notentirelynormal

Thanks for the quick reply! Do you know if they require the exact amount or do they have no problem bringing back the change, especially if all 4 couples need change? Just trying to figure out if we need to obtain smaller bills especially ones, before going to Pompei?

 

Sorry I don't know that - I gave her the exact change needed.

8 of us from our roll call are booked with RIL in Naples ...how does RIL handle the ticket purchases in Pompei if we have a tour guide that is set up by RIL? I thought I read that RIL driver takes you directly to the tour guide. Does the tour guide take us to the ticket booth so we can purchase our own tickets or does the tour guide purchase our tickets, after we give her/him the cash.

Just wondering because I want to know if we have exact change for the entrance fee, if the tour guide gets it? (I know there is an additional fee for the guide which is paid separately.)

 

Our driver introduced us to our guide, she asked for the money for the entrance fees and while we ran to the bathroom she took the money I gave her and bought our tickets. By the time we were done going, she was back and took us into Pompeii.

We did Pompeii, Sorrento & Positano in November with Rafaello. Had a FABULOUS time! Sorrento is a great city, wonderful shopping & so quaint. Positano was breathtaking and our guide (name escapes me) was so good in Pompeii, just a well rounded educational & fun day!!! Highly recommend it for a first time visit!

 

I agree with this one. We had Carmine for the day and he was great as was our guide at Pompeii. Lunch was amazing at Trattoria La Tagliata and views were to die for.

Besides the above answers, though we didn't use RIL in Rome, we did in Florence/Pisa. I'm sure they can buy Vatican Museum tickets for you ahead of time so that you can skip the lines to get in, and you do not have to buy the guided tour tickets; you can if you want, but you can just buy entrance tickets and do the museum yourself.

 

That's what we did in April. I had ordered our tickets online myself, but RIL will do that for you if you prefer--better if you are going with a group so the tickets are co-ordinated as to time.

 

Actually, they are now having you pre-reserve your tickets and for what time you need to do it. From their website:

 

* We highly recommend for you to pre-purchase your Vatican tickets online for 2 pm www.vatican.va

We are using Rome In Limo for all of our tours when we are in Rome in August. I received an email from them this week and they advised me to purchase Vatican tickets on-line and gave me this link:

http://biglietteriamusei.vatican.va/musei/tickets/do?action=booking&codiceTipoVisita=26&step=2

 

 

Interesting. Are you hiring the separate guide? I wonder if that is the difference.

Mine stopped working both at home and work about 2 weeks ago. Also tried reinstalling it and still the same results.

Look under Special Interest Cruising section and there is a section for Honeymoon & Wedding cruises. I’m sure you’ll find every answer under the sun.

.......can't see that happening unless I was really stoned. :D:D

 

LOL ok, maybe it's my mood, but that's really funny.

 

The only way someone would figure out my avatar from me, is if I happen to be wearing our t-shirt. Otherwise, I can't see how.....

You are probably way too early. I had the most luck the month or so immediately prior, and as I've said before, you could just as easily wait until you board and recruit people there--it's pretty easy.

One very easy way to significantly cut the per person costs of these great tours is to book a bigger vehicle or van and recruite others to share the tour and cost. It's not difficult to find friends or cruisecritic folks on your roll call with very similar or identical interests. And as the tour organizer, you get to break any ties as to what to do and when. ;-)

 

Well, right now I have one person on my roll call that comes back about every 3 to 4 weeks to make one post. That person is traveling with others (I think around 6 or 8 total). I actually started posting on another thread because it was more active with the same itinerary a month earlier. Part of me wants someone to join us (for the cost) and the other part is saying "You know what? You spend tons on money on your family and doing things for other people, its time to spend some of that money on just us."

This past fall, after A LOT of research, I booked three tours with RomeinLimo - A Tuscany tour, a day in Rome with a private tour of the Vatican, a day that included a private tour of Pompeii and the rest of the day along the Amalfi Coast. There were just the two of us - husband and I - on these tours. It was somewhat difficult to commit to spending so much money for each of these days, but at the end of this cruise, we both agreed that each dollar (euro) we spent was so worth it. I know that our private tours are what made this trip such an amazing trip for us.

 

With RIL we gave them our credit card information to hold the reservations and paid our drivers in full in euros at the end of each day. For the private Vatican and Pompeii guides that RIL arranged for us, RIL added that cost to the amount due at the end of the day. I never thought of asking for a receipt, it just never dawned on me to do so.

 

I also read with interest many postings about tips for drivers, guides, etc., before going on this cruise always searching for the right thing to do. My findings are that there just isn't an answer to this question. It was made even more difficult since it was just the two of us. I ended up tipping a little over 10% of whatever my cost was. I tipped the private guides separately at the end of each of those tours. Believe me, all of our drivers/guides deserved tips. For the great day/service we received I would have tipped even more if I could have afforded it - it was just out of the question with the terrible exchange rate.

 

I'm having the same justification issue as you. I've committed to these three tours you took and two others with RIL for just my DH and I. I'm hoping he'll feel the same way IF I ever tell him how much it cost. Some things are better left unsaid. :D Like you, I've read and re-read and I decided that I would prefer to pay a little more and make it perfect, walking away with fabulous memories.

1-They are suggesting an 8 hour tour with a driver, and a guide for the Vatican. Do we need a guide for other sites? Or is the driver usually knowledgeable enough to provide info? If you can afford it, I would recommend keeping your guide for at least the Colosseum and Forum too.

Also, we hired their guide for an entire day of our 3 days in Rome and she saved us so much time because she knew the tricks for skipping the lines and got us right in. Her name was Julia and she was perfect. Cute, entergetic, and kept everything interesting for us instead of giving us monument and old ruins overload. I'd get a guide for at least a half day anyway and they will arrange the most important sites for that time period.

 

Just out of curiosity, how much more was Julia for the extra time?

 

They are suggesting an 8 hour tour with a driver, and a guide for the Vatican. Do we need a guide for other sites? Or is the driver usually knowledgeable enough to provide info?

 

The guide will be with you the entire day not just at the Vatican. We did this and our guide, Julia, was worth every penny plus many more! She made not only the Vatican area, but the Colosseum, Pantheon, etc. come alive for us in a way a guide book never could have given! (She was tipped very well! 25%)

We had Julia for the day so she was scheduled in advance, but she knew the people inside, so she was able to get us through the lines quickly avoiding the backup of people who didn't have tickets or guides with connections. (Did I mention "worth every penny"?) You can visit all of the Vatican without a guide, but the lines are longer and you won't understand most of what you are seeing in a way that will make a lasting impression.

 

Ok, I guess I didn't understand before so I just want to clarify. I thought that when everyone talked about hiring Julia for a guide (for the 150EU) that they were talking about just the Vatican. But you're saying this she is an actual guide with you for the entire day? That would seem more reasonable then just for an hour or two.

To me it doesnt seem to bad think if u went to a job interview and didnt suggest a set rate of pay, they would try to pay you as little as they can it seems to me that that is what the OP is doing.

 

I'm not there to pay the driver directly. I did that when I paid for the tour - one that included a driver/guide. I'm there to have a relaxing enjoyable tour. If he wants to negotiate a new "rate of pay" he should do it with his employer, not his customers.

 

I guess where the breakdown is coming from is this - he is NOT entitled to a tip. It is something that one earns for special services rendered. And, where he gets the "its standard to give a bus driver/guide a 15% gratuity" from I sure don't know. I've never seen that in any tour book I've read. Maybe the OP can give us his source and help us all with his "gratuity education". On a $50 tour for 4 people (2 adults, 2 kids), he thinks he deserves a $30 tip? I don't think so.

I talked to a friend yesterday about this issue. She has worked in the service industry her entire career in many different positions. She is now a waitress at a trendy restaurant in Malibu. She refuses to add tips even for large parties. She feels that if she did her job properly, she will be rewarded accordingly.

 

She’s a huge tipper and firmly believes in the tipping system. Last night, she left a 100% on her bar tab. However, when I mentioned your question and that you put the sign up, ask for 15% and then twice verbally ask for money she said you would get zero from her. No one has to ask for a tip that has done their job properly and well. Those are her words and I have to agree.

 

Many posters have stated over and over – don’t ask for it. You tend to ignore and whine about the responses. I can assure you, there is likely no one but you who feels you are a true “professional”. You are already paid to do your job – drive me and give me an informative pleasant tour. That’s your job. Don’t you get it? I paid you to do that. I don’t OWE you anything else. I sure don’t owe you 15% of anything. Seriously, are you crazy! Not everyone gets tips for doing their job. You said you were a school teacher. Did you receive tips? Get over it. You work in a job that you feel you are underpaid for, you are rude to your passengers and you probably get rotten tips because of the poor job you do with all your begging, whining and complaining. That is why you get minimal tips and really it makes no difference to me what the other drivers do. Like the old saying goes, if everyone jumped off a bridge, would you too? No, you make your own decisions on your actions. Your decision is to reduce the pleasure of your tour by berating your passengers for money.

Count me in as another one that gives less the more I'm asked. A sign saying "tips are appreciated" near the front of the bus that we can see as we leave would be fine. Anything over that, including how much you want, would reduce what I pay. Just a thought, but perhaps the drivers that get more are giving a better tour then you and not because of their signs. You are already paid to drive me from point A to B and be pleasant. The fact that you have to get the bus prepared and do paperwork afterwards has nothing to do with me and I could care less. If you increase my enjoyment of the trip, your tip will increase. If you nag me, your tip will go down or become non existent. I really don't care what your job requirements are (you mentioned yearly physicals) just like you don't care what my requirements are for my job. Its not relevant. With your parting comment, you'd probably get nothing from me.

Every game has a big winner - the very last one must be the coverall game. That's why on the last day its standing room only. People are crowded in to win. In our case, we've won the occasional $100 games. My DH won the big one about 20 years ago but had to split it, but still walked away with around $1200. I won the big bingo on my last Tahiti cruise, walked away wiht about $1600. I figure I spend a couple of hundred each trip so its really just reimbursement. We've been cruising over 25 years too.

I like to play Bingo too. Its called ENTERTAINMENT. Unlike what is being said by some of the previous posters we really aren’t stupid. Your insults are well heard. You choose your fun and I’ll choose mine. I don’t need some stranger calling me a sucker because I choose to spend an hour listening to the calls and seeing if I get lucky. Yes, believe it or not we all know its luck. I promise I will not question how you spend your money if you mind your own business too. Maybe us Bingo players think you’re a sucker if you go to the spa, or the art auction, but hey its your money so have fun the way you want. Please stop insulting those of us that want to spend an hour doing something we enjoy. I can afford to lose the $30 or I wouldn’t be playing, but again, thanks for making sure we simpletons know we are just throwing our money away.

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Um, if my spouse died before we could leave on our cruise, I really don't think the first, ok, the second thing, that I would be concerned about was if the cruise line was going to charge me the single's supplement instead of the couple cost. Maybe, I would be more concerned about the fact that my hubby had died instead of the cost of a cruise.

But then, that's just me!

 

My SIL died about a month before our cruise. My brother went anyway. Why? For lots of reasons, one of which was she told him to go. She knew she was dying and had just found cruising a couple of years before. She went on as many as she could and would have been p*ssed at him if he had not gone on the one that was booked. Having said that, even if my DH of 35 years died and I had booked a family cruise, we would still go. Staying at home won't bring him back, now will it?

No gifts wanted here.. I'll take a good TA that is responsive to my needs and gives me the best price..

 

I agree 100%. Add to that - and is really knowledgeable no matter what kind of weird question I come up with.

I would like to have limo service from the airport to the Westin Bayshore. I checked Limojet Gold's website and it says that reservation are not necessary. We will be arriving at @5pm on a Friday night. Do you think there my be any problems getting a limo? Thank you for any information you may have.

Karen

 

I've used them a few times. They are based at the airport so once the limos are taken, new ones replace them. I've never had to wait as there have always been two or three just sitting there... although I usually arrive evenings or weekends. You can reserve though. The limos were nice and the drivers pleasant. They took credit cards and cash.

I have a quick question on visa to Canada. We'll be cruising with Holland America next month with a port stop at Victoria, Canada. One of the passenger has the US permanent residency alien card (green card) and holds a passport from People's Republic of China. Any thoughts if he still requires a visa to Canada? China is listed as one of the country required to have VISA but I didn't think it's required if the passenger has a green card from US.

 

I called HAL and they said to call the Canadian embassy. Then I tried calling the Canadian embassy here in LA just to find it's all automated and not have my questions answered. My travel agent does not know or they're hestitant to answer my question. So I'm hoping someone could help me shed some lights here. TIA.

 

Try the embassy in Seattle. Its smaller so might have a real person answer. I would think if he's a permanent resident that he would not, but you never know. You might even try a local Chinese specialized travel agent. They probably would know too.

I just asked a simple question. I didn't realise it was a BAD question. :confused:

 

 

Its only bad for the employee. They are given strict instructions on telling others about the discount. Even your conduct on the cruise is a reflection towards the employee. Since I've heard Princess monitors these boards, hope they don't figure out who you (meaning your friend) is. Some times secrets are just that, secret. :rolleyes:

When we were on the Tahitian Princess we bought two six packs and just put them on the conveyor belt for security. They didn't care. Truthfully, I hadn't really thought about it when we bought them. We were at the store, we were hot, they were cold so we just bought them and brought them back. No hassles at all.

We got off March 21st. We were docked by 6 am - scheduled time to get off started at 6:15 (or 6:45 can't remember). We asked for 8:00 and got 8:10 - were picking our suitcases up 10 minutes later and waiting for our ride within 20 minutes. We were in the latest groups getting off. Went smooth as a baby's bottom.

I think its a bad idea too. Most people that age only get two weeks vacation a year. Besides the above about money and small kids I just can't think of why I would want to spend 50% of my vacation time with people I haven't talked to in ten years and probably won't again. Values change and hopefully most of the kids that graduated have got good jobs and are starting families. Those people would likely be on a budget. They also wouldn't necessarily want to bring OR leave their children (add in cost of babysitters if they could even get one) at home for a week so they could party with old school mates. I know for me I neither had the money, time or inclination to spend my precious time with long past friends. A dinner which included an overnight hotel I would consider but not much more.