RCCL Rome Hop on Hop off Bus option?

[GAgaltravel]

Curious if anyone has done this. It appears a motor coach takes you from port to Rome where you take open air bus and hop off when you like. You meet motor coach for drive back to cruise ship. There are two of us at $80 a person. I typically don't like the cruise ship excursions and know there are cheaper options, but I'm traveling with my 22 year old daughter and wondering if it will be less stressful than navigating train. Would love your thoughts!

[cruisemom42]

The HOHO buses in Rome have a terrible reputation, I would never recommend them, especially if you only have one port day. There are numerous threads detailing their shortcomings if you search this forum.

[GAgaltravel]

Just what I needed to hear! Thanks for commenting! 

[euro cruiser]

There are two main problems with the various  HOHO buses in Rome.  First is that they can't get close to many of the major sites, as they are located in very old roads too narrow for a bus.  Second,  they are wildly oversubscribed, so if you get off you may wait quite a while for a bus to come by with room to accept passengers. 

[John Bull]

On 1/13/2024 at 9:31 PM, euro cruiser said:

Second,  they are wildly oversubscribed, so if you get off you may wait quite a while for a bus to come by with room to accept passengers. 

 

 We actually experienced the opposite - the bus sat at Termini for ages waiting to fill.

(We were aware of Rome's ho-ho limitations, but we had a spare day.)

Criticisms are well-founded, using Rome's ho-hos would be a serious waste of valuable time on a port-of-call visit and unworthy even if time isn't an issue. 

 

JB 🙂

(a fan of ho-hos in most cities)

[euro cruiser]

I've used HOHO buses in several cities and they vary widely, by my observation the key variables are the age of the city/street layout and local management.  The second is a crapshot, you never know ahead of time how well they are or are not being managed.  The former, however, does have a significant impact.  I've found HOHOs to be excellent in "newer" cities, with long and relatively straight avenues as opposed to the narrow, winding streets of historic old towns in much of Europe.  The Paris one worked well, Barcelona should have, based on geography, but was so poorly managed that we gave up at midday.  New York was excellent.

[megr1125]

I hated the HOHO in Rome.  First, it was super overcrowded, SRO on the top, open deck and people had to duck under trees, traffic signals and so on.

Second, as others said, they do not get that close to many things.  I wound up getting off someplace, getting in a cab, going back to my hotel and finding a place for a few aperol spritzes.  Made much better use of my time. LOL