Colosseum Tour?

DH and I are going on our first cruise and first time in Europe for me this June. One of our ports of call is Rome (Civitavecchia) and we've booked a shuttle from the port to St Peter's Basilica. The only real thing on our to-do list is get a tour of the Colosseum, preferably guided and more in-depth. I've looked on the Colosseum's website and it looks like you can't book tickets for the catacomb tour until a month in advance. Is that right? Does anyone have experience with the Colosseum? Will we still have to wait in line to get in even if we've bought tickets for a specific time for a guided tour? The website wasn't very clear, so I'm hoping someone on here can help me out. Thanks!

Perhaps this may help and I am sure many others will chime in. The Colosseum can be very crowded during the summer months along with the Vatican. I would personally book a tour through a private company, we use "Rome in Limo", that will take you from the ship to all the highlights of Rome and will arrange for tickets to these locations. It may seem very expensive at first but if you visit your ship's roll call on CC you may be able to share a tour with others reducing the cost.

Perhaps this may help and I am sure many others will chime in. The Colosseum can be very crowded during the summer months along with the Vatican. I would personally book a tour through a private company, we use "Rome in Limo", that will take you from the ship to all the highlights of Rome and will arrange for tickets to these locations. It may seem very expensive at first but if you visit your ship's roll call on CC you may be able to share a tour with others reducing the cost.

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We also used Rome in Limo, shared with roll call members and was awesome! I can’t even imagine doing it without a guide. The information alone is worth it

We've already purchased our tour to Rome. We weren't interested in any of the specific tours that were offered because we weren't interested in the Vatican and they all seemed to include that. Instead we booked a Hop-On-Hop-Off Bus and plan to just use it to get near the sites we want to see and walk for the most part.

DH and I are going on our first cruise and first time in Europe for me this June. One of our ports of call is Rome (Civitavecchia) and we've booked a shuttle from the port to St Peter's Basilica. The only real thing on our to-do list is get a tour of the Colosseum, preferably guided and more in-depth. I've looked on the Colosseum's website and it looks like you can't book tickets for the catacomb tour until a month in advance. Is that right? Does anyone have experience with the Colosseum? Will we still have to wait in line to get in even if we've bought tickets for a specific time for a guided tour? The website wasn't very clear, so I'm hoping someone on here can help me out. Thanks!

I'm not exactly clear what you are referring to as the "catacomb tour" -- do you mean the area under the Colosseum? (It's not catacombs nor is it a dungeon; it is the staging area for the events in the Colosseum...)

The best place to purchase tickets in advance for the Colosseum (and its various tours) is through Coopculture: https://www.coopculture.it/en/the-colosseum.cfm

Their scheme is somewhat confusing. At a certain date in each quarter they start selling a certain allotment of tickets for that quarter's visits. But it seems like they hold some back and each week (on Monday) they add a few for the upcoming week (or month, depending). You can read this on the page I provided a link for above, but again the wording is confusing.

Suffice to say that the underground visit is very popular and usually sells out quickly, especially in the summer months. You will have to be quite diligent to get them through this site. Other tour agencies offer tours of this area as well and you can see if they have availability but of course you will pay more.

If you just want a tour of the Colosseum itself, there are usually guides near the entrance trying to get a small group together; the usual cost for a group of 10 or so is about 10 euro per person. If you want a private guide for just your group, expect to pay considerably more.

I'm not exactly clear what you are referring to as the "catacomb tour" -- do you mean the area under the Colosseum? (It's not catacombs nor is it a dungeon; it is the staging area for the events in the Colosseum...)

 

The best place to purchase tickets in advance for the Colosseum (and its various tours) is through Coopculture: https://www.coopculture.it/en/the-colosseum.cfm

 

Their scheme is somewhat confusing. At a certain date in each quarter they start selling a certain allotment of tickets for that quarter's visits. But it seems like they hold some back and each week (on Monday) they add a few for the upcoming week (or month, depending). You can read this on the page I provided a link for above, but again the wording is confusing.

 

Suffice to say that the underground visit is very popular and usually sells out quickly, especially in the summer months. You will have to be quite diligent to get them through this site. Other tour agencies offer tours of this area as well and you can see if they have availability but of course you will pay more.

 

If you just want a tour of the Colosseum itself, there are usually guides near the entrance trying to get a small group together; the usual cost for a group of 10 or so is about 10 euro per person. If you want a private guide for just your group, expect to pay considerably more.

Yes, sorry, I meant the underground. My husband mistakenly referred to it as the catacombs and I guess I just repeated him! :) Thank you for your advice. I agree that the website is very confusing. We've been checking pretty diligently and our date still isn't open to purchase tickets. Honestly, I've always been very interested in ancient Greece and Rome so I'd be willing to pay what I have to to get the best tour possible. Does anyone know of a private company that I could contact if the need arises?

I haven't used them, but Walks of Italy is one agency that has been mentioned numerous times on this forum for offering the Underground Colosseum tour.

When we went to Rome in 2016 I spent a lot of time researching beforehand. I came across a website that was invaluable: Romewise. A North American writes it after living in Rome for several years. It was great. Lots of advice and links to tours. You may find what you are looking for there. We did a tour of the underground and third tier in the Colloseum. It was great! I, sadly, don't remember the name of the tour company we used, but I'm pretty sure I found it through Romewise. Our tour was 3 hours and included the Palatine Hill and Forum too. After it ended we were still able to wander around the Forum on our own to see more. A word of advice: bring some snacks or a lunch with you, and water. There really isn't anything to purchase on site. We did need to wait in line to go through security, despite having prepaid, skip the line tickets. Just the way things are these days. Enjoy!

We did the VIP colosseum underground tour with Walks of Italy in August 2016. It also included the Forum and Palantine hill. The group had about 12-15 people and was very good. No waiting in line - we just followed our guide up to the front of the line and if my memory is correct, they opened a special gate to let us in. We ordered these tickets in June because it was something we really wanted to do so I wouldn't wait because the guide said they are normally booked solid in the summer. It was hot - VERY hot - so definitely have water with you.

TripAdvisor has a forum related to booking 2018 Colosseum tickets on your own through the website, especially the underground tour.

We did the VIP colosseum underground tour with Walks of Italy in August 2016. It also included the Forum and Palantine hill. The group had about 12-15 people and was very good. No waiting in line - we just followed our guide up to the front of the line and if my memory is correct, they opened a special gate to let us in. We ordered these tickets in June because it was something we really wanted to do so I wouldn't wait because the guide said they are normally booked solid in the summer. It was hot - VERY hot - so definitely have water with you.

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No - there was no transportation provided with this tour. We met at the Colosseum and the tour ended in the Forum area.

We only have gotten in line to purchase tickets at the time for a self guided tour. We used Rick Steve's travel app for our own free audio tour :) Obviously that doesn't give full access that a guided tour has though. But we were getting around a lot of sites that day so we kept it brief.