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October 2nd Classic Italy, Small Group
Hi everyone.
My husband and I on the Classic Italy, Small Group starting on October 2nd. I would love to connect with some of our fellow travelers. We arrive in Naples on October 1st. We are very excited and would love to engage ahead of the trip.
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Hi, we miss you by a week, we leave Oct 10th, how excited are you for this trip, we can't wait
We are looking at Italy in October as well. However, we are confused, there are three options. Classic Italy, Classic Italy-Small Groups, and another small group one called "Classica Italia". The cities are the same but, the hotels are different. What are the benefits? Why did you choose this one? This will be our 4th Tauck trip but first time in Italy or "Italia".
Wow, the price difference between the Classica Italia and the other 2 is pretty hefty. I'm not seeing much difference in the itinerary but it may be incomplete. It looks like the biggest difference is hotels and a concert in Venice. You might want to call Tauck and ask what the difference in itinerary is.
We did the Classic Italy last Oct and if I had it to do all over again I'd go with Small Group. I used to be in the "it's not worth the extra $" group but I think we would have enjoyed that tour much more in a smaller group. One example was the day touring Pompei there was 1 local guide for a group of slow walkers and another for the rest. It ended up with the rest being about 30 guests. Not ideal especially as walking in Pompei is challenging and we were often so far back we couldn't tell what the guide was talking about.
The hotels were mostly different than where the small groups stay. The hotels themselves were fine - nice public areas, amenities, food - but the rooms were not great. Example - in Florence we were at the Westin Excelsior which is a huge hotel with a ton of rooms sporting river and/or city views. No one in our group had one of those rooms. They were all interior rooms with windows on an airshaft. In Perugia my husband and I were taken to a large suite with living room and bedroom. Unfortunately is was in the basement level and had only one small window looking in a tree. A depressing dated hole. The one and only time we've ever asked for a room change. Even the bellboy knew it was a lousy room and the manager moved us to a top floor suite.
You don't have to go with the $14k tour but I'd at least select Small Group.
We did the Italy small group tour several years ago. It was fantastic and there were only about 24 persons on the bus. I am a history buff so we came in early and had hired "Driver in Italy" whilst we were still in Los Angeles to take us to Herculaneum where we met our private guide. Well worth the extra day in Italy and the extra night in the hotel in Sorrento.