RomeInLimo questions

[stuboat]

Just to add what many others have said, use ROMEINLIMO without fear or concern. Always on time, always top people and reasonably priced. We had Duman (the owner) himself for our trip back from the port to Rome. very impressive guy. I was most impressed that he helped a woman who was supposed to be met by another company and her driver hadn't shown up. He went out of his way to contact that company and make arrangements for her transportation with them and wouldn't take any money from her when she offered.

[Curio2]

Greetings fellow cruisers!

 

My mother and I just got back from a great cruise upon the Norwegian Gem in October. We met others on this message board to put together excursions in Naples, Rome, and Pisa/Florence.

 

We did Naples (Pompeii and Sorrento) "on our own" (well, with 16 fellow cruise critic members) using the local "Circumvesuviana" train from Naples to Pompeii and Pompeii to Sorrento and then took a hydrofoil back to Naples from Sorrento. It was very easy to do (just make sure everyone in your group has a copy of a map from the port to the train station) and it ended up being a fabulous day.

 

We had an 8-person van for our Rome in Limo tour of Rome. Although our service was as promised (comfortable van, door-to-door service, pre-booked Vatican guide, Julia, who was spunky and knowledgeable, and a chance to visit all the major Rome/Vatican City sites in one day) I was extremely disappointed in our driver/guide Rolando. Instead of using the time in the van to tell us about the history of Rome, the culture of Rome, the sites we would be visiting, basically anything useful... he instead chose to talk about the following topics: 1) how rich he was (not a very good strategy for someone wishing to receive a tip at the end of the day), 2) how much of a playboy he was (how he selected American women for their loose morals), and 3) how intelligent he was (especially compared to women, who he obviously disdained). As a strong, independent, American woman with morals, I was extremely offended by many of his comments. Ask for a different driver/guide if these topics or extreme arrogance also offend you and if you actually want to learn something about Rome/Italy on your trip.

 

We had a 6-person van for our Pisa/Florence trip. Our driver/guide David was excellent. He took a lot of time to explain the history, culture, sites, etc. and to point out details we wouldn't have gotten from a guide book. He listened to what people in the van wanted to see and adjusted our tour accordingly. We took back roads to have the opportunity to admire the Tuscan countryside, visited a winery, had time to climb the Leaning Tower, and had an option of which museums we wanted to visit (my mother and I visited both the Accademia and the Uffizi with reserved tickets, while others visited only one or neither of these museums and were given other options to fill their time instead that they seemed extremely satisfied with). It was a wonderful day. I would highly recommend you ask for David for your Pisa/Florence tour.

 

Cheers!

[mousemom11]

We had an 8-person van for our Rome in Limo tour of Rome. Although our service was as promised (comfortable van, door-to-door service, pre-booked Vatican guide, Julia, who was spunky and knowledgeable, and a chance to visit all the major Rome/Vatican City sites in one day) I was extremely disappointed in our driver/guide Rolando. Instead of using the time in the van to tell us about the history of Rome, the culture of Rome, the sites we would be visiting, basically anything useful... he instead chose to talk about the following topics: 1) how rich he was (not a very good strategy for someone wishing to receive a tip at the end of the day), 2) how much of a playboy he was (how he selected American women for their loose morals), and 3) how intelligent he was (especially compared to women, who he obviously disdained). As a strong, independent, American woman with morals, I was extremely offended by many of his comments. Ask for a different driver/guide if these topics or extreme arrogance also offend you and if you actually want to learn something about Rome/Italy on your trip.

 

Good heavens. I'm impressed with your self-restraint. I would have whacked him over the head with my Baggalini by his 4th or 5th statement of this type. ;) Uh huh, real intelligent to anger the customer who will be tipping you (or not) at the end of the day.

 

Have you emailed Jany about him? He certainly does not sound like he is up to their standards as a driver. As a business owner, I would want to know if one of my employees was putting off my customers like this.

 

Glad to hear that your other excusions went well.

[Grandpaul]

Just to add what many others have said, use ROMEINLIMO without fear or concern. Always on time, always top people and reasonably priced. We had Duman (the owner) himself for our trip back from the port to Rome. very impressive guy. I was most impressed that he helped a woman who was supposed to be met by another company and her driver hadn't shown up. He went out of his way to contact that company and make arrangements for her transportation with them and wouldn't take any money from her when she offered.

 

We had Duman as our driver and felt the same way about him. He took us on a very informative tour in spite of being interrupted to conduct business on his phone. But it was never inconvenient. I would hope to get him when we go back next year.

[55J5-5]

Greetings fellow cruisers!

We did Naples (Pompeii and Sorrento) "on our own" (well, with 16 fellow cruise critic members) using the local "Circumvesuviana" train from Naples to Pompeii and Pompeii to Sorrento and then took a hydrofoil back to Naples from Sorrento. It was very easy to do (just make sure everyone in your group has a copy of a map from the port to the train station) and it ended up being a fabulous day.

Cheers!

Curio2

Can you email me with just what you did on this day? My group is interested in trying this on our own also.

Thank you.

Sarah

[Host Karen]

Curio2

Can you email me with just what you did on this day? My group is interested in trying this on our own also.

Thank you.

Sarah

 

Sarah,

It is more helpful to our members if people share their experiences on the boards rather than offline, so perhaps Curio2 will be kind enough to post the answer here.

 

Karen

HostKaren@CruiseCritic.com

[ORV]

We arranged 3 tours with RIL(you get a nice discount when you do multiple tours) with others from our roll call. The communications were always answered quickly and professionally. We had 3 different people making the arrangements for different cities and there was no problem cross referencing us to get the discount.

 

Our first trip was with Laura from the port of Livorno to Pisa and then Florence. She was very enthusiastic, informative and professional. She made the day a pleasure. We saw everything we wanted and she made sure to take us to a gelato stand in Florence away from the "tourist section" where the gelato was better and reasonably priced. I would recommend her as a driver for anyone in this port. She sure likes to talk. We had a group of 8 this day and went to the musuem with the David statue and didn't have to wait in line at all. The van was super clean and comfortable.

 

Our next trip was in Rome with a group of 16 with Nicolai and Mauro for drivers. As the Colisseum was closed until 1pm that day we had to do a bit of rearranging. We saw many, many things in Rome that day, far too many to remember. We did a tour of the Vatican musuem with a guide and the Sistine Chapel. After this part of our group went back to the Colisseum and the rest of us did other things. The driver for the group that went back to the Colisseum got tickets while we were in the Vatican so there would not be a wait when they went back.

 

At no time did any of us feel any pressure to eat at any places recommended by the drivers. Lunch was our choice, as we were in a hurry to see a lot of things we just grabbed a quick bite.

 

The best advice I could give for a tour in Rome is to edit out a couple of places so you could spend more time in The Sistine Chapel and St Peter's. We would have liked a little more time there. This is advice I had read here that we didn't heed but I wish we had. Rome wasn't built in a day and you sure can't see it all in a day. One thing about the tour company is that they have access to parking spots that get you close to the things you want to see. Otherwise you would have to do a lot more walking.

 

Our third tour was from Amalfi to Pompeii, Positano and a drive of the Amalfi coast. There were 16 of us on this tour also. We had a guide in Pompeii that was full of information. Our driver was Giovanni who was enjoyable. One of our favorite lines of his was, "We go over here, I show you everything" We had lunch at La Tagliata which is very high up on a hill overlooking the sea at Positano. Absolutely fantastic. This was not recommended by them but was our request due to posts we had seen here about it. Family style food, all you wanted with a party going on the whole time we were there. The only complaint that a couple in our party had was that we didn't have a meat course. It would have been nice but I'm not sure we had room for it. They had a great house wine and limoncello included.

 

At all of our stops the driver was waiting for us with a sign with our name on it. All of the vans were comfortable and the drivers professional & courteous. There were no issues with being back on time. They do this everyday and definitely keep you on schedule. The cost was less than it would have been to book larger, shorter tours from the ship. It is definitely a win win.

 

If we make it back to that part of the world we will definitely use Rome In Limo for tours again. Thanks for 3 memorable days.

 

Here's a shot from the restaurant in Positano

 

Edited November 4, 2009 by ORV

[55J5-5]

Sarah,

It is more helpful to our members if people share their experiences on the boards rather than offline, so perhaps Curio2 will be kind enough to post the answer here.

 

Karen

HostKaren@CruiseCritic.com

 

Karen, your right about sharing. I only asked for the email because this thread is about Rome in limo and didnt want to get anyone in trouble by going off topic.

 

I could have started a new thread asking about doing naples on your own i guess. :o

 

ORV - wonderful pic. Thanks for sharing. My group is looking at booking Romeinlimo for multiple ports too.

[cruisemom42]

Karen, your right about sharing. I only asked for the email because this thread is about Rome in limo and didnt want to get anyone in trouble by going off topic.

 

I could have started a new thread asking about doing naples on your own i guess. :o

 

ORV - wonderful pic. Thanks for sharing. My group is looking at booking Romeinlimo for multiple ports too.

 

If you do a search on this board, you'll find tons of info on doing Naples on your own. Depending on what you want to do, DIY is pretty easy (particularly for Pompeii, Capri, or Sorrento) and very inexpensive.

[euro cruiser]

We saw many, many things in Rome that day, far too many to remember.

I've rewritten my response/question about this post several times trying to figure out how to ask it without sounding critical or snarky. I truly am interesting in understanding this, as it is so different from my way of touring. I know it appeals to many, so clearly I'm missing something.

 

I guess what I'm not understanding is the value equation - I can't wrap my head around what is good about seeing more than you can remember. If you're doing so much that you know you won't be able to take it all in or remember it, why is it important to do it? Is it a greater value to know that you've been there and done it, even if you don't remember it?

 

On the flip side, I know that my way of travel drives other people nuts (several of those people are related to me, by the way :rolleyes:, which is why it would be helpful if I could develop some appreciation for the value of the "see it all" approach.) I tend to be at least as interested in the process of getting from place to place as I am in the destinations themselves, which I can attest bores the pants off others.

Edited November 4, 2009 by euro cruiser

[ORV]

I've rewritten my response/question about this post several times trying to figure out how to ask it without sounding critical or snarky. I truly am interesting in understanding this, as it is so different from my way of touring. I know it appeals to many, so clearly I'm missing something.

 

I guess what I'm not understanding is the value equation - I can't wrap my head around what is good about seeing more than you can remember. If you're doing so much that you know you won't be able to take it all in or remember it, why is it important to do it? Is it a greater value to know that you've been there and done it, even if you don't remember it?

 

On the flip side, I know that my way of travel drives other people nuts (several of those people are related to me, by the way :rolleyes:, which is why it would be helpful if I could develop some appreciation for the value of the "see it all" approach.) I tend to be at least as interested in the process of getting from place to place as I am in the destinations themselves, which I can attest bores the pants off others.

 

Well, a big part of it is my manner of expression. What I meant is that I could tell you what all we saw but I'm sure I would forget the names of some of the places. It doesn't diminish my enjoyment of the statues we saw in the Vatican musuem even though I can't remember the names of them.

 

As noted I feel like some of the things could have been passed by to concentrate more on some other things. Of course what is important to you might be different for me or someone else.

 

As an example I have no idea what the name of this is or who the creator is, but it was one of my favorite pieces of art at the Vatican;

 

 

Edited November 4, 2009 by ORV

[bernardo]

Its "sphere within a sphere" by Arnulfo Pomodoro.

 

The outer sphere supposedly revolves around the stationary inner sphere (world revolving around the church).

 

Blitzkrieg travel can be fun because you see these wonders and then go figure out what they mean/represent later. So, you re-visit the experience.

 

RomeinLimo rocks. La Tagliata was superb....I don't know how one could have fit in a meat course after the primi and the pasti, and I travelled with a friend who's motto was "that which can be eaten, shall be eaten." Even he was groaning at the end of our lunch.

[Terpnut]

I've rewritten my response/question about this post several times trying to figure out how to ask it without sounding critical or snarky. I truly am interesting in understanding this, as it is so different from my way of touring. I know it appeals to many, so clearly I'm missing something.

 

I guess what I'm not understanding is the value equation - I can't wrap my head around what is good about seeing more than you can remember. If you're doing so much that you know you won't be able to take it all in or remember it, why is it important to do it? Is it a greater value to know that you've been there and done it, even if you don't remember it?

 

On the flip side, I know that my way of travel drives other people nuts (several of those people are related to me, by the way :rolleyes:, which is why it would be helpful if I could develop some appreciation for the value of the "see it all" approach.) I tend to be at least as interested in the process of getting from place to place as I am in the destinations themselves, which I can attest bores the pants off others.

A colleague of mine and her family once drove the 16 hours roundtrip from San Francisco, CA to Crater Lake, OR and back, and only spent 45 minutes there! When pressed as to how a long trip and a "quick peek" was worth all the driving, she basically furled her eyebrows at me and said something like "we went and saw it so what else was there to do?". The same family does this type of "drive by" sightseeing all the time. They've "seen" much more of the world than me, but I think they miss so much. To each his own, but I'm with you in "experiencing" more of the sights. :) Edited November 4, 2009 by Terpnut

[euro cruiser]

A colleague of mine and her family once drove the 16 hours roundtrip from San Francisco, CA to Crater Lake, OR and back, and only spent 45 minutes there!

LOL - I have to believe that people who do things this way really are more interested in the journey than the destination, whether they realize it or not. After all, don't the choices we make regarding how we spend our limited time and money say more about our priorities than our words?

[Red Raider Girl]

We arranged 3 tours with RIL(you get a nice discount when you do multiple tours) with others from our roll call. The communications were always answered quickly and professionally. We had 3 different people making the arrangements for different cities and there was no problem cross referencing us to get the discount.]

 

May I ask what kind of discount you got? I booked all 3 locations for 16 of us and the only discount we got was to pay 2009 prices and not whatever 2010 would be. I did not feel this was that great a discount and not what I heard others on CC had received.

Will anyone else share their discount as well?

Edited November 5, 2009 by Red Raider Girl

[caffeinatedmom]

Red Raider Girl - We recently booked 3 excursions for 2010. I also asked for a discount and was told that they would lock in 2009 prices for us in lieu of a discount. Maybe they're getting so much business from this message board that they're increasing rates? :o I'd love to hear what others have to say about discounts..

[Terpnut]

LOL - I have to believe that people who do things this way really are more interested in the journey than the destination, whether they realize it or not. After all, don't the choices we make regarding how we spend our limited time and money say more about our priorities than our words?

I call it "checklist tourism". The objective is solely to say that you've been there and can check it off the long list of places you've always wanted to see. The important verb is "see"--not really visit, not experience, not learn something about, not immerse yourself in, and not understand anything--but rather to "see". :)

 

I have this "problem" within my own family. My dad once planned a family trip to Hong Kong. Almost 48 hours of round-trip travel time and he spent much of the trip in the condo watching the same Chinese TV shows he already watches back home in the US!

 

And we spent several weeks in Europe this past summer with my parents, and every time I asked them what they'd like to do in a given port, they'd say, "well, we'll just get off the ship and walk 100 meters to so and so and that's good enough so we can say we've been there". If I dragged them along on one of my extended tours (e.g. in Firenze or Pompeii/Sorrento/Amalfi), they fizzled very fast and looked bored for much of the tour. I was very disappointed, for example, when our day out of Napoli allowed us only about 20-30 minutes in Positano, but it was perfect for my parents!

 

Next month, my parents are sailing Indy OTS on her TA out of London. I asked my dad, how much time are you spending in London pre-cruise, and he responded "we've been there for a day before and saw everything, so we don't want to waste time there." To me, a wasted opportunity to visit a wonderful city, but oh well... :rolleyes:

Edited November 5, 2009 by Terpnut

[cruisemom42]

I call it "checklist tourism". The objective is solely to say that you've been there and can check it off the long list of places you've always wanted to see. The important verb is "see"--not really visit, not experience, not learn something about, not immerse yourself in, and not understand anything--but rather to "see". :)

 

 

Not to get too off-topic with this discussion (might make for a thread with some good discussion -- "What's your travel style?"), but I'd like to add another category in addition to the "checklist travelers" -- the "clueless travelers". I find it so very difficult to wrap my head around the concept that some travelers are spending a good deal of money on what, for some, is a once-in-a-lifetime trip, yet they do no research in advance and have no idea, once they arrive, what they want to see or will be seeing on their tour........ It boggles me.

 

I just read on another forum about someone who was visiting a destination that's well known but not as commonly visited as Europe -- usually not a place visited more than once. They arranged a private tour with a guide, but (and I quote) "we put ourselves totally in his hands, as we did not know exactly what should be seen and what should be skipped." :eek:

 

A subcategory of this one would be the "clueless shoppers" -- the ones who not only have no idea what they'll be seeing on their tour, they are not interested and want to know how much time they'll have for shopping after the tour ends.

[Terpnut]

Not to get too off-topic with this discussion (might make for a thread with some good discussion -- "What's your travel style?"), but I'd like to add another category in addition to the "checklist travelers" -- the "clueless travelers". I find it so very difficult to wrap my head around the concept that some travelers are spending a good deal of money on what, for some, is a once-in-a-lifetime trip, yet they do no research in advance and have no idea, once they arrive, what they want to see or will be seeing on their tour........ It boggles me.

....

I don't think checklist tourism and clueless travelling are actually two different categories, but rather two common and shared characteristics of the same travelling demographic. Checklist tourists (like my parents) are usually clueless too. How else to explain how they believe they've "seen" everything in London or Barcelona because they already did a 90 minute city bus tour? :D Edited November 5, 2009 by Terpnut

[mousemom11]

We arranged 3 tours with RIL(you get a nice discount when you do multiple tours) with others from our roll call. The communications were always answered quickly and professionally. We had 3 different people making the arrangements for different cities and there was no problem cross referencing us to get the discount.]

 

May I ask what kind of discount you got? I booked all 3 locations for 16 of us and the only discount we got was to pay 2009 prices and not whatever 2010 would be. I did not feel this was that great a discount and not what I heard others on CC had received.

Will anyone else share their discount as well?

 

Red Raider Girl - We recently booked 3 excursions for 2010. I also asked for a discount and was told that they would lock in 2009 prices for us in lieu of a discount. Maybe they're getting so much business from this message board that they're increasing rates? :o I'd love to hear what others have to say about discounts..

 

This is exactly what they did for me when I booked our 3 2010 excursions with them - 2009 prices for 2010 excursions. It will be interesting to see what the 2010 prices are when they come out.

[eandj]

As I recall the discount was 50 euros on each full van tour if you booked three tours this year. So prices would have to go up pretty much to get that discount amount. I'd ask for a straight up discount quote now. Not make any assumptions about 2010.

Edited November 5, 2009 by eandj

[bionicman97]

When we went with romeinlimo in Nov 2008 for three ports, we got 10% off.

[euro cruiser]

The important verb is "see"--not really visit, not experience, not learn something about, not immerse yourself in, and not understand anything--but rather to "see".

LOL - the other verb usage that immediately causes me to re-read something is "do", as in "we did Rome".

[Red Raider Girl]

 

 

 

This is exactly what they did for me when I booked our 3 2010 excursions with them - 2009 prices for 2010 excursions. It will be interesting to see what the 2010 prices are when they come out.

 

 

Well since we are on the same cruise, I now feel better. :) I had heard of great discounts everyone else got but I was not overwhelmed.

[bernardo]

We booked 4 days (Livorno, 2 days in Rome, and Amalfi) with 6 people per day and Duman gave us 50 Euro off per day.