Do-it-yourself-ROME

[cruisingmimi]

TravelJunkie,

 

Thanks so much. That was helpful. We have done the Med b4 so have been to some of the ports. Just trying to get Rome organized! Almost there!

 

We did Pompeii the last cruise & it is an absolutely amazing place. One of my favorites! Didn't climb Mt. Vesuvius but saw it from our bus.

 

Mary

[Debbierpof]

TravelJunkie - I have a question on the RCCL shore excursions in Rome. We are thinking of doing the "Rome on Your Own" or "A Taste of Rome" (where you do a part on your own). I have already contacted the Vatican and have 10:30 am reservations for the tour of the Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museum. Do you know where the drop-off point is for these tours? Did you hear of any comments about these tours? I'd appreciate your comments.

[TRAVELJUNKIE]

Hi Debbierpof

 

Later on this evening i will read up on these excursions and compare them for time etc to the one we did - A Walk in Renaissance Rome and I'll get back to you shortly.

 

 

 

TravelJunkie - I have a question on the RCCL shore excursions in Rome. We are thinking of doing the "Rome on Your Own" or "A Taste of Rome" (where you do a part on your own). I have already contacted the Vatican and have 10:30 am reservations for the tour of the Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museum. Do you know where the drop-off point is for these tours? Did you hear of any comments about these tours? I'd appreciate your comments.

[PamDave]

Are you going on the Grand Princess on 8/18/05?

My husband and I are.

[zepbabe]

PamDave,

 

My DH and I will be cruising on the Grand in the Med for that date. Glad to know that you will be there as well! This is our first cruise and my first trip to Europe, so needless to say I am very excited!

[vtsunshine]

Wow this Rome board is great!!

I will be taking a cruise leaving from Rome this coming weekend:) and was just looking for a little reassurance from anyone who has stayed in a hotel in the vicinity of Termini station. I have heard it's not the greatest place but that most people felt fine there (just reading reviews), and just wondered if anyone from this board had stayed in that area and how they "faired":) It's just easy to stay there the night before our cruise so we are near the station to catch the train the morning of to Civitavecchia, and it is the cheapest area to stay!

Any thoughts would be appreciated!!

Also someone had a post wondering where to find good hotels...go to www.Eurocheapo.com they have a really good system for finding places and tons of options!! (Not just for cheap hotels either)

Thanks!

[livinginswitzerland]

Hi There, I stayed in the area two years ago and thought that it was well situated to take the Metro or to be near the Termini station. I am going again July 31st. Enjoy your stay. Denise

[TourDeCruise]

We stayed at Hotel Aberdeen, recommended by Rick Steves, in May and really enjoyed the hotel and location. It is fairly close to Termini Station and just around the corner from the Diocletian Baths (Termini di Diocleziano) and Piazza della Repubblica. We didn't walk around Termini Station at night, but it was fine during the day. In fact, we took the train from the airport to Termini and then rolled our suitcases around a mile to our hotel.

[cruisingmimi]

Hello,

 

Just wondered if anyone has returned from Rome that can give us a report of what they did, what tours they took, etc.

 

We will be off to Rome and our Galaxy cruise in October. While we have everything all set w/ tours, etc. it is always nice to read what others have done while there.

 

We will be staying at a hotel in the Termini area but not closeby. Will report on that stay also.

 

I will give a report when I return on our Vatican & Colosseum tours.

 

Thanks everyone,

 

Mary

[cruisetoscrap]

We just retuned Sunday from Splendor of the Seas. On that itinerary Civitacecchia is a stop not an embarkation or disembarkation point.

 

 

We breezed off the ship before 7:00 but we could have gotten off earlier and then we had planned to catch the shuttle out of port. They initially told us that is would be leaving as soon as enough people had gotten on off but then after we waited 15 minuets and asked again they said that it didn’t start until 8:00. Well at that point we had already missed the train that we wanted to take so we decide to walk to be able to catch the next one. There are no signs directing you to the station or out of port but it’s simple. Go strait on the road away from the ship. At the dead end take a right and walk. I don’t think there was another turn from their but you feel like you’re going nowhere. We got lost from the directions they told us in relationship to McDonalds, where the shuttle drops you. We should have kept walking strait and we would have had the station on our left. It should only be a 15 – 20 minuet walk. We were lucky to have a schedule printed off with a picture we could point at for directions.

 

 

The train tickets were a couple of euros for a round trip ticket. When we got to the station at Roma Termini we were late and it was along walk to get out of the station. Then we needed to buy tickets for the 110 bus. You see the busses lined up in front of you and they say you can buy tickets on the bus but they won’t let you. It’s a red open top bus. You need to go to the median marked “E” and the red box in the middle to buy your tickets. We hated the buss it was slow, it was completely full many times, the stops were not marked well and hard to find, and they were not every 15 minuets like promised. There are 2 other buss companies at the station but it looks like they are all owned by the same people and we didn’t see them often either. If you don’t take it grab their map it’s pretty good. I may have gotten a regular city bus ticket the routes are well marked and they are always there.

 

 

We managed to see the outside of the coliseum if we had time we would have taken the 18 euro tours that they were offering outside. Then we walked to the Pathanon, way better then I expected, much more color, and it’s free. We took the bus to St. Peters. We waited till afternoon, while it would have been neat to see the pope on Wednesday we wanted to miss the crowds. It’s cool you could spend hours there but we only spent about one. It’s also free and the lines weren’t bad at all. If you would like to send a post card make sure you have a pen it’s impossible to find one. We then got back on the bus and got off for the Tivoli Fountain a busy place but you can fill your water bottle and it’s amazing that thing fits in that plaza. We then got on and back off for the Spanish Steps, not what I was expecting lots of people and the fountain is covered with people sitting on it. We were running all day and didn’t even take time to eat, but we should have.

 

 

We then went back to the train station and the earlier train was late so we hoped on it and made it back in plenty of time. We you leave the train station a block before the shuttle is a good place for ice cream 1 euro for a 2 scoop cone and the bathroom is ok. The grocery store next to it is a cheep place to pick up a bottle of wine and some caned local food and the meat hanging there is an experience.

 

 

If you want to be stupid like us and do it yourself think about this the people that went on ship tours saw more and were a lot happier but they did spend more. We wish we would have gotten on the private tour with our cruise critic friends. We know we need to go back and once we realized that our plan was way to ambitious and we had to ask for directions the day was better.

 

Please please ask me question if you have them!:D

[Andym]

We have just returned from the Millennium and once again took the ships 'On your Own' tour.

We were off the ship at 7.30 am and within 10 minutes were on our way on the bus. The trip took about 1 hour 15 minutes.

The drop off point is the underground car park by St Peters. The guide on the bus gave us lots of information as we were travelling to Rome and once we arrived, she walked us to our meeting point for a 4 pm departure.

We left the group and thought about going straight into St Peters, but the lines were unbelievable, so we decided to head off elsewhere. We walked down to the bridge and on towards P.Navona and then through to the Pantheon and to the Trevi fountain. It's only a short walk through to the Spanish steps. Then we walked down to the Forum.

We then retraced back to the Pantheon and P.Navona, where the heavens opened and we had a terrific storm which made us head into a cafe where we found the bargain of the day. A latte and bottle of water for 1 euro 30 cents. Its at the top of P.Norvona on the cross roads on the right hand side. It was while we were here having our coffee that the Earthquake happenned. Just a mild shudderring feeling. Others on the ship said that a shandellier in a restaurant that they were having lunch in was rattling.

After the rain had stopped, we walked back to St Peters where the lines had all but gone (It always seems quieter in the afternoons). We visited the undercroft and saw the tombs of the Popes, then went up into St Peters itself, it was breathtaking.

We then wandered back to the meeting point close by and had a coffee in the cafe close by that the guide had recomended (something St Pietro, I can't recall the name correctly), but my advice would be to avoid it at all costs. It was even more expensive that St Marks Square, self service sloppy cafe atmosphere, 2 coffees, 2 small cakes, 18 euros, well ripped off!!!.

We left Rome at about 4pm and were back at the ship for 5.30.

 

I know that you can do the train a lot cheaper, but we always find the Ships drop off bus very relaxing.

 

Andy

[cruisingmimi]

Hi everyone,

 

We have returned from our Celebrity Galaxy Med cruise in October 05. I would be happy to give suggestions for tours, hotels, etc. if anyone needs it. I am also referencing here another thread that Frances started on Rome FAQ's that I think will be helpful on this thread.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=283936

 

Mary

[Don527]

Hi Mary

 

We will be in Rome for almost 3 days. Are the tours worth doing (Vatican tour and Colessum tour) or is it better to just go on your own for both. Does the tours give you enough history that otherwise you would not know if you were on your own ?

Thx Don

[vetralla]

For those who want to wander about Rome on their own, a ton of info and interesting tidbits can be found in the articles on my website. A little offering from a 40 year resident in Italy and guidebook writer.

Enjoy your exploring!

[LYNNEFRED]

If you have never been to Rome, you should consider an organized tour. You will see so much more as you will be wasting precious time trying to navigate the city on your own.

 

We did the Rome on your own as we had previously been to this wonderful city. The day was perfect for us as we revisited our favorite places, walked, walked, ate gelato and pizza margarite and, of course, shopped.

the rest of our friends took tours.

 

Enjoy

[cruisingmimi]

Hi Don,

 

I would highly recommend doing an organized tour if you have not been to Rome before. As Lynnefred stated, you will be wasting time trying to figure out how to navigate the city on your own.

 

We only had 2 days to visit Rome before we left on our cruise. I picked the 2 things that we wanted to see: Colosseum and the Vatican. I did a lot of research prior to our departure to Rome and decided to book our Vatican tour w/ Angel Tours. They were consistently recommended by others who had toured w/ them. I was not sorry we went w/ them. Their tour was fantastic. We met them right in front of the Egyptian Obelisk in St. Peter's Sq. I organized 2 tours w/ them so we had 2 tour guides. We had 16 cruisemates that were staying in Rome after our cruise. There were only 8 in each group and you really get a lot out of the tour because of the small group size. We had a 4 hour tour instead of 3. We only paid for the 3 hrs. They charge E25.00 pp for the 3 hours. The Vatican admission fee is E12.00 pp.

 

I would also recommend Angel Tours for the Colosseum tour. Several of our cruisemates booked a tour w/ them and were satisfied.

 

All of their tour guides speak excellent English and come from different countries. Our guide was from Dublin and was a university graduate w/ a major in art and history.

 

We also got a tour of St. Peter's Basilicca but you can do that on your own. Our guide pre-arranged to have headsets for us for this part of the tour so we got a very personalized tour. St. Peter's is simply amazing and not to be missed. Sistine Chapel is also amazing.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Mary

[Don527]

Hi Mary

 

Thanks so much for your help. I looked at the Angel Tours, and for the Coloseum / Roman Forum, it is only a 2 hour tour. Is that enough time, or did you just go back between them both after the tours if you wanted to look further ?

 

We are also going on a cruise. After the cruise, will stay an extra day in rome (since we fly from SF and many of the flights leave early in the morning). There are hardly any hotels near the airport, is it just better to stay in the center of Rome, then just get a shuttle at 4:30am for a 7:00am flight ?

 

Don

[cruisingmimi]

Don,

 

The Angel Tours Colosseum tour is probably about 2 hours and that is plenty of time to see it. We had friends that booked w/ them and they loved their tour. You can hang out there after your tour and do some further exploring. It is an amazing place. Our tour w/ the Colosseum staff was only about an hour and we basically just got an overview. We walked around a bit by ourselves afterwards. We were getting picked up at our hotel at noontime for our trip to Civitavecchia so didn't have a lot of time there. It was an ok tour but as I mentioned, you got only the basics. You will get so much more w/ a Colosseum Angel Tour. Also if you go early in the morning, it will be so much less crowded. When we were leaving the Colosseum at 11:00, the lines were huge! If you book w/ Angel Tours, confirm your meeting place as I believe that you meet them at the Train Station across the street from the Colosseum. You will not find them at the main entrance of the Colosseum.

 

Angel Tours are very good about time management on their tours. They will never rush you and most often, the tour is longer than the specified time. Plus they speak excellent English. Our Colosseum guide was difficult to understand and we had 40 people in our group. We were frequently in the back of the group and had difficulty understanding her. Angel Tours will only have 8-10 in their group.

 

If you are going to do the Vatican tour w/ Angel Tours, that is a separate tour and will take 3-4 hrs. This is the one we did w/ them. You could do this tour the day you arrive back in Rome after your cruise. We went to our hotel, dropped our luggage off, then took a taxi to St. Peter's Sq. for our noontime tour. It's less crowded in the afternoon and more often than not, you won't wait in a long line.

 

I believe you can rent headsets at the Colosseum if you want to do-it-yourself. They have a website you can check out.

 

I would probably try and find a hotel near the airport if you are leaving that early. Some cruisers stayed at the Sheraton Roma and they have a shuttle to the airport. However, they may not run it that early in the am. We stayed at the Crowne Plaza St. Peter's (on the Vatican side so we could do our tour) & we got a free shuttle to the airport. However, the shuttle didn't leave til 10 am so that wouldn't work for you. I would suggest that you have the hotel you stay at book you a taxi to take you to the airport so you will know that someone will definitely pick you up. It may be a bit more but well worth the peace of mind.

 

The Sheraton Roma does have a shuttle service. Check out their website. Friends of ours stayed there. It is probably a 20 min. ride to the airport. You will most probably have to get a cab to drive you at that hour of the morning. Also, the airport does not open until 5:30 am. You shouldn't have a problem checking in that early in the morning. We had 1:30 pm flights and we were checked in very quickly.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Mary

[cruisingmimi]

Don, here's the Sheraton Roma website. Says airport is 11 miles so that's not bad. My friend said they have an excellent buffet breakfast there also.

 

 

http://italy-hotels.starwood.com/html/region.m?regionID=1022&destinationID=1005

 

Here's the airport website also:

 

http://rome-fco.airports-guides.com/

 

I think the only hotel is the Hilton and that is probably expensive.

 

Here is a nice hotel that several of our cruisemates stayed at. It is lovely. They will arrange transportation for you also.

 

http://www.lancelothotel.com/about.htm

 

It is near the Colosseum also. However, they book very quickly because it is very popular. We couldn't get reservations there but that is where I would stay when we go back to Rome.

 

Mary

[vetralla]

The last night in Italy is most important as it should be the high point of your visit. As a former MA resident may I suggest the lovely country hotel Fontana del Papa located in the Tolfa hills, l hour from Fiumicino and less to Civitavecchia run by my friend Assuntina . She and husband Claudio ( a sommelier) offer magnificent rooms, home cooked meals using products from their kitchen garden, perfect wines. All of my friends who have stayed there have been more than enthusiastic.

[vetralla]

The last night in Italy should be the high point of your visit and so I would sugget the country hotel www.fontanadelpapa.it of Assuntina and sommelier husband Claudio located in the Tolfa hills, about half way between Fiumicino airport and the port of Civitavecchia.

All my friends from Massachusetts who have stayed there have been very entusiastic.

[cruisingmimi]

Hi Vetrella,

 

Can you give us your website? Where did you live in MA? That's where we live.

[travelingcouple]

Hi Don,

 

We are new to using cruise critic, but already are huge fans. Just loads of great info. Would you have the web site of Angel Tours?

 

Thanks,

Paul

 

 

 

Hi Don,

 

I would highly recommend doing an organized tour if you have not been to Rome before. As Lynnefred stated, you will be wasting time trying to figure out how to navigate the city on your own.

 

We only had 2 days to visit Rome before we left on our cruise. I picked the 2 things that we wanted to see: Colosseum and the Vatican. I did a lot of research prior to our departure to Rome and decided to book our Vatican tour w/ Angel Tours. They were consistently recommended by others who had toured w/ them. I was not sorry we went w/ them. Their tour was fantastic. We met them right in front of the Egyptian Obelisk in St. Peter's Sq. I organized 2 tours w/ them so we had 2 tour guides. We had 16 cruisemates that were staying in Rome after our cruise. There were only 8 in each group and you really get a lot out of the tour because of the small group size. We had a 4 hour tour instead of 3. We only paid for the 3 hrs. They charge E25.00 pp for the 3 hours. The Vatican admission fee is E12.00 pp.

 

I would also recommend Angel Tours for the Colosseum tour. Several of our cruisemates booked a tour w/ them and were satisfied.

 

All of their tour guides speak excellent English and come from different countries. Our guide was from Dublin and was a university graduate w/ a major in art and history.

 

We also got a tour of St. Peter's Basilicca but you can do that on your own. Our guide pre-arranged to have headsets for us for this part of the tour so we got a very personalized tour. St. Peter's is simply amazing and not to be missed. Sistine Chapel is also amazing.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Mary

[cruisingmimi]

Paul,

 

Here's the Angel Tours website:

 

http://www.angeltoursrome.com/en/index.html

 

I have an email address also or you can book on their website.

 

Mary

[vetralla]

Hi Vetrella,

 

Can you give us your website? Where did you live in MA? That's where we live.

Ciao Mimi, my website is ***** I'm originally from Chelmsford and will be back to visit this June.