Transportation

The train station is about a 15 minute walk from the docks. If you don't have a lot of luggage it's an easy walk. The trains from Civitavecchia will go through either Rome or Pisa to get to Florence. They all use a combination of trains so choose the one that best fits your schedule. You can email your hotel to find out the best way to get there from the train station. You cannot get from Florence directly to FCO. You'll need to take the train from Florence to Rome and then on to the airport. Yes, you'll be able to take a cab from the airport to your hotel. Again, you may want to contact the hotel to see what they suggest. If you are going to use the regional trains for any part of your journey you won't be able to buy them more than 7 days in advance. Without knowing what time you may get off the ship I would suggest not buying those tickets ahead of time, this way you don't risk losing what you paid if you don't catch the trains you've booked (any trains that require seat reservations). For the trip to Rome from Florence you can buy those in advance and possibly save some money. Be sure to read the restrictions on tickets before you purchase them as some are non-changeable/refundable so if you miss the train those tickets are worthless. Donna

Just add a few more details. Your cruise ship will provide a shuttle to the port entrance. The port entrance is small and will be jammed with lots of people especially if more than one cruise ship is in port. The best option and probably only option will be to walk to the train station. You can see the station from the port entrance. It is a pleasant walk along the beach on a broad sidewalk. Just follow the crowd since a large number of fellow cruisers will be doing the same thing. The port entrance will be jammed with taxis BUT they want the bigger fare of taking someone to Rome or the airport. However, it is extremely important to try to buy a Regional train ticket from Civit... to Rome somewhere other than Civit..... The ticket office at Civit... train station will be jammed and it could take you longer to buy a ticket than the train to Rome. So if in any other Italian city, train station, travel office, stop and buy a ticket. The Regional train ticket is non-reserved so you can get on any R train headed to Rome from Civit.. Roughly three an hour. Critical to validate (time stamp) the ticket at the yellow box on the track side of the station as you head for the platform. Once in Termini in Rome, then buy the ticket to Florence. Much more relaxed and if you use the ticket machines, no lines. When in Rome, you could purchase you return ticket to Rome. Since you now have better control of your time, you might be able to find a discount ticket for the return. Once back in Termini (Rome station) you can walk for the far southside tracks and take the L Express train.

To continue, since the response space for anyone response is limited. Plot your hotel addresses on google maps or something similar to see where the hotel is in relation to the train stations. You probably will need to take a taxi to and from your hotel at the airport.

If you want to save money on your Florence-Rome tickets, definitely book in advance (up to 120 days allowed) on trenitalia.com. The standard 2nd class fare on a high-speed train is €43. The Economy fare is €29 and the Super Economy fare is €19. The cheapest tickets sell out fast and they are non-exchangeable and non-refundable. Trenitalia now has competition on some major routes. You could take a high-speed .italo train from Florence to Rome. Fares are €45, €25, and €20.

I just did a quick check of schedules for Civt.. to Florence. While Donna implied that you could connect through Pisa I could not find a train from Civit that did so. All of the trains I looked at connected through Rome Termini. All but one or two were R trains to Termini so my earlier advice about purchasing a R ticket is valid. With a Regional train all you do is get on. If a seat is not available you stand. It is like a commuter run.

I agree that is possible to connect via Pisa. The 08:34 Eurostar to Pisa, connect to Regionale to F.SMN gets in at noon, the 10:32 Intercity, similar connection, arrives 14:00, and so on throughout the day. The trick using the Bahn website is to explicity call for a via point at Pisa Centrale. The train to Pisa varies, as you see, between ES, IC, and R, and all but the R-R do the run in just over 3 hours; the Regionale/Regionale takes about an hour longer - for example the 11:15 arrives 15:32. The Pisa Florence legs are all into SMN, not CM.

I want to thank all of you for responding to my questions. I'll follow up on all the comments and suggestions. THANKS AGAIN!