Rome tour in a day from Cruise Port

Hi!

As indicated just because the cruise line has you listed as "in port" at 7 does not mean that you will be disembarking at 7 -- all kinds of things can happen with customs/immigration at the port. And if it is a big ship, as you indicated, there will be a lot of people waiting to disembark. Realistically figure you are out no earlier than 7:45. Then you have to get up to the train station, which is maybe 1/2 mile walk out of the port. (Not sure if there are taxis waiting there). You have to figure out when the regional train runs, then get tickets and get on. The ride is a good 80-90 minutes and you would get off in Rome Termini station. You've just arrived Rome at best at 10am so a 9:30 Colesseum tour is not likely.

On the other side a 3.5 Vatican tour starting at 1pm gets you out a 4:30 - even if you leave at 4 you still have to get to the train station and reverse the process.

In my mind you have two options - 1) book with the cruise line, which I know you don't want to hear but will guarantee that the ship won't sail without you, 2) take the train into Rome but keep your options flexible and NOT sign up for pre-arranged tours but rather wander about doing a walking tour of either the Colosseum area OR the Vatican area/St Peters, and determining a train that would get you BACK to Civitavecchia no later than 6pm which is also cutting it close.

In either case, take your daily planner with you from the ship - it will have the phone number of the ship's agent in port should something happen while you are out. In an emergency you can let them know what your status is.

You are correct about the unpredictability of when you will be able to leave the ship. Having been on many cruises (including in and out of Civitavecchia) I can tell you the port arrival times have absolutely nothing to do with when you can really leave the ship.

Once you leave the ship you can walk to the train station. There might be taxis at the exit to the cruise port that you can take to the train station but I wouldn't count on it. They were few and far between the times we were there. From the time you leave the ship to the train station the time to get there will depend on how fast you walk. If you go to googlemaps.com you can get excellent street views and overhead views showing the distance.

We've been back and forth between the port and Rome on the train and familiar with the ends and outs of doing so. But if this is your first trip please consider the following.

There isn't any question that excursions offered by the cruise line are more expensive than doing it yourself. But since you are traveling a good way from the port a tour through the cruise line may be in order. There are times they are worth the extra money and this may be one of them. If you take a tour through the cruise line and there is a delay getting back to the ship, they will wait for you. Not so if you are off on your own. On several occasions we have seen people literally running down the pier as the ship departed and left them.

With good prior planning you should be okay. Just leave yourself enough "elbow time" to get back if you go out on your own. One of the reasons for that is that traffic in Rome can be (and often is) horrible. That may very will delay a planned return to the Rome train station.

This isn't the specific information you requested and I don't mean to be "Debbie Downer", just offering food for thought.

Thanks TC for your response and realistic advice. Most likely we will purchase some skip the line passes for the ancient sites and then see what kind of time we have in the afternoon for Vatican or just looking around, having leisurely lunch, etc.

I have a RS cruise port guidebook that should help with the logistics of booking train or bus to and from Rome but needed your comment (and others) about how realistic it is to get on/off cruise ship in reasonable amount of time.

Thanks Donna for your advice as well.

If you really want to see both the Roman Ruins and the Vatican--and your ship offers a tour that covers both--I would spend the extra money to take the ship tour (and I'm not often a ship tour proponent.) A few reasons why: 1) If you've booked a tour through the ship, you are guaranteed to be the first one's off, making the most of your time in Rome. 2) You are guaranteed to see the sites for which you've paid (baring unforeseen, uncontrollable circumstances.) 3) The ship is guaranteed to wait for you - so if your tour is late you won't have to stress about making it back to the boat on time. 4) Italy runs on 'Italian time', which is great (and I personally love) if you don't have a tight timeline and can go with the flow (often things don't run on time or as you plan) - ship tours run on 'American' time so when they plan a tour it's schedule is reliable.

If you don't want to take a ship tour, I'd pick one of your options instead of both. You will have plenty of time to visit one but you may not have time to visit the other depending on when you are able to leave the ship, the time you are able to catch transportation to Rome from cruise port, the tour starting on time, etc.

Enjoy your cruise!

When will you be there? June-July-August can be crazy crowded.

We were in Rome December 2015 and our tour guide was talking about how much more crowded Rome had gotten with the explosion of cruise ships docking at Civitiavechhia. When you are making plans, remember there maybe two or three other cruise ships docked there at the same time. You maybe trying to get to Rome along with 3 or 4 thousand of your fellow cruisers. As mentioned, this may be a good time to book through your cruise ship to help you get to Rome and back. I'd sure check to see the price difference. Your decision may also be determined by how comfortable you are striking out on your own.

You may find this helpful: http://www.avidcruiser.com/2012/07/12/train-to-rome/

Going to have to disagree with many of the prior postings. They are painting a very complicated picture when it can be pretty easy. You have a wide time window with the ship that makes it fairly easy. If the ship docks at 7 it will dock 7 until there is severe weather. You can probably get off around eight. If you pass through Italy prior to the trip it would be best to buy your train tickets prior to Civit... Get a Regionale train tickets to and from Rome termini - two one way tickets - for everyone. The ticket office in Civit... will be swamped especially if more than one ship in port. When you exit your ship, there will be a shuttle bus within the port that will take you to the front entrance. From there it is short walk (1/4 to 1/3 mile) along the beach to the train station. You will see the station on your left because it is elevated one level. Walk into the station, the check the departure board for the platform for the next Regional train to Rome. Walk through the station, see one of the yellow/blue/green boxes on the back of the station, stick the ticket to Rome in the slot and get a time stamp (validation) on the end of your ticket. You ticket is now valid and good to go. (Don't stamp your return ticket). If you were unable to buy a Regionale ticket earlier, then go to the tobacco shop in the back of the station and buy a 9 zone brig?? ticket that is a daily pass good for all of Rome transit including the Regionale train from Civit... Again, validate in the little box. The last time it was 10 euro probably 12 or so now.

Hop the next Regional train - if no seat available stand till one is available or look in another car. Get off at the St. Peter's stop - in about an hour - that is near the Vatican. See the Vatican, and begin a slow walk across Rome hitting the highlights to Termini. It is about four/five miles from the Vatican to Termini and longer when you see the major attractions. Once at Termini there will be three/four trains an hour to Civit.. , taking an hour to an hour fifteen depending on the train. I would leave Termini between 4.30 and 5 giving you two hours to get back to your ship.

See also, roninrome.com for detailed directions from Termini to Civit...

Our host's books on "Mediterranean Cruise Ports" and "Rome" have detailed, specific instructions for your Topic. He also makes realistic observations about the compromises you have to make to see Rome under the time constraints. Maybe one of them is in your public library. The Vatican is perfectly nice, but it takes a lot of time. If it is essential to your visit, you need to read up on how to spend money to decrease waiting times.

Is this your first cruise? Do you know the ship will leave without you if you travel independently and miss the departure time? Rome, alas, is famous for how far away the cruise port is. The fact that there is an inexpensive train does not alleviate the ONE HOUR +- it takes, each way.

Edif: Note that you likely get on a port-company bus that, after it fills up, takes you to the port bus center, from which you will walk or taxi to the train station. For security reasons, you cannot walk back directly to the ship, you have to go to the port bus center, where you wait for the bus that's going to your particular ship, and sit on it until it's ready to go. Allow for this time when returning. SOME but not all taxis have permits to go onto the pier, but I didn't research that detail. We sat on the bus, with the engine and air conditioning turned off, until departure time.

Thanks again everyone. We do have the RS Mediterranean Cruise Ports Guidebook and using a lot of the tips to do our own planning for French Riviera ports and Florence/Pisa. Maybe I need to go back and read the Rome chapter again but just didn't get a feel for how long the queue to get off ship might be (we have cruised before but never Europe or a ship this big) and the logistics of making it to a designated tour on time when we arrive in Rome.

Our trip is the middle of June and the ship seems to offer some transportation to and from Rome with a "do it yourself" window of 5 hours to do what we want. Maybe that's the compromise.....we have the guarantee the ship won't leave without us but won't waste time doing things we don't want to do if we choose this option?

Still intrigued by doing it all on our own but think I have to be realistic that we may miss out on some of the sights we want to see.
Our two kids are ages 15 and 17, most likely they would prefer the ancient sites over the Vatican sites? But they ARE teenagers and may prefer indoors (cooler) over outside (hotter) that time of year. You never know!

Frank has provided great info above - I would just like to emphasize that Civitavecchia is a very large port and your ship will not be the only one there on any given day. So ... the train station might be crowded with first-timers trying to figure out how to buy train tickets. Purchase your train tickets in advance so that you can bypass the crowds and be on your way.

Be sure to allow yourself enough time upon return to Civitavecchia to board the shuttle bus to your ship - there is a security area where the buses will be lined up for departure to each ship - you will go through this area when you leave in the morning so you can plan accordingly for your afternoon return. Allow enough time to go through security so that you are not late returning to the ship.

japetagna04, I thought the amount of detail in "Med Cruise Ports" was astounding. I also thought it would be disheartening to someone with your ambitions! (I was just reading it to learn the walking route from the port to the train station, which turned out to be harder than the book said ... especially with rolling luggage.) Your last reply indicates an intense desire to travel independently. That's good, and common on this board. But is this your first cruise?

I think so, because you would understand the port procedures better if you had cruised before. Rick, or any other travel writer cannot be expected to know how long YOUR group will take to get off the ship. For example, we don't know if you bought a "premium" Concierge Level cabin where they pick you up in a sedan chair and take you to the foot of the gangplank, first! Independent means independent. That means you know when to cut your losses and skip the Colliseum when you see what time in the afternoon it is.

The transfer to and from Rome with 5 hours on your own to see what you can is the best option, in my opinion, all things considered. Of course, you won't see all you want to see, no matter how hard you try, but you are guaranteed not to be left on the pier as the ship departs. Our Holland America ship had to leave two passengers in Lisbon a few years ago. I have often wondered how they fared. The ship delayed departure about 20 minutes, sounding its horn (is that what it is called?) so loud and often that it must have been heard all over Portugal. At remaining port stops we amused ourselves by sitting on our balcony and watching passengers scurry/hurry to the ship at the (almost) last minute.

I did a tour from the cruise port in Civitiavechhia a couple years ago. We used Rome in Limo. We booked a tour for a small group of 6 (you can do larger or smaller groups if you like). There were 2 of us and we opened the tour up to others to join us. We got 4 others from our ship to join our tour (by posting on the roll call site of cruise critic). The cost was about 1/2 of what the cruise ship offered. We were picked up as soon as we got off the ship and whisked to Rome. We toured the Pantheon, stopped at the Spanish Steps and Palatine hill, toured the coliseum (everyone had purchased tickets ahead to skip the lines), had a nice lunch, toured the Vatican Museums and saw the Sistine Chapel. We also stopped at another beautiful church (I don't recall the name). It was a very fast paced day but we felt that we got to see so much and were not overly rushed. I highly recommend Rome in Limo. They also have other itinerary or you can customize your own.

First for a cruise port, check out www.cruisecritic.com. They have both port of call boards and "Roll Call" boards for your particular cruise. If you get into your roll call, you might be able to find another group/family interested in sharing a private tour.

We were in Rome about a year ago on a cruise and did our own thing. We were scheduled to arrive at 7am and were told we could probably get off the ship about 7:30. I suspect we arrived earlier than that because we were off the ship by 7:20am. Problem was that then we had to get on a shuttle bus. We were only about the 9th/10th people to get on the bus so we had to wait for it to fill up before it moved. When it finally left, it took us to a bus staging area about a mile from the train station. I believe there was supposed to be a bus that you could get tickets for to take you to the train station but we just walked instead of trying to figure it out. I had hoped we could make the 8am train, but that just was not going to happen. We ended up on the 8:42am train. Everything seemed all well and good until about the third stop when the train just sat there. I don't speak Italian, so I don't know what exactly happened but it seemed to be some sort of problem on the tracks. We were delayed almost an hour. We would've been out of luck if we had an early tour planned. I think it would be tough to get from the ship to the Colosseum in time for a 9:30 tour without arranging for some sort of private transport.

I think for Rome in the small amount of time you have for a port day you need to make some decisions about what is most important for you. For some folks, that's clearly the Vatican. For others, it may by the ancient sites. What we did was sort of a hit the highlights but nothing in depth. I had bought Colosseum tickets ahead of time so we went there first. We were able to skip the ticket buying line, but the security line was still quite lengthy at the time we were there. I had Rick's Mediterranean Cruise Port guide and used the info from that to do our own Colosseum tour. From there, we just wandered in the direction of the Vatican. Along the way, we had lunch, saw the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, Place Navone, got gelato, and eventually ended up at the Vatican. We did go into the Basilica (after waiting in a long security line). We had already decided that we wanted to get an overview of Rome and had specifically chosen to skip the Vatican Museum/Sistine Chapel this time. We got back on the train at the station near the Vatican and were back to the ship in plenty of time. If I were you, I would look carefully at the train schedules and pick a return time that leaves you some buffer time.

I agree with the last two posts by Sweepmom and cms.

We were on the NCL Epic in 2015. The itinerary may say 7am, but the ship docks much earlier. The cruise ships are very efficient in loading and unloading. Our group always had a liesurely breakfast and were easily off the ship by 8 am to meet our private driver. During breakfast, i could see the large tour buses loading and driving off.

There are 3 shore options.

1. You can use the shore excursions by the cruise ship. This is the most expensive, without a doubt. Also, you will be on the bus with a group of 70-100 people. But you can be confident that the ship will wait if the bus is late.

2. You can take a train on your own. This will be the cheapest and you can do whatever you want, if you know what you are doing.

3. Hire a private tour or driver. This will something between 1. And 2. You will save a lot of money compared to a cruise shore excursion. You can set up the tour any way you want. You can hire a tour guide (extra charge), or just stick with the driver, and if he speaks English (wants a good tip) can give you a lot of info as he drives you site to site. The vans hold about 6-8 passengers. Two years ago, one way was about €150. So if you hire the driver to pick you up at port and drop you off in Rome and arrange for return ride, it will be about €300. If you hire the driver for the whole day to drive you site to site and abck to port, i am going to estimate €400-450. This for the whole group. You will have to pay your own admission tickets. Suggest: Romecabs.com, bob's limousines, rome limousines, joe bananas limousines. They all have good rep. We used bob.s and joe bananas. They are pros and will make sure they get you back to the ship on time.

Because the cost of the private driver is for the whole group, up to max of 8, you can save money if you can find some people to join you to share the costs. The best way is to go to cruisecritic.com and check out the roll call to see if anybody wants to join you to form a group and split costs. Also check out those private tour websites. Some of them have set up small groups for you to join.

Maximized you time with a guided tour. Driver will collect you at the port while your private family friendly guide will meet you as you drive into the Eternal City to start your Roman adventure! Also guide for your family whisk you away from crowds, long lines and tourist traps. It is the best opportunity for family with kids... focus on the most important sights, minimize waiting time. Try out tour guide for kids: Rome4kidstour and feel free to check out their TripAdvisor.
Have a nice trip,guys!