Bucket List Trip Delivers with Room for Improvement

First the good stuff Being able to stay in Rome and still see the Mediterranean was amazing The tour guide was very friendly and helpful The bus ride there was fine and comfortable The ferry was crowded but thankfully I didnt get seasick took Travelgum Ponza Island is absolutely stunning The water goes from turquoise to deep blue To be able to snorkel in the sea was a bucket list item for my husband It was very special experience Now for the constructive feedback the boat is too crowded There were at least 35 of us on first level and maybe 610 could fit upstairs The benches were hard and you are elbow to elbow Once people claim their seats theres no switching Some people placed their bags on the bench and then sat down somewhere else taking up that space Here was our biggest complaint smoking and vaping is allowed on the small boat It should be prohibited or at least restricted to an area of the boat and when guests are swimming The gentleman seated by us vaped the ENTIRE trip It was terrible The pasta lunch is ok I recommend less olive oil and more Parmesan salt and pepper The bus ride back we were stuck in traffic which extended the trip another hour We are glad we went but there is room for improvement Thanks

Do this tour

It was a truly wonderful day Ricardo was a knowledgeable and kind hosthe did a great job telling us about the sights and was really fun Ponza was absolutely beautiful yes The water really is that color and worth the longer trip especially with the provided transportation making everything so easy If I had one note it would be that I wish it was a bit more clear that the boat would be shared with folks beyond the tour group I would have packed differently and it was surprising when we arrived It made the experience more authentic which turned out to be great

Avoid booking through Viator

The island of Ponza is beautiful and sailingswimming around the island amazingThere is a lot of travelling to get there and back from Rome but we were aware of this and it was okI originally booked the trip through get your guide which was cheaper than viatorI received a text cancelling my trip from the operator eco art and was given 2 alternative dates FridaySaturday neither possible for us to attendWe then booked through Viator for the Thursday which I could make but slightly more expensive I then received a text from the same person at eco art welcoming me and confirming my tripSo why didnt they offer me the Thursday originally it looks like they just wanted to hike up the priceI contacted Viator through their price match policy and was fobbed offBeware of booking this trip as it maybe cancelled and have the price increasedAlso avoid booking through Viator if you can as it is more expensive

Ferry Failure

The guide was wonderful The boat trip was beautiful Something happened to our return ferry where the tickets were not booked far enough in advance We had to take a different ferry This created an extra 2 hours of travel It made a long day even longer Due to this I would not recommend it for young children or older people We were in a large family group The older and younger folks found the long ferry and shuttle ride to be a bit much

Ponza Day Trip

It was really fun i enjoyed the spots where we stopped and could swim didnt offer a lot of water except when we ate And there was an overbooking so we had another hour long bus ride we were traveling more than we were on the boat But other than that it was really fun