Need suggestions on Tours

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beach1

Guest
HI everyone, I'm taking my first crusie in Sept on the RCL, I wanted to know if anyone has taken this cruise and what tours in Rome, Pisa, Florence and Venice you recommend. We really want to check out Tuscany and the wine areas when we are in Pisa/Florence.
Also, need advice on currency, do we use US dollars to purchase items, use credit cards or exchange our money and if so where do we do this?

Thanks for all your help.

18 years in planning.
 
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Mbandy

Guest
Ahoy Matey and =welcome to Cruise @ddicts =sailor

I have never taken this cruise but you picked a winner in going with Royal Caribbean. Hopefully you will get some responses on your shore excursions. You might get more response if you post this in the Cruise Q & A forum as more people visit there.

While US dollars are widely accepted in the Caribbean, it is not so in Europe. You'll need to either do a currency exchange or use credit cards, the latter being the best option. You can also cash travelers checks in to the local currency which is the Euro.
 
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bngclark

Guest
Hi

We're also going on this cruise - are you on the one leaving 9/26/08 from Barcelona? I believe we are going to book a tour for Rome and the wine tasting in Tuscanny. As to the rest, I think we are just going to wait, we don't want to be on tours that are 10 hrs. long. We have several couples going, all with varied interests, and probably booking different tours.

I'll be interested in seeilng your responses.
 
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Mbandy

Guest
You might want to send ShipMaven a PM. I believe Mary Ann is pretty familiar with this area.
 
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10000elephants

Guest
Hi Beach1,

I have not taken a RCL tour in Rome, but we were recently in Rome for 4 days before getting on a RCL cruise and did do some independent tours.

The tours we did in Rome were the Coliseum/Forum and Vatican City. We also did a 3 hour tour on Segways, which was a blast and you cover a lot of ground in the 3 hours.

We used Visa for most everything, but we did exchange some money for Euros before we left home.

Hope you have fun.

Chris

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ssanders2518

Guest
Hi Beach1,

I was in the same place as you last year planning my cruise. I didn't want to do the group tours with the ship. So I checked out the Internet to see what I could find for private excursions. After many calls and e-mails to companies in Italy I found one that seemed pretty good. The people at Benvenuto Limos :) were very nice and swift to reply to all my e-mails. They do private excursions all through Italy. So I booked a tour of Florence to see the Accademia and Uffizi and to do some wine tasting. In Portifino I did the Cinque Terre (it is soooooo beautiful). In Venice I did the city tour and a visit to the Islands Maurano, Burano & Torcello. And I also did the Amalfi Coast. WOW!! They have so many different options to choose from when looking at their website. The one thing I was very pleased with was the knowledge of the drivers and guides that I had. Any time I had a question they knew the answers without any hesitation.

As far as money, It is easier to take euros with you and only use your credit card for emergencies. The exchange rate can be terrible sometimes with credit cards. You can ask you bank if they can order the euros or where you can convert your money in your town.

Have a wonderful trip!!

Sharron
 
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Ted_D

Guest
Beach1,

I do not know how much time you have in Rome, and you really need two full days to even scratch the surface
there. Assuming you have them, take the full-day tour that does Imperial Rome (Trevi, the Roman Forum, the
Colosseum, and quick Vatican stop that takes you into St Peters). You will see much of ancient Rome on
this one, and a Vatican walk-through. On the second day, take the full Vatican tour that will take you back to
St Peters, but also include the Vatican museum and Sistine Chapel. These are exhausting, long days, but you
will treasure the memories forever.

In Venice, you really do not need to take any tour at all. The city is quite small and easily seen by walking
around. Your ship will have a water taxi to take you to San Marco Square, where you can set out on your
own. See the Doges Palace by all means, and walk over to the Grand Canal and open air market. St Mark's
isn't much, but it's right on the square and only takes a minute or two to see.

I can't help you with the Florence wine country. Sorry.

With regard to money, you will definitely need Euros in Italy. It is best to buy them here, and take them with
you. I purchase ours through American Express, over the internet. They come via UPS in about 4 days, and
you can "sell" unused Euros back to them at the end of your cruise or use the airport foreign exchange which
will have a slightly worse conversion rate but is terribly convenient.

You're going to have a fabulous trip.

Ted
 
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