7/13/13 ~~ Eastern Mediterranean Mouseketeers!

[tajz90]

We used a taxi in 07 w/ family of 4. No way our luggage would have fit in the back even though it was a regular size taxi. The driver had "stuff" in the trunk. Go figure! Good thing we lost all of our luggage or we would have had to take two taxis.

 

[ky71]

We are also using "RomeinLimo" for Pisa/Florence and Rome port visits. I would like to know the guidelines for tipping too. We have 9px for Pisa day at 1050 euros and 8px for Roma day at 550 euros - how much extra for the tips? We have half adults and half kids, no guides and entry into attractions is an added cost (I have prepaid for attractions)...

I'm also interested in finding out tipping guidelines for Athens where we also have a private tour booked. I think it's 600 euros for 9px, no attraction tickets.

 

[LovesToRun]

I would also like to know this. We are paying 600 euros for our private Rome day with EasyItalyTours which includes our all day transporation and the 2 hour guided Vatican tour. I really can't imagine giving another 10-15% on top of that since I still can't believe I'm already spending that much. What is everyone else planning for these expensive private tours as far as tipping?

I also want to know this, too. I just did a quick online search, and found these different discussions on tipping for private excursions in Europe you can read to get an idea of what other people have done:


http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2670169

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopi...ing_Private_Tour_Guides-Florence_Tuscany.html

http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1150794




Also, in my Rick Steves Med Ports cruise book, he doesn't talk about tipping for a private excursion, but he does talk about tipping in a restaurant, so I would imagine it is similar between a restaurant and an excursion (similar tipping principle, that is)... This is what Rick Steve's says (about restaurant tipping):

"Virtually anywhere in Europe, if you are pleased with the service, round up a Euro or more. In most restaurants, 5 percent is adequate and 10 percent is considered a good tip. Please believe me - tipping 15 - 20 percent in Europe is unnecessary, if not culturally insensitive. Tip only at restaurants with waitstaff; skip the tip if you order food at a counter. Servers prefer to be tipped in cash, even if you pay with your credit card; otherwise the tip may never reach them."

Also, Rick Steve's discusses tipping in each country in his book. Here is wat he says about all the places we're going:

Barcelona: restaurant have a "service charge" on their bill, and this is kind of like an automatic tip, but if the bill says "service not included" this means there is no automatic tip, and you can leave a tip. So, look for that, too. (again, this is info on restaurants, not private tours, but I would guess this could translate over to a private tour somewhat).

France: At cafe's and restaurants, a 12 -15 percent service chanrge is always included in the bill (called "service compris), and most French never tip. But, if you feel service was exceptional, you can give an additional 5%.

Italy: At restaurants, the service charge is usually built into your bill's grand total in one of two ways: Either the menu prices include the fee (servizio incluso), or a percentage is added to the bottom of your bill (servizio non inclusion) and the percentage added is usually 10 - 15%. In either case, the total you pay already includes a tip. If you are pleased with the service, you can round up the bill by a euro or two. If you order food at a counter service, no need to tip.

Greece: If you order food at a counter, don't tip. AT restaurants that have waitstaff, service is generally included, although it's common to round up the bill after a good meal, usually 5-10%.

Turkey: If you order food at a counter, don't tip, though it's nice to have a lira or two on the table for the busser. At cafes and restaurants with table service, tip 10%.

And, he does not have Malta in his book, so don't know about Malta.

So, that is Rick Steve's "rule of thumb" for tipping in restaurants.... I wonder with private tours, if you could ask if a service charge is built in to the cost??? Like they do in restaurants??


Probably what we will do is tip like 5-10% for our private tour in Rome. For our private tour in Ephesus, we'll probably tip 5% to our driver and 10% to our guide (IF they do a great job, which I think they will. ).

Our DCL excursion we are doing in Athens, I'm not going to tip any guide that might be on our bus.... DCL marks up the prices so much compared to private tours, I am going to guess that there is a service charge built in their somehow already.

 

[happy_momma]

Hi everyone,

I have a taxi question for anyone who has been to Barcelona. I emailed our hotel we're staying at just to re-confirm our reservation, and I also inquired about taxi's from the airport to the hotel (any advice they had, also what price I should expect).

This was the hotel's answer:

I would like to inform you that taxi’s maximum capacity is 4 people, however and depending on how many you luggage pieces you are travelling with you should take 2 of them. The price per ride is
around 30 Euros and per car

We would like to take the opportunity to inform you that we could arrange private transportation as follows:

The price of a transfer from Barcelona El Prat airport to hotel is 72 Euros in a Minibus (up to 4 persons). Going back from hotel to airport on departure will cost 72 Euros as well.

(and then they gave some further information on booking a private transfer.)


I'm confused about how the hotel said the taxi's maximum capacity is 4 people, but depending on how many pieces of luggage we are traveling with, we might need two taxi's.

Either this answer means that their Taxi's are something like 2-door Mini-Coopers where they literally hold just 4 people and have hardly any trunk space, OR, this answer means, if you are traveling with a TON of luggage then you'd need to take two taxi's.

We will have 4 pieces of luggage. One large suitcase (30"), one medium suitcase (26"), and two rolling carry-on suitcases. Does anyone know the size of these taxi's? Based on the luggage we will have, do you think the 4 of us (2 adults/2 kids) will be able to fit in just one taxi?

Also, if we did have to take two taxi's and if it is true it is only 30 Euros from the airport to our hotel (we're staying right on Las Ramblas), that is 60 Euros for two taxi's, yet the hotel recommended a private taxi for 72 euros. I understand they probably suggested that so we could all be together in one car rather than two cars, if we needed to take two taxi's, but logically speaking, that suggestion they made to book a private taxi doesn't make sense since it's more expensive than two taxi's.

Maybe I'm missing something.... or maybe they suggested a private taxi just purely for convenience.

But, then they told me in the email that if I did book a private taxi, they will ONLY wait for 1 hour past my flight arrival time and then they will leave (so if our flight is late, or if for some reason it takes a long time to find our luggage, they will leave, and we will have to take a regular taxi anyway). I don't think you pre-pay, so you wouldn't be out any money if they left before we found them, but to me, booking this private taxi doesn't make a lot of sense the cost is way more than a regular taxi, plus the fact they won't wait if your flight is late, etc (I'm only trying to make sense of their suggestion.... we'll be taking a taxi for sure... it's cheaper, even if we did need to take two taxi's, which hopefully we won't, and this way, we won't be stressed our ride will not wait for us if our flight is late, or it takes longer than expected to find our luggage).

We have booked a private company for all of our transfers. It is going to be $200 for all 4 transfers. I got the name from one of threads on here, with someone who had recommended them on the first cruise.

The email address is info@autosvilar.com



I am also interested in the tipping for the private excursions...we have rome in limo booked as well.

 

[slg]

Someone on another site said that we need to purchase a visa for Turkey? I haven't heard anything about this. I am taking a DCL excursion...won't that cover it?

When we went to Russia, the excursions included day visas for cruise ships.

???

 

[tajz90]

Cruise ship passengers don't need a visa to visit Turkey

 

[JimmyJackJunior]

Cruise ship passengers don't need a visa to visit Turkey

Correct, as long as you do not stay overnight in Turkey which we do not.

 

[LovesToRun]

Correct, as long as you do not stay overnight in Turkey which we do not.

Unless one misses the ship! Then, one has bigger problems than not having a Visa... LOL!!

 

[drlaurafsu]

Someone asked about cameras...we will likely have a couple of canon slrs with us. Love taking pics and want to document the vacation for DS. I make him photo books for each year and for major trips/events. Usually print 3copies...one for us, one for my parents and one for him that goes up until he is grown. He loves looking through them and "remembering" things. I am currently way behind though...

 

[MrsG]

I am thinking of buying tickets to see the Sagrida de Familia so we don't have to wait on the long line. It is about $20 cheaper to buy directly from the church site than through Trip advisior or another vendor. Both include a guide. Any idea why????

 

[JimmyJackJunior]

I am thinking of buying tickets to see the Sagrida de Familia so we don't have to wait on the long line. It is about $20 cheaper to buy directly from the church site than through Trip advisior or another vendor. Both include a guide. Any idea why????

No commissions to be paid I would assume. I bought directly from the church yesterday and there was no guide included.

 

[MrsG]

No commissions to be paid I would assume. I bought directly from the church yesterday and there was no guide included.

It seems there are different options, audio guide, tour guide, etc. all different prices. That is some commission!!! I can get 2 adult guide or audio tours for less than 1 adult price through a tour company! I think I'll book directly, too.

 

[JimmyJackJunior]

It seems there are different options, audio guide, tour guide, etc. all different prices. That is some commission!!! I can get 2 adult guide or audio tours for less than 1 adult price through a tour company! I think I'll book directly, too.

When are you planning on going? We are going to head their on the 25th after dropping off our bags at the hotel.

 

[MrsG]

We need to go on the 12th. We're heading straight to the airport after the cruise. We spent about 3 days in Barcelona in 2007, but never got inside the church. We just passed it and saw the long lines. This time, it's the only thing left we want to do. We'll do that, go to dinner, and board the Magic the next morning. Wow, is time going fast!

 

[WDW Princess 71]

For those who are also doing Cinque Terre on your own, have you looked at the Trenitalia site's train schedules? I was checking them out today and I'm disappointed with the times. There is a train at 7:55 AM and the next one isn't until 9:51! I can't imagine we'd make the 7:55 since our ashore (and this is a tender port) time is 7:45. That just seems like such a waste to wait until 10am to get the next one. Is there another way to get to Cinque Terre, like a taxi or something? I hate to spend extra since the train card we were going to get will cover all day, but time is money also and starting our day at 10:00 seems like a huge waste to me. What do you all think?

 

[JimmyJackJunior]

For those who are also doing Cinque Terre on your own, have you looked at the Trenitalia site's train schedules? I was checking them out today and I'm disappointed with the times. There is a train at 7:55 AM and the next one isn't until 9:51! I can't imagine we'd make the 7:55 since our ashore (and this is a tender port) time is 7:45. That just seems like such a waste to wait until 10am to get the next one. Is there another way to get to Cinque Terre, like a taxi or something? I hate to spend extra since the train card we were going to get will cover all day, but time is money also and starting our day at 10:00 seems like a huge waste to me. What do you all think?

It is a tender port and the DCL excursions get off first so yeah 7:55 is going to be impossible. I don't think the 8:20 to Pisa will even be possible for us. So we will wait until 9:19

 

[happy_momma]

For those who are also doing Cinque Terre on your own, have you looked at the Trenitalia site's train schedules? I was checking them out today and I'm disappointed with the times. There is a train at 7:55 AM and the next one isn't until 9:51! I can't imagine we'd make the 7:55 since our ashore (and this is a tender port) time is 7:45. That just seems like such a waste to wait until 10am to get the next one. Is there another way to get to Cinque Terre, like a taxi or something? I hate to spend extra since the train card we were going to get will cover all day, but time is money also and starting our day at 10:00 seems like a huge waste to me. What do you all think?

That puts a crimp in our plans as well! I thought I'd read that the trains were pretty frequent. There is a boat that goes out as well...maybe the times for that will work better, then the train back. Have to check it out tonight.

 

[LovesToRun]

For those who are also doing Cinque Terre on your own, have you looked at the Trenitalia site's train schedules? I was checking them out today and I'm disappointed with the times. There is a train at 7:55 AM and the next one isn't until 9:51! I can't imagine we'd make the 7:55 since our ashore (and this is a tender port) time is 7:45. That just seems like such a waste to wait until 10am to get the next one. Is there another way to get to Cinque Terre, like a taxi or something? I hate to spend extra since the train card we were going to get will cover all day, but time is money also and starting our day at 10:00 seems like a huge waste to me. What do you all think?

We are also doing Cinque Terre on our own. This is really good to know (about the train schedule). I've been SO consumed with finishing up the school year with my kids that I haven't had a chance to look up specific details about Cinque Terre and plan out how we'll do it. Hmmmm... I agree, waiting around until 10 AM for the train is too bad! I have the Rick Steve's Cinque Terre book (but I honestly haven't looked at it at all yet!). I'll look in that book and see if he has any recommendations on getting to Cinque Terre...

 

[WDW Princess 71]

That puts a crimp in our plans as well! I thought I'd read that the trains were pretty frequent. There is a boat that goes out as well...maybe the times for that will work better, then the train back. Have to check it out tonight.

Let me know what you find out! I had heard the was a boat that went between the 5 towns of Cinque Terre, but I didn't know about one going TO Cinque Terre from La Spezia. I'm hoping that or a cab will be an option. I heard the trains were frequent too, at least once or twice an hour, so I can't believe that there is a 2 hour gap. Maybe when it gets closer to the date, they'll add additional trains? I guess we'll still get off as early as possible and hope for an earlier train or check out a cab or boat option if one presents itself when we get out of the port.

 

[drlaurafsu]

I think we should definitely have a sidebar on this when we get closer...since I think a bunch of us are doing this. Maybe at the meet we can figure it out. Pretty sure the boat from La Spezia is an option and is included in the boat/train pass. But we need to confirm.