Host Star

I don't think businesses can ask for proof, and I don't think there is proof.

a business cannot ask you what disability you have but they can ask you what service the dog provides for you

I wouldn't buy it from the rental company. Take your iPhone or iPad (I know this will work on these - don't know about Android or Windows) with you. Buy a cheap SIM card from TIM over there. Use the Maps function or Google Maps as your GPS. I used the Maps function on my iPad Mini to navigate through Rome (yes, through Rome), up to Orvieto, through the Chianti area (and lots of little windy roads) to Florence. Worked great the entire trip, even when I missed some of those little windy roads!

I've driven rental cars all around Europe - not knowing the language was never an issue.

 

Some little hints:

Be sure you do a thorough walk around of the vehicle and make the agent note any dings.

Get your International Drivers Permit from your local CAA office (AAA if in the US). I have been asked for this a few times - better to pay and have it than to roll the dice and get denied your rental.

 

It's an easy drive and you'll go through some beautiful area. Save room for some ceramics purchases in Orvieto!!!!

got this from Hertz site for international rentals.. I picked up a IDP from AAA just in case but shouldn't need one if from USA

An International Driver's Permit (IDP) is required if your national driver's licence is not in Roman script.

An International Driver's Permit (IDP) is also mandatory by law for non-European Union renters except for customers from the following countries who can rent with their national driver's licence and passport: Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa and United States.

The IDP translates the national driver's licence into various languages and is not accepted without the national licence.

Spent a couple years in the area. Conegliano, and loved it.

do you remember the castel barona ? that is where we have a reservation

We went a little ways into the Dolomites. My daughter lives in Pordenone, and we went from there to a little town called Barcis, and beyond a ways. The roads were in great shape, although you did have to be careful as they're not as wide as in the US.

 

If you leave from the ship in the morning, you might not have enough time to make it to Cortina and back, especially if you (as we did) stopped frequently for photos and traveling up little side roads. It is incredibly beautiful and I would love to spend a week or more wandering around there (maybe next time we visit our daughter).

 

Our flight was also around 11:30 and we were at the airport by 9 am. Had just enough time to check bags, go through security, do a little shopping, then board around 10:45 or so. If you have a window seat, you can get a great view of Venice (it's pretty tiny from a few thousand feet up).

we are planning to stay overnite approx. an hour from the airport and not head back in the morning from cortina... we have a reservation at Vittorio venetto.. about half way..and allow time to return the rental car and we should be inside the terminal by 9 if all goes as planned

the dolomites

has anyone driven thru the dolomites from venice up to Cortina... or vittorio venetto.. we are taking one day post cruise , renting a car and plan to drive up to Cortina, then start back staying overnite at Vittorio Venetto which is a medieval village in the prosseco wine country approx. an hour from the venice airport... our flight is 11:30 a.m. .. reports are that you need to allow 3 hours at the venice airport...

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Thank you all for your replies. I have sent an email to Ephesus Deluxe and am awaiting their reply.

 

I had emailed Private Ephesus Tours and they have advised that they will stop at a factory 'because they support us' even though I requested not to do a shopping stop. It makes me worried as I am not sure how we will cope under sales pressure or how I will feel being 'locked in' as some reviewers have described it. The ships tours also stop at a rug factory. Maybe there is no way around it.

I made it clear to ephesus deluxe tours we did not want to stop at a rug factory or have lunch in a rug cooperative.. he assured me we would not stop at a rug factory and our lunch would be in a regular restaurant.. and I do have it in writing :)

after disembarking in venice my son wants to rent a car and drive to Cortina thru the dolomite mountains prior to flying home.. anyone done this?

I guess we will be walking off with our luggage.. a different scenerio... have 2 of my kids flying back but should have plenty of time to get their plane.. myself and son and dil are staying over one nite and renting a car and driving to the dolomites and driving back and staying in a castle about an hour outside of the airport at a nice little medieval town ..( I may not want to leave the castle.. lol).. I figure we'lll arrange pick up at 7i:30 to get to airport for car pickup and drop other

2 off for their flights.. if things are as slow as they seem.. we would have ro leave our castle (lol) by 7 a.m. to return the car and make an 11:30 flight..barring no construction , etc. on the hiway..alll this is because my flight would have given me only a 50 minute layover in philly to get back to florida and my son is convinced I'd never make it.. so they have decided to stay over with me as the next day I would have a 3 hour layover in philly.. they will fly with me to philly and change to lax.. so we will be in the same check in lines so that should make it easier.. somewhere there is a site that tells you how many ships will be disembarking in venic.. that should give an idea of crowding...has anyone had any problem walking off with luggage early?

Hello All,

 

I am in need of reputable companies that offer direct and private transportation that can be prebooked for transportation from the cruise port to the airport in venice?

 

I'm not sure how easy it would be to grab a taxi upon arrival and how the overall costs compare to the Celebrity's transfers which are pricing at $68 total for two persons.

 

Thanks for the feedback.

we are thinking of doing the same thing.. but what time do you figure you are able to get off the ship?

my kids just booked lax to rome with Alitalia which took a modest amount of amex ff miles

I just purchased a small hair travel iron from Sallys that states it can be used worldwide which means it has double voltage..

I don't think Andrews will let you pick your own PIN for the chip and pin credit card.

ooops.. meant to say andrews does not let you pick your pin.. thanks for pointing that out.. i'll go in an edit it

I now have way too many credit cards.. I went off the deep end and everyone that offered a no currency exchange charge for foreign prchases and any that offered chip and pin.... I know I will not remember all the different pins, because not all cards, even the Andrews credit union does not let you pick your pin,, the same for Wells Fargo... then there were cards that offered 30,000 miles for joining, etc, etc... now I am going crazy with all the cards I have accummulated..u.s. air, delta, british air,, etc. etc.. I need to unload and only keep a couple that give the best miles and security.. I think Venture Capital is one, and for chip and pin if in a pinch somewhere the Andrews...if this sounds confusing... I am confused...where is my husband when I need him.. lol... (I'm widowed and doing this alone) altho he left me with good credit.. all these cards are giving me 60,000 credit lines..each but I don't need them all... some do have an annual fee so maybe get rid of those... any suggestions which are the best ones to keep?

across from the straw market and up that street.. lots of knockoff shops.. one after the other.. there will be shills on the street who get a commission for bringing you to the shops.. just say no thanks.. the shops are very visible you don't need them to take you there and its very safe

You are referencing a shipping charge if I purchase ahead of time here in the USA. I agree. Use of ATM is just $5.

 

I was wanting to confirm Hitner's comment about the rate. Is what he is quoting and can vary based on the day what an ATM exchange rate will be?

 

Got to love these boards for info!!

i was charged a shipping fee of 7.50 which covered euros, liras and kunas as I ordered them all at the same time....

So help me out on this please, my bank quoted me an exchange rate of 1.4388. Is that if i purchased from them here in the states? what you quoted would be what is used in an ATM exchange while in a country? :confused:

 

Appreciate the help.

your bank will probably also charge you a shipping charge.... I know Bank of America doe

good example of someone who didn';t have insurance... a friend (58, so not OLD)... was on a european med. cruise.. tripped and broke her leg.. went to hospital, had to have her leg put in a cast and flown home.. had to be first class because leg had to be elevated... flight cost home was 7,000 ... insurance would have cost approx. 250.00... it's a crapshoot... I'm sure more do not use it than do and that is why the insurance companies make money and stay in business.. since that episode I always take insurance... I also had an older friend on a cruise have a heart attack in japan and all expenses and flight home were covererd by the insurance they had taken out... I never used to take insurance but now I do... even tho I could afford to pay my way home for the small amount of money relatively speaking.. I figure let someone else pay for it... also am taking my family on a cruise to the greek islands which is costing approx. 15,000$.... to take insurance 'just in case' was a no brainer...

BOA now has a visa travel card with a chip but no pin .. but it does not charge for currency exchange on purchases....

I liked the idea of avoiding at least one queue to the cable car, so, months before the cruise I was looking into the option of "Santorini Planet" / "Aegean Traveller". It consisted of speed boat to Oia after tendering in Santorini, from the dock at Oia up by bus and, included in the price of 25 Euro, a bus from Oia to Fira. Then, independently, back to ship either by cable car, foot or donkeys.

At some point someone on this forum reported back that the vouchers sold by "Santorini Planet" / "Aegean Traveller" were void (at the dock, I went looking for their "office" - nowhere to be seen...), so I decided to "play it by the ear" and decide on the spot (ie, on the dock at Santorini). When I looked at the ships' schedule, we (Equinox) were supposed to be "alone" between 7-9AM, the MSC Fantasia at 9AM and the reflection at 2PM. I figured we'll have an "window of opportunity" when the queue to the cable car will consist of Equinox pax alone. BUT, MSC Fantasia arrived earlier and at 8.45 there was a considerable queue for the cable car.

I was approached by people advertising the "speed boat" transfer to Oia, bought the tickets, asked them what IF ALL the pax we'll want to take the noon bus to Fira, and they assured me that they KNOW how many tickets they've sold...

The "speed boat" took at least 100 pax, and then some pax had to stand in the bus... there were not enough seats for everyone, and the same story went at noon - at least 20 pax were left by the noon bus, waiting for another...

At 1PM we were at the cable car queue, which was already long and saw people "inocently" join the front line.... I should think that for the steep price of a one min ride, it should be more efficiently run and have someone watch the queue for "interlopers" :)

We left the ship at 08.45AM and what with tendering, waiting for the "speed boat" to fill, docking at Oia and boarding the "up" bus there - we were in Oia 2 hrs later, so the 11AM bus was not relevant for us.

We spent one hour in Oia, took all the pictures from all the amazing views and were in line for the noon bus 10 min before. It seems that a lot of people who arrived with us, left with us.

Happy to answer any detailed questions.

were there any taxis to take you from oia to fira vs.s the bus?

Thanks Star, I booked through the website you suggested and I finally got my tickets. They cost me a little more but at this point I didn't care it is done and tickets are printed. Now I can start growing my hair back from pulling it all out yesterday LOL

great enjoy.... i felt 20 euros extra for 5 tickets quick and easy was worth no hairpulling and stress lol

I booked thru rail europe very quickly and easy.. their booking fee was 20 euro for the 5 tickets.. plus they had first class tickets for 50%.off from rome to venice.. so the 20 euro booking fee was fair and I didn't mind paying it when I went to trenitalia they wanted double for the first class tickets

join the roll call!!.. happy cruising!

I just looked at the night tour and it doesn't seem to include Palatine or Forum entrance and doesn't go to the top level of the colosseum, so I don't think it's really comparable to the official underground tour. Doesn't seem a bad price though for what it is.

Yes the nite tour is only done on a couple of nites a week. We have been there before during the day and did the forum etc. so we thought this would be different for us and felt the price was right. .

I'm not sure what the night underground tour consists of, but booking through another company is always an option if you don't want to get involved with calling etc.

 

People should just be aware that you do pay for it. My understanding is that the underground tours are the same, with the same tour guides, whether you book with coopculture or with a tour company. Entrance to the colosseum and the underground tour costs €21 through coopculture (including entry to the forum and palatine. Through tickitaly the exact same thing costs €28.50 on most days but they seem to charge €57 on some occasions.

 

It's a choice for people to make, but for three of us, I'd rather make the phone call to save €20.

 

 

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I paid 27.50 euros per ticket for the underground nite tour thru ticket italy.. and no cost for phone calls

We have used Ephesus Deluxe two times in the past three years and they are excellent...both tours were highlights of the cruise...the guides are superb as are the drivers and the vehicles.

 

On our tour last July we had small children in our group and we asked not to go to a rug factory and it was no problem...

 

Make sure yiu include the Terrace Houses in your tour...it is extra but so well worth it'...

we are booked with them in october and also informed them no rug factory.. and we have the email confirming we will not be stopping at a rug factory...