Car Rentals in Rome: To and from the airport to the cruise port.

I know this does not answer your specific question, but this is being offered just as food for thought.

In your particular situation "...easier and more economical..." are, in my opinion, mutually exclusive. The most economical way would probably be renting two vans -- but not very easy from any standpoint. The easiest way is to hire a car service and let them hassle with the traffic and etc. Yes, it will be expensive, but considering what is already being spent for / by ten people on this trip, it's probably not going to really be that much more.

Upon your arrival after a long flight, with a large group, having jet lag, and not being familiar with the area, there will be nothing better than having your private driver(s) meet your group inside the terminal and whisk all of you to your destination. Same holds true for getting to and from the port. It is not the cheapest way, but it is definitely the best. We can't say enough good things about Rome Cabs. It is a private car service and not a cab company despite the name. We always use them and have always been very pleased. Go to romecabs.com and see what you think. We always send an email detailing our needs and they answer us with a quote within 24 hours. At one time you had to pay cash (Euros) and the end of the journey but not in advance. But I think they now take credit cards. Can't hurt to check it out and get a quote.

First of all you can't get 10 people plus all of that luggage into a normal sized van...If you DID manage to rent a vehicle (minibus) large enough for all of you - I highly doubt it will fit into the parking garage. Yes, driving into Rome is NOT what you want to do especially driving a minibus. Yes, there are interesting places outside of Rome to drive to, but why would you take the trouble of flying into Rome, navigating into historic Rome only to LEAVE historic Rome to visit someplace else???

This is a bad idea all around.

Driving in Rome is tough. A good driver, aware of the...interesting norms of Italian urban driving, with a small car could do it if necessary. You will not have a small car which pretty much rules it out. Anything that will fit 10 people and luggage will be an absolute nightmare and likely won’t fit in the parking garage or some streets.

Get a car service to your hotel, enjoy Rome, then get a car service to the port. Easiest and with 10 people easy is good! Train will work fine too, at least to the hotel. I don’t know the details of the cruise port, sorry!

Please be aware that in some countries your regular driving licence only allows you to have a maximum of 9 persons (incl. driver) in the car. From 10 persons onward you need a special bus driver's licence plus possibly some other permits. I am not sure if this regulation also applies to Italy, but if you really want to drive you may want to check on it.

The $89/day is just the beginning. There are additional charges related to gas, parking, potential for parking tickets, etc. Ten people will have a lot of luggage. 8 euro for all day parking is very cheap in Rome so I question exact what the 8 euro is for. And driving in Rome is crazy for the average American tourist since they do not understand or know local driving customs especially when it comes to red lights. Who is going to be the responsible driver for the mob???? Personally that is not a viable option.

Not knowing where you"flat" is but assuming it is somewhere near central Rome, take a taxi - flat rate - 48 euro for 4 people and luggage. Taxis are very reliable. Just go to the que and the start will assign you the taxi. Train would be more expensive at 14 euro/person and then you probably would need a taxi to the flat. Use local transportation while in Rome. Far cheaper than another day of car rental.

Getting to Civit.... is similar to the airport. Civit is about an hour or so away from Rome. The normal rate for a car and driver is about 125 euro for two. The train will run between 8 and 12 euro depending on the train and takes between 45 mins and an hour fifteen. The slower train is cheaper. The port entrance is within a mile of the train station. Some walk it but local taxis and buses are available. It will be a zoo especially if more than one ship in port. Ask Roma Cabs for a quote for the mob. The convenience could justify the price.

Try looking at Sun Transfers. We have used them several times for transport from Rome airport to hotel and from hotel to cruise port. Always been reliable and reasonable rates. So much easier than driving yourself.

www.suntransfers.com

An easy fix would be to have the cruise line or travel agent arrange the transportation. However, this could/would be expensive, maybe. When we did our Transatlantic cruise our travel agent inquired about this very item . Since we were driving to Civitavecchia from Ariccia, which is just southeast of Roma, we dropped off the rental car at the Autoeurope office and walked across the street to the port bus loading area.

Now, since you have a lot of people sharing the cost among ten people could be more economical by arranging your own transportation using a private company and it would meet all of your needs. When we fly into Roma we always use romashuttle.com for transit to our hotel downtown. A few years ago there were five of us and we used this company for transportation from Roma to FCO and it was more economical than the cost of just two people.

If you are not familiar with driving in Roma or Italy, the above could be a cogent solution to our transportation challenge.

Buon viaggio,

Vans can’t have more than 9 including the driver. You need a minibus, for which you need a higher level driver’s licence, or two large vehicles.
Assuming you rent two at the price you say, then you must add the fact that you can’t drive in most of downtown Rome. That privilege is for residents only. So you would need to park two vehicles outside the restricted zone and take taxis from there. Parking in Rome is at least 20€ X two vehicles. And that assumes you are comfortable driving in Rome.

A car service will cost you 50€ per vehicle (you need 2) from airport to Rome, and 160€ per vehicle for the transfer To Civitavecchia. So the total is 420€.

www.romecabs.com

If you want to save, a good option might be the train to Civitavecchia.
As I mentioned the car service would be 160€ per car, and you need two, for a total of 320€.

Alternatively you could take two or 3 taxis to the train station. Depending on distance of your hotel that would be up to 10€-20€ per vehicle (let’s say 50€ Total)
The train ticket to a Civitavecchia is 5€ per person.(50€ total)
Once in Civitavecchia, the walk from the station to the cruise port is bit over 1km (maybe 20 min walk). I imagine there are taxis too. So let’s assume you don’t want to walk that distance, and if you take a taxi, you spend the same as in Rome (50€ total).
So the train option would cost you 150€ max, vs 320€ for the car service. Obviously the car service door to door would be more convenient, but if you want to save this is another option.

Since you obviously are going on a cruise, how much luggage do you anticipate having? That is a big factors. We have boarded several cruises out of Civit.... and luggage can be an issue. We get by with a total of three carryon size bags for two of us. But that is well below average from our observation of other boarding passengers. We were once asked what luggage forwarding service we had used since we only had three bags at check-in.

I am confused by the recommendation given a few posts up by arlineconnolly11 who highly recommends a company having used it several times. The reason I am Mr Confused is that in her other post she sounds like a first time visitor to Rome and gets information about taxis and other transport.

I agree and wondered the same thing but gave the "benefit of doubt." Could also be a guidebook expert. We have a few here, more so in the past, that read three guidebooks and think they are experts on European travel. I would check her recommendation very, very carefully.

mention of suntransfers goes back at least 5 years on this forum. I did not do an extensive, all inclusive review, but all mention of it that I saw was positive and by posters who had used it.

As for OP, renting a van or two to get around for this segment of their journey, is probably the worst idea for getting to/from all the places they need to go.( I will concede that it could be fairly debated that walking might be worse, but I believe the underlying assumption was relating to motorized transport)