Good morning everyone!
I am really interested in the Diamond Sept 10, 2005 sailing out of Italy. I was wondering if anyone has done a pre cruise package in Rome...and any suggestions or comments. I did visit the eternal city for a day as a tour while on the Royal Clipper and loved what I saw. The Colosseum was breathtaking....
How are the Radisson transfers, hotel and overall arrangements?
In the meantime I am in count down mode for this Septembers PG trip.....hope the new Radisson hotel in Papeete is progressing nicely.
One last question...from those that have sailed the Diamond, is it better to sailmher in the Caribbean or the Med...if so why, so I can make the right decision.
Thanks to all.
Tom

Tom, we are doing the Diamond this year (the end of August) and we can let you know. Probably the same itinerary. We are staying at the Hotel San Pio for about 140 Euros per night. We are actually flying to Pisa and will spend 2 days in Florence and one in Rome before we board the ship. I guess when we get to Livorno we will do Siena.

I think we are going to use Daniele with www.driverinrome.com for our Rome tour and transfers to the ship. He was great last year.

We did the med last sept on Diamond and caribbean in jan on Diamond - do the med - no comparison in the ports - Joanna

There are lots of reports on the CC site about pre/post cruise in Rome. As far as Diamond Med or Caribbean goes, it all depends on what you like to do and where you've already been. The Med is going to be mainly touring and a different port each day. The Caribbean has a few more sea days and more water sports. Don't think you can go wrong with the ship though.

Capt. Tom: I don't know if you count dollars like I do, but I have always found the RSSC pre- and post-cruise packages to be quite expensive. That being said, I sometimes book the same hotels that RSSC uses (on my own), often at about half the price. When possible, I come in a day early, so book my own air at less than they charge (and avoid the extra air deviation fee), and just take a cab to the hotel. This has worked for me. The only thing about Rome is that the port is rather far from the city, so you may want to purchase the transfer with Radisson to the ship. The last time I ended my cruise in Rome, I came in a day early to Nice, and got the transfer to Rome included with their air. For the PG, I booked through Radisson for everything. There were so many transfers to get us to our hotel in Moorea that it was just easier, and at the time (2001) the 3 night package for Moorea was only $650 pp for OWB at the Moorea Beachcomber. Things have changed!

Capt Tom:

In September, '02, we did a Rome post cruise. Radisson's city tour was a 5 hour bus ride for $90. Instead, four of us chartered Bob's Limo Service for a 9 hour tour for $120 pp including tip. We saw much more, as Rome has streets a bus can't get down, but a small limo can. Also, the limo driver knew how and when to keep us out of traffic jams, and long lines at the attractions. If we ever "did Rome" again, we would do the same thing. But, we were able to see so much in must 9 hours that we feel like we've "seen Rome" and want now to go on to other places.

Remember that these are 9/02 prices, and the $US dollar has not done well against the Euro since then, making prices there expectedly higher.

Hope this helps,
Richard :) :) :)

Capt. Tom,
We are on a back-to-back Diamond this year in Sept. doing a pre-cruise in Rome. I had my TA make our hotel reservations and we are using the hotel for all of our transfers from the airport and to the ship. Since we are using frequent flyer miles for our flights, we are not using Radisson. Our hotel seems to be pretty central to alot of the sights, so, we are planning to "wing it" on our own in Rome and not pre-book any private tours. We are looking forward to walking Rome and making our own discoveries.
Sally