Melissa S
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Melissa S
USA
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Melissa S's reviews and photos on Viator.com
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Apr122008
Skip the Line: Vatican Museums Walking Tour including Sistine Chapel, Raphael's Rooms and St Peter's
Tour / Activity
My Rating: 
Location: Rome, Italy
My Review: I must confess that I was a little nervous prebooking on the Internet. We were praying that this was legit. This was really THE best way to see the Sistine Chapel & St. Peter's! It was certainly the least expensive! It is 18 euros to simply get into the Vatican. It is worth EVERY penny to save waiting in the MASSIVE lines. Our guide was very informative & knowledgeable. I cannot imagine going through the vast quantity of artwork without having someone explain the meaning & symbolism of many of the important pieces. If you were to travel on your own, you would definitely miss out on a lot of the amazing details and facts! Thank you, Viator, for offering a great tour at an affordable price! We did have a large group--I think it was 21 or 22, slightly over the max 20 stated on the form. Eat before you go! The morning tour leaves at 930AM; we were rushed and didn't get breakfast. We were starving by 1PM when our tour ended. Also, wear comfortable shoes as you will be standing and shuffling through crowds for 4 hours. Note you cannot take pictures in the Sistine Chapel; know in advance that you will have to resort to postcards.
My Photos:
Apr112008
Rome by Night Walking Tour
Tour / Activity
My Rating: 
Location: Rome, Italy
My Review: We got this with a 2 for 1 special when booking, so it was very economical. This was an AMAZING tour! We booked it as a last minute thing without really reading what it was about. This is a great thing to do on your first night in Rome, preferably NOT after you've walked all over the city like we did! We were worried that Piazza Navona, the meeting place, would be hard to locate, but it was right on every map. Talk to your hotel concierge & have them mark it on the map--it's much easier than hunting for it! Our group only had about 10-14 people, and we had headsets, making the tour very accommodating. Our group of 6 agreed that we would recommend seeing the Pantheon during the day as the walls seem to be brighter. It is pretty close to the meeting point, so we would recommend seeing this during the day prior to meeting to get your pictures & then again for information on the tour. The Colosseum, the Capitoline Hill, and the Trevi Fountain were gorgeous at night! It is a wonderful photo opportunity without the MASSIVE crowds. It did rain on our tour, so make sure you have good, comfortable, dry walking shoes & an umbrella, just in case!
My Photos:
Apr102008
Rome Hop-on Hop-off Double Decker Bus Tour
Tour / Activity
My Rating: 
Location: Rome, Italy
My Review: This was an OK tour, but the other Viator tours we booked were better. In short, we would recommend paying a lot less and using the subway--4 euros for an all-day pass with as many stops as you want--or paying a bit more & jumping on the first double-decker bus that you see. Once you have the map of the stops, you can find them...it's finding the first stop that's a pain!! There are several bus lines similar to this that really offer more stops & are easier to find. We literally wasted about an hour and a half walking around trying to find the little green sign for the green bus! We had problems with the headsets not fitting our ears, not working altogether, and having a lot of static from several of the portals. There wasn't a lot of information on the tour part, but rather just a lot of "elevator music" waiting for the next stop. There are bus decals on the windows, making it impossible to take clear pictures from inside the bus; since it was raining, we weren't able to be on the 2nd deck.
Our bus service started at 9AM, making it impossible to connect with our Viator tour of the Vatican at 915AM, and it ended at 7PM, making it challenging to connect with our hotel shuttle AFTER our evening Viator walking tour. This particular bus line made 13 stops, with no stops near the Spanish Steps. Other lines like the red one had 18-- and they were easy to spot! I would just book this when you get there. You may pay a little more, but it beats wasting time looking for one particular bus, when you see 50 passing by!
