marazul

Your plan only gives you a jetlagged afternoon in Venice followed by a transfer to Trieste the next morning. If you want to have a meaningful, if short, visit to Venice, plan to fly in two days before the cruise for two nights in Venice. That would give you the afternoon of the fly-in day and a full day the next day. You will have to leave early on the day of embarkation for your transfer to Trieste. Venice is the highlight of any cruise and you should not shortchange it if possible. Ideally, three nights there would be best, but two will give you a good taste of the city.

The airport Hilton has a shuttle to central Rome.

You can do your own tour by ferry. No need to take the train. https://traghettiportofino.it/en/lines-trips/trip-4/#ad-image-0 https://www.navigazionegolfodeipoeti.it/en

That could be optimistic. 60-70 F is more likely.

Only if you like cold water. It will be in the low 70sF. By then many beach facilities have closed. It is not the Caribbean.

Well past the peak season. A little later and restaurants start closing for the winter. It is a good time to go. Cooler, but it could be windy and no longer swimming season.

Yes.

BTW - safety regulations have to require tenders have to be able to handle wheelchairs. Think of evacuation during an emergency. No doubt some tenders are more convenient and accessible than others. As you are boarding the ship for the first time, ask one of the officers on the gangway or even a crew member, how easy it is to get the wheelchair in the tender. These are the same officers and crew that handle the tenders.

If you find out that you can manage the tenders, both Kotor and Portofino have flat, level streets in town right near the tender docks. No need to plan anything special. Just enjoy the towns.

Just in case you take eurocruiser's suggestion of just going to Pompeii and get back early, here is the website for the Salerno ferries: https://www.travelmar.it/en/index The ride to Amalfi is 35 minutes. You can either turn around and go back to Salerno or spend an hour there and then go back in the next ferry. It takes 2-3 minutes to walk from the pier into the center of Amalfi to the Piazza Duomo. Check the schedules for your day in port. If you go after the high season there is no need to prebook your tickets. You can get them at the dock.

You do not cruise past the Amalfi coast if you port in Naples. You cruise past it if you port in Amalfi or Salerno.

Yes, by the port the Stavros Niarchos Cultural Foundation. https://www.snfcc.org/ Benaki Museum - more recent history, byzantine, some contemporary, etc. https://www.benaki.org/index.php?lang=el National Museum of Contemporary Art https://www.emst.gr/en/ Ilias Lalounis jewelry museum http://www.lalaounis-jewelrymuseum.gr/

The cruise ship anchors in the caldera. Tenders take pax either to the cablecar/donkey port or to Athinios, the ferry port. Athinios is reserved for the large ferries which are the main form of transportation for people, vehicles and goods to the islands. There is frequent commercial traffic to that port and they cannot have cruise ships tied up there all day. They don't have the capacity for them. It is a small island with no adequate harbor possibilities. You'll see when you are there.

Maybe try a different credit card - VISA or MC. Good luck.

Is your card AMEX? They might prefer Visa or MC.

Did you check your spam filter?

You have to get up at the same time to go to the airport whether at Civi or Rome. Don't stay in Civi. Go back to Rome and enjoy the city. You will have extra time to go sightseeing in the afternoon and have a nice dinner. As euro cruiser said, staying in Fiumicino is also an option. You can visit Ostia Antica in the afternoon and enjoy the town and seaside later. There are some very nice restaurants there. It will be a much shorter ride (10 minutes) to FCO in the morning. Just note that Ostia Antica is closed on Mondays. But it is your first trip to Europe. Go back to Rome.

Thanks for the info. It would be good to post, if you know, how it works in practice. The ticket office lines can be very long and it might not be worth it (or feasible) for a handicapped person to wait in line to get free admission. I suspect many would opt for buying the ticket online and skipping the ticket office line. And just a reminder, there is no charge for the elevator ever. Once you are through the entrance gate just go there.

Julie, Hope all is well. We are all missing your updates.

Its possible, but arrange for a private transfer. You don't want to depend on getting a taxi that early. The price is practically the same. Check www.taxigreece.com And double check with your cruise line about disembarkation times.

The water could be getting a bit cool by then. Check out seatemperature.org

Unless they buiil a huge pier in the last two years, it will be tender only in SM. The tender pier is only a few yards away from the ferry pier that goes to Portofino in one direction and to Cinqueterre in the opposite direction.

The Pantheon and the Piazza Navona are two short blocks from each other. (You walk in front of Armando al Pantheon to go from one to the other.) It is basically the same area. IMO, it is the most conveniently located for walking to attractions and restaurants. Taxis to other attractions are all under or about 10 euros. For example, the walk to the Colosseum is about 20 minutes, but there is a lot of traffic and a taxi is more convenient. Taxi to the Vatican is about 12 euros. There is a taxi line alongside the Pantheon. The Spanish steps are further out but it still convenient for walking to a few places. Rome is a very big city and the major sites are not all in one small area. Why don't you also plot the places you want to see in the map and use that to help you pick a hotel? You can use the walk feature in Google maps to check out the distances. And do the street view to see the area.

Nothing shuts down. The crowds are enormous. It is miserably hot. Go in September.

These combo tours were very popular when the short-cut between the Sistine Chapel and St Peter's was open. It was one of the options of tours offered by the Vatican Museum. It is no longer offered. As of now any independent operator that offers it would have to take you by car from the VM to St Peter's. Eventually, they may reopen the short cut, but as of now you should ask for specifics from whoever is offering this.