If you don't mind me asking who are you using...we have looked at Rome Limo and Joe Banana...our shipmates lived in Italy for a year and still have friends there just weighing all the options...and yes it's just around the corner...My oldest DS is getting married in April I have been busy planning their Honeymoon cruise and ours has totally caught me off guard! I know first world problems and blessed to have them!
Have you booked your flights yet?
We are spending about 4 days in Rome before the cruise. We are using Romecabs for transportation and theromanguy.com for tours. Working with both companies so far has been great.
In Athens, we are booked with Tune In Tours (Previously Olympic Traveler. It isn't cheap, but we have a private car for our family and a real tour guide). This could be our only trip to Athens, so I really wanted to splurge here.
In Naples, we are using simplyamalfi.com. Again, not cheap. But seeing the Amalfi coast is my wife's life-long dream, so we want to do it right. I would really love to splurge and do a chartered boat down to Positano, but I can't justify the cost (unless maybe we found a couple other families to share the cost with).
We are still looking at the other options and whether to go Disney or not. On our two Disney cruises in the Caribbean, we bought into the claim that it is too risky to use private tours. But, after reading more and more, I am convinced you need to evaluate each port to see what is best. I am not concerned about the ship leaving us in Europe, because we would be just find making our way back to Rome on our own. But more so, because we plan to be back to the port with a couple of hours (or more) to spare, which should leave more than enough time for traffic problems or the like. With the Disney excursions, I think you waste way too much time. You have to be to the meeting place on the ship and wait. Then you get herded down hallways and stairs and wait to get off the ship. Then you wait on land again to board a bus. Then, if the bus is making another transfer (to a catamaran, for example), you wait again. Then the waiting happens on the way back again. It seems as if a large portion of their excursions is waiting. By going private, I am hoping to avoid all of it, with the exception of disembarking.
On the other had, I think there are some places that it is just easier to go with Disney's excursions. For example, in some stops, Disney's group gets to tender first, which could actually save time. In others, like Sicily, I want the guarantee the ship won't leave with out us given the shorter window there.
Yes, I booked airfare right when it opened on Delta. I travel a lot for work and have become a bit of a snob for which airline I fly. When flying all the way to Europe from Utah, it became even more important to me for my family to know we have the best shot at getting their comfortably and with great customer service. I am embarrassed to admit it, but I was able to pull off Delta One seats for the four of us through a combination of spending too much money and using miles to upgrade. Frankly, I am not sure it is healthy for my teenagers to experience the luxury at such a young age. But, I did it for me and my wife's sanity. We will be flying through the night and I am hoping all of us can get a few hours of sleep so that when we arrive in Rome in the morning, we can better adjust to local time and try to make it as late in the day as possible before our first night's sleep.
What do you have planned/booked so far?
My 18 year old daughter is a bit shy (not in an awkward way), but she takes time to warm up to people. She loves Star Wars, Marvel, and Disney. If either of your children share similar interests, it might be fun to make introductions sometime during the cruise. My other daughter is the opposite, and will be spending all of her time in the Edge.