Help! Vatican on Free Sunday

[SDcruising]

Our ship, Ruby Princess, will be arriving in Civitavecchia on Sunday, May 31. This is the last Sunday of the month which make the Vatican a "free" Sunday. Opening hours are restricted and according to some postings on CC it will be mobbed. :( Has anyone visited on a free Sunday? Can you tell me if you can still make reservations? How long are the lines? How did you organize your day to accommodate this? Thanks for your help. Just realised that this will cause major issues with our private tour and the entire day! Need insight. :confused:

~ Bev

[hylasgirl]

Our ship, Ruby Princess, will be arriving in Civitavecchia on Sunday, May 31. This is the last Sunday of the month which make the Vatican a "free" Sunday. Opening hours are restricted and according to some postings on CC it will be mobbed. :( Has anyone visited on a free Sunday? Can you tell me if you can still make reservations? How long are the lines? How did you organize your day to accommodate this? Thanks for your help. Just realised that this will cause major issues with our private tour and the entire day! Need insight. :confused:

~ Bev

 

 

Yes, we were there on Free Sunday on the Brilliance of the Seas. HUGE line! We waited in line for 2 hours on a ship tour. I would HIGHLY recommend a private tour AND private driver for the Vatican. Ask them specifically when you book about by-passing the line. I know there are a few tour companies that are credentialed with the Vatican. One is MyVaticanTour.com It really depends on what you want to see. On our first trip to Rome (which was this one and why we booked a ship tour... didn't know any better) I REALLY wanted to see the Vatican. More than any other site. SO... I personally would go there first and have your private tour and then spend the rest of the day doing other things.

[SDcruising]

Unfortunately, we were told by our Private Tour company that they could not get us in any sooner. Must stand in the line as there are no tickets. I'm looking into finding out if we can even make reservations as there are no tickets. Thank you for sharing your experiences.

[hylasgirl]

Unfortunately, we were told by our Private Tour company that they could not get us in any sooner. Must stand in the line as there are no tickets. I'm looking into finding out if we can even make reservations as there are no tickets. Thank you for sharing your experiences.

 

 

No... write to MyVaticanTour and tell them that you have a private shore excursion for the day and see if they can get you in for a tour? It may be possible. We have booked with them on May 23rd. They guarantee you can bypass the line. See if a guide can help you.

[SDcruising]

Thanks! I'll give it a shot. :)

[SDcruising]

Looks like MyVaticanTour doesn't operate on Sundays at all but I sent an email to them anyway. Hopefully I'll get more information from our private tour company on possibilities. Thanks for helping.

[nparmelee]

If you look at the Vatican site for booking the reservations, it does not show the last Sunday of March or April as available so they do not do reservations for the last Sunday of the month. Sorry!

[cruisemom42]

I think your only option will be to wait in line. My sister and BIL did this; they got there quite early and still waited about 2 hours in the line. Is this just a one-day port stop or are you spending some additional time in Rome?

[hylasgirl]

That is too bad... sorry :(

 

For what it's worth, when we stood in line, it was our first trip to Rome. Everything was new and exciting and the time really flew. We loved just looking around and the line moved pretty well. AND... inside was totally worth it!!! It is an amazing place.

[SDcruising]

Great news! Our private tour company will have the Vatican guide we hired stand in line for us and we will just switch out mid morning (I guess they will keep in contact by phone). They say at that time there will be very little waiting left. I am very impressed with their quick response and solutions. After the cruise I will post exactly what happened so future cruisers will know what to do. Thanks for all your help.

 

~ Bev

[hylasgirl]

Great news! Our private tour company will have the Vatican guide we hired stand in line for us and we will just switch out mid morning (I guess they will keep in contact by phone). They say at that time there will be very little waiting left. I am very impressed with their quick response and solutions. After the cruise I will post exactly what happened so future cruisers will know what to do. Thanks for all your help.

 

~ Bev

 

 

Oh, that is good news!!! You will have so much fun! Enjoy!

[samavarcruiser]

That's great!!!

Have fun !

[swcruise]

Hi,

 

We happened to be in Rome on the last Sunday in August and went to see the Vatican museums. We got there early, I seem to think just before nine and the museums opened at 10, I think... The queue was long, but we were inside by 10.30. I did notice when we were leaving, that there were hardly any q's, I think if you get there mid morning you can avoid the lines, but do check the closing time to make sure you have enough time to enjoy the beautiful art collections.

 

Rgds, S