Patrick - there is a nice stall shower - and the hand held shower is with the jacuzzi tub, as I recall - so you have a choice.

OK, we are both talking about VRBO 53919, right?

I noticed two bathrooms pictured and both have tubs. The guest bathroom clearly is a tub as I described. You can only see a bit of the tub in the master, but it also appears to be open. So I guess there's a stall shower somewhere in addition to the two bathtubs? That's nice.

Tagging on for later.

I see what you mean Patrick and I agree with the hand held shower with no curtain or shower door to keep the water in..the bath in the Danube had that sort of tub and it was annoying to have to struggle to wash my hair while showering and not soak the entire room also..
This is a lovely apt. Certainly enough room for 3 ladies to get ready each day and have a meal in if they wish.
Remember that these apts are always smaller than the photos lead you to believe.

How do you know if you can trust
a owner from the vrbo site?
What can I do to make sure I'm not just sending my money to a scam artist?

Well I think cabovacation is telling you he/she stayed at this apt. and has given an email address for you to get more info. That's where I'd start.

If that VRBO apartment is one of the lacigaleparis.com ones, as cabovacation says it is, there have been numerous raves about them here. You will not find them to be a scam artist for an apartment that doesn't exist.

I stayed there. My sisters and daughters stayed there. I have a lovely gift that the wonderful owners made for me - an apron with a photo of our group in front of the cafe next door - because we were the first guests since they remodeled. You can email them directly from the lacigaleparis website. you have already emailed me. i can give you my work email so you can see my photo and my company if that makes you feel better. the website also gives (i think) other emails from people you can contact. i told you - you can ask me anything non-stop. i am here to help you - as most of the Fodorites always are. you have my email address...

Also - it's a really large apartment, imho - and I have to confess that I may be wrong about the stall shower. i am pretty confident that there is at least a shower curtain on the 2nd bathtub - and the other bath is so large that it doesn't need one - but I have asked everyone else who has been there - and no one can ever remember the showers. i don't mean to spend so much time raving about it - but we all felt so lucky to have found it - it was beyond our wildest dreams - and we have lived some pretty wild dreams on our vacations!

It is the same owner as the one with the website cigaleparis.com. He's a physician (perhaps retired), I think named J. Smith. It looks pretty decent to me for your purposes, although it's a little confusing about the bedrooms -- it shows three and yet the title claims it only has two plus some foldout bed or something. In any case, I know that area, and while bd Marcel is a big major street and not where I would prefer for that reason, it's fairly close to ave des Gobelins, and is a nice area.

I like that area a lot better than rue de Douai. I wouldn't worry about the owner being reputable, I've seen him posting at various times, and he seems pretty ethical to me (even sometimes not wanting to say a lot about his place, as he knew advertising was against the rules -- here and on Frommers). He's American so should be easy for you to deal with, and the apt. was probably outfitted in ways American tourists would expect.

If the price is right for you, I think it's a good choice.

R. smth. It is two bedrooms - they show the queen bedroom twice for some reason.
there is a large living room with sleeper sofa. And when we were there they also got a nice rollaway bed for us. they are completely accommodating! they have a great deal of pride in their apartment.

Thanks,
I feel better about it now. I guess I am just a little chicken about trusting people these days.
Sent my deposit in today and will look forward to a great vacation.
I have rented apts in Rome and London over the internet and they were fine,
I don't know why I worry so much.
Thanks to all of you. I'm sure I'll be back with plenty of other questions.

I don't blame you for being cautious, I would be, also, and I think it is smart to be. I wouldn't want to send off hundreds of dollars to a total stranger based on something I saw on the internet without more information about the person or organization.

Just wanted to say thanks for all the help with our apartment search.
IT WAS GREAT! It is just as great as the web site says.
I would be happy to answer any questions about it.

Can we not assume that an apartment on vrbo.com does in fact exist? And presumably the organization would back the apartment to some extent? I saw one negative review on slowtravel.com for a different VRBO apartment.

I dont think vrbo backs any apt listed. I'm sure there is a way to make a complaint on a listing and maybe have it removed from their list. They do not own the apts, they only list them for a fee.

Please do tell us about your apt! So glad it turned out to be good! We are renting a villa on Riviera thru VRBO and are keeping our fingers crossed..looks beautiful in pix...!

Sorry I took so long to post,
but the apartment was wonderful!
I look forward to staying there again.
You can e-mail me if you have questions about the area or apartment.