capecod14

we used Lima Mentor -- thought they were great

We recently were on a cruise that did three ports in Italy - Florence, Rome and Naples. When we were planning these trips we checked into shore excursions with the boat but decided to go with Rome in Limo and do small group tours. We were so pleased with the trips and the service we received doing our three port tours. I will share some of our experiences and let you see how our days went.

We started in Livorno, commonly known as Pisa/Florence. We were late getting off the boat and by the time we got to Pisa we had missed our scheduled time to climb the tower….never fear Vinny, our driver, was there to help! As soon as we arrived at the tower he went to the ticket office and was able to arrange for our group to climb the tower, everyone was so thankful. After some time in Pisa, we traveled to Florence and we were able to get so close to all of the main sights in Florence. There was one couple that had some difficulty walking long distances but we never had to worry as usually we were within 2 blocks of any attraction. We told Vinny wanted lunch at a LOCAL restaurant. He took us to a very small place that had fabulous food and very reasonable lunch prices. Our average meal was 5 euros + drinks. Today, we are still talking about the buffalo mozzarella and prosciutto. We wasted no time during the day because there were only 8 of us, seeing all the major sights. At the end the day we still had time to stop at a local winery sampling wine and olive oil. The wine was so good we shipped 2 cases back to the states.

Our next stop was Rome. Here, we were met by Vincenzo. We headed to the city and made our first stop at the coliseum. We had not bought tickets in advance but again we were saved and tickets were obtained without waiting in a long line. We saw the main sights in Rome only missing out on the Pantheon but that was because of a demonstration taking place that day. We wasted no time in Rome with lunch – there was too much to do, a slice of pizza at the Trevi fountain was perfect. In the afternoon we were off to the Vatican where we met Sara, our guide arranged by RIL. She was great and gave us a wonderful tour of the Vatican.

Our last stop was Naples. We were met by Raffaele and went off to the Amalfi Coast we went. It was an intermittent rainy day but we did get to see some of the fabulous views along the coastline. When we stopped along the way, Raffaele assured us we wouldn’t get wet and out came umbrellas for all of us. A little time to check out the shops and take a walk and we were back on the road to Sorrento, one of my favorite towns! We had time to walk around the shopping area. We are not shoppers but managed to find some wonderful limoncello chocolates that we brought home for stocking stuffers for Christmas. We stopped for lunch at a local restaurant. Here we had great pizza, the specialty of the area. After lunch we were on to Pompeii. We had not planned a private guide for Pompeii. At the last minute we decided, if possible, we would like a guide. Again, RIL came through for us and after arriving at Pompeii we were greeted by Carmine who gave us a wonderful tour. We highly recommend this. Without a guide we would have missed so much.

All in all our experience with Rome in Limo was very positive and I am returning to Italy soon and will be booking more tours with them. I highly recommend them.

We used RIL for 3 ports in November - they were wonderful. I suggest a guide for the vatican, we had Sara and she was wonderful. All arranged in advance. We also had a guide for Pompeii - well worth it. We did tip on top of the cost of the trip - the guides were well worth it. There is just the guide who drives also. If you are going to the coloseum in Rome get tickets in advance - also Tower of Pisa but check with RIL for best times. The best part of using them is they are able to get very close to the sights so you don't waste time. Enjoy, we did.