RomeInLimo questions

[RzCruzes]

slyster: Yes i did see your roll call post. Maybe if you had the Liberty OTS and the sail date it will be easier to "spot". There just may not be alot of Cruise Critic members on that sailing. Don't give up tho, just keep adding a post to the thread so it'll stay on the first couple of pages and I hope you'll get some response. I do understand that it would be great if you got another couple to join in to reduce the per person cost, but if you don't , you will not regret going ahead with the tour. It is worth much more than RIL charges!

Yes, I was closer to F'burg. I had kids that lived there and had a business there. Good luck.

 

countrycruzer: You are exactly right in regards to the the little bit more spent than on the cruise lines bus tours! They are a cattle call and the RIL drivers knowledge has no pricetag! The information and history we were told on our tours was priceless, and it was loads of fun. The time saved was wonderful to be able to experience more of Italy in our short time. I have been to Rome many many times and I still use RIL. There is so much to see and do in Rome and in surrounding areas. I use RIL at all Italian ports, I wish Duman could expand to surrounding countries! They are the best!!

[slyster]

Thanks for your feedback. We have agreed to definitely use RIL regardless of whether we get two-four others. I'm hoping that happens. Thanks again. I will keep bumping it up from time to time.

[hylasgirl]

Thanks for your feedback. We have agreed to definitely use RIL regardless of whether we get two-four others. I'm hoping that happens. Thanks again. I will keep bumping it up from time to time.

 

 

We've booked this way several times and we've never had to tour alone. Definitely keep your Roll Call near the top of the roll calls and your posting about a tour opening on each page. I've found very few people will go back through past pages of a roll call.

 

Good luck! You'll love RIL!:)

[DONNALAKA]

We used Rome in Limo for all our tours in Roma pre cruise. We were a party of 4 & 6. We did a night time highlight, all day rome , a tuscany tour and then from the ship in Naples. We were please w/all the tours and drivers and wouldn't hesitate to use them again. Our drivers were Alberto, night tour of Rome, Franco and Nikki were our driver and guide All day Rome and then Giovanni from the port of Naples. GREAT going guys and thank you for a great expeience in Italy !

[Loonbeam]

We just used RomeInLimo for 3 ports off of the Liberty of the seas - very pleased with all 3..

 

A couple of notes:

 

Livorno - Vinny was our guide here. Very personable, very knowledgeable. It was a bit grey in the morning for Pisa but cleared up nicely in the afternoon for Florence. He showed us a wonderful little trattoria in an old wine cellar in Florence and helped translate the menu. Stopped for a winery tour and wine/olive oil tasting at an excellent winery. Van was large and super spacious. Big key for us was Vinny spoke to the guard at the Accademia and we jumped the HUGE line. (Side note, the David was very impressive, but I actually enjoyed some of the side exhibits more - notably the musical instruments and some others). You do very much want to pre-purchase tickets as recommended.

 

Citavecchia (Rome) - Here we had Mauricio (who we now refer to as Moses after his parting of the sea of traffic). A little more reserved than Vinny, but that seemed to fit the town better. One point - if you happen to visit Rome on a Wednesday after a Papal Audience earlier in the day and an event in St. Marks later that day, be prepared for crowds! We had Katherine as our guide and she was excellent, very knowledgeable and kept us moving through the packed Vatican museum (she swore it was the worst she had seen in 12 years of guiding). It was breathing room only at all the main attractions and traffic was horrid by Rome standards, which means we didn't get to see some of the smaller side sights the RIL drivers often can fit in, but it wasn't Moses' fault I assure you! I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH how much having a private guide enhanced the Vatican experience at the speed you need to move through there!

 

Naples - We had Rafael here and he was also excellent. For those of you who watch CSI, picture Jim Brass with an Italian accent. We did the Amalfi coast and Pompeii. At his suggestion, we did Pompeii in the afternoon, which was a great idea, less crowds and trying to hike the lovely but steep hills of Positano after marching around Pompeii would have been brutal. We did the Private guide at Pompeii as well (we had Andrea - he was also great and we were able to cover a lot, as he constantly checked with other guides to move us to locations where there were no crowds! - Andiamo!!) - Rafael had a soundtrack CD for each leg of the trip and had us all singing along - probably to distract us from some of the scary sheer drops :) He also recommended a great place for lunch in Sorrento. We know it was good because the drivers met up and ate there too!

 

Talking with those who did Ship's tours, I have no doubt we saw more and were more comfortable, for in most cases less per person (we had no problem getting 8 per tour on a fairly slow roll call). Plus the drivers always stayed with or secured the van so we had a safe place to leave purchases and other belongings.

 

They get highest marks from me.

 

 

If you want to see how much we covered, here's a small subset of the over 4000 pictures I took. Italy starts around page 8. Look for the leaning tower.

 

Edited October 22, 2012 by Loonbeam

[Hodgy11]

I just wanted to add to this thread as I organised a tour for 8 in our recent HAL Cruise on Niew Amsterdam.

We too had Vinny as our Driver, who was fantastic. He got us to Pisa before any of the buses and took us into Florence via the Winery Region.

He was able to get us straight inot eh Accademia, even getting pass those waiting outside who had purchased 'skip the line' tickets.

As mentioned by another poster, he took us to a Cellar Restaurant, which was magnificent (all 8 of us ate for a total of 76Euro!)

Van was lamost new and very comfortable.

If you get Vinny, make sure he also takes you to his favourite ice cream shop too, ah Venchi!!!!!!

Value of this tour was undoubted as we spent less than the people who just used the ships transfer into Florence and were left to their own devices.

Highly recommend.

[2luv2golf]

Our tour w/RomeinLimo was seeing the Amalfi Coast on 10/4/1012.We started w/an hour stop in Sorrento to enjoy some shopping and taste testing the Limoncello and anything else made of lemons, which I happen to love lemons. Then off to Positano to enjoy another hour of wandering the streets and heading down to the beach where I could finally place my feet into the water. From there we headed to DA Costantino for lunch. While the food was very good, especially the bread, you might have taken the waiter as a little rude. My husband I found it hysterical that he said to us "Stupido American Touristo come to an Italian family style dining restaurant and order ensalda", as the couple at our table enjoyed their salad. I figured he was agitated that none of us chose the family style dining as we ordered off the menu, which he didn't offer a menu we had to ask. After lunch we headed to Pompeii, where Diego called ahead to get us a wonderful guide, Suzy. She was so enjoyable and knew our time limit and moved us along, she felt bad she didn't have time to show us more as she really enjoys giving tours. Having been a tour guide myself, I understood her dilema. My husband thought we were going to go look at a pile of rocks, we had no idea how huge Pompeii really is. As we shared the tour w/3 other couples, not everyone can keep the same pace or have the same interest, but this couple enjoyed our time. After several ports of renting a vespa in Mallorca & a rental car in Sicily, it was nice to sit back relax and have someone with such a gregarious personality take care of us. That evening at dinner while sharing daily experiences w/the other couples we found out that HAL cancelled the tour to the Amalfi Coast due to some kind of protest? Needless to say she wasn't to happy when she heard of our wonderful experience. I realize HAL errs on the safe side, but tours are the livelyhood in this area and I heard Diego on his radio w/other tour guides as they know what is going on up and down the coast. Just a note if you are one to get car sick, I thought the MB van was awesome, however, 3 sit looking out the driver window & 3 sit looking out the back window, course huge windows on both sides of the sliding doors and 1 person in front. I grew up in a mountain town driving over a narrow mountain road w/many switchbacks so it wasn't a problem for my husband & I, however, the one couple had a problem. I would recommend RomeinLimo as we personally had a delightful experience.

[dvhboss440]

My husband, daughter and I booked Rome in Limo via the internet based on reviews here and TripAdvisor. We were on a Solstice Cruise Sept.20 - Oct. 2, 2012. For Pisa/Florence....Francesco was our guide and he was awesome. We had lots of laughs and learned so much about the area. He took us to a wonderful place for lunch and then before the end we went to his favourite Gelato place. We had an amazing time and learned sooooo much about the area.

The next morning our driver was Michele (Mike) and again had a great time and learned so much about Rome!

The third day we were picked up by Stefano and again had a fantastic time. He took us to the Sorrento and Amalfi Coasts. Wow, such an amazing area and a bit of a narrow road in parts, but he was such a safe driver we weren't at all worried about our safety.

We felt very spoiled for those three days we went with RomeInLimo and it was worth every penny (Euro). I would definitely use Rome in Limo if I were to travel to Italy again. Great company and great tour guides/drivers!!!

[JoeJ]

Our people were very good -- personable, knowledgable, adaptable, and spoke understandable English. We would use them again.

[garyb(uk)]

Great Reviews

 

We are doing back to back days Florence/Rome. I have walking limitations (need a walking stick) and two 9 hour days back to back sounds very tiring. What are others experiences?

[Loonbeam]

Another group had limited mobility issues. In one case, a person chose to skip one attraction and stay with the van to rest a bit. And honestly, Florence was not as much walking if you do the Accademia, Pisa, etc. The biggest walking there was the shopping area down to the Pontevecchio.

 

Rome may be a bit more of a challenge. The Vatican and Colliseum can be very crowded and cover a lot of ground, and you need to keep up a pretty decent pace to cover the Vatican in the allotted time. The colliseum is at your own pace. It's also a bit of a walk (10 mins) to the Trevi fountain from the closest vehicle spot.

 

There's downtime in the van between each location however, and lunch breaks.

 

 

Great Reviews

 

We are doing back to back days Florence/Rome. I have walking limitations (need a walking stick) and two 9 hour days back to back sounds very tiring. What are others experiences?

[JoeJ]

My experience is that Florence would be tough because parking is hard to find and you have a moderate walk just to get to the areas with the points of interest, and they are relatively spread out. In Rome, you could move around in a vehicle and see many interesting things. Colosseum is a tough walk if you want to go inside. If you can afford it, get a private or semi private tour. There are some great guides and also some friendly and knowledgeable drivers. I have some knee and foot problems and I was sore and tired at the end of each day.

[Meena]

We just returned from our trip and used RomeinLimo for the second time out of Naples. To our surprise, we had the same driver, Ciro, as last year. We absolutely loved him and the service he provided. He was the best; explained each region we traveled though and again took us to a great restaurant for lunch, this time in Sorrento. We just can't say enough positive things about RomeinLimo and can highly recommend them if anyone is thinking of booking. Just do it, you won't be sorry.

[sallybrown2012]

I just discovered this thread - what an amazing wealth of information. Thank you to everyone who has posted here. We will be cruising the Med next summer and I am definitely going to look into Rome in Limo!

[hylasgirl]

Great Reviews

 

We are doing back to back days Florence/Rome. I have walking limitations (need a walking stick) and two 9 hour days back to back sounds very tiring. What are others experiences?

 

 

I hired Romeinlimo the year before last because I was touring with my mother who has limited mobility and also my daughter who was (still is) going through treatment for leukemia. Romeinlimo was AMAZING in getting us everywhere we needed to go with as little walking as possible. They even arranged for the guide to have a wheel chair just in case my daughter needed it at the Vatican. I'll always recommend them!

 

If you need a private service that can do whatever possible, it's Romeinlimo.

[t-bird.tim]

We just returned from two weeks on the EPIC and had used RomInLimo for all 3 of our stops in Italy. Our drivers Giampiero, Rolando and Elisabetta were great. The guides hired by RomInLimo were very knowlegable and pleasant. I wouldn't hesitate to use them again. Had a great time and hope to return.

[garyb(uk)]

Hi,

 

Thanks for all the information. I have now set up groups in May for both Florence & Rome.

 

My question is re the Vatican visit. RIL recommends that we have a private tour for the cost of €150 (presumably for the group). Do those that have been there feel a private Vatican tour is worth it?

[CruiserBruce]

Hi,

 

Do those that have been there feel a private Vatican tour is worth it?

 

Absolutely. If you read back on this thread you will see MANY comments about the value of a guide to the Vatican.

[inverblue]

Just returned from our cruise, and would like to recommend the services of Rome In Limo. We booked on with a group from the Celebrity Solstice, to visit Pisa and Florence. We were met by Laura who was a great tour guide, driver and a good laugh for the whole tour. Her knowledge of the area was very impressive, and she communicated this very well to the group. Would not hesitate to use this company again when we return to Italy.

Paul & Shirley

[nglenden]

Just returned from the the solstice we used Rome in limo for 3 of our Italy ports. We had Elisabetta in Florence we did Pisa and Lucca she did and amazing job explaining everything to us prior to getting out of the vehicle. Pisa is just incredible and Lucca and ancient walled city not for those with mobility issues, narrow hilly cobble stone streets.

In Rome we had Franco he also was a wealth of information Rome in a day is pushing it. He made sure we saw the highlights but it only left us wanting to go back to Rome for more. We arranged a private guide through Rome in Limo for the Vatican, Sylvia was her name and I don't think we would have seen or understood what we saw without her and your Rome in limo guide is only for your group worth the extra money.

In Naples we had Ciro a wonderful 24 year old who is passionate about his job and it shows. we did the Almalfi coast and Pompei. He asked us in the morning if we needed a guide for Pompei and we let him know we did at lunch. Carmine met us at the entrance and showed us the city again there was just our group what an insight he had and a great sense of humour. We ended our day at a small winery and did a bit of wine tasting the winery staff was wonderful and accommodating since Ciro called again at lunch to arrange it. Bought several bottles of wine to take home and some of the best olive oil we had tasted and they will ship to US or Canada 120 Euros for a case of 48 it may just happen after we share what little we bought with another couple who like Italian wine.

I cannot say enough about all our guides, knowledgeable, accommodating, would use them again.

[Gracie115]

Hi,

 

Thanks for all the information. I have now set up groups in May for both Florence & Rome.

 

My question is re the Vatican visit. RIL recommends that we have a private tour for the cost of €150 (presumably for the group). Do those that have been there feel a private Vatican tour is worth it?

 

 

It would be for the group and is well worth it. There is so much to see and having someone who knew the museums and all the ways around the always long lines made a HUGE difference to our visit. We had Serena for a guide and she was wonderful. :D

[pklein9747]

I just wanted to add my voice to everyone else's about how wonderful RomeInLimo can be. We booked them for all three ports in Italy...Naples, Citiavecchia and Livorno. And as you will read...they went above and beyond what was expected of them.

 

We had two 8 passenger vans in Naples...our drivers were Tony & GIovanni and they were great. Unfortunately, one person on our tour had a major accident (fell down a flight of stairs) in Sorrento and severely broke his leg. Rome In Limo was absolutely wonderful, helping to transport his wife and friends to the hospital, taking care of the rest of us, bringing his wife back to the ship and waiting 2 1/2 hours while she packed up all their things and then bringing her all the way back to the hospital in Sorrento. They made hotel arrangements for her and I understand they visited both of them in the hospital and brought pastries. They were also going to transport them to the airport in Naples...at no cost...when he was released from the hospital. They did not have to do any of this...the man did not get hurt on their van and was off on his own in Sorrento, but these gentlemen and the company stepped up big time!

 

In Citiavecchia, we had a 15 passenger bus with Alfredo driving and Serena...one of the best guides ever! We did the Highlights of Rome tour and it did not disappoint. And, unfortunately, again we had another accident. One woman took a wrong step in the Vatican Museum courtyard, fell, and landed on her face, cutting the area above her top lip. Serena immediately took charge, got the Vatican Museum guards to secure a wheelchair and went with her to the medical offices to take care of her cut. Thankfully, she didn't need to go to the hospital (though she did get stitches when she returned to the ship). Serena made sure she was well throughout the day. She took us to all the important places in Rome and made the entire trip delightful.

 

Thank goodness in Livorno we didn't have any problems, but our driver Marco and guide, Eurica, were again wonderful. They got us to Pisa early before a marathon was scheduled to begin and Eurica took us on a fabulous walking tour of Florence. All of RIL's guides are so knowledgeable and have great people skills. They were a joy to spend the day with.

 

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend RomeInLimo to anyone and will certainly use them the next time we visit Italy.

[samavarcruiser]

I just wanted to add my voice to everyone else's about how wonderful RomeInLimo can be. We booked them for all three ports in Italy...Naples, Citiavecchia and Livorno. And as you will read...they went above and beyond what was expected of them.

 

We had two 8 passenger vans in Naples...our drivers were Tony & GIovanni and they were great. Unfortunately, one person on our tour had a major accident (fell down a flight of stairs) in Sorrento and severely broke his leg. Rome In Limo was absolutely wonderful, helping to transport his wife and friends to the hospital, taking care of the rest of us, bringing his wife back to the ship and waiting 2 1/2 hours while she packed up all their things and then bringing her all the way back to the hospital in Sorrento. They made hotel arrangements for her and I understand they visited both of them in the hospital and brought pastries. They were also going to transport them to the airport in Naples...at no cost...when he was released from the hospital. They did not have to do any of this...the man did not get hurt on their van and was off on his own in Sorrento, but these gentlemen and the company stepped up big time!

 

In Citiavecchia, we had a 15 passenger bus with Alfredo driving and Serena...one of the best guides ever! We did the Highlights of Rome tour and it did not disappoint. And, unfortunately, again we had another accident. One woman took a wrong step in the Vatican Museum courtyard, fell, and landed on her face, cutting the area above her top lip. Serena immediately took charge, got the Vatican Museum guards to secure a wheelchair and went with her to the medical offices to take care of her cut. Thankfully, she didn't need to go to the hospital (though she did get stitches when she returned to the ship). Serena made sure she was well throughout the day. She took us to all the important places in Rome and made the entire trip delightful.

 

Thank goodness in Livorno we didn't have any problems, but our driver Marco and guide, Eurica, were again wonderful. They got us to Pisa early before a marathon was scheduled to begin and Eurica took us on a fabulous walking tour of Florence. All of RIL's guides are so knowledgeable and have great people skills. They were a joy to spend the day with.

 

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend RomeInLimo to anyone and will certainly use them the next time we visit Italy.

 

WOW, what a great review, thanks for sharing it with us

[choosetocruise172]

We used romeinlimo for a private 1 day tour for 4. They were fantastic! worth every penny. I had done a ships tour before and there was no comparison and NO waiting outside the Vatican on line for 90 minutes! Vinny, our guide was fantastic and we missed him in every country we visited after. Cheria our Vatican guide was also wonderful. We had other good guides in other places but none quite as good as these. We were on Hal Ryndam Sept 2012.

[bgyoshi]

Have anyone shared RomeinLimo tours with people from a different ship? I will be on Serenade of the Seas (Royal Caribbean) and it appears the Celebrity Equinox is on relatively same path and I found 3 tours I want to do that's with the same people, same dates, but just different ship. Anyone has experience with this? Pros/Cons?