Royal Caribbean Tour in Rome

[honeymooner16]

Good morning! We are stopping in Rome on the Wonder in June and I think I want to do a ship tour for this one since it is so far from the port and none of us speak the language, and we are travelling with two small kids. My question is which of Royal's tour's go INSIDE both the Vatican (with Sistine Chapel) and the Colosseum? I see the small group tour does, but are there any others? So many seem to go inside one but not the other. Royal's website isn't very descriptive. Is it better to do the small group tour vs the big one? Thanks in advance!

 

 

[arlodog]

You may want to post this in the Rome forum for the best advice. So much to see at both, but if you can only pick one I would pick going inside the Vatican.  We spent 3 days in Rome before our Med cruise and didn't see everything we wanted to.  We were scheduled last fall, but COVID put a halt to our plans.  Rome is fantastic! 

[Billy Baltic]

2 minutes ago, arlodog said:

You may want to post this in the Rome forum for the best advice. So much to see at both, but if you can only pick one I would pick going inside the Vatican.  We spent 3 days in Rome before our Med cruise and didn't see everything we wanted to.  We were scheduled last fall, but COVID put a halt to our plans.  Rome is fantastic! 

+1 

I’d suggest adding on 3 or 4 days after the cruise and going to Rome. You won’t do any of sights justice with the time available. Its 45 - 60 mins from the ship to Rome and that’s before the traffic in the city and crowds at the tourist hotspots. 

[FionaMG]

I guess since you say your stopping in Rome, that means you're boarding in Barcelona so you do only have the one day for Rome, with no option to do a pre- or post-cruise stay there?

 

How old are the "two small kids". My gut feeling is that your tentative plan is likely to be way too tiring for the youngsters and that will put a huge damper on what will inevitably be a very expensive day trip. If they are still stroller age, I can't stress too highly that you should take the strollers with you, as it will give them somewhere to nap and prevent you from having to carry them around when they get too tired.

 

I think it would probably be worth your while to consider scaling the plan down a bit and do either/or rather than both the Vatican and the Colosseum, and to be honest, I'd be inclined to go for the latter. It won't matter too much if either child has a meltdown in the Colosseum but it would be a huge issue if they happened to do it in the middle of the Vatican.

 

Given that you want to do something through the cruise line, which I do understand, make sure you read the T&Cs carefully. I seem to remember they have some sort of get-out clause on tours with inside visits that if for any reason it's not possible to go inside on the day for whatever reason, they'll "compensate" you by giving you more time outside, which is unacceptable to my way of thinking.

 

Having said all that, a small group tour would almost certainly be better for you than the standard excursions, which are on big tour buses and mean you're very limited in what you can see and do. They almost always involve a shopping stop, too, which really eats into your precious time.

 

I hope this helps and do pop over to the Italy board as there is a ton of very useful information over there: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/464-italy-ports/

 

[meg1021]

I have been on 3 different RC sailings that stopped in Rome, the latest was the small group tour in April 2019.  I highly recommend the small group tour, instead of the large bus group.  You will cover more attractions, spend less time waiting for the entire group to return to the bus, and probably have more access to your tour guide.  It will be a long day, probably 12+ hours, including the bus ride to and from the port.  Almost all tours make the obligatory stop at the Trevi Fountain, so that you can throw your coin in, and take your photos.  Most tours include lunch at a decent restaurant as well, which will be set up to handle your tour, and save you the time of finding a restaurant.  The small group tour that we took in 2019, included the Vatican, the Colisseum,  the Forum, and the Trevi Fountain, but did not include the Sistine Chapel ( although we saw that on another RC tour that also included the Vatican museums).  Whatever you choose, should be great for your kids as well.  But as I said, be prepared for a long day, with quite a bit of walking as well, since the tour bus cannot drop you off directly in front of most of the attractions.  Have a great time!

[sgmn]

2 hours ago, honeymooner16 said:

Good morning! We are stopping in Rome on the Wonder in June and I think I want to do a ship tour for this one since it is so far from the port and none of us speak the language, and we are travelling with two small kids. My question is which of Royal's tour's go INSIDE both the Vatican (with Sistine Chapel) and the Colosseum? I see the small group tour does, but are there any others? So many seem to go inside one but not the other. Royal's website isn't very descriptive. Is it better to do the small group tour vs the big one? Thanks in advance!

 

 

We've done Royals transport only to Rome. It was a bus with very informative talk on the drive to Rome. They dropped us off near St Peters Square with instructions of where and when pick up would be. We had prebooked tickets for the Vatican and Sistine Chapel on the website for The Vatican and bypassed the very long queue and went straight in. 

It is a very long day though and most people were sleeping on the way back to the ship.

[LeeW]

Not a lot to see inside the Colosseum but a lot of stairs with high steps and very hot in June.  Nice gift shop that kids might like. 

 

And Rome has a lot of cobblestones, so good luck with the stroller.

 

Really depends on how your kids handle museums and ruins.  

 

Don't sweat the language - probably 3/4 of the locals speak some English, especially all the the folks in the tourist industry and shops.  Only problem we had there was trying to get the ATM into English mode (my Italian isn't very good).  Biggest problem we have with cruise line historical tours is the large buses.  You spend a lot of time waiting for someone to get back.  Small tours are much better.

[mo&fran]

Whem we were in Rome. we had a private tour with a small van that was licensed as a taxi,  so we got close to all of the attractions.  I believe it was Romeinlime, or something like that .  I think there were 7 in our group.

[Norwich Cruiser]

I’d book a small group tour with Romeinlimo you’d be wasting your time and money using a RCG tour and won’t see or visit any site properly.

 

Don’t waste your money.

 

Having said that I wouldn’t attempt Rome with two small children.

[Travelling2Some]

1 hour ago, Norwich Cruiser said:

I’d book a small group tour with Romeinlimo you’d be wasting your time and money using a RCG tour and won’t see or visit any site properly.

 

Don’t waste your money.

 

Having said that I wouldn’t attempt Rome with two small children.

Have to agree with all of that.  Touring the Coliseum and Forum is difficult with small children/strollers and I doubt they would get much out of it anyway.  Strollers are okay at the Vatican but I think kids would be hot and bored.  I think your best bet is to book a small group tour with Romeinlimo and leave the kids on the ship for the day if you can.  They will have a much better time and so will you.  The Sistine Chapel tends to be a wall to wall mob scene.  

Edited March 21, 2022 by Travelling2Some

[stacynray]

5 hours ago, Norwich Cruiser said:

I’d book a small group tour with Romeinlimo you’d be wasting your time and money using a RCG tour and won’t see or visit any site properly.

 

Don’t waste your money.

 

Having said that I wouldn’t attempt Rome with two small 

Edited March 22, 2022 by stacynray

[RobInMN]

If you are trying to do "Rome in a day", you're just going to miss stuff. We went on Symphony on her maiden Summer season (2018) and specifically chose to embark/disembark from Rome rather than Barcelona so that we could spend a week in Rome first. I think we averaged about 10 miles a day walking and there's still stuff on our list for if we ever get back. I see Wonder is doing the same thing this summer. If you have the ability and the time to spend extra days before or after your cruise, I'd highly recommend changing from the Barcelona to Rome. Regardless of how you do it, there's going to be about 3 hours of travel time just to & from. And then there's just so much to do & see. You could spend the entire day in the Roman Forums (this really could be 3-5 distinct things). 4 hours in the Vatican, couple hours at the colosseum, and probably a good 3+ hours for a drive-by & hop off/on tours to hit a number of the "smaller" things (Pantheon, Circus Maximus, fountains, Spanish steps, etc.). Small kids could shrink those estimates😉. 

But yeah, I'd agree with the others. The smaller the tour size, the better. If you can get a private tour set up, you will maximize your ability to see what you want to see and as much time as you want to spend there. The key is going to be getting "Skip the line" access. Make sure they will have that. Some private tours I remember seeing are just for the tours and you have to purchase your own tickets. If you have to cover the price of tickets separately, that's fine but you don't want to spend any of your day waiting in general admission lines. 

15 hours ago, Travelling2Some said:

The Sistine Chapel tends to be a wall to wall mob scene.  

"SHHHH!!!!! NO PHOTOS!!!" 🤣

[Travelling2Some]

6 hours ago, RobInMN said:

"SHHHH!!!!! NO PHOTOS!!!" 🤣

Ha ha, yes, I had almost forgotten that bit.  On top of being packed like sardines, the staff in the Sistine Chapel do everything humanly possible to make sure no one actually enjoys the experience.

Edited March 22, 2022 by Travelling2Some

[bonsai3s]

49 minutes ago, Travelling2Some said:

Ha ha, yes, I had almost forgotten that bit.  On top of being packed like sardines, the staff in the Sistine Chapel do everything humanly possible to make sure no one actually enjoys the experience.

I have pictures of the ceiling...taken over 40 years ago.  Regrettably, it was before it was "cleaned"...hope to visit again someday.

 

*OP, just a friendly reminder that if you are planning on going inside St. Peter's Basilica  you must wear appropriate clothing...no bare shoulders, no shorts.

 

[Nunagoras]

First of it all: Be very welcome to Europe!...

 

I understand; coming from the US to Europe is not cheap by any means, so it might to be seen as a once in a life time visit... Same otherwise if I decide to cross the Ocean to visit your lovely land. Maybe one day!... At least Washington DC and New York are on my radar, obviously at a land visit, no cruises for that one!...

 

That said: If your logistics permit that and Rome is that important for you, try to change your embarkation/debarkation port to Rome and stay there for some 3 or 4 days before or after your cruise. Either way you'll only to have a snapshot of what Rome has to offer you... Rome is so big, or either way so intense in both the number and the quality of its attractions that you need time to experience it, especially if you have little kids!... Barcelona is a nice city, that's for sure and as someone whom lived there for 2 years back in the day, I can attest that by proper experience!... But in a full port day you'll be able to at least appreciate most of the main attractions!...

 

Either way; if your logistics don't permit it, try just to go with the flow and take the best of both worlds: I'd recommend you the little Rome panoramic Rome tour offered by the ship. It is a half a day tour mostly on the big bus with a stop at St. Peter's square and more one or 2 photo ops stops traffic permitting. Surely; it just "Rome at a glimpse", and a very limited one to be true, but... Maybe you'll have another opportunity!...

 

And last but not the least: I understand those ones recommending you a private shore excursion not provided by the ship. In normal day's I'd have no doubt in going on one... But whom the heck know what the Covid protocols will be for Italy at your sailing date??? Covid numbers are on the rise again at this side of the pound right now. And there is a flu surge as well... Hope that to be solved ASAP. Going with the ship is more expensive for sure, but you're also purchasing insurance out of it. Things are what they are for now!...

 

Either way; I wish you a superb European sailing on the wonderful Wonder!... And have a nice day!...

[wikoffclan]

On 3/19/2022 at 10:11 AM, honeymooner16 said:

 we are travelling with two small kids. 

 

 

I'd go with the tour of the Colosseum. Your kids would be bored to tears inside the Vatican and Sistine Chapel. My boys ran around the Philadelphia Art Museum (outside) when they were little. Much more fun than inside the museum. And the Colosseum is SO impressive! That's one they'll remember.

[Ashland]

Avoid the ship option...You and your family would do MUCH better booking a private tour.

RomeInLimo would give you a quality tour !!!!!  They are one of the highest and most popular private tour options !!!!