Rome excursion from cruise ship mid August 2026

Mike, to get the best answers, we need a little more information:
Month of year, Day of week, arrival and departure hour of ship (and if it's spending the night in Civitavecchia). It's unclear whether you mean ONE big tour for the day, or multiple independent tours purchased for after you get into Rome. Do you know how far it is from the port? That's a big factor in all your decisions. Are you aware that a ship excursion guarantees that the ship will not leave without you, even if the ship's bus back to the port is delayed?

I don't have a link at hand, but our host here, Rick, does have a "One [daylight] Day In Rome from a Cruise Ship" report, which gives a good idea of how hard it is to "see Rome" in 10 hours. I personally don't see the Vatican fitting into 10 hours in Rome.

Edit: We waited an hour in the outdoor security screening line before entering the main lobby of the Vatican Museums. The museums are always crowded, like public transportation during rush hour. It's elbow to elbow. You cannot walk faster just because you want to.

What do you mean by "the Vatican"? The Sistine Chapel is part of the Vatican Museums. Online tickets to the Museums sell out in advance, probably less or more "in advance" depending on the timing of a visit. You do not want to take your chances by showing up and standing in the "I need to buy a ticket" line. The most popular tickets are those for morning entry. The Museums are probably least crowded the first hour or two after they open at 8 AM. However, since you'll be traveling in from Civitavecchia, you need to be careful in selecting your entry time. The Museums are very large; the Sistine Chapel is a long walk from the entrance. I'd say 2 hours would be about the least time you'd want for the Vatican Museums, and you could spend more than half a day there. You could spend somewhat less than two hours if you only want to see the Sistine Chapel, but it would not be a quick visit, because the Museums will be massively crowded at any time you're able to reach them from Civitavecchia.

If by "the Vatican" you mean St. Peter's, that's potentially a bit simpler. It is now possible to book an entry time online (though I think you can't do that terribly far in advance). Those entries come with an audio guide and allow you to use a dedicated security line that should move much faster than the regular security line used by walk-up visitors. The regular security line is usually horrendously long, though I've read it moves somewhat faster than one might expect. If you want to enter St. Peter's, it's very important that you book an entry time online so you don't waste a lot of time going through security. The number of online entries available is limited; they will sell out in advance.

The entry points for the Vatican Museums and St. Peter's are a considerable walk apart--maybe 15 minutes? There used to be a few combination tours run by private companies that covered both the Vatican Museums (with Sistine Chapel) and St. Peter's, and they often were allowed to take their clients through a door connecting the Chapel to St. Peter's. I don't know whether that option still exists. The tours offered by the Vatican Museums (which seem reasonably priced) do not include St. Peter's, so you'd need to make the considerable walk around the outside of the building to get to the other entry point.

A reasonable visit to both the Vatican Museums and St. Peter's will occupy a very large part of the time you have available in Rome.

The Colosseum is not near Vatican City. Using the Metro would help, but there's a walk from the Vatican to the nearest Metro station, and one must change Metro lines at the Termini station. I have never been inside the Colosseum; I'm just not very interested in Roman ruins. Therefore, I do not have an informed opinion about the value of seeing the various parts of the Colosseum. I do know that it's difficult to get some of the specialized tickets; it's easier to buy a plain-vanilla entry ticket.

hey hey Mike and Katelyn
as Tim posts need more info. what ship, what day, how many ships in port that day will add up to thousands getting off ships wanting to do same as you, buses/trains/shuttles can be very full which takes time, exactly what time ship arrives and what time you can get off. is your cruise roundtrip rome to rome?
the port is a little over an hour from rome, years ago had issues getting to ship (crowds/protestors/roads blocked) took a cab from piazza navona area for 140E just to get to ship by 2pm. you are there during high summer season busy with crowds, long lines, HOT. people everywhere wanting to see the vatican and colosseum with hard times reserving tickets (they are time/day stamped).
my own opinion to you is too book a shore excursion from the ship if that is a personal MUST. the bus will get you back to ship, if late ship will wait for you. if on your own you miss debarking find your own way to next port. i've seen it happen and it's ugly!!
i see your ship departs from venice, no cruise ships sail out of venice nowdays, check your exact departure city (chioggia, ravenna, marghera) which is a bus/train/taxi from piazzale roma/train station. be aware. could take couple hours. some ships are tendered to shore or dock right on shore, read the itinerary.

ask more questions, people here to help you out. good luck & enjoy
aloha

We've cruised to and from "Rome" several times. The actual port is at least an hour away, and almost everyone will be trying to get to Rome for the day. Trying to do it on your own, or with a private tour or guide, as opposed to taking a ship excursion, is, in my opinion, not a good idea. There isn't anyway in the world we would try that. Getting back to the ship on time can be quite iffy due to crowded trains and unpredictable road traffic. Please refer to my response to your post about Venice. Not trying to rain on your parade; just offering food for thought. Hope you have a great trip.

If you have just one day in port, consider taking an official ship excursion. The further you are going from port, the riskier doing it on your own becomes. Independently you need to spend a shorter time in Rome itself to build a buffer of time to assure you make it back in time.

The following is my personal opinion and others might disagree: The Vatican Museums were the low point of my visit to Rome. They were so crowded that I frequently felt I was in a cattle chute going down the long hallways. It seemed strange to me that the church was a business and charging so much for admission. I don’t plan to return.

Underground Colosseum tickets are often hard to get under a new ticketing scheme that was introduced. One common practice is for tour companies to sell tickets for such tours without actually having the tickets in hand. Sometimes it works and sometimes they send out a tour cancellation one or two days prior to the scheduled tour.
I think most people will be completely satisfied with the regular tour.

Thank you everyone so far
Our itinerary:
Depart Ravenna Mon 8.10.26
Tue: Dubrovnick- 10am, depart midnight
Wed: Kotor - 7:30am/ 4pm
Thur: At Sea
Fri: Salerno- 7:00am/6pm
Sat: Rome (Civitavecchia)- 6:45am/ 5pm
Sun: Florence- 7am/10pm
Mon: Nice/Monaco- 7am/ 4:30pm
Tues: Palma- 1:00pm/ 9pm
Wed- sadly we leave from Barcelonia

We have cruised before, mostly southern Caribbean but never Italy. I have utilized ship sponsored trips and have hired my own local person to take us around.
I am aware that booking thru the ship guarantees them not leaving without me due to excursion delays; however, I am also adventurous and want to consider just hiring a private guide or taxi in certain ports to avoid "ship sponsored" tours that may be overly crowded.

I thought of using A SHIP SPONSORED excursion in Rome because I don't want to get caught in missing the boat when it leaves port.

If anyone has any more specific sites of interest in any of the above mentioned ports of call that they have enjoyed or recommend, I am open to your thoughts and Again Thank you All for sharing your insights. I am glad I joined this forum.

Be well
Ciao!

I don't think you've given the month of the year yet. Heat and sun are huge factors in places like Pompeii and Paestum. And crowding is a big factor on the Amalfi Coast's popular towns.

I think you know that Dubrovnik requires all cruise ships to use a very close-by cruise port that is out of sight of the city. But the cheap "city bus" allows you to go or return on your own pretty easily. It is a very crowded attraction.

You need to think about whether you want to do (for instance) Positano/Ravello, Pompeii, Herculaneum, or Paestum from Salerno. The easiest to do on your own is Pompeii, but the modern-Pompeii rail station is not immediately beside the ancient site (Pompeii Scavi.) See Google Maps if desired. Of course there is some risk of missing the ship. But both at Pompeii and Paestum, if you plan on a conservative train choice, there may be a "last ditch" backup of a very expensive taxi ride to Salerno.

Many posters on this board love the smaller and less-visited towns nearer Salerno, but I haven't been to them. I wanted to see Positano because it is famous and overcrowded. I was a bit disappointed.

Remember that more expensive cabin categories often get off the ship earlier. Find out which ports are pierside and which are tender-ports.

The problem with Civi. (for Rome) is the early departure time. I always like to try to do my own thing when on a cruise. A 6.45am arrival time will probably translate into a 7.30am time off the ship. If you hoof it you might make a train at 8amish. That is about 9am arrival time into Rome. Going by road (some type of transfer or tour bus) won't be any faster.

For a 5pm departure time 'all aboard' will be around 4pm, which translates into leaving Rome at around 2pm, or very soon after.

Depending on their times you may be able to beat the clock a little bit by using the long distance non stop trains to Rome in one or both directions- they take 35 minutes or so.
All that means that the ship's own excursions are going to be a bit rushed as well.

Faced with exactly that conundrum, and my propensity to wander on the way to the station, I opted for a relaxed self guided walking tour of Civi (with a map acquired at the Tourist Info ship side)- but you should also be able to pre book a similar thing as a guided tour. Or the Taurine Baths, a few miles away by citybus (or probably on a guided tour) are supposed to be rather interesting. Civi is an old holiday resort for Rome (as well as a port), has Roman ruins to explore (including within the dock complex), a couple of nice Churches and shaded squares to be, well, Italian. There may well be other more local sights to visit which experienced Italian visitors would be aware of.

I enjoyed my relaxed day with no time pressures. With those timings I'm not sure that I would try to do Rome under my own steam.

I know it is very counter-intuitive not to go to Rome, but my preference was to leave Rome for a day when I would have time to give it proper attention.

You face a similar issue at Palma, with a 1pm arrival time, as the port is a couple of miles out of town- eating into your precious shore time. You won't be into central Palma until maybe 2.30pm, then have to leave again around 7pm back to the ship. Time enough for the city, centre but a bit tight to go further (say Soller as an example) under your own steam.

I know this isn't the best idea but if you were in Rome and couldn't get back to Citavecchia in time to get on the boat, you could spend the night in Rome and take a 2 hour train to Florence. My point is if the boat from Rome leaves you, I don't think it would be very difficult or terribly expensive to catch up with the boat on its Florence stop.

@Cala. The issue with this is that an entire ship full of other passengers will end up waiting for someone for at least some period of time before leaving. Plans not to to return to the ship need to be approved in advance.

We felt the underground tour was unnecessary. The Vatican tour is great but time consuming. This RS website offers great advice on whats best. Its been so long I cant remember…but think I used the Vatican website to book?
Our cruise port and day into Rome we planned to go in independently. We had been to Rome once before for several days and felt comfortable with using all public transport. Regional trains in. Our problem though…there was a local transportation strike totally unknown to us! We had to run sprints and marathons to get back on to our regional trains!! Taxis all filled…. No other way but on foot! It was very upsetting to think we came to one minute to miss our last train to get to ship on time! The doors were closing as we squished in. Just sayin…

Official website for Vatican Museums tickets: https://tickets.museivaticani.va/home/calendar/visit/MV-Biglietti/1. In the past, plain entry tickets and Vatican-operated tour tickets haven't necessarily gone on sale at the same time. As far out as Easter week, there are already some time slots sold out and many others labeled "Low Availability". I really wouldn't recommend trying to squeeze the Vatican Museums into such a short port call. There are many other things to do in Rome that do not require such a time commitment. You definitely shouldn't plan to show up and stand in the ticket-purchasing line. It is very long and moves very slowly.

Official website for St. Peter's Basilica tickets: https://www.basilicasanpietro.va/en/products. At this time, they seem to be selling entry tickets (just 7 euros each) months ahead.

With regard as to what to do in certain ports, know this about the port of Kotor.

There is a road that goes from Kotor to the towns of Njegusi and Cetinje, and the cruise line will probably have an excursion that goes there. But it is a road you may not want to travel if you or any of your party have a problem with heights or are prone to motion sickness.

It's known as the P1 road, and it has wonderful views of the bay and the town. But the road goes up (or down) the side of a fairly high mountain, and has about 25 numbered 180 degree switchback turns and probably 75 other sharp turns. There's a rock wall on one side and nothing on the other.

Although it's probably a rare occurrence, we saw several folks throwing up on the side of the road due to motion sickness. Personally, I was darn glad to be able to have a drink when we got to the first town. However, large tour buses do travel this road all the time, so it's not mission impossible.

You can use Google Maps or Bing.com and see aerial views of the road. And just doing some google searches will lead you to links that will have videos taken on the road.

As stated above, the views of the bay from the road are spectacular -- if you can handle the road.

Don't mean to rain on your adventurous spirit, just offering food for thought so you don't inadvertently find yourself in a bad situation.