cbowler

Thanks so much for the help!

Hi - I am trying to narrow down what all we can fit in with our DIY day in Leknes. We have a car rental at the airport and can pick up at 8:00. Cruise departs at 5:00. So we'll have to factor in taxi time back to the ship. Do you think it's possible to fit in Nusfjord, Sund (blacksmith), Reine, A, and back up to Haukland beach? I feel like that's asking for a lot but also think I'm overestimating the size and distances. I saw that you visited most of those places. About how long did you spend in each village and at the blacksmith? Thanks for the help!

Has anyone done P&O's or other line's Aakrafjord and Langfoss Waterfall from Haugesund?

It is a long day of 7 hours, but it does sound more interesting than the other tours that are offered from this port.

 

I would love to hear from anyone who has done this, or a similar tour please. :)

I have not done it, but I am looking for information on the same subject. You can do this tour on your own through a local company but I am only finding tours on Wednesdays and Sundays. I need a Tuesday tour.

I'll be happy to answer your questions. The name of the winery is Tenuta Torciano. It was just beautiful, like you would picture a vineyard in Tuscany. Pierluigi, the owner, was our host and we had our lunch in one of his cellars. He can accommodate two small groups in there.

 

We sat down to a lovely plate of salumi, cheese, tomatoes and crusty bread drizzled with their own olive oil. This was accompanied by a delicious white regional wine called vernacchia. This was followed by his ribollita, or bread soup, which everyone inhaled. This was also drizzled with fresh olive oil and paired with a nice dry red. After the soup came "mama's" lasagne this time drizzled with truffle oil and served with another red "super Tuscan". Finally we enjoyed biscotti with vin santo, a sweet dessert wine. We do love good wine and this was some of the best we've had. I'm sure the setting, good food and a great group added to the enjoyment. We purchased four bottles which went sent home so we didn't have to drag them with us and risk breakage. It truly was one of the most memorable days of our trip and also one of the best meals. You won't be disappointed.

Thanks so much for the info! Two more questions, if you don't mind.

1) how long were you at the winery including lunch?

2) What was the cost of this stop?

Thanks!

We did Pisa and San Gemignano with RIL> Our lunch stop was at a beautiful winery just outside of San Gemignano. The winemaker met, took us to his cellar where we had superb appetizer, soup, lasanga and biscotti, each paired with his own delicious wine. If you're a "wino" like we are, you'll find the wine outstanding. We ordered several bottles delivered to our home. It truly was the highlight of a great cruise. RIL, with Jany manning the computer and who apparently never sleeps, can be counted on to give you one of your best shore excursions ever. All of out group weren't big wine drinkers but, if most of you are, I'm sure they could accomodate stops at more wineries.

 

Enjoy!

Hi Tooalto: Can you tell me more about your lunch and wine stop outside of San Gimignano? We'll be doing a day tour to Siena and San Gimignano with RIL and I'm looking for specifics as to how we want to plan our day.

How long was the wine tour and lunch stop? We are not big wine drinkers, but maybe I just need to try some really good wine to appreciate it! :D If it's not too long, this may be a good stop for us.

Did you find this place in advance or did RIL just suggest it to you the day of your tour?

How was the food? I want to eat the best possible food on this trip. ;)

Lastly, do you remember the name of the place?

Thanks!

We used Romeinlimo in May and booked a private guide for Pompeii. We had our guide for 2 hours. If you want to see more things with your limited time in Naples, 2 hours will probably be about right. I could spend days at the site in Pompeii... BUT, for a cruise stop, 2 hours is a nice insight and then it's time to move on to the next great site.

 

If you have more than a day in Rome, I would extend time with the Vatican guide... but only if you have some more time there. I find everything around the Vatican fascinating and I am not even religious.

 

I do a LOT of research before a trip, and I try to have most of my historical facts down also... even with all that I find a private driver/guide worth every penny.

 

I have been to Italy four different times by cruise ship, and I still hire private drivers. For one... I want every second to count with my precious time in these amazing ports... I feel that hiring a local to drive me around is exactly the way to do it. I also know that as many people who have recommended Romeinlimo as a touring company, that the risk is nothing and the benefits are huge. It's also telling that the company doesn't even take any money from their customers up front.... you don't pay until the end of the day.

 

It really is an amazing service.

Thanks for your input. We only have the one day for the Pompeii day so I'll just keep that guide at 2 hours. But we'll be in Rome for a couple of days ahead of time and that's where I'm thinking of extending the Vatican guide's time. I think I'll ponder it some more...

A quick question about the guides - how long were they with you? We have guides booked with RIL for the Vatican and for Pompeii. I'm guessing about 2 hours? Is this really long enough? I'm contemplating extending the Vatican guide but am not sure if that is necessary or worth the price? Any thoughts???

Thanks for the info on the discounts. All of the tours and transfers are for just 2 people, so perhaps that could explain the limited discount. I did ask for it the first time, so I don't know that I should ask again. I am always hesitant to do stuff like that. We will use them even without a discount, I just hate to pay any more than necessary. What do you think?

I must admit, I am a little disappointed. I just booked 6 things with them: 3 excursions and 3 transfers and very little discount was offered, despite my asking. I think they took 10 Euro off one excursion and 20 euro off 2 of the transfers. After hearing of other people getting 50 euro off EACH excursion when booking 3, I thought we'd at least get the same. We'll use them anyhow but I just wanted to share my thoughts...

Carrie: This will be more info than you wanted to know, but I want you to understand my reasoning as well. I had first booked the tour to Florence/Pisa and then changed my mind to Siena and San Gimignano. This was our first and no doubt last trip to Europe. I wanted to see a wide variety of sites. I read that many people feel that seeing Florence and David, etc., is mandatory so I kind of fell into that train of thought at first. Then I started thinking about that this cruise went to 12 ports. We don't appreciate fine art - we don't know one painter from another - one sculpture is pretty much like the other to us. We also don't enjoy plowing our way through crowds and even with a private guide, it sounded like Florence would be very crowded. So, I knew that in many other places we would see plenty of art, statues, and churches. So what would be different? Well, I have seen Tuscany in movies, etc., heard about how people love to vacation there and realized that would be something different to experience. So, that is how the decision was made. Here is how the day went.

 

I think we left Livorno around 8:15. The drive to Siena was about 2 hours through the Tuscan countryside. The countryside wasn't as "knock me over" gorgeous as I had expected, but when we got closer to the villages, it definitely was much more scenic and we had many beautiful views. Luckily we really enjoyed hearing what our driver, Alberto, had to to say and we got to know a lot about Italy, the Tuscan area, and him. He drove us right to the steps of the Siena duomo and we agreed to meet him back there in about 1 1/2 hours. If you go, buy your tickets and see all the attractions attached to the duomo. When we finally went up the steps and saw the front of the duomo my jaw dropped - absolutely stunning and amazing - just gorgeous. When we went inside, it was just so different and so beautiful. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siena_Cathedral

And if you appreciate art, there are works by Michelangelo, Bernini, and Donatelli, etc. Then we walked down to the very large central square, had a snack, did some browsing in shops.

 

It was probably about a 30-minute drive to San Gimignano. Alberto told us that there are only two ways into the village and that he would drop us at one end and meet us at the other in about an hour and a half. It was at this point that we took our lunch out of our cooler, sat on a bench at the entrance, and had a quick lunch. I wanted to see the Torture Museum which was right inside the entrance. If you like different, weird things you'd like it. It was tacky, informative, gross, and interesting all wrapped up in one - plus there is part 2 of the museum farther up the walkway. This village is filled with shops all selling ceramics, lace, linens, etc. Very nice things. When we got to the square, we had some gelato and then made our way to the other end where Alberto was waiting for us. We then had about an 1 1/2 hour drive back to the port.

 

To me, to be able to say that I got to see Tuscany was worth it. This was our first introduction to medieval villages and they were so different and just lovely places in which to walk around. Having the amazing duomo was a surprise. Now, our weather was perfect - 70s and sunny, clear skies. If this had been a rainy day - certainly would have been a different story - so that is the luck of the draw. You will spend as much time in the car as you will at the sites.

 

Hope this rambling helped you think things through based on your personal likes and dislikes.

Judy - Thanks a ton for the info!!! That was just what I was looking for. :) Like you, I feel like I SHOULD go to Florence and Pisa but think we'd RATHER go to Tuscany. We too are not big art people and while it's nice to look at we really just don't appreciate it as others do. I was also just curious as to how the day was spent and what the scenery and views were. I think we'll go for the Tuscany tour. Thanks again for the posts - CCers are awesome!

Carrie

Since I neglected to read the rules for posting, my post about RIL from last week was removed. So, I’m rewriting it and adding it to end of this long thread because I wanted to be sure to add my recommendations for this professional company.

 

We used RIL for three ports. I really had no reason to doubt my decision; but it was a difficult one to make as I had decided to just book these tours for the two of us and that was expensive. This was our first trip to Europe and maybe our last, and I wanted to be sure that we would be able to see just what we wanted to see and be able to dictate how long to spend at each site.

 

As everyone else has stated, at each port the drivers were there before we got off the ship. In each case, we quickly discussed what we wanted to see and off we went. In each case, my husband sat up front and I settled comfortably into the back seat. We enjoyed chatting away with the drivers learning a lot about Italy, the sites we were to see, and about them. In all three cases, we packed a lunch of sandwiches, etc., from the ship buffet as having a special dining experience is not on our list of priorities, particularly since we don’t drink wine. For each day, we found a pretty place to stop, got our food out of the cooler, and enjoyed a 15-minute lunch break. It worked perfectly for us.

 

From Livorno, we had Alberto, who took us to Siena and San Gimignano. He dropped us off in each town where we agreed to a meeting place and time. He made it clear that he would be at the meeting place waiting for us if we were done early – and he was. It was a beautiful day and a wonderful start to our private tours. This day involved a lot of time in the car and we enjoyed chatting with Alberto along the way.

 

In Rome, we had Vincenzo. What a great day that was. We decided that we didn’t want to try to fit in everything; the sites to see are just overwhelming, so we picked just a few. We started at the Coliseum. As he had stopped and bought our tickets on the way there, we stood in no lines. Then, we decided that we would like to see some of the places from the Angels & Demons movie. So, off we went. He drove us practically to the steps of each place – it was great. We would see what we wanted, and then we were off again. It was like being among the “rich and famous” being driven all over by this professional driver. In the afternoon we were dropped at the Vatican for a two-hour tour (again arranged by RIL). Very nice tour. At the end of the day we stopped for gelato before saying our good-byes.

 

In Sorrento, we had Giovanni, who also worked hard to be sure that we had a good day. We started with a private tour of Pompeii (again arranged by RIL). We practically had the place to ourselves for the first 1 ½ hours, and our guide really helped to convey how the city operated and how the people lived. It was fascinating. Then, Giovanni drove us along the Amalfi Coast stopping in two towns giving us time to explore. My husband has a problem knee and after walking around Pompeii, he had already had it. We appreciated being dropped off within these towns.

 

Since we don’t speak Italian, have never been to Italy, it made perfect sense to hire drivers rather than try to go on our own. If we had tried to do any of this with public transportation or renting a car we would have spent time getting lost and having many tense moments between us which would have ruined this trip. Another important thing we took away from this experience was when you actually get to speak one on one with someone rather than listen to a bus tour guide drone on and on, you really get this connection and understanding of another culture. That was something that we really valued from this trip. Now that we are back home, I can definitely say that all of my private tours were worth every euro.

Judy - Thanks so much for the detailed report. Can you tell me a little more about your tour from Livorno? What did you see in each of the places? How much time did you have in each town? I'm having a hard time deciding between that tour and one to Florence/Pisa and haven't read many reviews of the first one.

Thanks,

Carrie

Hi all - There's been a lot of discussion about the various places that RIL uses for lunch and the extended time spent at lunch. About how long are we talking for lunch? An hour? 2 hours? Just wondering. I wouldn't mind giving up an hour for lunch but more than that is pushing it and I want to plan accordingly as to what to tell our drivers.

Thanks!

We had this cabin on the Diamond this summer for Alaska. What a fabulous cabin and balcony! Great views out the side and aft! It IS a long walk to almost everything! But, I'd take it in a heartbean again if available.

Hello all - Wow, this is quite a thread! I just read the whole thing but did not see anything mentioned about any of the obstructed cabins on the Royal/Pacific/Tahitian ships. Does anyone have any pictures of these cabins? We're trying to decide what type of cabin for a Mediterranean cruise.

Thanks!

Jlijny - thanks for that great report. That really speaks volumes to the level of customer service they offer. I haven't used them yet but hope to next fall when/if we go.

For those of you who booked 3 tours with RIL, what is the multi-tour discount?

Hi mj1010 - thanks for the quick answer. That info helps a lot!

Hello! I am brand new to the Mediterranean forum having just spent 14 months over on the Alaska forum. This thread is great and I'm now very intrigued about our cruise on the Ruby next September. A few quick questions:

1 - How much extra is a guide at the Vatican?

2 - How far in advance do you need to book RIL? They sound very popular.

I'm just back from Alaska but can't help starting to think about Europe!

Thanks.