lawtyger

In contrast another 2 companies I have contacted have responded with suggestions for how my husband could get the best out of the day and am leaning towards booking with one of them instead

My research has showed that there are a lot of operations out there providing similar excursion services. If the other two companies you mentioned have great reviews then I would suggest you book with one of them if the tours they provide are what you want to do.

We plan to use RIL for Rome and Florence but were considering two other operations as well that had the same level of reviews. The tie breaker for use was the promptness of RIL's responses to my questions - and there were many and I am not the patient type. This was the tie breaker for me because although I truly believe I would have just as good of an experience with the other two companies on the day of the tour (based on the reviews) they were a bit slower in responding (one had an automated e-mail that said they would get back to me within 2 days - although they actually got back to me in one day).

In my case, RIL won my business for these two ports (unless there are any future breakdowns in communication) based on the timeliness and quality of their responses to my questions but there was certainly nothing wrong with the other two companies we were considering. It is unfortunate your experience with RIL was different then mine, but you sound like you have two other worthy options to choose from so just pick one of those that met your communication needs and have a great tour with them.

My wife and I just finished a cruise of the Mediteranean on the Celebrity Solstice and used RomeInLimo in Florence, Rome, and Naples. IIt was more expensive than the shore excursions on the ship but we were able to see much more than others we spoke to aboard ship. Having a private car enbles the drivers to get much closer to the attractions and time is not wasted loading and unloading the bus. A few examples - in Rome we saw all the major attractions plus the Vatican Museum including the Sistine Chapel. In Naples we were able to visit Sorrento, the Amalfi coast including Positano, and Pompeii. The ship's shore excursion visited Sorrento and Pompeii only.

 

In both the Vatican and Pompeii we arranged for private guides and glad we did. Both were very knowledgeable and made both places come alive.

 

Yes, this was more expensive way to go, but worth every penny.

OK everyone, I have read several times comments like "it was more expensive than the ship excursion." I was confused in reading this until I realized that people must not be comparing their apples to my apples. For example, I am considering two tours with RIL in a group of 8 for each. By my calculations, going with RIL is CHEAPER than doing the cruise ship excursions that are similar site wise. I am assuming that what is happening is the people that say it is more expensive than a comparable ship excursion must be doing a 2 person, 4 person, or maybe 6 person tour.

If that is the case, it may be helpful to future readers if when comparing the cost of the tours in the thread everyone specifically says how many people were in their group because I'm not a math wiz but by my calculations there is no way that a group of 8 or more is the same expense, let alone "more expensive," than a cruise ship excursion. Throw in the other benefits of a private excursion and choosing a ship exclusion is pretty hard NOT to choose over a private tour like RIL or others in most situations.

p.s. - Let me just add that of the private tours I've contacted to compare services, this Jany person is amazing in her response time. That's not to say the others are not responsive, but it seems like RIL must have Jany dedicated to making sure responses are fast. When price and tour sites are equal among tour operators, little things like a really fast response can be an excellent tie breaker IMO.

I will echo the advice in Livorno. We used RomeInLimos in that port and it was handy to see the countryside which is one of the things we wanted to do. But for Florence we were mainly on foot. So if your emphasis is Florence, take the train.

I assume if you want to do Pisa in addition to Florence (even if only a quick stop), then a private tour/driver is the only way to go?

Thanks Terry, I'll be taking all your advice into consideration when likely deciding between the Sony and Nikon. I also look forward to incorporating your "secrets" on the upcoming adventure.

 

Good questions from lawtyger. Will try to answer that later today or tomorrow morning. Got a large work project to get done in the next four days.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Thanks Terry. Just as an additional information, I'm leaning towards one of the following cameras at the moment:

Sony HX9V

Nikon S9100

Olympus SZ-30MR

Again, I realize these are travel point and shoot cameras and a completely different class of camera than you use (being lower that is) but ultimately the convenience of having it in my pocket at all times is best for usage and the level of photography I'll likely remain at.

I think with the Olympus in particular, what was initially attractive was a 24x zoom but I now question if that much zoom is needed for what I hope to accomplish on the trip and if that is more zoom than is needed, then the Sony and Nikon are preferable to me because of some other quirks the OLympus has.

Hi Terry,

First let me say what has clearly become an unanimous opinion in this thread - you have done a wonderful job educating us with your wonderful pictures and excellent commentary. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this thread and is has totally increased my excitement for my very similar cruise on the Solstice in May.

That said, you have also sparked my desire to upgrade my current digital camera which, well, isn't all that current. I currently have a 7 year old Sony W7 point and shoot camera and have have no complaints about picture quality generally since I am nowhere near an avid photographer. However, I have always been frustrated with its very minimal 3x zoom. So many pictures of yours made me think - "man, I really need a camera that zooms a bit farther. . . I don't want to be sailing into Venice and not be able to get some great closer up shots of St. Mark's Square, or particular building architecture, etc."

So one of my questions to you is - how much zoom do you typically use when shooting and how much zoom do you suggest a good camera have?

Coming from a 3x zoom camera, I'm sure anything above that will be joyful. On the flip side, while I initially thought the more zoom the better, I'm now thinking that I don't know if it makes a lot of sense to have a camera with 35x zoom when only .05% of my shots will ever be that zoomed in. Thus, I while I started to look at some bridge non SLR camera which you can't carry in your pocket, I really think that the best type of camera for me is a point and shoot that I can keep in my pocket. And, seeing that technology has increased and it is possible to get a point and shoot that has 14x, 15, 18x zoom, I'm hoping this is a good plan.

So, with all that in mind, do you have any camera suggestions you could suggest?

I don't ever expect my pictures to turn out like yours, but I did cut and copy the tips you provided on picture taking and plan to try to incorporate them when using my eventual new camera.

P.S. - Thanks again for taking such great pics as, beyond just being wonderful to view, they have also tricked my wife into thinking that I could actually take a pictures like that with a new camera and therefore she has approved the funds for the new camera purchase :) Hopefully I make the purchase before she actually gets this far in your thread ;)

Hi looking for a hotel for night of 11/8 - has anyone been successful with bids on this date....

Thanks :)