevoyage.net/sorrento-italy-tourism.html

Sorrento enchants, not only for its scents of oranges and lemons which inebriate and remain impressed in your heart and mind even when you return home; not only because it offers you daily, the pleasure of admiring a natural display of a thousand colours which play and pursue each other between land and sea; but also because it permits you to reach a thousand precious pearls which narrate the history, places full of uncontaminated scenery to discover, rich in...magic. http://www.europevoyage.net/sorrento-italy-tourism.html