Donyb

We will be sailing from Port Liberty in October. It is a new embarkation port for us. We are looking to stay the night before our cruise in the Newark Airport area. Does anyone know of a decent hotel that offers a "park and stay" program and if the hotel provides transportation to the pier?

Thank for any info that can be offered.

Our plans have changed. We will now fly out of Basel. Does anyone know the distance from the docks and approximate taxi cost?

I'm looking for information too. We are ending our cruise in Basel. We plan to taxi to the train station to catch a train to Zurich Airport. My questions are:

1) does anyone know the distance and time from from the docks in Basel to the train station (SBB).

2) what is the approximate taxi cost

3) for anyone who has done a river cruise ending in Basel, what was the earliest time you could disembark.

I read on another travel advice web site that the Swiss rail web site is incorrect about buying the ticket on the train. You must pre-purchase it either at the station or on the web site. Supposedly there is a stiff fine if you don't have a ticket.

I hope someone can post answers to my questions.

Since I asked the original question and I'm seeing answers that vary, I wonder if we are all talking about the same thing. We use our Capital One money market account which has a bank card that can be used ONLY at an ATM. We CANNOT charge anything with it. It does not have a Visa or MC logo nor does it have any kind of hologram type seal on it. And while it has 16 numbers on the front, they are grouped differently than regular debit cards (ours is 6 3 and 7 as opposed to 4 sets of 4 numbers). We have been using this banking card successfully all over the world for the last 5 years. I now believe it will also work at a bank ATM in Holland.:)

I must take exception to Kamloops50 as we have been using our ATM cards to get cash out without a problem in past years. The person who told me about the Holland issue claims it is a problem unique to Holland right now. Thank you Redman1947 for your first hand experience. I hoping to hear from more posters who have been to Holland recently.

We will be arriving in Amsterdam in October to begin European travels. Today, someone who has traveled there extensively told us that he could not use his ATM card at ATM stations in Amsterdam because his US bank issued card has the magnetic strip and that only cards with the "chip" work in the machines. Is this correct information?? We have not had a problem thus far in other European countries but have never visited Holland.

I was on the Silhouette a couple of weeks ago and it was readily available.

Thanks for the replies. I'll give it a try and hope for the best.;)

Has anyone tried to bring a case of water onboard in Ft. Lauderdale? I've seen others put a luggage tag on it and send it with their checked luggage. Someone on our roll call has posted that Princess will not deliver it to the cabin. Can anyone clarify with their recent experience?

Pia you are so right. My pessimism is showing. Think how happy I'll be when I find out I'm wrong!;)

I was told by travel agent I booked with that it counts as one cruise. Did shareholders request and got the OBC amount for longer cruise. Same for FCC. Will take it up with Princess Circle representative once onboard but my guess is that this will be considered one cruise. We'll see.

We are booked on a 9 day and were told that it will not count as 2 voyages.:confused:

We used the services of RomeInLimo again for our port stops in Italy in October. As we have used them three times on three previous trips, you can guess that we believe that they are excellent at what they do. From first contact with Jany in the office to meeting our guides immediately when disembarking the ship, the whole process was almost effortless.

Our guides were Luca in Messina, Diego in Naples and Mike in Rome. They are such an asset to the company! Luca gave us a wonderful tour of Mt. Etna, a honey farm and Taormina. All this was done in a shortened tour as our cruise line reduced our time in port. Diego took us to Positano, Sorrento and the ruins of Herculaneum. We had lunch at a wonderful family owned restaurant in Sorrento. Diego also serenaded us with some popular hits we all associate with Naples. It was great fun and yes, he has a good voice! For our stop in Rome, we chose to do something a little different by visiting Lake Bracciano, Ceri and having a wine tasting lunch. Mike was our guide and claims to be one of the “senior” guides for RomeInLimo. He went so far above and beyond for us by arranging to have the castle opened (it was Monday and it is normally closed) for us to have a private tour with a guide. It pays to know the right people!! We also went to an olive processing facility and the trattoria we went to for lunch and wine was an absolute highlight for all eight of us.

All of the tour participants at each port thanked me for arranging tours with RomeInLimo. I did not hear even the slightest hint of anything they didn’t love about each of the tours. I knew that all would go well though as I’ve never been unhappy in my relationship with this tour company. I give them an A+++.

Hi cruisemom42,

We also will be doing a tour of Herculaneum in Oct. If you aren't totally tired of sending your notes, I would love to have them. E-mail is brodon82 at yahoo dot com.

Thanks.

Nancy

We returned on 11/17 to the U.S. aboard the Grand Princess. I arranged a private tour for 15 people (2 vans) with Lisa Ringelberg. I had read about her on Cruise Critic threads and I am so glad to have found her. Our tour included visits to Sete Cidades, Lagoa do Fogo and Caldeira Velha to name a few places. The highlight of our tour was a "farm lunch" of local Portugese food. It was prepared by a delightful couple and we ate in their dining room. I believe Lisa is the only person who does this type of thing for tourists. Everything about the tour was wonderful and Lisa's love of the island is very evident in her narrations and answers to questions.

While I don't know what the ship's tours might have been like, I find it hard to believe anything could have come close ot our private tour.

I would like to add my comments to how wonderful romeinlimo is. We utilized their services in May, 2009 in both Rome and Florence. We have also booked them for a tour of the Vatican for this coming October, 2010 and will be joining a tour from Livorno with someone else who has booked them for a wine tour.

In Rome, we were lucky enough to have Duman, the owner of the company as our driver guide. He was right at the pier in Civitavecchia when our group of 8 disembarked. He has a wonderful smile and was neatly dressed in a suit to meet us. Our tour was on May 1 and it was a national holiday. We were not sure what sites we would actually get to see as many things were closed. However, Duman managed to find out that one of the Catacomb sites was open and that was our first stop. He arranged for one of the resident monks to show us the underground. It was a moving experience for all of us.

Afterwards, we visited the highlight sites of Rome, he called ahead for us to be able to get our Coliseum tickets quickly and he than wanted us to see one of his favorite churches, St Igancio of Loyola. This church is not on the “tour list” of most companies but was one of the highlights of our day. I doubt if we would have seen it without his showing it to us. All eight of us already loved him but this was the icing on the cake.

We then had an absolutely delightful lunch at a restaurant he chose. In the afternoon, we did St. Peter’s Basilica and afterwards, Duman took us to a neighborhood gelato spot and we all had scoops of that wonderful delight.

All of us hugged Duman when he dropped us at the pier. It was like we were family.

The next day, our ship arrived in Livorno. I had also pre-arranged a full day tour with romeinlimo and again, our driver/guide, John, was waiting at the appointed time when we disembarked.

He told us that it would be about and hour and a quarter drive to Florence. Enroute, he took us through some beautiful rolling hills where we could get a flavor of the Tuscan countryside. Our first stop was an overlook park where we could see the city spread before us. It was breathtaking.

We then visited a leather shop (I came out with a jacket I never knew I needed!) and that shop was on a square where there were merchants who sold a multitude of things including great cheese and olives. One member of our group bought some of each and shared it on the van enroute to our next stop.

We visited the Academia (John called ahead for our tickets so we again bypassed lines of people) and did a number of other stops. One of the things I had requested ahead of time was a visit to a winery where we could have lunch and sample olives and wine. He took us to a place called Tenuta Torciano. The owner of the winery came out and personally greeted us. We were taken into a room in the wine cellar and had the most delightful lunch and samples of wine…lots and lots of wine. We bought olive oil and wine to bring home.

Our ride back to the ship in the van was VERY quiet!!! Wine and good food has a way of putting people to sleep!

Duman and John where at the pier as promised, they had us back to the ship in plenty of time for sailing, were very knowledgeable and kind and they were “family” by the end of the day.

I’ve done a fair amount of travel and romeinlimo ranks as about the best for private tours. On a scale of 10 they are 10+++.

Thanks for the reply Sandy. We'll check these people out and see if it works for us.:)

Nancy

Yes Sandy, please give me the name of the person you used. We have about 4 couples who are interested in doing something there and the prices we have so far are pretty pricey. Will look forward to your reply.

Nancy

Thanks for the info Lois. I'm curios about why some did not like the port. Will you share why??

We are on a Princess cruise in early Nov. In gathering lots and lots of info from this forum and the threads for Princess, I have written in my notes that maybe in this port we can book our tours on our own as there is a tourist booth right outside where the ship docks.

Has anyone been there recently and do you know if this is correct information? Any help that can be given would be appreciated.