mj1010

On the 3/5/17 sailing boarding started at 11:15 am for Haven and folks with special needs.

Thank you.

We are leaving on the Breakaway in less than 2 weeks -- does anyone know what time the first group of passengers typically start boarding the ship? I know there are different "tiers" that have priority so that makes a difference but wanted to know how early the first group is able to get on board. Thanks.

Thanks -- we're leaving on 4/2. My last NCL cruise was 8 years ago on the Gem and we never made dinner reservations in any of the restaurants and never had an issue getting a table for 4 and sometimes 6. I'll download the app and try when we get to the terminal or immediately after boarding.

Did you make dinner reservations ahead of time for the specialty restaurants or did you wait until you were on board? I looked on-line today and I can make reservations for 1, 3 or 4 people (there's 2 of us) so hoping that we won't have any issues making reservations once we get on board.

As the prior responder mentioned, Pompeii has short lines and you can purchase them at the entrance, ditto for the Colliseum if you go in Rome. For the Vatican absolutely tell Jany to arrange tickets. Are you getting a private tour also. My recommendation is to spend the extra $ and get the private tour of the Vatican. It helps as the place was huge, a plus is if you get Julia as guide, she is superb :D

 

Enjoy Italy

Great -- thanks. We are using a guide at the Vatican as well as Pompeii.

Does anyone know if we need to purchase advance tickets (Vatican, Pompeii, etc.) or will our driver/guide purchase them for us the day of our tour? I don't want to have to worry about wasting time waiting in long lines.

Thanks.

For those of you who booked 3 tours with RIL, what is the multi-tour discount?

We received a discount of 100 Euros for booking all 3 tours.

I'm cruising in September and booked my tours about 3 weeks ago -- no problem getting a van for 6 people. We did get a discount for booking all 3 tours with them.

The price for the guide at the Vatican is 150 Euros.

This was the oddest thing--we never felt rushed. Granted, we drove by the steps and the visit to the Forum was at an overlook,but we could see everything from that vantage point. We did not go into the colosseum but had over 45 minutes at this stop for photos and a little lesson with before and after pictures from Vincenzo. Every other place we had all the time we wanted. Vincenzo would take us one place, show us where to walk and then pick us up somewhere else which saved a lot of time.

Also, by him calling the restaurant ahead of time and our guide at the Vatican--we never had to wait. By having a great group of fellow cruise critic folk sharing the tour, we also were able to meet our driver at exactly 8:00 which meant that by the time we got to the catacombs, an English speaking tour was getting ready to depart. The entire tour was like a finely oiled machine. I do not know how we got to see all we did--a combination of luck, a great driver and never having to wait. It was also nice to not ever have to worry about the time--I knew Vincenzo would do that!:)

Thanks -- it sounds like we can definitely do all this. One more question -- did you tell Romeinlimo everything you wanted to see and do beforehand or did they plan the whole day for you?

We used romeinlimo in November for Florence and last month in Rome and Tuscany. I had no problem filling the van for any of our tours and I highly recommend them. In Rome, I hope you are lucky enough to have Vincenzo who speaks perfect English (lived in Toronto for a few years). I have been to Rome 5 times and last month with Vencenzo we saw more sites than on the previous trips COMBINED. We went to the Catacombs, Circus Maximus, the Forum, Colosseum, an ancient house, the Spanish steps, Trevi fountain, the Pantheon, the 'Wedding cake', lunch, and a tour of the Vatican--museum, St. Peter's, & the Sistene Chapel. One of the high points was a 4 course lunch (restaurant adjacent to the Vatican) with wine for 20 euros each. He called ahead and the restaurant was waiting for us so we had the entire meal in an hour. I can't tell you how delicious it was. Jany had prearranged a guide at the Vatican who was waiting for us as per Vincenzo's phone call. It was worth every penny.

Just keep advertising on your roll call--be certain you list what you are going to see.

Wow, this seems like a lot to see in just one day. Did you feel rushed at all? I'd love to be able to see all that but I don't want to just spend a few minutes in each site just to say I saw it and not really have time to enjoy everything.