civitavecchia

[babygoo]

How easy is it to get from civitavecchia to Rome by public transport

[euro cruiser]

There are both bus and train options, though virtually everyone uses the train. It's faster than the bus, and offers more options for arrival points in Rome.

 

There are hundreds of posts detailing how to do this, from how to get to the train station (about a third of a mile on foot from the cruise port), to tickets (the 9 Euro BIRG ticket covers round trip train travel and all public transit in Rome for one day), to which stations to use for various key sites in Rome.

 

Here you can see my directions on how to get to the key sites: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1237189&highlight=how+rome+civitavecchia

[Keith1010]

Best option is the train. The station is located about 10 minutes by taxi from the port or about a 30 minute walk.

 

Keith

[Highflyer1]

How easy is it to get from civitavecchia to Rome by public transport

 

The port is about 2.5 hours by bus one way and faster by train. If you have to get back to the port to get on your ship take the ship shore exercusion if this is your first time since you do NOT want to be late back at the pier. If the ship's exercusion is LATE the ship will WAIT. If you do it on your own then the ship will NOT wait. We've done both bus and train on a back to back in this port. Make sure you understand the train schedule and timings.

[euro cruiser]

Best option is the train. The station is located about 10 minutes by taxi from the port or about a 30 minute walk.

Keith, I've seen you suggest this on other threads and it puzzles me. The train station is less than a half mile from the fort at the cruise port, where the bus drops you off. That's about 6 - 8 New York City blocks, for perspective. You'd need to be a very slow walker to take a half hour to cover this distance; at a jog it can be accomplished in five minutes, if you're rushing to make a train or departure time. Normal walking should take no more than 10 - 15 minutes. Of course, you also have to add the time for the shuttle bus that takes you to and from the ship to the port entrance.

[Penzance]

Euro Cruiser: May I add my heartfelt thanks for your in depth directions to Rome from Civitavecchia. You are indeed kind and patient with Newbies, and with some of us that are just a bit confused :).

 

As we have been to Rome with an all day ship's excursion previously, this time, we are going to take the ship's coach to Rome (too wimpy to try the train, plus, after walking around Rome on our own, it may be nice to have a nap in the return coach journey :o) It seems the coach drop off/pick up point will be at the Gianicolo multi-level car park (?) next to St. Peter's Square, so I think the best plan will be for us to take a taxi to visit the Colosseum first, then slowly meander (we have all day to do so) back to the coach pick-up place, revisiting all the wonderful sites again. And, stopping for a cold one now and then :D

 

Thanks again.

[euro cruiser]

we are going to take the ship's coach to Rome (too wimpy to try the train, plus, after walking around Rome on our own, it may be nice to have a nap in the return coach journey :o) It seems the coach drop off/pick up point will be at the Gianicolo multi-level car park (?) next to St. Peter's Square, so I think the best plan will be for us to take a taxi to visit the Colosseum first, then slowly meander (we have all day to do so) back to the coach pick-up place, revisiting all the wonderful sites again. And, stopping for a cold one now and then :D

Sounds like a plan to me. The garage, which was opened about a decade ago, in time for the Jubilee year, was (somewhat derisively) called "God's Garage" by some Romans years ago. While there is a public transit option from the garage to the Colosseum, it requires changing buses at Largo Argentina and would probably eat up quite a bit of time. A taxi makes a lot of sense in this case.

[CathyCruises]

Keith, I've seen you suggest this on other threads and it puzzles me. The train station is less than a half mile from the fort at the cruise port, where the bus drops you off. That's about 6 - 8 New York City blocks, for perspective. You'd need to be a very slow walker to take a half hour to cover this distance; at a jog it can be accomplished in five minutes, if you're rushing to make a train or departure time. Normal walking should take no more than 10 - 15 minutes. Of course, you also have to add the time for the shuttle bus that takes you to and from the ship to the port entrance.

 

I have seen and wondered about the same thing. I have done it multiple times and IIRC it is about 4 longish blocks, takes us certainly less than 15 minutes from the bus to the door of the station at a normal pace.

[Keith1010]

Keith, I've seen you suggest this on other threads and it puzzles me. The train station is less than a half mile from the fort at the cruise port, where the bus drops you off. That's about 6 - 8 New York City blocks, for perspective. You'd need to be a very slow walker to take a half hour to cover this distance; at a jog it can be accomplished in five minutes, if you're rushing to make a train or departure time. Normal walking should take no more than 10 - 15 minutes. Of course, you also have to add the time for the shuttle bus that takes you to and from the ship to the port entrance.

 

eurocruiser, good point but many times for simplicity my calculation factors in the time to get from the ship over to the fort and then to walk over to the train station. We all know that time can vary. It's just easier to estimate it this way than to go into detail about the bus (or you could walk that too) and then the walk.

 

The other factor is that while my wife and I are fast walkers and walk all the time (we don't take the bus to the gate but walk it) as I am sure you have we have met all kinds of folks during our travels and I could probably walk two miles fast than some could walk a half a mile. If I error it is on the conservative side.

 

Keith

[euro cruiser]

Thanks for the explaination Keith. From ship to station your estimate makes sense, and erring on the conservative side is always a good idea.

[Keith1010]

euro cruiser, you are most welcome. I really appreciate your posts as you provide a lot of useful information.

 

Keith

[KirkNC]

We went from ship (via the shuttle) to the train station in less than 20 minutes but we were luckily. The shuttle filled up in about two minutes and we hoofed it to the station. We got off around 7:10 and made the 7:33 train.

 

Kirk

[FKGirl]

Agree with Keith 100%... it is very easy, and you should not be intimidated by the (very easy) shuttle bus, (short) walk and (simple) train ride. It seems like a bunch of steps, but it is very simple.

 

http://www.FloridaKeysGirl.com

[iluvbkk]

Does RCCL offer a shuttle from the ship to the train station? I am thinking of getting into Rome on my own and haven't found the answer to this question. Thanks for all the help.

[euro cruiser]

Does RCCL offer a shuttle from the ship to the train station? I am thinking of getting into Rome on my own and haven't found the answer to this question. Thanks for all the help.

You might get an answer from an RCCL passenger faster on the RCCL forum.

 

In years of reading this forum I've never heard mention of anyone offering a shuttle to the train station. It's only a half mile from where the port shuttles drop you off.

[Keith1010]

Does RCCL offer a shuttle from the ship to the train station? I am thinking of getting into Rome on my own and haven't found the answer to this question. Thanks for all the help.

 

No e of the cruise lines offer a shuttle to the train station.

 

There is a shuttle to the port entrance and from there about a 10 minute walk to the train station.

 

Keith

[CathyCruises]

It's 5 blocks to the station, flat and easily walkable unless you have mobility issues.

[CrusingJoe]

After reading all this very useful information, is it best for a first timer to Rome to do it on their own or purchase the ship transportation into Rome? Understanding I only speak English and my partner has problems walking, but we would like to tour the city at our own pace. I just want to be sure we don’t miss the ship.

[lovesthebeachx4]

The only thing I would add to all this discussion (train vs. bus vs. tour) would be this... Keep in mind the trains (not sure about bus) can go on strike AT ANY TIME! When we did our first European cruise, we had planned and pre-purchased our train tickets to Rome. Unfortunately (but thankfully) the night before we docked in Civitacchevia, the Captain announced that the following day the trains would not be running because of a strike! Long and short of it, we wound up getting 30 strangers, who were just like us, together and "hired" our own bus for the day!! Just wanted to make you aware so can have a Plan "B" in case...

[euro cruiser]

The only thing I would add to all this discussion (train vs. bus vs. tour) would be this... Keep in mind the trains (not sure about bus) can go on strike AT ANY TIME! When we did our first European cruise, we had planned and pre-purchased our train tickets to Rome. Unfortunately (but thankfully) the night before we docked in Civitacchevia, the Captain announced that the following day the trains would not be running because of a strike! Long and short of it, we wound up getting 30 strangers, who were just like us, together and "hired" our own bus for the day!! Just wanted to make you aware so can have a Plan "B" in case...

This is a common misconception; because it happened to you, it's understandable to think that it can happen "at any time". The fact is that the Captain knew about the strike in advance because almost all labor strikes in Italy are planned and announced weeks in advance, by law. Had you known where to look for this information you would have known about the strike (or the potential for a strike, they are called off almost as often as they actually take place) before you left home.

 

The law limits both the frequency and the length of strikes, most are only for a few hours or, at worst, a full day. Of course none of that matters if it happens to fall on the day you wanted to use the trains, but that is the case.

 

For those wondering, you can see all planned strikes on the government web page here (http://www.commissionegaranziasciopero.it/), or just the planned transportation strikes on the Ministry of Transportation site here (http://www.mit.gov.it/mit/site.php?p=scioperi).

[euro cruiser]

After reading all this very useful information, is it best for a first timer to Rome to do it on their own or purchase the ship transportation into Rome? Understanding I only speak English and my partner has problems walking, but we would like to tour the city at our own pace. I just want to be sure we don’t miss the ship.

This is a personal decision and hard for a stranger to answer for you. Are you generally comfortable in new situations? Do you feel confident in your ability to work through problems that you encounter? Do you possess a reasonably good sense of direction and ability to interpret a map? If so, you should be fine negotiating the public transit network and finding your way around central Rome, which is surprising small and compact. Only speaking English is hardly an issue in a city as cosmopolitan and tourist laden as Rome.

[CathyCruises]

The only thing I would add to all this discussion (train vs. bus vs. tour) would be this... Keep in mind the trains (not sure about bus) can go on strike AT ANY TIME! When we did our first European cruise, we had planned and pre-purchased our train tickets to Rome. Unfortunately (but thankfully) the night before we docked in Civitacchevia, the Captain announced that the following day the trains would not be running because of a strike! Long and short of it, we wound up getting 30 strangers, who were just like us, together and "hired" our own bus for the day!! Just wanted to make you aware so can have a Plan "B" in case...

 

Were you possibly on a Celebrity ship last fall? The captain announced a strike on our cruise as well--and you should have seen the rush to book tours. I went down to the desk and inquired about the hours, and was told oh, it's all day long! I knew that wasn't true and we went to the train station and sure enough the trains WERE all running. It turned out that there was a bus and metro strike between 1 and 3 PM--that was it. So we took a taxi to the Vatican instead of the bus--big deal. I was just outraged as I saw it as a push to sell more overpriced "Rome on your Own" tours!!!

[justjona]

This is a common misconception; because it happened to you, it's understandable to think that it can happen "at any time". The fact is that the Captain knew about the strike in advance because almost all labor strikes in Italy are planned and announced weeks in advance, by law. Had you known where to look for this information you would have known about the strike (or the potential for a strike, they are called off almost as often as they actually take place) before you left home.

 

The law limits both the frequency and the length of strikes, most are only for a few hours or, at worst, a full day. Of course none of that matters if it happens to fall on the day you wanted to use the trains, but that is the case.

 

For those wondering, you can see all planned strikes on the government web page here (http://www.commissionegaranziasciopero.it/), or just the planned transportation strikes on the Ministry of Transportation site here (http://www.mit.gov.it/mit/site.php?p=scioperi).

 

 

Hi Euro Cruiser,

 

You are incredible you are such a resource of information on cruise critic, no matter what sight I look up there you are with such useful information, almost feel like taking you along on my cruises as a guide,

 

Joanne

[CrusingJoe]

This is a personal decision and hard for a stranger to answer for you. Are you generally comfortable in new situations? Do you feel confident in your ability to work through problems that you encounter? Do you possess a reasonably good sense of direction and ability to interpret a map? If so, you should be fine negotiating the public transit network and finding your way around central Rome, which is surprising small and compact. Only speaking English is hardly an issue in a city as cosmopolitan and tourist laden as Rome.

 

With that, I'll take my chances and do it on my own, thanks.

[charmay]

Euro Cruiser: May I add my heartfelt thanks for your in depth directions to Rome from Civitavecchia. You are indeed kind and patient with Newbies, and with some of us that are just a bit confused :).

 

As we have been to Rome with an all day ship's excursion previously, this time, we are going to take the ship's coach to Rome (too wimpy to try the train, plus, after walking around Rome on our own, it may be nice to have a nap in the return coach journey :o) It seems the coach drop off/pick up point will be at the Gianicolo multi-level car park (?) next to St. Peter's Square, so I think the best plan will be for us to take a taxi to visit the Colosseum first, then slowly meander (we have all day to do so) back to the coach pick-up place, revisiting all the wonderful sites again. And, stopping for a cold one now and then :D

Hi,

I think the ships coach to rome sounds better for us rather than the all day excursion.

I would like to know how long it takes to get there and how long you get in rome to see the sites?

 

Is it easy to get a taxi from the car park drop off?to the collosium and do you remember the fares for coach and taxis?

 

I see alot of people saying agree a fare with driver,but we dont know whats right and whats over the top as we have hardly been abroad.

Many thanks :)