SunFunCruiser

I was told this isn't the greatest to have. There is a window with a door and some "obstructions" of the view. We had the choice of this, but went with a midship E1 on Deck 8 for our cruise.

Oh bummer, it was the last way back aft available. It doesn't show obtruction on the chart. What do you mean a window and a door?

Also does anyone know if you book on deck 10 right under the Windjammer Cafe (1706) will it be noisey?

or any thoughts on 8410?

Hi there!!

What a great thread :)

Does anyone have anything to say about cabin JS 1706??

eandj,

That is a shame you didn't enjoy your tour with Rafaele.We had the same driver and went to the same places as you did. He was very professional and knowledgable about the area. I didn't find his English to be bad at all, we had no problem understanding him. I don't think there are many back roads in that area that can cut around traffic. I remember him mentioning that to us. He was also very accomodating to us with our picture stops and many questions.

As far as the menu in the restaurant. We just asked for other items and they happily provided anything we asked for. I'm not sure we would have shortened our lunch with that view for Positano, if we had to make the choice. Positano seemed more commercial than the rest of the tour. We basically walked down to the water and back up, was dying from the heat and couldn't wait to get back in the van! LOL

I know you said there are other people with problems, but this is the first one I ahve ever read. I guess everyone has a bad day. Even you had a good experience in Rome. I think the company as a whole is outstanding for professionalism and quality. I wouldn't hesitate to book through them again.

i'm not sure what you are referring to, but so others don't get confused, you do need to buy tickets for the vatican museums/sistine chapel, climbing the basilica cupola, scavi tour, vatican gardens and probably some other vatican tours or sights. The only time you don't need tickets is to enter st. Peter's basilica and to stroll the piazza. So for most things at the vatican, you do need tickets.

gmta

We just returned from Rome and had a 8 hour tour. We stopped at the Vatican and the line was long so we went somewhere else and returned later. The line was not long at all. We did not have a guide and found it to be fine. You do not need tickets. There is so much to see in Rome that an 8 hour tour is the best way to see everything. RomeInLimo is an excellent company. I think you'll be happy with them.

I'm pretty sure you still need some sort of ticket to get in the Vatican museum.

http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/z-Info/MV_Info_Orari.html

As far as a guide, I'm sure everyone is different. I thought it added a much needed (for us) enhancement of the tour. I would have been totally lost without one and it would have taken a lot longer. Plus, you can't be sure there won't be a line later in the afternoon, we went at 2:30 and there was still a really long line. I suppose you can rent the audio guide instead of getting a guide.

are these very fast paced walking tours (Romeinlimo) or is it as fast as the group wants to go? Thanks!

I didn't think any of them were fast paced walking tours. Pompeii probably had the most walking and Lucia waited for us as we walked. Most of the time when there is walking involved, like going to the Coliseum, you are at your own pace.

Now Athens is where we walked a lot in terrible heat!!

If you want an extraordinary day, arrange your day in Livorni with Duman and Jany Kafelabasi of RomeinLimo, and -- while I'm sure they have other good drivers -- ask for Fabrizio. You absolutely will not regret it.

I agree! Fabrizio was our second driver! I couldn't think of his name because I was in Rafaella's van. He was great! My sisters were probably driving him crazy because they made him stop every two minutes for pictures! LOL They said he was really good about it.

Cheryl

 

Thanks for the pics. I will definitely be booking them for our day. There will be 6 of us going. Do you remember the name of the restaurant and where it was located?? It looked wonderful.

 

Where do you live??? Naples is just south of us.

 

Cheryl in Venice

Cheryl, the name of the restaurant is on the menu, the first picture in my post. It was in Sorrento, overlooking the sea. Couldn't tell you much more than that <g>. You can order things other than what is on the menu too.

We are in Fort Myers.

Here are a few more photos from the tour (hard to pick just a few). lol

More food

Market in Sorrento

Amalfi Coast

Has anyone done this tour out of Naples with Rome In Limo going to Positano/Ravello/Almalfi. I know Rome in Limo comes very highly recommended and we have them booked for transfers in Rome and to the cruise port, but 6 of us are considering this tour in Naples.

 

What do you see??? Is there a special restaurant they take you to for lunch?? Do you have free time to explore the towns???

 

We have been to Pompeii & Sorrento so want to do something different.

 

Thanks for your help

 

Cheryl

Hi Cheryl!

We did this tour. It was probably my favorite tour of all our RIL tours. We did start in Pompeii, so eliminating this will give you even more time in the areas you want to visit.

The driver will take you anywhere you would like to visit and stay as long as you woudl like. We drove to Positano, stayed for a bit. Some of us went shopping others went to see the beach.

We also went to Sorrento. It was amazing!! We had two drivers, there were 16 of us, so 8 in each van. Both drivers were so accomodating and were from the area, so they knew it well. We went to teh most amazing spot for lunch. I will tag on some photos. We also did some shopping in Sorrento. It's a great spot to pick up ceramic items and lemoncello.

The drive along the amalfi coast was just stunning!! They will stop for photo ops ifg you wuld like. There are also little markets along the way, great to stop at as well. You may even have time to visit the Emerald Grotto, I hear it's amazing, but our day was already full! Let em know if you have any other questions. BTW, I live just south of you!

Our delicious food!

My father and our great driver

The other van

Sorry, one more question...the Rome itinerary on their web site says they will take you shopping after lunch. Does anyone recall where they take you, like what streets or what stores you recall? Around how much time did you have to shop?

 

Thanks in advance!

As noted in other posts, they will take you wherever you want to go. We actually opted not to shop or eat during our tour. I think we just grabbed our son a slice of pizza. I just wanted to see everything in Rome!! I did want to buy rosary beads at the Vatican, so our guide Sarah made sure I got those, that was about it for shopping! Lol

Just to give you an example. We did RIL for just the 4 of us. With all out tickets, private guide for the Vatican and gratuities it was 760 Euro total. I think that is a great price for the personal attention we got and all we got to see. There was NO need to add an additional private guide for anything but the Vatican.

I don't remember what the price was for thsi kind of tour through the ship, but I bet it was probably still more money.

Does anyone know if we need to purchase advance tickets (Vatican, Pompeii, etc.) or will our driver/guide purchase them for us the day of our tour? I don't want to have to worry about wasting time waiting in long lines.

Thanks.

Our Vatican tickets were pre-purchased. We bought the Pompei ones on the spot, it didn't take long. Just let them know you want to have them pre bought for you. it did cost a few Euros more that way, but worth it.

Cheryl, your food pictures are so fantastic. That pizza has my mouth watering. (The pizza in Italy is so much better than gloppy American pizza.)

 

Thanks for posting all these lovely photos.

 

Pam

You're welcome! Yes, the pizza, and the risotto are so different than in the states. Especially in Florida!

Cheryl, I just wanted to thank you for all the great advice!! We are travelling to Rome and cruise on the Dream's maiden voyage. I just wanted to thank you for sharing !!!

No problem, glad I could help. Have fun on the Dream, it looks like a great ship. I hope to try it myself someday!

I've read several mentions of a great restaurant for lunch near the Vatican, that sounds wonderful and reasonably priced. Does anyone recall the name? I'd much rather do that than pizza or something else, so it would be nice to be able to request it by name. Thanks!

Here is where we ate near the vatican for lunch. It was really good. We did this on our own the next day on Vincenzo's reccomondation.

Trattoria Al Cuppolone Pizzeria

Borgo Pio, 92

(it's right off Via Dei Corridori)

We even got serenaded!

Mushroom Risotto

Jany's a woman. I actually talked with her on the phone (was skittish about sending my credit card info through an unsecured site). She's very nice and quite helpful.

I would have thought by the name it was a women. My husband talked to her on the phone and said it was a man?? LOL

Do you remember how much the meal cost? I would recommend it to my family, especially if it is only open to RIL. Portions look just right - unlike our American portions!

It was 150 Euro for 4 of us. We had platters of antipasto, meals and wine.

I am leaning towards using RIL for Florence, Rome, and Naples on our cruise next summer. Our DD's will be 11 and 9. For those of you with kids around that age, what has your experience been with the drivers and guides keeping them engaged throughout the tour?

I thought Jany was a man??

You might want to mention to Jany that you saw this online and give her the name of the restaurant. At least the day we ate there, it was not open to the public, and the 4 beautiful outdoor tables all had RIL groups, which had been prearranged.

Cheryl, it's funny, I took the same picture with the menu and the food!!

lol funny! It was soooo good. Although, I think it was one of the most expensive meals of our trip. lol We ordered a lot. I loved how the waiter cut the fresh mozz right in front of us.

I think it was closed when we were there also. We were the only ones there. I'm guessing the drivers have some arrangement with this restaurant seeing as though they are locals.

Hi,

We'll be using Romeinlimo for our Naples stop.

We've doing Pompeii with guide (hopefully Lucia), Sorrento and Herculaneum.

Do you remember the name of the restaurant that you lunched at?

It looks fabulous.

Thanks,

Mari

Yes, here you go. I'll even add a food picture for you;) BTW, you can ask them to make things that aren't on the menu. The menu was very limited.

Here are a few pix from the tours:

Vinny (in the suit, 100 degress outside) taking us into the Coliseum:

Vinny's van and the kids near the Pantheon:

Lucia (in the hot pink) in Pompeii talking to my parents:

getting into Rafaele's van in Sorrento:

Our amazing lunch spot in Sorrento:

Rafaele (in the suit, also very hot outside) and my dad:

Just returned and will also praise RIL!!

We did RIL in Rome pre-cruise. There was just the 4 of us. We had Vinny as our driver, we were in a roomy well AC'd van. Vinny was great!!! He was so good with my 12 year old son, who lost attention about half way through the tour. Vinny had him interested again in no time! He was our guide and driver until the Vatican where we met up with Sarah, a perfect guide for us, fast and to the point! They are completely felxible, if you want to stop they stop, if you don't, it's up to you. We chose to do more sightseeing and no sit down meal. It was perfect.

My family did the same tour while on the cruise, there were 16 of them. They also had a similar experience. I know they had Julia as their guide and absolutely loved her!! That's all I heard about for days ;)

We also used them in Naples, we did Pompeii with the private guide Lucia, she was amazing! She knew her facts and was exciting to listen to. I think it would be really confusing not to have a guide here. Our drivers were Fabrezio and Rafaele, we had two vans for 16 people. Both were from Sorrento and were wonderful.

We drove to Sorrento, had a fabulous lunch at a restaurant overlooking the coast.We were also able to spend some time shopping here. We stopped in Positano for some more shopping and a walk to the beach and a lemon ice. then drove along the Amalfi coast with stops for viewing and pix, just stunning!! It was a long, but amazing day!

My family also used RIL for Florence/Pisa. I did this pre-cruise for 3 days, so we did not need the tour. They said they had a great day. They even let off some of the group in different places and picked them back up where they wanted to be picked up. Some wnet to the museums, some shopped, some went to Chianti.This way everyone was able to see what they wanted to see.

I also have to add, my daughter is a Hard Rock pin collector. All the drivers stopped at the Hard Rocks, so she could run in and buy a pin! LOL

Thanks to all at Rome in Limo for the amazing tours and kind, knowledgable staff!! It's much appreciated.

Perfect info, just what I needed!! Thanks so much. I'm really looking forward to staying at the Hilton, I just wish it was for more than one night!