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This comments were posted
on the cruisecritic.com bulletin board
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Recommendation:
Outstanding |
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| So, before we left for our 9/18/2001 cruise on Renaissance's R-2, Barcelona to Venice, I contacted him by email. I followed up with a confirmation phone call to Paolo from Nice and learned that he could also provide us with guides for Florence, Naples, Capri, and Venice. Paolo sent Francesco Bartalini to meet the six of us in Livorno. He is a terrific guide with excellent English skills and a fun, outgoing personality. |
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After our short visit to
Pisa and Lucca, my husband expressed his interest in Italian wines.
Francesco drove us to a small, old winery where we were able to
purchase bottles of good wine at extremely reasonable prices
(especially compared to what we pay for California wine). The
elderly caretaker allowed me to take |
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Paolo met us in
Civitavecchia and took us to Rome. What an enchanting city and there is not a better way to visit it than with a guide who loves and knows the art, history, culture of his home. We ate in another wonderful restaurant, recommended by Paolo. We decided to pass on Naples and four of us opted for a day in Capri. Paolo arranged for his friend, another Paolo, to taxi us around the island. Do you know how much fun it is to be on this Mediterranean jewel, driving around in a bright red, stretch-limo Fiat convertible? |
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Lunch was in Capri-Paolo's cousin's restaurant. The next day the cruisers were awakened with the public address message: Renaissance had filed for chapter 11 and we were not going to Messina, Sicily, or anywhere else, as planned. We would all have to disembark in Civitavecchia. Those travelers who were part of the Omni-group would have their plane arrangements made. Those travelers who were not in that group, stay tuned... Well, our NON-Omni group had originally made plans to stay in Venice for two days when the cruise was supposed to have ended. |
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| We had reservations for Sept. 30th and Oct 1st and our air tickets for Oct 2nd. Renaissance did contact a bus company that would take us for $ 20 a head (U. S. Dollars only) to the Rome airport. At the airport, there is a booth where you can make hotel reservations for many Italian cities. We were able to find three rooms and a taxi to take us to a Rome Best Western Hotel. |
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| I was able to change our air flights out of Venice from 10/02 to 9/30, after explaining the Renaissance situation to British Airways. Then, I tried to change our Venice hotel reservations and learned that there were no rooms. I called our travel agent in San Francisco, and she said she would try to help. This is the kind of time where you need a good shoulder to lean on. Of course, I called Paolo and he once again provided the help we needed. |
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| He would take us to Venice from Rome, and if our travel agent could not find anything, he would work on hotel accommodations for us. When Paolo arrived the next morning to take us on our journey to Venice he had an email with him from Cathy Lowe, our travel agent. She was able to get us into the Best Western Monte Carlo for three days. Paolo arranged for the water taxi to take us to the hotel and another for transportation to the Venice airport when we depart. We left the Rome hotel about 10 o'clock in the morning and pulled into the Venice parking lot about 7 o'clock that evening. Paolo got us there safely and relieved us of much of the stress we were feeling. Along the way there was fun and laughter. How grateful we are that I looked to this board to find a guide and found Paolo's name. |
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