I will be coming into Naples on a cruise ship and would like to take my family of 10 to see Pompeii. I understand there is a train that goes there. Could anyone give me some advise and direction on how to get there, timing and any other advise on how to spend our day.
Is this just a one day stop the ship makes, or does your cruise end in Naples?
If the former, the time the ship arrives and departs would be helpful details in order for the forum to offer advice.
Should be quite easy. You can take the Circumvesuviana train from either Porta Nolana or Garabaldi Station in Naples to Pompeii Scavi in about 40 minutes. The trains run twice every hour. It’s a 2-3 minute walk to the ruins. If you have enough time, you might want to also consider stopping at Herculaneum (Ercolano Scavi station) on the same train line.
In one of your related post you mentioned that you were trying to keep expenses as low as possible. And that is a laudable goal. However, there may be time you want to take one of the ship's excursions and this may be one of the places. Yes, they are expensive and you can do it cheaper on your own, but if you are on a ship excursion and there is a delay returning they will wait for you. That happened the last two time we were in Naples on cruises. If you are off on your own that's not the case. We've seen people left running down the pier as the ship departed. Our rule of thumb is that if we are going to be going ashore to a place fairly close to the port, we'll do it on our own. But if we are going quite a way from the port we'll take a ship excursion. I'm not sure the money saved by doing distant things on you own will pay for having to get ten people to the next port on your own. Don't mean to rain on your trip, just offering food for thought based on our experiences.
A previous post indicates that you'd like to travel as inexpensively as possible.
As said above, you'd want to get on the Circumvesuviana commuter train at Porto Nolana station. Depending on where your ship berths, it can be a bit of a walk so I see some recommendations for taking the #1 tram from the stop near the port at Via Cristoforo Colombo to the station. I'm unsure of tram ticket prices (I'm sure they're cheap) or where to get them (rumor has it they can be purchased at a tobacco shop nearby the stop) but maybe someone can confirm that piece.
At Porta Nolana you'll buy tickets and take the train to the Pompei Scavi Villa dei Misteri stop, which is right in front of the main entrance to the excavation. To get back to the ship, just reverse directions, buying tickets at the Pompei station. I will not swear that these listed ticket prices are 100% current but they wouldn't be far off:
http://www.napoliunplugged.com/naples-circumvesuviana-railway
Circumvesuviana schedule going either direction:
http://www.sorrentoinsider.com/en/naples-to-sorrento-train-schedule
http://www.sorrentoinsider.com/en/naples-to-sorrento-train-schedule?bus_route=sorrento_napoli
The trip will take 35-40 minutes or so. This train is a battered, un-airconditioned, unlovely thing but it's cheap and gets the job done. Very important detail: you MUST validate your tickets - both ways - before boarding the trains. Onboard checks are not uncommon and fines are high if nailed without a valid ticket.
The scavi is HUGE and can easily eat up the lion's share of your day. Give yourself plenty of time to get back to the ship!
It's very possible someone might have a better idea, other than hiring a driver haul you all there and back, so stay tuned... You could also post your question on Cruise Critic as that site is dedicated to all things ship/port related.