Rome small group tour

[susanbarnes]

My husband I are trying to decide between booking the Rome small group tour through Royal Caribbean that only has 28 people and hiring a car with our own private driver from an outside company. We will have over $1000.00 on board credit and we're in a suite that includes the gratuities, beverage package, and all of the restaurants so we won't need the onboard credit for any of these. The small group tour is actually more expensive than the private car but it would be "free" with the onboard credit. Would you recommend this tour or is there a review of it anywhere on Cruise Critic?

[Clarea]

You might check the Italy Ports of Call forum:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=595

[susanbarnes]

Thank you. I will post there too but I thought since it is a Royal Caribbean tour I might have more luck here.

[Charles4515]

My husband I are trying to decide between booking the Rome small group tour through Royal Caribbean that only has 28 people and hiring a car with our own private driver from an outside company. We will have over $1000.00 on board credit and we're in a suite that includes the gratuities, beverage package, and all of the restaurants so we won't need the onboard credit for any of these. The small group tour is actually more expensive than the private car but it would be "free" with the onboard credit. Would you recommend this tour or is there a review of it anywhere on Cruise Critic?

 

A tour with 28 people is not a small group tour!

[gadaboutgal]

I know that we would go to the Casino and take out the on board credit, letting Royal keep the 5% they charge, and then go do our own tour. Mass tours of 28 people are cumbersome, and you will see and experience a lot more on your own.

[moopetguy]

If you are open to doing a non-RCI tour, the tour company that my wife and I used in 2010 in Rome (the day prior to boarding our Navigator TA sailing) was Presto Tours. Here are their Rome tours:

http://www.prestotours.com/rome-tours.php

 

Specifically, my wife and I did the Vatican tour in the morning, semi-private (maximum 10 guests; we had a group of 8 in total). That is what I'd consider a small group tour. I felt really sorry for the other guided groups of literally 50+ people (well, I guess they got what they paid for). They milled about like lemmings.

 

http://www.prestotours.com/vatican-tour.php

 

Our guide was Federica, and she was excellent. Very friendly and very knowledgeable. Her profile is on the Presto Tours site.

 

Granted this is over 5 years ago, but unless TripAdvisor says differently, I wouldn't expect their tour quality to have declined.

 

However I don't know if the timing of any of their tours that you might be interested in will align with your hours in port (especially due to the travel time from Civitavecchia to Rome).

[Naomigruis]

We did not do a tour with RCI to Rome but there is a few things about Rome to note,

 

The port is about 60minutes by train from the port so I'm thinking up to 1.5 hours by car with traffic

 

If you want to visit the Vatican I have one tip and that is to book in advance a tour and even then it can take up to 3 hours.

 

Do a tour of the colisumel as this skips the line which can be long and just annoying.

 

There are many areas inside Rome that a car cannot go.

 

Have a carbonara, it is a Roman specialty and is wonderful.

 

I love Rome and enjoyed just walking around discovering what was around the next corner.

[pattle66]

I think you can cash out any left over OBC. Hopefully someone in the know can confirm this.

 

I would recommend a private tour in Rome. We are a family of 4 and I did not want to be on a ship tour in case the kids got bored and started playing up :roll eyes: We booked Rome In Limo. I can not recommend them highly enough. They catered the tour to our needs and provided a guide for the Vatican. The kids were never bored as the drivers and guide were so engaging.

 

We actually booked Rome In Limo for all 3 of our Italy stops and received a discount.

[Clarea]

I think you can cash out any left over OBC. Hopefully someone in the know can confirm this....

This is true, if the OBC is refundable. OBC from the cruise line is typically not refundable, however you can still get 95% of it by getting cash from the casino.

[susanbarnes]

Thank you so much for your replies. I hadn't thought of getting cash from the casino. I will do that and book a private tour. You guys are awesome!!!!

[Mapleleafforever]

We're also looking at an excursion booked through the cruise line that's limited to 26 guests (Exclusive, Best of Rome CV07). I posted on the Italy port thread but no info sadly. Does anyone know if this stops at the Roman Forum?

 

Being our first time in Italy we're paranoid about being late for the ship so we're only considering Royal excursions this time around.

[CRUISEFAN0001]

We booked a (real) small group tour (8 people) with RomeInLimo. The driver was great, the vehicle was wonderful, and the tour fantastic.

 

While there are certainly larger groups on large buses...20 people is not considered small by most tour companies nor the cruise line.

 

We estimated that we got 2 hours more of sightseeing time between all the stops over a conventual 20+ tour...between the reduced time to board/exit the vehicle with a group of 8, as well as parking very close to all locations (larger buses needed to park further away.

 

We also used RomeInLImo in Pisa/Florence - the same superb experience.

[Mapleleafforever]

We booked a (real) small group tour (8 people) with RomeInLimo. The driver was great, the vehicle was wonderful, and the tour fantastic.

 

While there are certainly larger groups on large buses...20 people is not considered small by most tour companies nor the cruise line.

 

We estimated that we got 2 hours more of sightseeing time between all the stops over a conventual 20+ tour...between the reduced time to board/exit the vehicle with a group of 8, as well as parking very close to all locations (larger buses needed to park further away.

 

We also used RomeInLImo in Pisa/Florence - the same superb experience.

 

Does RomeInLimo have any guarantees to get you back to the ship on time?

[pattle66]

Does RomeInLimo have any guarantees to get you back to the ship on time?

 

I don't know about a guarantee but they said they have never not made a ship on time. All the reviews on Tripadvisor and the threads in this forum all point to this being true.

 

I usually do RCI tours because I do not like to take the risk of missing the ship. In the instance of Italy I thought about where the next port was and how hard/expensive it would be to catch the ship in the next port. Our next port was Florence and I figure if we missed the ship Rome In Limo could drive us to Florence :D This didn't happen and we were back in plenty of time. At no time during the tour was I worried about getting back to the ship.

 

The smaller tours are well worth it. You can tailor the tour to your liking and the van can get a lot closer to attractions leaving you more time to actually see things. We were parked just around the corner from Trevi fountain and the colosseum. Tour buses were dropping off much further away.

[Charles4515]

I don't know about a guarantee but they said they have never not made a ship on time. All the reviews on Tripadvisor and the threads in this forum all point to this being true.

 

Just to add, the private tour companies like RomeinLimo an others that are reviewed often on Cruise Critic and TripAdvisor are going to get people back to the ship on time. They can't afford not to. They get much of their business for Cruise Critic and TripAdvisor. If they did fail to get passengers back there would be bad reviews and they would lose business. So they will leave enough time to get cruise passengers back to the ship on time. I have never worried about any private tour I did in Italy with RomeandLimo or two or three other companies that I used in Italy.

Edited February 6, 2016 by Charles4515

[Mapleleafforever]

I don't know about a guarantee but they said they have never not made a ship on time. All the reviews on Tripadvisor and the threads in this forum all point to this being true.

 

 

 

I usually do RCI tours because I do not like to take the risk of missing the ship. In the instance of Italy I thought about where the next port was and how hard/expensive it would be to catch the ship in the next port. Our next port was Florence and I figure if we missed the ship Rome In Limo could drive us to Florence :D This didn't happen and we were back in plenty of time. At no time during the tour was I worried about getting back to the ship.

 

 

 

The smaller tours are well worth it. You can tailor the tour to your liking and the van can get a lot closer to attractions leaving you more time to actually see things. We were parked just around the corner from Trevi fountain and the colosseum. Tour buses were dropping off much further away.

 

 

Ah excellent thanks. I'm going to check them out.

[patattack]

Ah excellent thanks. I'm going to check them out.

 

I booked 2 tours with Rome in Limo last October and opened it up to my roll call for a total of 8 people. We all felt the excursions were excellent. I would definitely book with them in the future.

 

Pat

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

I've decided I'm opting for the ship-based shuttle (probably train) between Rome and the port and doing my own exploring mainly because the one thing I DON'T want to do is the Vatican, and pretty much every ship-based tour (and private tour I've found) includes that.

[Charles4515]

I've decided I'm opting for the ship-based shuttle (probably train) between Rome and the port and doing my own exploring mainly because the one thing I DON'T want to do is the Vatican, and pretty much every ship-based tour (and private tour I've found) includes that.

 

 

You can do the train on your own from the port. I have taken it a few times. Five Euros. Takes about an hour. They run frequently.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[pattle66]

I've decided I'm opting for the ship-based shuttle (probably train) between Rome and the port and doing my own exploring mainly because the one thing I DON'T want to do is the Vatican, and pretty much every ship-based tour (and private tour I've found) includes that.

 

Have you asked on your role call if anyone else wants to do a private tour that does not cover Vatican? A private tour can be tailored to suit you.

[griffy116]

We used a private car and guide. WELL WORTH THE MONEY. We could not believe how much more we were able to see and do than those that took the ship's excursion. They were waiting on us at each port, zips us out of the port and got us to every location in record time. Rome in Limo and Bob's Limo are two that we have used and they are both incredibly reliable, friendly and have a fabulous record. Their business depends on them getting you back to the ship in plenty of time. We were even able to deviate from the original plan with no complaint and no problem. It was the BEST decision ever. At one port, my daughter must have let her purse tip over. Her wallet fell out in the back of the car. We called the driver and he rushed back to the port, found the wallet and returned it to my daughter...all in plenty of time before we were due back on the ship.

[KAYTWO]

Thank you so much for your replies. I hadn't thought of getting cash from the casino. I will do that and book a private tour. You guys are awesome!!!!

 

 

Susan, are you married to Alan and cruised Hawaii to Vancouver in 2014?

[Charles4515]

Have you asked on your role call if anyone else wants to do a private tour that does not cover Vatican? A private tour can be tailored to suit you.

 

 

Yes, they should do that. For Naples for example most want to do Pompeii. Having already done Pompeii we didn't want to do it again. Others on our roll call also didn't want Pompeii and we arranged a tour that without Pompeii.

Private tours can be modified. We have almost always modified them some. Even on the fly, that is while on the tour.

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Edited February 7, 2016 by Charles4515

[KiwiGal117]

The nice thing about doing a private or semi-private tour, if you are paranoid about getting back to the ship well in advance of "all aboard", (as I am!!) you can simply tell them when booking at you want to be sure to be back by a certain time. As others have said, they will tailor the tour to what you want, and because you'll be spending less time hanging around waiting for the other 40 people on your tour, you can probably see the same amount of sites in less time!

[surreymum]

I would also recommend Romeinlimo. We have used them twice in Rome and on the Amalfi coast and each time they have been excellent. We saw loads more than people on other tours that we spoke to particularly as we were always able to park right next to sites. Plenty of time is factored in to allow getting back to the ship or airport and the drivers are in constant contact with each other and their office so they swap traffic news. They cannot afford to miss a ship as they rely heavily on cruise critic and trip advisor reviews.