Just booked first European Cruise - Jewel of the Seas

[southerngirl8]

Our friends used Rome in a Limo for their excursions as this company is all over Europe. They said it was excellent and while everyone from the cruise was being herded around, they had a small private group and could go places in their van that the tour buses could not get to

 

 

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I totally agree! in 2013 when we could not dock in Florence due to the weather, we got a refund on our tour from RIL. Very professionally. If you go to Rome, you can even use RIL to simply go into Rome for transport and back to the ship. A bit more expensive than the train, but they pick up at at the dock and drop you off at the ship at the end of the day. Apparently a few years ago there were some changes at the Port and now you have to walk 20 minutes or so to the shuttle for the train.

 

 

They have tons of different types of tours. We have always kept the # to 8 and it is a great number. If you go to Pompeii, ask RIL to arrange a private guide. They will be waiting for you and the additional cost (on a group of 8) was 12.50euro a person but SO worth it.

[emeraldcity]

We are going on the Rome/Greek Isles tour on Jewel in May. I booked over a year ago and I spent a fair amount of time last summer following the roll calls for the current sailings. That gave me plenty of advance information about the entire experience. I'm still fine tuning a few things, but the roll call has been an excellent resource.

[Sherryvan15]

My first cruise and vacation was on the Jewel, great trip and ship. Enjoy!

 

 

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[hazeleyez3]

I agree with others that you should take private tours. That being said, if you are not the organizer, make sure the tour goes to the sites you want to see and doesn't spend a lot of time at a place that does not interest you.

 

Although it is a bit more expensive because we aren't sharing the cost, we book a tour for just our party.

 

Rome: We had a tour guide in Rome when we were there on a cruise and the experience was absolutely wonderful. We saw the sites we wanted to see but our guide also took us to places you don't normally see tourists. We skipped the Vatican that time because we knew we wanted to spend those hours elsewhere and we were taking a land vacation to Rome a year later. We are taking another cruise in May and have booked a golf cart tour this time. Rome and Paris are my two favorite European cities, so I cannot wait to get back.

 

Naples: Pompeii doesn't appeal to me, but we did enjoy our tour down the coast. We stopped in the small towns we wanted. It is also part of our cruise this time. We'll be visiting towns that we missed last time.