LIVE from ROME! November 1-5, 2018

[TSUmom]

Great pictures!  Love your whole attitude about the weather and change of itinerary.....Making the best of the situation is the only way to go....

I loved Rome and can't wait until next year when I can be there again!!

[Lanz]

Dragon you have done a wonderful job, I think one of the best on CC; factual, knowledgeable commentary with wonderful supporting photographs.  Thanks so much.  

[kuddles14]

8 hours ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

 The Pantheon is still free.  You can drop in several times and  I have been twice.  I enjoyed being able to do that.  

 

We have a standard room with a queen bed.   The room itself is small by American standards.  DH says our balcony cabin on the ship will have more sq ft.  I am not sure that is true--but, close.  The bathroom is very nice; very modern and sleek.  There is ample shampoo, conditioner, gel and lotion when you arrive for several days. It is a good quality.

 

The hotel itself has lots of old world charm.  These are the lobby:

 

 

There is a bar in the side lobby.  When you come this bar will be on the roof. We went up there each day for the view. 

 

There is a beautiful marble staircase the runs through the middle of the hotel. The first time I decided to take the stairs rather than the elevator I thought, wow!  I am used to stairs in US hotels being concrete and metal. 

 

The elevators are small.  Don't even think of handling your luggage.  There is a bellman. One holds 4 people and the other only holds 2.  They are very small.  We dropped off our luggage around 10am.  They stored them and moved them to our room by the time we arrived back at 3. We had timed tickets for the Colosseum at 1:30.  We did that to give ourselves ample time. We stopped for lunch between the Palantine Hill/Forum and the Colosseum.  It was near the metro.  You could buy a pizza or sandwich at a counter or you could sit down.  We chose to sit.  It was nothing special, but not bad or particularly expensive. 

 

 

This was a panini and very good. 

 

 

This was the counter In the metro. The Panini was 7.5 at the table and 5 euro at the stand.  It was worth it to sit down. 

 

How did you book the golf cart tour? Was it through the hotel? 

 

Love your live report on CC. The pictures are great and lots of helpful info. 

[Kittie Ladie]

2 hours ago, TSUmom said:

Great pictures!  Love your whole attitude about the weather and change of itinerary.....Making the best of the situation is the only way to go....

I loved Rome and can't wait until next year when I can be there again!!

 

Totally agree. Best to enjoy the adventure and whatever it brings. 

 

Love your sharing and picture stories Dragon. 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

4 hours ago, kuddles14 said:

How did you book the golf cart tour? Was it through the hotel? 

 

Love your live report on CC. The pictures are great and lots of helpful info. 

The golf cart tour was arranged by a member of our roll call for the cruise..  However, I had explored this type of tour and was planning to book it anyway before I saw this on our roll call.  It can be pricey for a couple.  There are several companies that do this.  We saw other golf cart tours. 

 

We used My Best Tour company and my driver was Lorenzo.  He was excellent.  We paid 55 euros each.  I have seen that for 4 people it was around 400 + euros.  I think it was totally worth it.  We saw so much in a short time and we were tired by the third day of touring--even with breaks.  

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Thanks for following.  We had a good time in Rome. We may get back to Rome someday----or maybe not.  I would hate to waste my opportunity to see this great city.  We boarded the ship today.  So, it has been a busy day.  I will finish up or information on Rome tomorrow,. . . since I am no longer live from Rome. 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

I want to mention a few things about taking a taxi.  We were happy  there was a taxi stand beside the Pantheon.  It meant we could get a cab pretty much any time we wanted one.  We walked to some places, but mostly relied on taking a taxi. 

 

We did not find taxi drivers to be very friendly.  . . . or maybe just a few bad apples.

 

The first day when we left the hotel to go to the Colosseum we saw a larger taxi parked at the stand.  We told him we had 4 people and wanted to go to the Palantine Hill entrance.  He turn to me and said I do not have enough room.  He took the next person that came and left. 😮

 

Next came a smaller taxi you see all the time.  He took us to our destination without question. Yet, his taxi was smaller. [~10 euros one way]

 

When we came out of the Colosseum we wanted to taxi back to the hotel.  To get to the taxi stand you need to go up the stairs, turn left and go down to the next intersection and cross the street to the taxi stand.  [about 1/4 of the way around the Colosseum]  There was a taxi parked at the top of the stairs.  We thought this was our lucky day.  We told him where we wanted to go and got in.  He said that will be 25 euros.  We said no the trip here was only 10 euros.  He said the soldiers have closed off all these streets and he must go the long way around, etc. We said no thank you.  So, we got out of the taxi and walked to the taxi stand and it was 10 euro. 

 

The taxi stands are marked by an orange rectangular sign with the word taxi in block letters.  They are pretty easy to see.   You do not hail a taxi on the street.  You can call a cab or get a restaurant/hotel/tour operator to call you a taxi.  When you do this the price [meter] starts from the call.  At our restaurant just outside the Vatican we got them to call us a cab and the fare was 2.5 euro more than the trip there.  It was so convenient.

[jean87510]

We got so car sick from our cab last Friday that we walked everywhere or took the bus. The driver slammed on his brakes so much I thought I'd vomit in the cab. Love your pictures!!

[DragonOfTheSeas]

5 minutes ago, jean87510 said:

We got so car sick from our cab last Friday that we walked everywhere or took the bus. The driver slammed on his brakes so much I thought I'd vomit in the cab. Love your pictures!!

Please add your thoughts and experiences in Rome.  I want this thread to be a help as others plan their trip. 

 

I guess we were lucky in that regard. Our taxi drivers seemed to be more cautious than some we saw.  The one thing that was hard to watch was the tight urns and threading the needle on some of the side streets in the old section.  The streets are as narrow as those in the Gothic Quarter in Barcelona.  . . . And they go off in as many directions.   [I know many Med cruisers leave from there and are familiar with that city.]

 

 

Edited November 6, 2018 by DragonOfTheSeas

[jean87510]

I would like to correct something that is not correct coming to civitavecchia. You cannot walk from the train station to the cruise port. When in the station you can buy a ticket for a bus to take you to an entrance. OR you can walk it. It's about 0.8 miles. Now here's the confusion. You cannot walk from the port entrance to the ship.  The port people will not allow you. We tried and we were not allowed as well as others. You board another bus/shuttle and go to your ship. There are sections for whatever ship you are on. Maybe you were allowed years ago but as of November 2018, you are not. This is going to cruise port from train station. I would only do train if you can manage your bags yourself. There are no steps to drag luggage up and down. Only when LEAVING civitavecchia via train. There are a lot of cabs. There is a mercato (minimart) on the way one block from main street. I also would not go back out to port unless you have checked in totally 5-6 hours until your cruise leaves. Unless you are on a b2b. Hope this helps. 

Edited November 6, 2018 by jean87510

[DragonOfTheSeas]

8 minutes ago, jean87510 said:

I would like to correct something that is not correct coming to Civitavecchia. You cannot walk from the train station to the cruise port. 

 

Thanks--That is very important information. 

 

 

[euro cruiser]

2 hours ago, jean87510 said:

I would like to correct something that is not correct coming to civitavecchia. You cannot walk from the train station to the cruise port. When in the station you can buy a ticket for a bus to take you to an entrance. OR you can walk it. It's about 0.8 miles. Now here's the confusion. You cannot walk from the port entrance to the ship.  The port people will not allow you. We tried and we were not allowed as well as others. You board another bus/shuttle and go to your ship. There are sections for whatever ship you are on. Maybe you were allowed years ago but as of November 2018, you are not. This is going to cruise port from train station. I would only do train if you can manage your bags yourself. There are no steps to drag luggage up and down. Only when LEAVING civitavecchia via train. 

 

I'd like to clarify a couple of points here.

 

First, you can certainly walk from the train station to the port entrance, what you cannot do is walk from the Via della Pace entrance to your ship, for this you must take the free port shuttle bus.  The post above does say this but starting with the first bolded sentence made it confusing for me.

 

Regarding steps at Civitavecchia, the second bolded sentence above, you can have steps to deal with regardless of whether you are arriving or departing, it simply depends on the train you are taking.  Not all regionale trains use the same binario.

[jean87510]

15 minutes ago, euro cruiser said:

 

I'd like to clarify a couple of points here.

 

First, you can certainly walk from the train station to the port entrance, what you cannot do is walk from the Via della Pace entrance to your ship, for this you must take the free port shuttle bus.  The post above does say this but starting with the first bolded sentence made it confusing for me.

 

Regarding steps at Civitavecchia, the second bolded sentence above, you can have steps to deal with regardless of whether you are arriving or departing, it simply depends on the train you are taking.  Not all regionale trains use the same binario.

If you read my post, it emphasizes you cannot walk to cruise ship, port, whatever. I think the meaning was pretty clear especially since I gave detailed instructions on how we did it yesterday.  There has been many unclear posts on how to self navigate to cruise ship/port on this forum which probably has led to confusion.  For those who are in Italy all the time, it's a simple process but for others like myself who dont have the luxury of traveling all the time, its confusing enough to try to navigate somewhere with unclear directions. I know I've been confused reading through endless posts about how to navigate from Rome to cruise SHIP on your own.  My post was meant for an fyi only to anyone who would like to read a recent experience.

 

As for the steps, I have gone to Rome walking up and down and come from Rome with no steps. Perhaps the point should have  been made that if you have a lot of bags and can't manage steps, don't take train. I believe the lift there is only for handicapped if working, not for people with a lot of unmanageable luggage.

[cruisemom42]

4 hours ago, jean87510 said:

I would like to correct something that is not correct coming to civitavecchia. You cannot walk from the train station to the cruise port. When in the station you can buy a ticket for a bus to take you to an entrance. OR you can walk it. It's about 0.8 miles. Now here's the confusion. You cannot walk from the port entrance to the ship.  The port people will not allow you. 

 

This is half true. While you cannot walk from the main cruise port gate to the cruise ships, you CAN walk if you go through the entrance at the Fort (which used to be the main entrance) and IF your ship is in one of the closer berths.

 

For most people, I would not recommend trying to walk it with luggage. However, some folks who take the train into Rome and back on a daytrip may want to walk it to get an early start if their ship docks very early before all the shuttles are up and running. Personally, I do enough walking during the day in Rome (sometimes up to 10 miles) that I don't sweat it and use the port shuttle + public bus to the train station and the reverse when returning.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

I wanted to mention something else I think is useful to travelers.  There are many water fountains in the city that you can use to refill your water bottles.  Here is one we saw on a side street.  There was one in the Palantine Hill we used and there was one in the piazza with the Pantheon.  There are hundreds of these in the city.  The water is safe to drink.  . . . and it saves you from taking a large bottle along.  

 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

One fun thing we did was have a rooftop picnic.  We went to the Antica Sulmeria [old world deli] across the piazza.  I noticed this place was on one of the walking food tours.  So we decided to try it.  They sell sandwiches, meats, cheese, wine, etc.  There are just a few seats inside and it is very noisy. It was almost too crowded to walk through without running into someone.  That tells me the food is good. 

 

 

 

We wanted to order an antipasti tray to take away--with some wine.  The tray is priced at 15 euro/person.  We saw one on a table and It was very large.  So we bought one for 2 at 30 euro.  It was plenty.  We had meats, cheeses and a bag of bread. We did not finish it all.  However, it was not intended as the meal.  We went out for a light meal later. 

 

 

We want to get a bottle of house wine that was 6 euro, but that could not be purchased to go.. . . unless we brought an empty bottle and then they would refill it. LOL

 

The views were great.  It was good to just enjoy being in Rome.  It seemed to stop raining around 4pm each day. So, we took a towel to the roof to dry the chairs and enjoyed the evening.  There were others doing the same thing. 

 

Cruise Critic is not letting me load pics right now. [or maybe the ship's internet]  I am getting an upload failure message.  I will post them later. 

[DragonOfTheSeas]

OK here are the  pictures from the roof. 

 

 

 

 

You can see all the way to the Vatican.  Below is the street beside the Pantheon. 

 

 

You see how narrow it is.   Below is the Piazza della Rotonda.

 

[DELTABLUE]

Dragon...are you posting from  your cruise?  I need a link, please.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

On ‎11‎/‎8‎/‎2018 at 3:46 AM, DELTABLUE said:

Dragon...are you posting from  your cruise?  I need a link, please.

Delta--Not this time.  I had joined roll call tours in each of the 3 ports [the we are not visiting now] and did not think I would have time for the first half of the cruise. . . . Come over to the "Beadie" message board and I will give you some more info that doesn't really pertain to this thread. 

[erby2283]

Thank you for the pictures and information. I am sailing on my first ever and probably only European cruise next Aug! If you had to pick one are to do in Rome, what would it be? We sail out of Barcelona so we are only in Rome for a day. I know, I know, it's hard to pick one thing. Everyone goes to the Colosseum but I had friend who said they very much enjoyed Palatine Hill over the Colosseum. Anyway, researching things to death and just trying to narrow down the choices and touring companies. 

[euro cruiser]

Palatine Hill and the Colosseum are adjacent to one another and are the same ticket so you could choose to focus on ancient Rome and see the two of them and the Roman forum.  If you have time left over you can easily walk from there to the Trevi fountain (less than a mile) and/or the Pantheon (also less than a mile).

[erby2283]

1 hour ago, euro cruiser said:

Palatine Hill and the Colosseum are adjacent to one another and are the same ticket so you could choose to focus on ancient Rome and see the two of them and the Roman forum.  If you have time left over you can easily walk from there to the Trevi fountain (less than a mile) and/or the Pantheon (also less than a mile).

 Thank you. As it may be my one and only chance to visit, is this the one thing you would see? Would you choose see the Vatican or something else instead? I am such an over-planner and second guess every decision I make. lol

[euro cruiser]

I'm probably the wrong one to ask about a one day stop, my first visit to Rome lasted for a month!

 

Seriously though, I wouldn't presume to know what might be most interesting or important to you.

 

I would say that the Vatican Museums are so crowded and uncomfortable that I would only go there if you really feel compelled to.  

 

Are you more interested in art or history?  When you close your eyes and think of Rome, what iconic sites do you picture?

Edited November 13, 2018 by euro cruiser

[DragonOfTheSeas]

I agree a focus on ancient Rome is a good use of your time.  I would purchase a timed ticket for the colosseum before your visit.  Pick a time that gives you some wiggle room for time.  You can visit the Forum/Palantine Hill before or after that time.  [maybe late morning]

 

Then I would take a taxi to Piazza dell Rotunda to see the Pantheon.  It is easy to see in a short time [30 minutes is long enough].  There are a couple of good churches to see within a block [Santa Maria Sopra Minerva is my choice]. Also, Piazza Navona is only a 3 block walk and there are a couple of good shops on the way.  There is a taxi stand beside the Pantheon so you can take a taxi to the Trevi fountain if you have time.  A taxi is relatively cheap in Rome. Most places are about 8-10 euro from one another.  I would not waste a lot of time walking from one place to another.  [time is your enemy]

 

Grab lunch on the go at either the Colosseum area [not many choices] or on the Piazza near the Pantheon.  

 

Unless you really have a desire to see the Vatican I would not use my precious  time to visit. JMHO

 

Another option is to book a private tour.  They will drive you to all of the big attractions.  This option is very expensive.  . . . but would maximize your 1 day. [you could tell them what you want to see.]

Edited November 14, 2018 by DragonOfTheSeas

[erby2283]

3 hours ago, euro cruiser said:

I'm probably the wrong one to ask about a one day stop, my first visit to Rome lasted for a month!

 

Seriously though, I wouldn't presume to know what might be most interesting or important to you.

 

I would say that the Vatican Museums are so crowded and uncomfortable that I would only go there if you really feel compelled to.  

 

Are you more interested in art or history?  When you close your eyes and think of Rome, what iconic sites do you picture?

 

2 hours ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

I agree a focus on ancient Rome is a good use of your time.  I would purchase a timed ticket for the colosseum before your visit.  Pick a time that gives you some wiggle room for time.  You can visit the Forum/Palantine Hill before or after that time.  [maybe late morning]

 

Then I would take a taxi to Piazza dell Rotunda to see the Pantheon.  It is easy to see in a short time [30 minutes is long enough].  There are a couple of good churches to see within a block [Santa Maria Sopra Minerva is my choice]. Also, Piazza Navona is only a 3 block walk and there are a couple of good shops on the way.  There is a taxi stand beside the Pantheon so you can take a taxi to the Trevi fountain if you have time.  A taxi is relatively cheap in Rome. Most places are about 8-10 euro from one another.  I would not waste a lot of time walking from one place to another.  [time is your enemy]

 

Grab lunch on the go at either the Colosseum area [not many choices] or on the Piazza near the Pantheon.  

 

Unless you really have a desire to see the Vatican I would not use my precious  time to visit. JMHO

 

Another option is to book a private tour.  They will drive you to all of the big attractions.  This option is very expensive.  . . . but would maximize your 1 day. [you could tell them what you want to see.]

 

Art is okay but definitely prefer history. The only thing that throws a wrench into this is a plan I am trying to work on. Probably sounds stupid to most. See, my mom passed away Sept of 2017. We had always wanted to see Italy together as we are of Italian descent. After she passed I decided to plan this trip and not wait bc I didn't want life to pass me by. My mom was a devout Catholic (me not so much) and I want to bring one of her rosaries and one of her prayer cards along with a note about my mom and leave them in a church in Italy somewhere for someone else to take home and thereby leaving a piece of mom in Italy and sharing her Faith with someone else.  I assume Rome or the Vatican would be the best place for this but not sure a I can fit all of this is in for the time at am there. I have checked a few touring companies like Joebananas and italytourseu but nothing has jumped out at me. 

 

Dragon - I hope you enjoyed your cruise. Your positivity at the weather and changes in your itinerary were amazing. We are actually spending a few days post cruise in Lisbon before flying home as my bf is of Portuguese descent. We figured since it may be our only trip to Europe, we better fit it all in. 

 

Sorry for for interrupting your thread but appreciate all the advice!