St Peter's Basilica

The entrance to St Peter's is free and if there are any lines at all they are very short. You would have to pay if you wanted to go up the dome and admire the views. This is a separate line-up and can be substantially longer.

Actually, not insane at all. Given that you have most of the day, a whirlwind trip of Rome can be accomplished. If I could start out in the morning, and arriving at Termini, I would hop the Metro to the Colosseum stop, go right to the Forum (the Colosseum ticket line will be longer and the same ticket gets you both) but head back to the Colosseum, tour that, then wander through the Forum, up to Capitoline Hill, then a walk (Rick Steves Rome actually has a great old Rome walk) hitting Campo di Fiori, Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, then hop the Metro again up to the Vatican area, wander into St. Peters Square and see St. Peters Cathedral. There will be many neat little sights in between (fountains, churches, shops, ruins) and the only cost will be tickets for the Colosseum/Forum, a couple metro tickets, and somewhere in there you can have a great lunch and maybe 2-3 Gelato stops. St. Peters does not cost anything, you do need to stand in line, but most times it is moving fairly well, best seen early in the morning or later in the day (you could reverse the itinerary given as well) Overall a full but easily done day in Rome.

Yep! Insane! LOL (Good luck with it.) St Peter's? We didn't need tickets in November. There was the security line. We got there maybe 1 or so after we left the Vatican Museum. The security line was maybe 5 mins long. If that much. Upon entering the Piazza the security line looked longer than it took. There were some nice cafes for a leisurely glass of wine around the Pantheon. If you decide to pace down. LOL. Have fun.

@ Paul, your itinerary IS insane. No one would possibly be able to see and appreciate all of these sights in the time alloted. That's easily 3 days crammed into one. Michelle's is more doable. Start early.

Thanks to all of you for your response! We already have our tickets for the colosseum/Panteon/Forum. I thought that would save time. The Colosseum is the most important for us to visit, if we make it to St. Peter's that will just be a bonus. And hopefully we will remember some of it at the end of the day! LOL

I will defend the itinerary I laid out in that it does take most of a day and is not nearly as hectic as it sounds. The Colosseum and Forum at a very relaxed pace take maybe two hours. If you add the Palatine Hill, somewhat longer, but given all the sights of Rome, I would pass on the Palatine. From there, the central part of the Itinerary is about a 2 kilometer walk. Maybe another two hours, you could spend much longer, but as an overview, you really do not need an hour in the Campo di Fiori, or the Pantheon (no ticket needed), or any of these walk by/through sites, to be honest, with a stroll by or through these areas, you will be fine for a quick tour. Lunch will add an hour, and St. Peters will add another hour, maybe a bit more. To be honest, if I could only spend 5 minutes in St Peters, I would do it, rather than pass it by. All total, if you have 6 hours in Rome plus your transport time back and forth to the ship, it can be done. Any added time can easily be used up, and since only the Colosseum/Forum requires a ticket, you can adjust as you go to make the most of the day.

Thanks Paul! I will take all your suggestions with me. A lot will depend when we are able to get off the ship and arrive in Rome. Unfortunately we will spend a great part of our day commuting from and to the ship. It would be nice to fit a few other sites in if possible. We will let the day unfold as it will!

Consider the 'hop on, hop off' bus for the longer distances between points; and walking for the short distances.

Purchase a BIRG ticket in Civitavecchia for E9... then ride the train into Roma Termini. From there, take the B line Metro 2 stops to the Colosseo. Do the Colosseo, then Palatine, then the Forum. Exit out fo the Forum near the arch of Septimus Serverus and climb the stairs to Campodoglio. Admire the views and the piazza. Depending on the time of day (if you're before 12:30 PM) you can cut up the back staircase on the north side of the piazza and take a shortcut through the church, Santa Maria in AraCoeli. Walk through the side door, see the church, exit through the front door and you're on the backside of the Vittoriano. Walk around front for great views of Rome. Then go down the stairs on the front - and now dependeing on time of day.... determine if you will see the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, or the Spanish Steps.... Depending on which option you take, take transport from any of these (or all - gulp!) to St. Peter's. The best bus from the Largo Argentina area, Via dei Corso, and Via Tritone would be the 62 bus. It stops just opposite the Passetto near St. Peter's Square. You can also take the mero from near the Trevi (Barberini) or Spanish Steps (Spagna) to the Vatican area (Ottaviano). You would need to be at the basilica by about 3 PM in order to get in, see it and then walk to the Roma San Pietro train station (10 minutes) and ride the trains back to Civitavecchia... Used to do this route often - see this posting for more info on coming in from Civitavecchia **** http://tinyurl.com/civitavecchia **** Good Luck!

Side question. Can you walk from the coloseum to the vatican?

"Can you walk from the Colosseum to the Vatican?" That's about 3 miles. An average walking time is 3 mph but that's where there's not city traffic, if you're able to do 2 mph through Rome that will be a walk of 1 & 1/4 to 1 & 1/2 hours, if you walked it straight through without stopping. Of course, not too many would do that walk without stopping....

Hi Michelle, I would say the success of this plan working depends on a number of factors, not least of which is 'how' you tour, or visit sites. Being an arts major and a visual learner, I know that I prefer to take my time and 'take it all in'. Thus after a few trips to Italy I have scaled WAY back on the extent of my annual itinerary. I have done this tour and I was emotionally drained by the time we got to The Pantheon. I had to cut short my visit and recharged after getting a gelato and watching the world go by for an hour or more in the piazza. As for every tour with a number of major must-sees on it, you will discover your own tolerance level once underway; there is no way of knowing beforehand. Be prepared for being on your feet for hours, have a few snacks and water in your bag and just jump right in.