Our Itinerary: 2 nights Lisbon, 2 week cruise, ending in 3 nights Rome
Lisbon:
Reserved Uber Black from the US for transfer from airport to downtown hotel (Brown’s Central-thumbs up). Price quoted was $42, but after added fees, which were not disclosed upfront, total cost was $72. This included an extra charge because we had to wait 30 minutes for our bags. Next time, I would ask the hotel to reserve a taxi. Our friends did this and paid about $20 less. At the airport, we had to search for our ride in a highly congested Uber pickup area (Noon). Our friends were greeted inside the terminal by the driver with a sign with their name on it. I am not a frequent Uber user so I have no idea if this is typical of reserving a ride in advance.
Taxi to port: there was a marathon race the day we needed to get to the port. Much of the area was closed to traffic. The first taxi driver we asked told us he couldn’t take us, we needed to take the metro train. We didn’t want to do that since we had several bags. The second driver we approached agreed to take us. The total cost was €20, which we felt was very reasonable, since she had to go way, way out of the way to get us to the port.
Rome:
Used RomeCabs for transfer from Civitavecchia port to downtown hotel (Hotel Navona-thumbs up). Excellent communication, price (€150). Driver was early, holding sign with our name. Beautiful Mercedes van for 4 people with 5 carryon bags.
Bought tickets for Hop On Hop Off Boat (24 hours, €24 per person) to get around. There are 4 stops but one was closed for the season. (guess which one we chose to start? ☹️.) Fortunately, the driver was willing to pick us up there. Positive: we avoided crazy traffic. Negative: the walls along the river are high, making it difficult to see much or take good photos from the riverboat.
Mistake we made on transport to Rome airport:
We also had a ride reserved with RomeCabs from hotel to airport for €70. I made the reservation and had the pertinent information. I got a text from the driver saying he is ready when we are (he was 10 minutes early), Unfortunately, I was the last of our party of 4 to reach the street, which is one of those narrow, 1-way streets in the ancient center where cars can’t stop very long. By the time I arrived, the other 3 were already in a car, with luggage in the trunk, that looked like an ordinary taxi. The driver told me to hurry, he couldn’t park for long. I got in and asked my husband if he’d checked to make sure this was the RomeCabs driver, as I was feeling skeptical. He said yes, he’d asked the driver if he was here for the McNally party of 4 and the driver said yes. DH said there were no other cars waiting, and there was a line of cars waiting to pass behind us, so off we went. I immediately saw a taxi meter and grew more suspicious that we’d made a mistake. The final cost was €65, and he got us to the airport fast, about 50 minutes at 8:00 a.m.
When I got onto WiFi in the terminal, I saw numerous messages from RomeCabs asking where we were and told me they’d released our driver. I felt very badly about this and told them I understood that we would be charged for the missed ride. After several back and forth messages, they were pretty understanding and I don’t think they plan to charge me. I will ask if I can give the driver a gratuity.
Lesson learned: always ask the driver for the confirmation number and name of our party before getting into the car. We probably snagged someone else’s taxi ☹️. RomeCabs is an excellent company and I highly recommend them.