The Ports of Call were awesome! Our favorite days were when we took private tours. We took private tours in Naples, Rome and Santorini. I have to highly recommend the tour guides in Naples and Rome. They made our visits to these two Italian ports absolutely incredible. We got together with some great people we met on the CC site prior to the trip and set up the private tours. In Naples, our tour guide was Giovanni Lerusce (giovanni.lerusce@tin.it). Giovanni was absolutely great...he showed up in suit and tie and a clean/comfy van, and provided excellent service with a smile and a great sense of humor. (He is also a very excellent driver ~ahem~ and maneuvers with speed and uncanny skill through the narrow and congested roads. lol) We visited Pompeii (with an awesome private tour guide and she took us into some areas others couldn't go), Sorrento, Positano, Amalfi, and Ravello. Lunch was extra...about 20 euros each, for a nice lunch with wine and limoncello at a table with a view on a restaurant terrace high up in the mountainside in Ravello. You can purchase Limencello for about 10 euros a bottle at a store across the way. We just got a chance to open the bottle and try it and its much smoother than the Limencello you can purchase here in the States. The Almalfi Drive is probably the most beautiful drive you will take in your life. =o)

Naples, Italy - I was the planner for our final excursion, and chose for our guide, Giovanni Lerusce (www.positanocardrivers.com). There was very little to find about him on the Web, but there was something about one old review that I did find that led me to contact him. He responded quickly and accurately to me almost a year ago, and we decided to use him. We decided to take a tour of Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast. Giovanni re-arranged for a guide for us for Pompeii by the name of Salvatore, and he was outstanding. Salvatore is a soon to be retired high school teacher from the area who truly understood and appreciated Pompeii and the history of the region. He really brought the ruins to life for us and was terrific. After 2 hours in Pompeii, we proceeded to drive through the Amalfi Coast and were absolutely blown away by the beauty of Sorrento, Positano, Amalfi and Ravello. It was a slightly hazy day, so that the views weren't pristine, but they were still incredible.
Giovanni was incredibly informative and interesting as he made a very difficult journey through this region. We made a few different stops along the way for pictures and walking, and made our way to have lunch at a very simple but wonderful place called Ristorante Pizzeria San Giovanni in Ravello. It overlooked the sea from high on a hillside and the food was spectacular.
Memorable does not do this place justice. After lunch, we had a little time we walk around the center square of Ravello and found the place to be charming. Our only disappointment was not to have more time. Giovanni was careful to be sure to leave enough time to get us safely back to the ship on time. It was another fantastic day and a fitting end to our shore excursions. I would give Giovanni Lerusce the highest of recommendations.

Giovanni is a fantastic driver, guide and new friend who helped us find our Grandparents birthplace, a very small village in the Basilicata Region called San Constantino Albanese. He not only got us there and back in total comfort and safety, with his excellent bilingual talents he located a cousin we didn't know we still had there and also secured a meeting for us with the local Priest and even the Mayor. Overall it was a wonderful experience that would not have been possible without Giovanni. We are most grateful and will never forget his help and kindness. We hope to see Giovanni again when we return to Italy.

Sono contento per la Vostra simpatia e professionalità Carlo

The next day was a "cruising" day - believe me you will need it to recover from all the walking you will be doing.
Our final port of call was Naples/Capri. Brilliance was in port for 12 hours. We were supposed to meet our tour guide at 7:30 a.m., but due to some hold up, we weren't allowed off the ship until around 8:20 a.m. The captain announced that we would be given an extra hour that evening to return to the ship. Again, while reading Cruise Critic, I came across the name and company of Giovanni.lerusce@tin.it. I made contact with Giovanni and it proved to be a great decision on my part. This part of the tour included Pompeii (remember me, the antiquities "nut"), and I could not wait to get there. Giovanni's vehicle could not hold 11 of us (one of our group did the RC tour and hiked up Mt. Vesuvius) so he turned us over to his friend, Nino, for the tour. Giovanni had told me prior to our arrival that he would not be our guide, but he was there when we got off the ship and made it a point to introduce himself to me - he was a very nice gentleman. Giovanni also arranged for a private guide for Pompeii by the name of Ameena (and I know I didn't spell that right - and I apologize). Ameena was a really terrific guide. She showed us all the high points of Pompeii and the 2 hours we spent there with just flew by. Her knowledge is extraordinary. Archeologists have only uncovered 7% of Pompeii and still working. It won't be completed in my lifetime, but those that come after will hopefully get a real picture of what life was like in 79 AD. Nino, our guide, was terrific. After the Pompeii tour, we opted to take the Amalfi Drive. It is a very, very winding road along the seacoast of Italy and up into the mountains. We visited Sorrento and Positano. By the time we got to Positano, we were all starving. So Nino took us to Trattoria La Tagliata, which was situated above Positano, for some of the best food any of us have ever had. We walked in, they had our table ready. As soon as we sat down, the water, red wine, white wine and bread was put on the table. Then came the food - and it came, and came and came! We had at least 8 different dishes of antipasto to sample (all of which were outstanding). I don't like eggplant, but I couldn't get enough of the eggplant parmesan or the fresh mozzarella. After that came the pasta dishes - so many to try and each more delicious than the last. After the pasta came the desserts - again so much to try and each more tasty than the last. We were there about 2 hours, but it was worth every minute and every bite we took. We made sure before we left that we met "Momma" who was doing all the cooking and gave here a great big "Grazi." We continued on to Amalfi then returned to Brilliance. Again, if you want a tour that is truly worthwhile get in touch with Giovanni.lerusce@tin.it, you won't regret it if you do.