RomeInLimo questions

[risasol]

We just returned from Voyager of Seas with three excellent trips with RIL in Naples, Rome and Florence. Gianni was lots of fun in Naples, taking us to Pompeii (with Meyna as a good tour guide) and Amalfi coast. Word of caution: we were probably not clear or insistent enough about wanting to go to a basic trattoria for lunch...instead, Gianni took us to a pricey restaurant on hills of Sorrento with an amazing view and gorgeous setting but a menu with little choice of pastas...we also missed on getting to the emerald grotto because either we weren't clear enough or there was a language gap....but otherwise, Gianni was a very fine driver/guide for the family.

 

In Rome, we had Emanuel from RIL. He was excellent as he got us to see everywehre in Rome we wanted, a great trattoria and excellent gelato. He was very helpful and time conscious. Wish we had some more guidance inside Colisseum.

 

For Pisa, if you have kids, I recommend, thanks to cruisecritic review boards, you insist on running 1st thing in the am for tickets to climb the tower of Pisa...it was a highlight for kids even if took time out of Florence. Clara, our wonderful RIL driver, understood this need and adapted nicely, still getting us to see the Tuscan countryside and everything we wanted in Florence. She was the only one of our guides to supply water - very thoughtful and nice touch. She was even accommodating to let us have our gelato in the van, in order to still fit in all we could before then. She was warm, understanding, friendly and even taught us some good pasta recipes to take home with us. A very memorable day, in large part thanks to her warmth and enthusiasm. Clara, please contact us if and when you return to visit nyc.

[hcat]

We have Rome Limo booked to take us to/from the airport at FCO to/from our pre & post cruise hotels.. The car for the two of us is 130 E each way...

 

Would a 10 E tip for each trip be adequate since the driver is only taking the two of us & not a group , or should we consider 15 E or more ? (At home we tip $20 from our home to JFK--a bit closer & maybe an easier ride???) What is the norm for Italy?

 

What about shorter trips from our Cv hotel to the ship (less than 1 mile)?

From our post-cruise hotel to the airport (a shuttle service)?

Is there a suggested percentage?

 

Thanks--can't wait to cruise--leaving next week for Rome!

[daisylou71]

We have just returned from Voyager of the Seas and used RIL for a tour of Rome. We had Manuel as our driver and he was fantastic, very knowledgable and happy to answer all our questions. He made sure that we saw everything we wanted to see was always there to pick us up in the designated area and right on time.

We had Paula as our guide for the Vatican and she was brilliant, without her we would not have known what we looking at!!

Our dinner mates on the ship went to Rome on their own and didn't get to see inside anywhere because the queues were so long and they didn't have enough time!

Manuel took us to a small pizza cafe for lunch which was just what we asked for and the pizza was lovely!

We certainly had a wonderful day in Rome thanks to Manuel and Paula....we will definately use Romeinlimo again.

 

Louise :D

[suresp62]

This is so late in coming but I have to share our wonderful vacation with Romeinlimo. This was our first trip to Europe and 6 of us wanted to see the sights in the short 8 hour days our cruise's ports of call allowed for. We were lucky enough to be shown around by Nicola, Cattelao and Walter in Rome, Naples/Pompeii and Pisa/ Florence respectively. They were knowledgeable, entertaining, lively friends we made on vacation. I Highly recommend this company and the tours they help coordinate. Our Guides that they chose were amazing, and truly memorable. All in all,the professional attitude they adopted to ensure we enjoyed our trip makes us sure we will call on them again when we return (and we definitely will return to Italy)! :D

[David]

HCAT:

 

I think you'll find that the service you get from Romeinlimo will be superlative -- much more personalized than if you took a taxi. We had two vans pick up 12 of us at FCO and bring us to our hotel in central Rome. Most of the drivers will provide information about the city or point out various places you see as you drive throught the city. Having a car for 2 people will mean the ride will be even more personalized than with vans.

 

In general, we found that the drivers were quite satisfied with a 10% tip -- but we always rounded up to the nearest 5 euro. On the days Romeinlimo took us on full-day tours, we rounded up to the next 5 euros that divided evenly among each of the couples. For example, we had two vans take us on a full day tour of Tuscany for a total cost of 1100 euro. Divided equally among 6 couples, that came to about 183 euro. The drivers were extraordinary; the day was wonderful; and we each gave the drivers 210 euro per couple (although 10% rounded up to the next 5 euro would have been 205).

 

Since there are only two of you, if you are paying 130 euro, I would think a reasonable tip would be 15 euro. In the end, of course, gratuities are at your discretion.

 

Hope this helps.

 

David

[ALM54]

the first was a private tour of Tuscany, with stops at two wineries and the two beautiful medieval towns of San Gimignano and Volterra. John (Gian) was our driver and he was wonderful and could not have been more accommodating or knowledgeable. We had door to door service and the whole day was a delight.

 

The second tour was a private tour for our one port day in Rome.

Francesco was our driver and Paola was our Vatican guide. We only had approximately 6 hours to spend in the city and my husband wanted to see was much as possible. With Francesco's help we are able to see everything we considered important in that small amount of time. He was wonderful, again dropping us as close to the sights as possible and making as many stops and for as long as we wanted. Paola was great too, very informative and professional and at the same time very welcoming of any questions. She made our Vatican tour much more meaningful for us.

 

If it fits into your budget I highly recommend the services of Rome in Limo.

[ALM54]

Some people have asked in this forum for the name and address of the pizza place near the Vatican that Rome in Limo uses during their tours. We just got back and I have to say the pizza was great.

 

For those interested the name is

Paradiso Pizzestre

Piazza Risorgimento, 50

 

tel. 06.6833709

 

Nice people and great pizza.

[masefield]

Hi. We have just returned from a Celebrity Summit European cruise. Giovanni's excellent, personalised tour for us last week in Naples was a highlight of our European trip. We were collected on time from the port and the entire day from Pompeii, to the Amalfi Coast, Sorrento and Postano was excellent enhanced by personalised treatment including chilled melon, home grown peaches and wine and the recommendation of an amazing restaurant high in the hills above Positano. I highly recommend Rome in Limo and Giovanni in particular.:)

[ranfam]

Could someone please post the website for Romeinlimo?

Thank you.

[mousemom11]

Could someone please post the website for Romeinlimo?

Thank you.

 

http://www.romeinlimo.com

[jasoncarty720]

Just got back from the RCL Voyager of the Sea and used Romeinlimo for the Port of Rome Excursion. It was by far and away the best of all the other excursions we had. Our driver, Nicola, was great - friendly, funny, knowledgeable, and a great driver (got us to and from Rome faster than RCL buses ever could). Katerina was our Vatican guide and well worth the extra 150 euro. She was able to bypass the lines, get us to all the best spots, and knew so much about the Vatican. We loved every minute of this tour.

 

Do the extra work and book an excursion through Romeinlimo instead of using the excursions offered by the cruiselines. The prices are very comparable (sometimes much better) and you get so much more out of it with a smaller group. We did a RCL excursion in another port and you crawl through the places with groups of 40+ people.

 

Romeinlimo.com

[mari10]

We just returned from the Solstice and used Romenlimo for our transfers to Rome and to the port and for our day in Naples.

We were in great hands, and did not have to worry about a thing.

Service is prompt, courteous, friendly and very professional.

Our day in Naples was spent in Pompeii with out extraordinary guide Lucia.

Lucia has such a passion about her, as well as being a walking encyclopedia.

She made pompeii come alive. Raefello then drove us to Sorrento for some walking around town and shopping. We then went to lunch up in the hills.We could have stayed all day! Our last stop was Herculaneum. It was an unbelievable fascinating day.

Romeinlimo, grazie mille.

 

Mari

[eandj]

We just returned this week from our Med cruise. We used Romeinlimo for both Rome and Naples. Rome was a fine experience. Also used a private guide thru RiL for the Vatican which was a smart move as we learned alot.

 

However, the Naples guide, Raphael, was a disaster. :( We joined the Pompeii/drive to Sorrento and Positano excursion. Firstly he was not a friendly or particulary verbal driver. English was not as strong as we'd had liked. We drove to Pompeii where we had a private guide for the 2 hours. No problem there.

 

However after leaving, we hit a traffic jam which caused us to take more than twice as long to get to Sorrento. Now the driver told us he was from the area. However, he didn't know that this hugely popular church festival on the way to Sorrento was happening on this day? :rolleyes: After a mediocre lunch (very small menu) at a restaurant with a beautiful view, the driver said we had no time to go to Positano. :mad: He hemmed and hawed about we would only have 15 min to "walk down the hill and then walk back up". Did he tell us before the long lunch? NO. We all would have chosen to pick up a snack and just move on down the coast to Positano. We ended up just going back to Sorrento for another 40 min. Sorrento is beautiful, but our day was incomplete without the visit to Positano.

 

I have written Rome in Limo re our complaints. The driver was on the phone several times. Did anyone tell him to do the itinerary in reverse to avoid the traffic? We don't know. All I know is that when we returned back to the ship, everyone we talked to said their drivers changed up their itinerary and routes to avoid the traffic. Hmmm why didn't our driver?

 

Rome in Limo gets so many happy recommendations here. But I will join the others who have had problems with drivers. Perhaps they are growing too large to check on the driver service? We did a tour in Florence with Pleasant Tours and it was excellent. Young, energetic driver who was entertaining and fun. The direct opposite of our driver from RiL for the Naples excursion. :rolleyes:

 

Maybe before booking with Rome in Limo, you should chck out names of drivers who get outstanding comments after their tours. Avoid anyone called Rafael.

Edited September 24, 2009 by eandj

[CruisingGoddess]

We just returned this week from our Med cruise. We used Romeinlimo for both Rome and Naples. Rome was a fine experience. Also used a private guide thru RiL for the Vatican which was a smart move as we learned alot.

 

However, the Naples guide, Raphael, was a disaster. :( We joined the Pompeii/drive to Sorrento and Positano excursion. Firstly he was not a friendly or particulary verbal driver. English was not as strong as we'd had liked. We drove to Pompeii where we had a private guide for the 2 hours. No problem there.

 

However after leaving, we hit a traffic jam which caused us to take more than twice as long to get to Sorrento. Now the driver told us he was from the area. However, he didn't know that this hugely popular church festival on the way to Sorrento was happening on this day? :rolleyes: After a mediocre lunch (very small menu) at a restaurant with a beautiful view, the driver said we had no time to go to Positano. :mad: He hemmed and hawed about we would only have 15 min to "walk down the hill and then walk back up". Did he tell us before the long lunch? NO. We all would have chosen to pick up a snack and just move on down the coast to Positano. We ended up just going back to Sorrento for another 40 min. Sorrento is beautiful, but our day was incomplete without the visit to Positano.

 

I have written Rome in Limo re our complaints. The driver was on the phone several times. Did anyone tell him to do the itinerary in reverse to avoid the traffic? We don't know. All I know is that when we returned back to the ship, everyone we talked to said their drivers changed up their itinerary and routes to avoid the traffic. Hmmm why didn't our driver?

 

Rome in Limo gets so many happy recommendations here. But I will join the others who have had problems with drivers. Perhaps they are growing too large to check on the driver service? We did a tour in Florence with Pleasant Tours and it was excellent. Young, energetic driver who was entertaining and fun. The direct opposite of our driver from RiL for the Naples excursion. :rolleyes:

 

Maybe before booking with Rome in Limo, you should chck out names of drivers who get outstanding comments after their tours. Avoid anyone called Rafael.

 

Thank you for posting such an honest review! I'm sorry that you were disappointed with your experience in Naples. I hope you had a good cruise overall though!

[eandj]

Thank you for posting such an honest review! I'm sorry that you were disappointed with your experience in Naples. I hope you had a good cruise overall though!

 

Oh our cruise was fantastic! Everything from the weather,ship, ports of call itinerary, pre and post city stays....just everything was just right.

 

This tour was our real only disappoinmnet. Granted not a 10 on the list of most important things. But I just wanted to add my two cents to the thread re Rome in Limo. Our experience shows not ALL their drivers are as great as others. Just don't assume only the best results. I've heard and read from others that some didn't even get into the Bascillica in Rome, due to time restraints.

[Terpnut]

We just returned this week from our Med cruise. We used Romeinlimo for both Rome and Naples. Rome was a fine experience. Also used a private guide thru RiL for the Vatican which was a smart move as we learned alot.

 

However, the Naples guide, Raphael, was a disaster. :( We joined the Pompeii/drive to Sorrento and Positano excursion. Firstly he was not a friendly or particulary verbal driver. English was not as strong as we'd had liked. We drove to Pompeii where we had a private guide for the 2 hours. No problem there.

 

However after leaving, we hit a traffic jam which caused us to take more than twice as long to get to Sorrento. Now the driver told us he was from the area. However, he didn't know that this hugely popular church festival on the way to Sorrento was happening on this day? :rolleyes: After a mediocre lunch (very small menu) at a restaurant with a beautiful view, the driver said we had no time to go to Positano. :mad: He hemmed and hawed about we would only have 15 min to "walk down the hill and then walk back up". Did he tell us before the long lunch? NO. We all would have chosen to pick up a snack and just move on down the coast to Positano. We ended up just going back to Sorrento for another 40 min. Sorrento is beautiful, but our day was incomplete without the visit to Positano.

 

I have written Rome in Limo re our complaints. The driver was on the phone several times. Did anyone tell him to do the itinerary in reverse to avoid the traffic? We don't know. All I know is that when we returned back to the ship, everyone we talked to said their drivers changed up their itinerary and routes to avoid the traffic. Hmmm why didn't our driver?

 

Rome in Limo gets so many happy recommendations here. But I will join the others who have had problems with drivers. Perhaps they are growing too large to check on the driver service? We did a tour in Florence with Pleasant Tours and it was excellent. Young, energetic driver who was entertaining and fun. The direct opposite of our driver from RiL for the Naples excursion. :rolleyes:

 

Maybe before booking with Rome in Limo, you should chck out names of drivers who get outstanding comments after their tours. Avoid anyone called Rafael.

I'm sorry you didn't have a perfect day in Naples w/Rafaele. We did the identical itinerary as you but I think everyone knows that to see Pompeii, Sorrento and Positano in one day is considered a very aggressive itinerary and nothing is guaranteed. I don't think it's fair to blame Rafaele for the traffic, and as to knowing about the jam, there aren't that many back roads or detours he can take anyhow. As for the long lunch, we too would've preferred a shorter lunch with more time in Positano (we did the "walk down the hill and walk back up") however I don't see how you can expect Rafaele to read your mind and preferences. If he had interrupted your leisurely lunch with the admittedly great views to rush you to Positano, you might have complained about the rushed lunch? The bottom line is that anyone trying to see Pompeii, Sorrento and the Amalfi coast is on a super tight schedule with NO margin for error or delay so everything has to go perfectly to pull it off. That means NO traffic or other delays or something has to give. This is precisely why the cruise line doesn't even offer the option! At least Romeinlimo will do their best to pull it off! If you had a good visit to Pompeii and Sorrento, that is an accomplishment. While I know missing the Amalfi coast is a big disappointment to you, if it were a priority, did you inform Rafaele at the beginning?

 

The most important lesson here is this: For people wanting to see Pompeii, Sorrento and Amalfi out of Napoli, it is imperative to understand that it is really pushing it to do it all. With very few and slow windy roads, potentially bad traffic and long distances, it cannot be assumed that you will see it all. Let your driver know what your priorities are so he can work with you however he is not God and cannot move other busses, cars, rock slides and construction zones out of the way!

Edited September 24, 2009 by Terpnut

[SunFunCruiser]

eandj,

 

That is a shame you didn't enjoy your tour with Rafaele.We had the same driver and went to the same places as you did. He was very professional and knowledgable about the area. I didn't find his English to be bad at all, we had no problem understanding him. I don't think there are many back roads in that area that can cut around traffic. I remember him mentioning that to us. He was also very accomodating to us with our picture stops and many questions.

 

As far as the menu in the restaurant. We just asked for other items and they happily provided anything we asked for. I'm not sure we would have shortened our lunch with that view for Positano, if we had to make the choice. Positano seemed more commercial than the rest of the tour. We basically walked down to the water and back up, was dying from the heat and couldn't wait to get back in the van! LOL

 

I know you said there are other people with problems, but this is the first one I ahve ever read. I guess everyone has a bad day. Even you had a good experience in Rome. I think the company as a whole is outstanding for professionalism and quality. I wouldn't hesitate to book through them again.

[eandj]

I'm sorry you didn't have a perfect day in Naples w/Rafaele. We did the identical itinerary as you but I think everyone knows that to see Pompeii, Sorrento and Positano in one day is considered a very aggressive itinerary and nothing is guaranteed. I don't think it's fair to blame Rafaele for the traffic, and as to knowing about the jam, there aren't that many back roads or detours he can take anyhow. As for the long lunch, we too would've preferred a shorter lunch with more time in Positano (we did the "walk down the hill and walk back up") however I don't see how you can expect Rafaele to read your mind and preferences. If he had interrupted your leisurely lunch with the admittedly great views to rush you to Positano, you might have complained about the rushed lunch? The bottom line is that anyone trying to see Pompeii, Sorrento and the Amalfi coast is on a super tight schedule with NO margin for error or delay so everything has to go perfectly to pull it off. That means NO traffic or other delays or something has to give. This is precisely why the cruise line doesn't even offer the option! At least Romeinlimo will do their best to pull it off! If you had a good visit to Pompeii and Sorrento, that is an accomplishment. While I know missing the Amalfi coast is a big disappointment to you, if it were a priority, did you inform Rafaele at the beginning?

 

The most important lesson here is this: For people wanting to see Pompeii, Sorrento and Amalfi out of Napoli, it is imperative to understand that it is really pushing it to do it all. With very few and slow windy roads, potentially bad traffic and long distances, it cannot be assumed that you will see it all. Let your driver know what your priorities are so he can work with you however he is not God and cannot move other busses, cars, rock slides and construction zones out of the way!

 

 

No where did I blame Rafello for the traffic. It was how the day was handled with that delay. He was not "in tune" with his passengers. Perhaps when he complained he had a cold and was under the weather, we should have read that as, "I'm not in a good mood."

 

Had Rafello told us about the chance of missing Positano and been offered a quick lunch stop rather than the long lunch, BEFORE going to the obligatory restaurant, we would have chosen that. Our gripe was that it wasn't until we were finished with the lunch did we hear there wasn't time to go to Positano. We were surprised at that point. Why weren't we told that when we arrived in Sorrento?

Obviously it is a long day to cover the three stops. However, if others' guides knew about the delays, my question is how did THEY know and ours didn't? Maybe better communication between the drivers or office would have helped?

I have heard in a reply to a letter I wrote, from the owner of the company who has been gracious. It obviously is not a slam on the company itself as we were happy with their other tour. As I said in my op, just wanted readers here to understand things and drivers can and do go wrong ocassionally.

I like to hear and share the good and not so good here. Don't you?

[eandj]

eandj,

 

That is a shame you didn't enjoy your tour with Rafaele.We had the same driver and went to the same places as you did. He was very professional and knowledgable about the area. I didn't find his English to be bad at all, we had no problem understanding him. I don't think there are many back roads in that area that can cut around traffic. I remember him mentioning that to us. He was also very accomodating to us with our picture stops and many questions.

 

As far as the menu in the restaurant. We just asked for other items and they happily provided anything we asked for. I'm not sure we would have shortened our lunch with that view for Positano, if we had to make the choice. Positano seemed more commercial than the rest of the tour. We basically walked down to the water and back up, was dying from the heat and couldn't wait to get back in the van! LOL

 

I know you said there are other people with problems, but this is the first one I ahve ever read. I guess everyone has a bad day. Even you had a good experience in Rome. I think the company as a whole is outstanding for professionalism and quality. I wouldn't hesitate to book through them again.

 

 

As I reiterated to Terpnut.... I did not and am not knocking the company. We had a good driver in Rome. They also arranged for decent guides for the Vatican and Pompeii. I wrote the "review" of our Naples tour to let people know that we did not have an ideal day.

Would we use the company again? Yes. I would just not want the same driver. As noted to Terpnut, he offered that he was ill, and perhaps he should not have taken the job for the day. His "off day" affected a group of eight passengers negatively.

[Kathy130]

eandj....Sorry that you had what you call a bad experience with Raphael....but we did the exact same itineraty as you in July, and had our best day ever with him. He WAS friendly, helpful, and took us to that restauranty where we had the MOST MAGNIFICENT lunch of our trip. We were a group of six, and hands down Raphael was considered top notch with all of us.

[ilovefridays]

eandj: I too appreciated your honest review. It gives CC'ers the chance to be mentally prepared as to what could go wrong. Surprisingly, there aren't many negative reviews here and sometimes, this might give the impression that the company could do no wrong or lead future cruisers to wonder at the authenticity of the reviews. Despite the "off" day your driver was having, many (including myself in Nov.) will still choose RIL. But at least I now know that I should not go in with too high an expectation for a perfect, traffic-free day in Naples or dillydally over lunch if I want to see Positano. :D

[BigGuy25]

I too am happy when folks also tell of their problems with tour providers when posting on CC.

 

But, I also must say that I don't think seeing Positano, Sorrento and Pompeii in one day is too ambitious ... unless you would like to spend a lot of time in any one place. We left the ship with RIL (Giovanni) and headed immediately to the Amalfi Coast before traffic was particularly heavy. We stopped for several "photo ops" before spending about an hour or so in Positano. Then we headed to Sorrento where we strolled and shopped for what we thought was plenty of time before heading to lunch at a fabulous seaside restaurant. We then headed for Pompeii. While we didn't spend a great deal of time at the site ... we felt that we spent enough to get a real feel of the history of this famous location. If you wanted to REALLY explore Pompeii fully you'd probably need an entire day there. But, we wanted to get a complete feel of the area and RIL delivered for us!!

Edited September 25, 2009 by BigGuy25

[David]

Let me put in my two cents because we used RIL for two full day tours in Tuscany, plus tours in Messina and Naples. We also used them for transfers from FCO to our pre-cruise hotel in Ropme, from the hotel to the ship, and from the ship to FCO. Overall, RIL met and in most cases far exceeded our expectations, which were already sky high from having used them before and from all the glowing reviews on Cruise Critic.

 

However, we had a problem with our day tour of the Amalfi Coast. We had two drivers, but not Rafaele. Part of the problem, as has been mentioned, is that the roads, especially in the the summer, are very crowded and slow along the Amalfi Coast. distances are greater than they seem because of all the switchbacks, and the traffic is very bad, particularly in and around Positano, because it is a large town built on a steep hill with basically one street to drive through -- and share with all the other traffic, including buses. It's not easy!

 

On our first visit to the Amalfi Coast we went to Pompeii in the morning, and then Ravello and Amalfi in the afternoon. We had a wonderful leisurely lunch near Ravello. This time we were much more ambitious. We went to Ravello and Amalfi in the morning, then on to Positano and Sorrento, which we hadn't seen at all the first time. The one problem we had with RIL was that they were very keen on taking us to that hillside restaurant for lunch overlooking Sorrento. It is, indeed a beautiful spot, and the restaurant people, while they had a small menu, were very nice about feeding us quickly, as we were running out of time to actually see Sorrento, and some of the people in our group needed to stop at a couple of places to shop in Sorrento. What troubled me is that we found our drivers meeting up with other RIL drivers and having a casual meal; our sense was that they all go to this place, and we would have preferred, in retrospect to go straight to Sorrento and have pizza in the center of town in order to have more time in Sorrento. By the time we realized how short on time we were, we were already at the hillside restaurant and nobody wanted to seem rude and tell the drivers we had to leave immediately for Sorrento, and so we stayed long enough for a relatively quick, light lunch, which was fine -- but we really didn't have enough time in Sorrento.

 

Again -- I think future travelers should be aware of the time constraints and plan their day on the Amalfi Coast somewhat less ambitiously. And I think RIL should be upfront at the beginning of the day and offer their clients the choice of going to their "favorite" restaurant on the hillside outside of Sorrento or grabbing something in the ceter of town.

[Terpnut]

Let me put in my two cents because we used RIL for two full day tours in Tuscany, plus tours in Messina and Naples. We also used them for transfers from FCO to our pre-cruise hotel in Ropme, from the hotel to the ship, and from the ship to FCO. Overall, RIL met and in most cases far exceeded our expectations, which were already sky high from having used them before and from all the glowing reviews on Cruise Critic.

 

However, we had a problem with our day tour of the Amalfi Coast. We had two drivers, but not Rafaele. Part of the problem, as has been mentioned, is that the roads, especially in the the summer, are very crowded and slow along the Amalfi Coast. distances are greater than they seem because of all the switchbacks, and the traffic is very bad, particularly in and around Positano, because it is a large town built on a steep hill with basically one street to drive through -- and share with all the other traffic, including buses. It's not easy!

 

On our first visit to the Amalfi Coast we went to Pompeii in the morning, and then Ravello and Amalfi in the afternoon. We had a wonderful leisurely lunch near Ravello. This time we were much more ambitious. We went to Ravello and Amalfi in the morning, then on to Positano and Sorrento, which we hadn't seen at all the first time. The one problem we had with RIL was that they were very keen on taking us to that hillside restaurant for lunch overlooking Sorrento. It is, indeed a beautiful spot, and the restaurant people, while they had a small menu, were very nice about feeding us quickly, as we were running out of time to actually see Sorrento, and some of the people in our group needed to stop at a couple of places to shop in Sorrento. What troubled me is that we found our drivers meeting up with other RIL drivers and having a casual meal; our sense was that they all go to this place, and we would have preferred, in retrospect to go straight to Sorrento and have pizza in the center of town in order to have more time in Sorrento. By the time we realized how short on time we were, we were already at the hillside restaurant and nobody wanted to seem rude and tell the drivers we had to leave immediately for Sorrento, and so we stayed long enough for a relatively quick, light lunch, which was fine -- but we really didn't have enough time in Sorrento.

 

Again -- I think future travelers should be aware of the time constraints and plan their day on the Amalfi Coast somewhat less ambitiously. And I think RIL should be upfront at the beginning of the day and offer their clients the choice of going to their "favorite" restaurant on the hillside outside of Sorrento or grabbing something in the ceter of town.

I completely agree that, especially if you want to see both Sorrento and the Amalfi coast out of a port stop in Napoli, far too much time is wasted on "lunch with a a view" in either Sorrento or Positano. If sightseeing and/or shopping are priorities, the lesson here for everyone is to make sure that your driver finds you a good but quick lunch spot central to town. Edited September 25, 2009 by Terpnut

[chipmaster]

We just returned this week from our Med cruise. We used Romeinlimo for both Rome and Naples. Rome was a fine experience. Also used a private guide thru RiL for the Vatican which was a smart move as we learned alot.

 

However, the Naples guide, Raphael, was a disaster. :( We joined the Pompeii/drive to Sorrento and Positano excursion. Firstly he was not a friendly or particulary verbal driver. English was not as strong as we'd had liked. We drove to Pompeii where we had a private guide for the 2 hours. No problem there.

 

However after leaving, we hit a traffic jam which caused us to take more than twice as long to get to Sorrento. Now the driver told us he was from the area. However, he didn't know that this hugely popular church festival on the way to Sorrento was happening on this day? :rolleyes: After a mediocre lunch (very small menu) at a restaurant with a beautiful view, the driver said we had no time to go to Positano. :mad: He hemmed and hawed about we would only have 15 min to "walk down the hill and then walk back up". Did he tell us before the long lunch? NO. We all would have chosen to pick up a snack and just move on down the coast to Positano. We ended up just going back to Sorrento for another 40 min. Sorrento is beautiful, but our day was incomplete without the visit to Positano.

 

I have written Rome in Limo re our complaints. The driver was on the phone several times. Did anyone tell him to do the itinerary in reverse to avoid the traffic? We don't know. All I know is that when we returned back to the ship, everyone we talked to said their drivers changed up their itinerary and routes to avoid the traffic. Hmmm why didn't our driver?

 

Rome in Limo gets so many happy recommendations here. But I will join the others who have had problems with drivers. Perhaps they are growing too large to check on the driver service? We did a tour in Florence with Pleasant Tours and it was excellent. Young, energetic driver who was entertaining and fun. The direct opposite of our driver from RiL for the Naples excursion. :rolleyes:

 

Maybe before booking with Rome in Limo, you should chck out names of drivers who get outstanding comments after their tours. Avoid anyone called Rafael.

 

Sorry to hear Naples didn't meet up to your expectations.

 

During our cruise last year we worked with 6 drivers ( 2 each in 3 ports ). During my planning I had asked about "reserving" the more highly recommended, but was told that they schedule them a week out so they couldn't gurantee, YMMV. Out of our 6 drivers I'd say we got 3 A+ drivers, 1 A, 1 B+ and 1 C. The "C" driver sounds similar to your driver, didn't communicate well, knew the routine but just executed to the routine. Unless you gave him specific feedback he'd simply follow the script. Luckily we always had a second driver and between the two we always ended up on schedule. In reflection 4/6 outstanding is still a damm good record and I'd still recommend RIL to my friends. Lets face it RIL is a big operation now, unless you find the single driver with his own van you'll likely have to expect and plan for the quality variations of a larger operation.

 

A recommendation to all people going on private tours! You really should have a strong idea of what you want to see, schedule, and also the risk/limitations for each port. Do a little research before hand. Doing a little research and making mid day corrections isn't something you should carelessly leave to the driver. Yes a A+ driver will proactively do it for you, but a C driver may or may not. Why chance it... Plan, confirm and if things change, change accordingly. This little additional effort is well worth it as we all know Murphy can rear his head at anytime.

 

RIL have a pretty good script for all our 3 ports. Naples/Amalif was the one that I already knew was going to be a stretch. If one plans Pompeii for two hours, wants to do a leisure lunch, and also leisure shopping and the whole coast I think that is a total stretch. A good driver would likely tell you that is a stretch and ask you what you really want to do once you hit a traffic jam. A C driver may just try to check of the things off and that sounds like what happened In the end a tourer really MUST take some responsibility into their own hand or at least initiate the conversation with the driver/guide when things come up.