General Max

Francesco's barbeque was on Saturday, September 13, 2014 instead of the 15th. We actually departed on the 15th for Taormina.

Well, I'm not sure why you would expect anyone to be reassured by your review, when you weren't reassured by the 200 positive reviews and photographs on Trip Advisor!

 

I've only just seen this thread. For future reference, what you should have done in order to get replies from residents of Palermo was not to post on here, but to go to the Palermo forum on Trip Advisor and post your question there.

This is my personal review. I actually took one for the team and booked it with no input from anyone in Palermo. If you read my review again, you will not find anything related to it on the Tripadvisor reviews. I am sure you are aware of the fact that many reviews on Tripadvisor are padded. Some of the negative reviews are bad because a traveler found a bug in an otherwise very clean bathroom.

We stayed at Attic12 bed and breakfast 11 nights beginning September 4, 2014. Francesco, the owner was right there at the airport to pick us up in his Toyota RAV-4. In the following days he drove us to old town twice, to local restaurants five times, to the beach area in Mondello four times, to the church in the cave on the way to Mondello, to the cathedral in Monreale. He also drove us on a day trip to Cefalu for which I purchased 50 liters of petrol for his vehicle. On the last day he drove us to the train station for our trip to Taormina.

On September 15, 2014, he had a roof-top bar-b-que for us on the deck overlooking the mountains and city of Palermo. Steak dinner with salad and appetizers and wine. Overall our 11 day stay at the bed and breakfast was outstanding. Only one available room available there so do book early using his website. http://www.attic12.com

I boarded the Volendam on February 3rd in Hong Kong for the first half of this cruise -- 14 days through to Singapore. It was fabulous, and the Volendam herself is looking VERY good, indeed, even though it will be 15 years since her Christening this November 12th.

 

Here's a photo I took of her while she was at anchor in Halong Bay, Vietnam. I was on one of the last few tenders to return to the ship after a day-long trip to Hanoi.

 

Greetings, RevNeal. We were on the Volendam in February, 2013 from Singapore to Japan for 28 days.

John and Peggy

Orlando, Florida

Thanks for the detailed review. We just finished reading it this afternoon and will be on the September 26, 2014 cruise on the Reflection. We are leaving on Wednesday, September 3, 2014 to spend three weeks in Sicily prior to the cruise and will board in Messina on September 27, 2014.

jdaa:

I would add that you must park in either parking garage just outside Taormina's main town and at Castelmola. The only parking is for residents, you will be ticketed if you do try to park in town. Since you are coming from Messina you would use the Lumbi car park. There are shuttles that take you up to the main town and drop you off, right outside Messina Gate. The parking garage for Castelmola is on the left hand side of the road about a 100 yds. from the main piazza in Castelmola. You leave the garage and walk up to Castelmola.

Castelmola is a must see. I believe there is a bus that runs there from Taormina.

We are planning on taking a day trip to Cefalu on the train from Central Station in Palermo. Cost for two round trip tickets is about 50 Euros and travel is about one hour each way. There are numerous trains available to take each day.

By the way, Attic12 offers to pick you up at the Palermo airport for 40 Euros. This is much better than a taxi, bus or train transfer. You can then request the scenic route into town and the driver knows exactly where the B & B is.

First, I hope you really meant to write that you're going to use a debit card for ATM withdrawals. Obtaining cash from an ATM with a credit card can be costly as it will be treated as a cash advance, accruing interest at a very high rate.

 

Obtaining €1,000 at a cost of $1,438US from BOA is costing you $78US more than it should when using a no-fee debit card at an ATM in Europe. $1,438US - $1,360US = $78US. Your B&B booking is likely being held with a credit card number on file. Do you need to plunk down the cash when you checkin or can you pay at checkout? If it's the latter, you can obtain euros on the day you arrive in Europe and each day you're there so you'll have enough cash when you checkout. If my computations are correct, you'll need €510 in cash ($694US at 1.36% exchange). You should be able to withdraw that amount in a couple of days.

 

Lew

We are worried about an extra $78 expense when we are spending thousands of dollars to go to Europe. This, to me, does not compute.

Does Palermo have a Chinatown?

Not to mention the very long walk and flights of stairs to navigate at the port with all the luggage to save a few bucks. The train station is not next to the dock.

I'm with Hank. I also like buses

Do I have enough time to do both Pisa and Cinque terre?. I plan to purchase leaning tower ticket ahead on line and visit in early morning, then I go to cinque terre afterward. I heard the Cinque terre is not far from Laspeiza which liberty dock. It is a pretty village .

Pisa is a tourist trap. Spend your time in Cinque Terre. You will not regret it.

I just sent a 209 Euro deposit for an 11 day b & b stay in Palermo. I used a credit card on Pay pal for payment. If it is a scam, I will contact my credit card company within two billing cycles to tell them the hotel I charged my credit card for was a vacant lot or a trash bin in an alley.

I finally sent my deposit to Attic12. Thanks for all your input!

Rome in Lemo is the company? I will look into them for sure.

We have been to Amalfi coast and Capri a couple of times, as well as Pompeii. I would be cool with Amalfi again....but DH really wants to see Herc....

are you suggesting maybe Amalfi in the afternoon instead of Naples? We have always been a little leary of Naples, but have never been......

Your are right to be leery of Naples. Watch and be mindful of your wallet and purses. That is why we are touring the Amalfi coast during our port stop in Naples.

We booked http://www.romeinlimo.com for tours and transfers in Naples and Civitavecchia.

I think it will depend upon what you want to do and how long. Our cost for the van and driver for each day was 350 Euros if we paid a deposit of 130 Euros upfront (I think by PayPal) and the balance of 220 Euros in cash on the day of the trip. If you pay by credit card, the cost is 395 Euros. The reason we had an assistant in Palermo is because the driver did not speak much English. In Messina, we had a driver who spoke very good English and had information about the places we visited. We had a group of 7 people so our cost was 50 Euros per person.

 

Here is some additional information we received:

 

IMPORTANT TO KNOW:

-We GUARANTEE to get you back to your cruise on time

-All excursions and activities are fully insured

-Cancellation FREE OF CHARGE up to 15 working days

-FULL REFUND if the ship does not dock at the port

-English speaking staff

-Convenient collection points - full details provided at time of booking

-Licensed Inbound Tour Operator Nr 996/VII/Tur by the Italian Tourist Board

-Members of ASTA, the Association of USA Agents

 

DRIVER ESCORT INFORMATION:

We customized this excursion using a Driver-Escort. A Driver Escort is a chauffeurs specialized to drive you around our amazing island. He is able to provide basic historical information, he can show you the main highlights ... he is knowledgeable and he has an umbrella of information. Our Driver Escort will take care to give adequate time at all stops and to accommodate special requests when possible, he will assure that your experience in Sicily will be both memorable and enjoyable.

 

The Driver Escort is not a Licensed Tourist Guide (Licensed Tourist Guide: are the only professionals -- with a Regional license -- permitted to conduct visits and tours in all sites and museums within a city) and he cannot escort you inside the monuments because this is not allowed by Italian Rules. In case you need a Licensed Local Guide you must pay a surcharge and we will arrange for Licensed Guide to meet you directly on the spot.

Thank you again for your fast reply. This again is very useful information. Price range is what I was thinking. Actually budgeting 1200 Euros for three full days at various cities.[/i]

Tradizione Turisimo does not list their one day tour prices on their web site. This would indicate that the prices are on the high end. Before I contact them via e-mail, can you give me some idea on their pricing?

We just returned from 24 days in Europe. Our tours with this company were very good. I highly recommend getting out of Palermo. Traffic is crazy in Palermo and it took us some time to get out of town. Our tour did include a walking tour of the market in Palermo which was very interesting. We then headed to Monreale. The visit to the cathedral was free unless you wanted to go in the towers, etc. We opted to just look around and then took photos outside. We also stopped for photos a couple of times. Because our ship was in port for only a short time, and it was some distance to Segesta (about an hour from Monreale), we only had time to visit the temple. The flowers were in bloom and it was very pretty. The other ruins from a distance were okay from a distance. The cost was 6 Euros per person for Segesta. We had pizza and a local beer at the local place at Segesta (the only place there). There was also gelato available. The drive to Segesta was very scenic, and then we took the highway back. No tour buses. We had both an English speaking guide, Sylvie, and a driver Massimo, both excellent.

 

For Messina, we had an English-speaking driver/guide, Giuseppie. He was very good. Our ship docked at noon and we were off by 12:30. We first went to Savoca and toured Bar Vitelli and walked up to the church where the outside of the wedding in the Godfather was filmed. Giuseppie walked with us and gave some explanations of the history of the place. Great views and lovely village. No tour groups up by the church. Very quiet and peaceful. Our last and only other stop was Taormina. This is a very touristy place and if you love souvenir shops, you won't be disappointed. I am not much of shopper so opted to walk around the many scenic streets. The ruins here are very close to town and very walkable. The "main street" is not very long (about .8 of a mile). The driver left us off at the main gate and agreed to a meeting time about 2 hours later. I had a chocolate cannoli and my husband opted for pizza and gelato.

 

The vans for both Palermo and Messina were very good. We had 7 people in our group and fit comfortably in the vans. The configuration for Palermo was 3 in the back, 2 in the middle and 2 in the seat behind the driver. For Palermo, our guide sat upfront with the guide. For Messina, the configuration was if I remember correctly 3/3, with 1 upfront with the driver. If you have a group of 8, the front seat is configured for 2 people with the driver but you would need to have 2 tiny people. Or perhaps if you have a group of 8, they will use a larger van. Just check!

 

All in all, we were very pleased with the tour company. Very easy to deal with and very prompt replies. We paid the deposit prior to leaving (fully refundable if the ship failed to make port) and then paid the remainder in cash the day of the trip.

This is very useful information. I will make contact with the tour operator as we are also staying 5 nights in Messina and 7 nights in Giardini Naxos near Taormina. Thanks for taking the time to post.

We have tours booked with Tour of Sicily (Tradizione Turismo) from Palermo and Messina. I can't yet recommend them since we have not yet been there, but I will say they are very easy to communicate with and very prompt in responses. From Palermo we are going to Segesta and Monreale. I think their prices are reasonable. Their web site shows various recommended tours under "shore excursions". Their web site is http://www.tourofsicily.com and they are highly recommended on trip advisor.

Please let us know how they were. We will be in Palermo from September 3, 2014 to September 15, 2014.

Really? You're surprised that residents of an Italian city don't read and post on an English language web site that mostly caters to Americans and Canadians?

 

If you want to hear from residents of Palermo perhaps you could try posting on the Italian language version of Trip Advisor.

It has been over one month and I have not received a single post.

Very good point! If the guide is the flake (which happens I'm sure) customers can get their refund back. I should tell my friend this tidbit to see if it encourages her to ask for the deposit in the first place. As far as I know she still doesn't, but in her years of experience she's only had one no-show. One too many in my book! In my business I will not put up with flaky customers, so why should she?

Have you had any flaky customers? it seems to me that you have.

I already looked into bus and train schedules to Piazza Armerina (where the site is located), which is why I am asking about a driver -- the other options just don't work. And I don't enjoy driving when traveling; several stressful rentals have convinced me it's not for me.

 

The ship is headed the next day to Trapani, so it's not a huge deal even if something were to prevent me getting back to Palermo in the 16 hours in port. I figure the drive to be around 2 hours each way.

Did you ever find a driver for this trip?