My daughter and I are making plans to book a tour of Rome in Aug. As I read the various tour itineraries I have a couple of questions:

1. What are estimates of how much you paid for the optional tours?

2. Were the Clarion or other Globus Rome Hotels within easy access of the tourist sites?

3. What is the best method of planning for the optional tours? Can we do all of that from our hotel?

Any suggestions anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated.

I have not been on a Globus tour that went to Rome, but I have been on other Globus tours, and this is how the optionals work.. .. . When you receive your travel documents, you will receive a list of optional tours that *may* be offered on your tour and the approximate cost of each. They will not necessarily offer all of the optionals that are listed -- that decision is up to your tour director. On the first or second day of the tour, your tour director will give you a list of the optionals that will be offered and review them with you. You then fill in a form to designate which optionals you would like to participate in, and indicate how you will be paying for it -- travelers cheques, credit card, etc.

I tend to not take all of the optional tours.. .. . I usually go on the sightseeing ones, but skip over the dinner shows, which sometimes can be a bit pricey.

I went to Rome with another tour group and our hotel was on the outskirts of town.. .. . But the hotel provided a regular shuttle service that could be taken to get into town. I don't know where Globus stays in Rome, but perhaps the hotel will have a similar service if they aren't close to the city center.

Hope you have a great trip!

I have my optional book for Rome from when I was on my tour last fall. I went on the Traditional Grand European. The optional that I picked was totalled tohethr and paid on my credit cards. I did not get a charge on my card for about 6 weeks, it was not imediate, and this iscommon. Some people paid by travellor cheque, but most used credit cards.

Optionals in rome
"Orientation Drive and Roman DInner" USD $55.00
Wander thru the enternal city, toss your coins into Trevi Foundatin, then be spoiled with Italian specialities and wine at one of Rome popular restaurants

This was definitely a must. It is very beautiful and magically when you round the corner from the alley and turn upon the fountain. I almost started crying it was so beautiful. This is a definite must.
Legend says if you toss ac oin in the fountain you will return to Rome. It would have been nice to stop there longer, but it was beautiful. Did a drive by tour at night. Saw where Mosolina gave his speech, saw where Napolean mother lives, saw the Colesseum and heard abuot the gladiators combats. We then went to a great Itailian resturant. At this resturant, one of the waiters is the cousin of the actor who played "paul" on the show "Mad ABout You", and he looks like him too. There was good music, good food and go9od fun, and of course wine. This was a gerat evening!! We then Drove along the banks of Tiber back to the hotel.

The next day was amazing! Went to the Vatican Museaum, the Sistine CHapel. Even if you are not catholic, make sure you buy a rosary from the Vatican. You can get it blessed adn tehy will deliver it to your hotel that evening. I did this and I am very glad that I did. There was another optioanl called Roman highlights with dinner. This was not that good

I have just returned from a Globus tour of Italy. First let me suggest as does every tour guide and individual who has been to Europe or Italy, don't go in August. Generally this is the time for Italy and many other parts of Europe to be on vacation, there is less of everything to go around in the already over crowded summertime tourist destinations. Now let me suggest don't go on a tour with Globus and as I understand it, most tour companies if you want to see the country you are paying to visit. I felt as did many others in my tour group that when taking these tours you are walked along a given route occasionally stopping for a long history lesson and from which you generally cannot stray and you basically don't actually get to look around at the places that you are visiting. All the dinners I attended were not at great local restraunts as advertised but at places where you are placed in a back room that has no business other than the tour group. Food was generally ok but just that. The tour guide applies pressure on just how great a value these dinners are but having done Rome, Florence, Venice, and Milan on my own found it to be just not true. They do provide a large quanity of food and drink and if the group of people you are traveling with are fun then you have a good time. If you are more adventurous and inquire with your guide or at the hotel desk for a local restaraunt they will "personally" arrange a reservation for you and you will pay for a very expensive meal, the next time you will think the tour guide is telling you the truth about the prices they have as being great values. If you are able to go on your own, do so. You do not need to be able to speak Italian. There is always some one around who speaks English. I jumped ship from the tour early, skipping much of their canned visits and sales pitches at selected locations. And I visited things at my own pace so that I could actually see the country, in the end I only used Globus for providing the hotel and the transportation and it in itself was all based on when the tour could arrange things in the destination city. On the trip from Rome to Florence a distance of 150 miles we stopped once for a quick lunch and a 45 minutes stop in Pisa this included a long walk to and from the pickup point and we arrived in Florence 10 and 1/2 hours after we left Rome. There were many on the tour who felt our time could have been much better spent than driving down the autostrada at 35 miles per hour. Don't let me discourage you completly if you cannot travel independently for some reason or another you can go to Italy with Globus they will take care of you while you are there, you just won't see much of Italy.

I have to disagree. I took the Globus Mosaic Italy tour and saw so much more of Italy than I could have on my own. No train, bus, hotel, and luggage hassles! This tour is perfect for discovering Italy and for finding places you would like to visit on your own some day.

How can you beat Rome, Pisa, Milan, Florence, Ravenna, Venice, Assisi, Pompei, Monte Cassino, Sorrento, Capri--and other places in two short weeks? I was 99% delighted.

Hi

just came back from a trip that passed through Rome. The orientation drive and trevi fountain was really good. the dinner entertainment was really fun and food was pretty good.

We stayed at the Jolly Midas Hotel which isn't exactly near the centre of Rome, but there's a shuttle bus that goes into the city and drops you off at Piazza Cavour and picks you up there as well. So that was convinient.

Beware of pickpocketers as well as thieves. In our group, a couple were pickpocketed around the Vatican and another couple lost their backpack at the hotel during breakfast. So always watch out for your stuff and don't leave it unattended for any reason.

Hope this helps. Enjoy!

Try this site for the optionals for the Italian Mosaic.

Note - on our trip they didn't offer ALL of the optionals. However the list gives you an idea.

http://tinyurl.com/b9g3y

Debbie

That url didn't seem to work. Here's the same one in a different format.

http://www.globus.com.au/2002/tours/tou . .. .. . e&tCode=ZI

Someone mentioned on this site before that the Austrailian website does post the optionals and I looked there.

I do notice as I look at the link now that it says 2002 - so take it with a grain of salt just to give you an idea.

Debbie

Well I copied and pasted that link and it didn't work for me either.

The main site is

http://www.globus.com.au/

From there, I just did some searching around and found your tour.

Debbie