Paying for services with romeinlimo

[nikita]

My DH and I are touring with romeinlimo in 3 different cities and I know they don't take a credit card. How did most of you pay for their services? It says on their website they accept US dollar but how do they determine the exchange rate? I want to make sure I have the money on hand in an envelope before each tour. I was going to buy some euros before we left but everyone says I would get a better rate in Europe. I just don't want to take a chance of not having the money - I mean what if I can't get the ATM machine to work etc? The cost of the tours we are taking, since its just the two of us, are a lot of money so I just want to make sure we have it at the time of need. So any information/suggestions would be appreciated. Also - what amount did most of you tip your driver? Since it is just the two of us and the cost is very extravegant - I'm hoping 20% is not expected...

Thanks for any suggestions and info you can give me.

[bellagirl]

Hi-Before we left for our cruise, I got Euro travellers cheques to pay romeinlimo. Like you, I didn't want to carry around a bunch of cash with me,so the travellers cheques worked well. At the end of the tour, I just signed my name and handed them to Duman.

We got the cheques free from our local CAA bureau. If you're a member of AAA,they may be free for you as well.

Regarding tips, I would just make sure you had some euros on hand. Don't worry, you will enjoy your tour-like you, I hired them just for the two of us(DH and I) and it was an unforgettable day.

Enjoy and best of luck! Shelly:)

[Bob & Sandy]

Hi Shelly,

 

We are going with a couple from New York on a Limoinrome tour

with Claudio on August 19 (Celebrity SUMMIT).

 

Two questions:

 

1) Did you prepurchase admissions to any of the sites?

(e.g. Colosseum, Palatine Hill, etc)

 

2) Do you have any helpful hints about using limoinrome?

 

Thanks,

Bob

[travelling mom]

DH, DD and I just used romeinlimo services in Rome a couple of weeks ago. I bought Euros before we left and had the money ready in envelopes for each tour company. It was so much more convenient and I didn't have to worry. Francesco was our driver and he was great and we all had a day which we will never forget.

[Bob & Sandy]

Hi travelling mom!:)

 

Same questions as before:

 

We are going with a couple from New York on a Limoinrome tour

with Claudio on August 19 (Celebrity SUMMIT).

 

Two questions:

 

1) Did you prepurchase admissions to any of the sites?

(e.g. Colosseum, Palatine Hill, etc)

 

2) Do you have any helpful hints about using limoinrome?

 

Thanks,

Bob

[travelling mom]

Hi Bob & Sandy

 

We did not pre purchase tickets to the Colosseum/Palatine Hill. Francesco, our driver made a call while driving into Rome. He drove us to the Palatine ticket office and Duman had our tickets all ready. We took a stroll through the Palatine Hill and then onto the Colosseum. When entering the Colosseum, keep to the left, the line on the right is for people purchasing tickets.

 

Tips, let's see:

1. You can ask them to pick you up a little bit earlier. They picked us up at 7:45am. They will be waiting for you as you exit the ship with a sign. It took us just under an hour to arrive in Rome.

2. Ask your driver to take you to the house where you look through the 'Peep hole'. Sorry, I can't elaborate on what you will see, it's a surprise!

3. If you are visiting the Vatican, make sure you get a guide. Our guide was Julia. She's so knowledgeable and my teenage daughter was so amused with her facial expressions and hand gestures that she was not bored at all. All the information she provides you with really puts things into perspective. At the Vatican, we walked right in. We spent about 3 hours at the Vatican and St. Peter's and we were back at the ship by 5:30 pm.

Overall, a truly unforgettable day.

If you any any further questions, I'll try to answer them.

[bellagirl]

Hi-I can echo everything that travellingmom just said. Duman took us to a spot on Palatine Hill to purchase tickets for the Colosseum and we just walked in on the LEFT hand side. It was too easy.

Ditto for the key hole experience-you have to see it to believe it.

Due to time constraints(our ship hit a storm at sea and we were late coming into the port),we only had time to visit St. Peter's. We had Sarah as our guide and she was wonderful.

The only thing I wish we had had more time for was the Roman Forum. We saw it from above and then moved onto Capitoline Hill. It was nobody's fault-as I said, our time was limited due to the sea storm-but if I were to go back, I would walk around the Forum instead of just viewing it from above.

 

Enjoy Rome!! Shelly

[Bob & Sandy]

To both of you!

[nikita]

Hi-Before we left for our cruise, I got Euro travellers cheques to pay romeinlimo. Like you, I didn't want to carry around a bunch of cash with me,so the travellers cheques worked well. At the end of the tour, I just signed my name and handed them to Duman.

We got the cheques free from our local CAA bureau. If you're a member of AAA,they may be free for you as well.

Regarding tips, I would just make sure you had some euros on hand. Don't worry, you will enjoy your tour-like you, I hired them just for the two of us(DH and I) and it was an unforgettable day.

Enjoy and best of luck! Shelly:)

 

This is interesting - I didn't know you could buy Euro travelers checks. Did you get a decent rate? We are AAA members so hopefully I can do this. I like the idea. How much did you tip them? (if you don't mind me asking...) Were you able to charge the travelers checks to a credit card? (love those points!) Thanks for the information!

[nikita]

DH, DD and I just used romeinlimo services in Rome a couple of weeks ago. I bought Euros before we left and had the money ready in envelopes for each tour company. It was so much more convenient and I didn't have to worry. Francesco was our driver and he was great and we all had a day which we will never forget.

 

Would you mind telling me how much you tipped him just for the two of you? Don't want to be cheap but paying so much for the tour itself don't want to go overboard either...Thanks!

[travelling mom]

Would you mind telling me how much you tipped him just for the two of you? Don't want to be cheap but paying so much for the tour itself don't want to go overboard either...Thanks!

 

 

I agree that these private tours are quite expensive for 2 to 3 people, and generally are much cheaper for a larger group. The advantage of a small group is that you don't have to spend time waiting for others. We were able to visit many sites within a span of 5 hours which included some time for a pizza and gelato lunch. We then spent 3 more hours at the Vatican. We felt it was well worth the cost for the 3 of us. Tipping is so subjective, I would use 10% as a guideline, but it would really depend on what you are comfortable with.

[Barbie075]

I am also curious on this travellers checks in Euros?? Where can I get them in the states?? I will check with AAA, but are they available at local banks as well?

[FinelyRetired]

Just curious. I am almost sure that I found the right website to inquire a week ago about a tour with romeinlimo. Never got a response. I've emailed many other guides all over Britain, West Eur, Baltics & Med. & booked......never had a problem, spam divert or otherwise. So I may be using the wrong email and/or website.

 

Anybody have recent, valid email for romeinlimo?

 

Thanks

[travelling mom]

Just curious. I am almost sure that I found the right website to inquire a week ago about a tour with romeinlimo. Never got a response. I've emailed many other guides all over Britain, West Eur, Baltics & Med. & booked......never had a problem, spam divert or otherwise. So I may be using the wrong email and/or website.

 

Anybody have recent, valid email for romeinlimo?

 

Thanks

 

 

The email I used to contact Jany from romeinlimo is info@romeinlimo.com.

[nikita]

I am also curious on this travellers checks in Euros?? Where can I get them in the states?? I will check with AAA, but are they available at local banks as well?

 

FYI - I read another post today on these boards about euro travelers checks and it was discouraging - said you can't cash them easy and have to wait in long lines to exchange them. I think if I use them at all it will be only for our romeinlimo tours and just use ATMs for any extra cash we may need.

[Binok]

Our bank secured euro traveler's checks for us. We could cash them at our ship's (Celebrity) bank and receive euros. We did this just about every evening for the next day's expenses. They do not give you even exchange if you are using dollar traveler's checks. Their exchange rate was not great. We also used romeinlimo. Great tours. We had our euros ready to pay our driver at the end of the tour. No problem. We cashed them in Venice at the American Express office before our cruise. I think you might run into trouble cashing them at banks rather than the AMEx offices. We also purchased some euros from our bank so we'd have some to use for our two days pre-cruise. We'll probably do the same thing again for our October cruise this year.

[FinelyRetired]

The email I used to contact Jany from romeinlimo is info@romeinlimo.com.

 

Thank you travelling mom!

 

I was using WRONG web & email address. Emailed Jany last night and rec'd reply this morning already.

[cruzcation]

I need some help in planning sightseeing for a two night, pre-cruise stay in Rome.

I'm hoping that we can visit the Vatican museum the afternoon of our arrival. I see that tour guides are highly recommended. Did you book the tours before your trip?

 

Also, I'm thinking of booking Romelimo tours for the next day to visit all other highlights. Which of their tours would be suggested so that we may walk around not only the Colleseum but the Forum, etc.

Thanks for assistance.

[DancerOT]

I know Monia has been having some trouble with her email. Try again and I am sure she will email you back.

[Jade13]

2. Ask your driver to take you to the house where you look through the 'Peep hole'. Sorry, I can't elaborate on what you will see, it's a surprise!

.

 

Can you give us a hint where this is as I am now curious? St Peters?

[BILLME]

We are using http://www.driverinrome.com for our tours and plan to buy euros on the AAA site, they deliver overnight.

 

Two years ago we were in Italy on a land tour and exchanged our dollars there but with the tight schedule of ship to shore excursion we decided to buy them at home and like others have said, have each tour $ ready in envelopes. We took a tip from Rick Steves on our land tour and used a money belt for all our cash, passports, etc. Worked out great, we had no problems.

[travelling mom]

I need some help in planning sightseeing for a two night, pre-cruise stay in Rome.

I'm hoping that we can visit the Vatican museum the afternoon of our arrival. I see that tour guides are highly recommended. Did you book the tours before your trip?

 

Also, I'm thinking of booking Romelimo tours for the next day to visit all other highlights. Which of their tours would be suggested so that we may walk around not only the Colleseum but the Forum, etc.

Thanks for assistance.

 

 

Romeinlimo will tailor the tour according to your needs. They will generally show you the highlights of the City. They will accommodate you if you wish to spend more time at a certain venue ie. Colosseum. Please bear in mind that the more stops you make, the less time you will have to see the rest of the sights. For example, we spent an hour at the Colosseum and Palatine Hill, and about half an hour at the Pantheon. We were then able to stop and take pictures at Circus Maximus, Forum, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Victor Emmanuel Monument, and Trajans Column. Due to time restraints, we were given 30 minutes of shopping time :( (not nearly enough time for me IMO) and then had a quick pizza and gelato lunch. Most of the afternoon was reserved for the Vatican Museums and St. Peter's. I can't stress enough about getting a guide for the Vatican. They make your visit so much more captivating with all the information that they provide.

For a great and inexpensive souvenir, buy postcards and stamps at the Vatican store and send yourself or your love ones a postcard from the Vatican. It will be Vatican postmarked! A tip, make address labels of people you want to send postcards to before you leave for your trip and just stick them onto the postcards. Make sure you mail them in the yellow Vatican mailboxes.

[travelling mom]

Can you give us a hint where this is as I am now curious? St Peters?

 

Sorry, but I don't recall where the house was located, it could be near the Forum area, but then I could be wrong.

[Jade13]

Sorry, but I don't recall where the house was located, it could be near the Forum area, but then I could be wrong.

 

I googled the location, and without giving anything away

 

"Located in the artistic and enigmatic Piazza dei Cavalieri di Malta, a gate bars the entrance to the Priory of the Knights of Malta. Queue up to have a look through the ornate keyhole.....

 

 

The piazza is placed on the Aventine Hill (Aventino), which is a nice tranquil place to stroll on a sunny day. To reach the keyhole, you follow Via di Santa Sabina from the Circo Massimo (Circus Maximus) past a rose garden, two attractive churches and a couple of delightful panoramic parks. One, a walled garden filled with orange trees, hosts outdoors theatre in the summer months."

 

 

 

Can a car drive right up to this location?

[davejohn]

 

Can a car drive right up to this location?

 

Yep, car or van. I don't think a tour bus would fit.