Logistics for seeing Rome in 2 days...

1. The Vatican Museums are closed on Sundays, except for the last Sunday of the month when they are packed, you have to go through the museums to get to the Sistine Chapel, so if you really want to get there, I would plan for Saturday afternoon or Monday morning before you head to your cruise. You can go directly to St. Peter's Basilica from within the Sistine Chapel, in the back go towards the exit on the right not the one on the left. Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps areas are easily done at night, unless you must shop near the Spanish Steps. Pantheon and Piazza Navona are only a few minutes apart, Piazza Navona can also be enjoyed in the evenings and both are within 10 minutes walking from where you are staying. Colosseum and Forum are on a combo ticket and I think you have to use the second entrance within 24 hours so they should be done together. Also keep in mind, the Forum and Colosseum are pretty much the opposite direction of the Vatican Museums and St. Peter's from where you are staying.

2. Roma Pass would only cover one ticket of what you listed, Forum/Colosseum, those are a combined ticket so unless you plan to use a lot of metro and bus rides, I don't think its worth it.

I did not see any bike tours in Rome, maybe out on the Apian Way, but you have so little time as it is, things will be tight. I would think bikes would be a bit dangerous in Rome's traffic, were you thinking in the main downtown area or out a ways? You can rent bikes in Borghese Park and ride around in there. Spanish Steps is closest to the park.

Yikes, you guys are ambitious. :-) Nadine has given you great advice.

Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps are better after dark and the Pantheon and Piazza Navona can be enjoyed either way. Definitely do the Colosseum/Forum together and on Sunday.

To reach the Sistine Chapel, you have to go through most all the Vatican Museum. I will assume given your time constraints, you will get through there ASAP and not stop to look at the rest of the art.

I would start at the Vatican and dash to the Sistine Chapel. Then take the "shortcut" out to St. Peter's. If you are just going up the dome, the shortcut will dump you out right at the line to buy tickets. After that, assuming you have time/energy, visit Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, Trevi, and the Spanish Steps (roughly all in a line).

Trevi, Spanish Steps, and Navona are open all day. As I recall, the Pantheon closes at 7pm, possibly a bit later in the summer. I know the Cupola closes at 5pm in the winter but probably stays open a bit longer in October. If you hit the Vatican and St. Peter's first, you should be ok.

I'm usually a fan of the Roma Pass, but in your case it's probably not going to be worth it. Your hotel seems to be pretty central to everything, so assuming your party contains good walkers, you probably won't use much public transit.

Entrance fees as best as I remember: Colosseum/Forum is 14 e, 7 for climbing the Cupola, Vatican is 11 or 12, or 14 if you reserve in advance which given your tight schedule, you should consider. Trevi, Navona, Pantheon, and Spanish Steps are all free unless you go shopping. So that's...about 35 euro per person.

Can't help with the bike tour, except to say do it on Sunday and don't get killed. :-)

Thanks for your feedback Nadine. You raise a good point about the bike tour given the traffic.

Thanks for your insight!

Based on recommendations, I have found a car service to take us from the airport to our hotel and from the hotel to the cruise ship.

However, I'm somewhat torn about what to do when we get back into port. We get back early on a Friday morning and our flight home is not until Saturday morning. We have a reservation at a hotel attached to the airport for that evening.

1) There is a post-cruise package (for about $150pp) that includes motor coach to Rome city center, tour of Vatican (not museums) and Coliseum, and motor coach to the airport in the late afternoon. The issues here are 1) tour overlaps with things we would have already done before the cruise and 2) sitting at the hotel at the airport with nothing to do for that evening.

2) We could use the same car company to go back to Rome, tour freely for as late as we'd like, and then go back to the airport later in the evening. The only issue is what to do with our luggage.

Any recommendations?

If I'm understanding correctly, you have basically an entire afternoon/evening free after the cruise finishes. If it were me, I certainly wouldn't sit around the hotel with Rome so close! I also wouldn't do the cruise package option unless you plan to adjust your pre-cruise touring and save the Vatican etc. for after. So I would definitely use the car service or a taxi and head into the city on my own.

If you can stop at your hotel after the cruise and before going into Rome, you should be able to leave your luggage there even if your room isn't ready (most Italian hotels allow this). Another option would be to store your bags at Termini train station's left luggage counter. I think there's a slight fee but I don't recall what it is.

I agree, I wouldn't stay out at the airport that Friday after the cruise. I know some of those hotels have shuttles into the downtown area, I'd get on that if you really want to spend the night out there because of an early flight. Check cruisecritic.com, there is a section where you can get to know other people on your cruise on the boards there and see if there are others on your cruise that want to share the car service with you, either direction, makes it a lot cheaper than cruise line transfers and usually gets you places a lot more quickly. On our last trip we were off a cruise ship 8:15-8:30am and checked in and settled in our Rome hotel and out to Piazza Navona before 11:00, and there was traffic on the way to Rome. You can still do quite a bit that Friday if you are so inclined.

Post Cruise - If you can handle your own luggage, take the train from Civitavecchia right into Termini, takes about 1 hour and only 5.50 E . Store your luggage at Termini, and enjoy Rome and don't head back to the Airport on Leos Express 11 E until after dinner. Since you are staying at the Hotel attached to the airport, getting there in the evening is easy, as is getting to the Terminal. This is all assuming you can handle your own luggage. If not, then private car or taxi is the way to go. We had no problems getting from FCO to Civitavecchia, to the Cruise ship using public transportation and vice versa. Easy for us, and saved a lot of $$. Either way, have a great time!

Thanks everyone. We've re-evaluated the hotel situation and decided to book a hotel closer to Rome--than at the airport--for that last night. So we're going to take a car to the hotel, drop off luggage and then walk to a local metro station and head to the Vatican.

I would love to take the train but we'll just have too much luggage.