Bellarome Italian Vacations

We were very disappointed that about 10 days before our trip, our hotel in Cinque Terre was downgraded significantly. The only way I was notified was when our final travel documents and train tickets were sent to us via email, there was one small line in the itinerary that said "Hotel changed to....." Then the description proceeded to describe the other, nicer hotel we had supposedly booked at for the agreed-upon price. When we attempted to reach Matthew multiple times and ways, we got no reply. Thus for our honeymoon delayed from 2020, 3 nights out of 7 were at a very average hotel. As 50-something professionals, we would not have chosen that hotel for our honeymoon. Also, when we got to Rome for our "VIP tour," with a private tour guide, we had to wait in line for over 30 minutes and I noticed our guide had tickets that said "last minute tickets." We had planned this trip for over 2 years, so there shouldn't have been any "last minute" tickets at all. Our guide, while nice and funny, had only a 6/10 command of English (acknowledging his English is better than my Italian, but for a tour guide.....) Some questions he simply didn't answer because he didn't understand. We used Google translate when necessary. On the plus side, Sabrina, from KimKim in the US, did try to rectify the situation for us and did comp us a meal out for the less than great service provided by Matthew and Bellarome travel.

Our Guides Alessandro in Florence was excellent. Ricardo in Rome was excellent also. They were also very helpful . I was. Dis appointed in Matthew. On our second he asked us how our cooking class was? We said no one showed or called. Matthew said he would call us back. We never heard another word from him all week! We waited around all day prior to his call, alerted the front desk and no one came. My husband was really looking forward to this. Loves to cook. Communication was a definite issue with the trip, until we took the initiative and asked what time we could expect some one. Andrew was our main driver and was very nice ,. He was on the phone with Matthew 2-3 at least when we were we with him. I use say in higher voice , we are waiting for him to call back. When I asked Matthew if we could go to the isle of Capri, I thought he said it would be to far away. My husband walks around in the morning while we were in Sorrento and what were staring at was Capri from our Bacolony! Our off day we went to for a twenty minute boat ride to Capri and had a wonderful day.

The best review I could give is to say that when I do my next Italian Holiday I’m going to get KimKim to organise it for me again. We had the most amazing, stress-free holiday I could ever have imagined. Thank you so much Matthew for your amazing attention to detail and the clarity of all of the documentation; worth every penny. The hotels were really well located and made getting around so easy. The care that we were given made our Italian adventure a trip of a lifetime. We felt very spoilt.

Our trip in Italy was fantastic. The drivers who picked us up and drove us to all of our destinations were extremely friendly, nice and professional. One of our phones was forgotten in one of our driver’s car, and he was kind enough to bring the phone back to us the next day in perfect condition. The hotels were greatly located, clean and the staff were very accommodating. The hotel in Amalfi and Rome were beautiful, however the hotel in Sorrento lacked some appeal as we were put in a room below ground level that was dark and very small. I would highly recommend all the hotels, except that one.
The food was fantastic and there was a great breakfast selection at most hotels.
The tours were fantastic, including the guides and staff.
Matthew was a great help throughout the trip, always answering our questions right away and giving us wonderful suggestions.
All in all, I would recommend kimkim to anyone that is travel to an unknown country and thank you all for planning an unforgettable trip for us!

Our favorite part of the experience was the cooking class in Tuscany. The view was absolutely stunning and it was such a fun day! We really enjoyed the smaller group tours. I would highly recommend taking the ferry when traveling between the Greek Islands. It’s much more convenient than flying. Bellou suites in Mykonos was our absolute favorite hotel. Beautiful views, friendly owner and quiet and set back away from the hustle and bustle of this party island. We booked a few tours on our own that we loved too. We did a biking tour through “we love Tuscany” and would highly recommend this to people who want to be more active. Overall it was a very awesome trip!

When I went to look for an agency to help custom plan a special trip to Italy I found KimKim online. I was a little skeptical at first but once we started working with our travel agent Veronica from Bellaroma all my concerns disappeared. This trip was a celebration of a milestone birthday and cancer free milestone so it needed to be special. Veronica worked with me over several months to refine our trip. She was an angel putting up with my can we move this day, what about if we did this and several versions of the trip. From the individualized and small group tours of Milan (thank you Donatella our personal guide of Milan) and Rome to the horseback riding and cooking class at the Tenuta Torciano vineyards it was the perfect trip. Veronica took care of the car rental from Milan to Florence, the train ride to Rome and all the transfers from train station and airport. We had one or two minor issues and she was available immediately to fix them. I knew I could count on her and she would be available through our whole trip. The trip was perfect and I would use KimKim again. Thank you to Veronica for being the best partner a traveler could have.

The trip was fantastic. It was our 1st time in Greece so we didn't know what to expect. This trip did not disappoint. We especially liked the Athens to are that was provided by Veronica. Full of history and lots of knowledge as well as being able to say see and get lots of good pictures. Our hotels that we say that were full of knowledgable friendly people and we had a great time talking with them. We had a great time at the beaches and all the restaurants. We can't wait to go back!

Being as this was the first time to travel to Italy, I was at the mercy of a travel agency to help me set up and arrange certain aspects of our trip. My husband and I did not want the typical tour group travel as we like to travel at our own pace. I reached out to KimKim as they offered services for independent travel. I felt as if our specialist just threw some stuff together and changes that we wanted made was a struggle, because the reply at the other end was always, well we are here and we know what is best or what works best. One change that I am so glad I fought with was getting the specialist to change a Pizza Making class in Florence to a Pizza Baking and Limoncello Making in Sorrento, which was a highlight of our trip. I wanted a Pizza Baking Class in a Farmhouse.
Another issue we had was travel documents are suppose to be sent to you within 3 weeks of travel, we had to reach out several times to get all of our official documents. We had missing documents and it took until few days before our trip to get everything correct and in-hand, the first time being agency related and the second due to lack of my use of technology.
Keep in mind is in the US we are 6-9 hours behind so communicating with your specialist will be hard, as you are getting out of bed they are going to bed and if you work a day job an accepting phone calls are challenging for you at times this will be frustrating, even with the use of email.
We had KimKim to arrange hotels, train travel, a few VIP tours, three group tours, travel to and from hotels between train travel and travel to and from airports for us for our journey from Venice, Florence, Sorrento, and Rome.
I loved the suggest of the specialist to extend our stay in Venice so we could take a day trip to Verona as that gave us more time in Venice and not have to worry about keeping up with luggage for our day trip to Verona. I did not like the hotel that our specialist chose for us in Venice and once again this was something I tried to change, but the specialist said he had actually stayed at this hotel and that we would love it. I even went as far to state that I read tripadvisor reviews and room 103 was the worse and guess which room we received??? Room 103 and the desk clerk said the hotel is full so no room changes! I am allergic to mold so those 3 nights were a big struggle to me. Also we were quoted a double room with a balcony and guess what this resort doesn't even have balconies!! This hotel like all but one we stayed at was far off the beaten path, but it was convenient to the private water taxi for our luggage due to their dock on main canal. Our resort in Rome was so far off the beaten path that a taxi ride to any attraction was $10.00 to $15.00 bucks each way! But, as far as the employees at all resorts they were outstanding and went over the top to help with any of our needs!
The location of our Florence hotel was the best of our hotel stays. The second being Sorrento, but once again I asked the specialist to upgrade our room to a balcony with a full ocean view and he immediately stated it was not available, without even researching, but we were happy with our partial side view room once there.
Another issue was once we received our travel documents I noticed we failed to arrange transportation from our hotel to the train station for a day trip to Verona and when I asked the specialist how much it would cost for him to arrange for us, now keep in mind our vacation package was over $10,000.00, his reply was it would be to expensive for him to arrange, but it would be easy for us to do on our own.
In Rome I became ill and wasn't able to make the group tour to the Sistine Chapel and Vatican the specialist had arranged for us, we did receive a call from the specialist wondering if maybe we were lost which was very nice, and I stated no I was ill and maybe we could reschedule and his answer was no, no offer to help us set up a new tour, but my husband and I were able to set up a private one on our own which was very nice.
Also, two of our private drivers between trains and hotels did not speak English and one driver even told us that it was mandatory for all new drivers and guides to speak English.
We did like the fact that we had a travel agency to help us set up a few things, to take the some of the burden off of us, I just wish the communication was better and more emphasis was focused on our needs and wants.

Exceptional

Who knew Sicily was so amazing?

We did Ischia, Procida, Palermo, Ortigia, Taormina and Valletta.
Also had some other highlights en route to those locations.
All in all--amazing cities, each with their own personalities.
I would recommend Taormina and Ortigia the most--since they were most authentic, less touristy (except Taormina does have a cruise ship terminal which makes the city swell at midday.)

Our guides were all terrific. Salvatore showed us around a gorge that is north of the Noto area, as well as Taormina, and was incredibly knowledgeable and personable.
Francesco was our guide for a boat tour around the islands of Ischia and Procida and he was amazing. Friendly, down to earth, un-rushed.

We did have some miscommunications with one of our drivers being late to pick us up from airport, but Mario from BellaRoma Vacations made up for it and comped us the value. Mario was also always available via Whatsapp/phone, so that helped as well to keep things running smoothly.

Would recommend and return to Sicily in a heartbeat--who needs to go to the overcrowded Rome, Venice, Florence when you've got Sicilia!