marazul

Just a thought. Again, I don't know Marissa and she is probably very accomplished and quite capable to guide in both places. She is an archeologist and would be an ideal guide for the Colosseum and Forum. I would prefer an art historian trained by the Vatican to be my guide there. Yes, I recommended Bonci if you are there at the right time. If not, there are plenty of good pizza restaurants in Rome.

Day 1. Instead of a taxi to the hotel, book a transfer with romecabs.com. The price will be the same. They provide excellent service and they will be waiting right alongside the ship when you disembark. You will not have to go looking for a taxi. Day 3. Also take a taxi between the Vatican Museums and St Peter's. The included breakfast at the museum is quite filling and it is served at the end of the tour. You should be done by 11 which will let you take the taxi to St Peter's earlier. The security line to get in can be long. You buy the elevator tickets and audio guide as you go in. You can have lunch before you go to Castel Sant'Angelo. In this way you have a meal and a break between each site. Bonci's is near the museum, not near St Peter's. You can have pizza in many other places. If you really want to go to Bonci, you should book the "Breakfast at the Museums - Exclusive Guided Tour of the Museums and Breakfast" either VIP or regular. You get breakfast before the tour, not after. You still get in earlier than general admission, but not as early as the Prime Experience so there will be more people around. Then you can go to Bonci after the tour for lunch and take a taxi to St Peter's, etc. Frankly, Bonci is good, but I would rather get in earlier for the tour and get pizza some place else some other time, maybe at some of the places suggested near the hotel.

The pricing is confusing, but here is the cost. The regular Prime Experience tour comes to 102 euros for 2 people. They put you in a group and guarantee a per person price for the guide. Group Tour - Earphones 1.50 x 2 3.00 € Guide 16.50 x 2 33.00 € American Breakfast 18.00 x 2 36.00 € Early access reservation fees 15.00 x 2 30.00 € CANCEL Total: € 102.00 PROCEED The VIP Prime Experience tour comes to 386 euros for 2 people because you pay the entire fee for your own private guide. American Breakfast 18.00 x 2 36.00 € Guide 320.00 x 1 320.00 € Early access reservation fees 15.00 x 2 30.00 € CANCEL Total: € 386.00 I don't know her, but I think that booking with one of the Vatican's own guides would be a better experience and they are outstanding. Don't feel bad about canceling. It is a long way out. She will have other clients for that day. Frankly, I would not book with a solo operator all this time in advance. She may or may not be available then. On the other hand, the Vatican will have always have a tour for you. The designer shops are not near the hotel. There are plenty of souvenir shops in that area. Designer shops are more on the Via Veneto, closer to the Spanish Steps. I would google any particular designer shop you would like to visit to get the right address.

Not quite. A few Greek flag cruises get to dock in Athinios, at least sometimes. We have seen Celestyal docked at the port.

Just go to the museum after the tour. Go to the Piazza Navona after dinner or a little rest. It is only a 5 minute walk from the hotel. It is a lovely stroll in the evening with lots of cafes for a glass of wine.

BTW - to get to your tours, it is best to take a taxi. There is a taxi line alongside the Pantheon. The fare to most places (Colosseum, Vatican, etc.) is 10-12 euros. Don't even try walking to meet your tours. The walks are long, there is no such thing as a straight line, and the traffic is horrendous. I read the description of your Vatican tour. It does not include early admission. There is no need to jump the gun and book it now a year or more ahead of time. IMO - you should book this tour directly with the Vatican Museum. For example, you could take a "Prime Experience" tour in a group of up to 25 people early in the morning. Your cost would be about 50 euros each and it includes a very good breakfast at the end. The VIP option means that it is a private tour just for you or your own group of up to 10. Read the description of the tours in their website (click "more info" on each for details and on "book" for prices). They are only showing them for the next three months, but the description is always the same and the prices are about what they will be in 2024. https://tickets.museivaticani.va/home/fromtag/2/1676264400000/VG-Musei

Since cruisemom is enjoying the day (Happy New Year!) and I am home getting over covid, I'll answer a few points. Day 1 - This is a good plan. Piazza Navona is a short walk from the Albergo del Senato, but in the opposite direction of the Trevi Fountain, etc. . You can leave it for the evening of Day 2. Walk out the hotel door, the Pantheon is on your left, continue straight down a short street (the Armando al Pantheon restaurant is there), turn right and then turn left and the Piazza Navona is a short distance down. Don't miss it. Very good gelato at the corner of the hotel. (Turn right at the door and go to the corner, it's across the street.) Look at this map: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Hotel+Albergo+del+Senato/@41.8978023,12.4757552,17z/data=!4m15!1m6!3m5!1s0x132f6051d8fd0673:0x91fde7e0e4de70fe!2sArmando+al+Pantheon!8m2!3d41.8990671!4d12.4762459!3m7!1s0x132f6051e3aced8d:0xb00c1f6eca54b6f4!5m2!4m1!1i2!8m2!3d41.8991741!4d12.4772818?hl=en Also, in the corner after you turn right after Armando's is the church of San Luigi dei Francesi which has some magnificent Caravaggio paintings. Day 2 - Good choice changing tours. The Capitoline Museum is on the hill at the end of the Palatine Forum. Your tour guide can point you there. Stop for lunch and then visit the museum. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Capitoline+Museums/@41.8919223,12.4853275,16.75z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x132f604f7906ecf3:0xdea1467ab6c9ecfb!8m2!3d41.8929428!4d12.4825577?hl=en Day 3 - I hope you asked for an early entrance tour of the Vatican. It makes a huge difference with the crowds. After that, walk to Bonci's Pizzarium (your guide can point it out) for a slice of pizza. Walk back to the museum entrance and take a taxi to St Peter's. Otherwise it is a very long walk. After St Peter's, you can take a taxi to Castel Sant'Angelo. Go back to the hotel. Enjoy drinks on the roof terrace. Armado al Pantheon is one of the best trattorias in Italy. I would advise you to reserve a table as soon as they are available on the website. https://www.armandoalpantheon.it/en/ Right across the square from the hotel is L'Antica Salumeria. It has excellent porchetta sandwiches. Look at the food thread pinned on top of this forum for other restaurant recommendations. Like Roscioli. Do use the maps to plot out where things are.

Here it is: https://www.romeinlimo.com/florence/ Scroll down for ideas. You will be driving through Tuscany, the land of the wonderful reds. There are many, many wineries making them. Ask for a quote including pick up in Florence, stop in Pisa, and ending at pier. They will pick the winery that best fits with the route. Don't overthink it. They do these custom tours all the time and you will have a wonderful day.

Yes, you can stop in Pisa, do a wine tour and get back to your ship with plenty of time. Small tour operators can be very good, but they may or may not be available at anytime. Any of the large tour companies does very good wine tours and will do a custom itinerary for you. Check Joe Banana, Rome in Limo, etc. Prices are usually based on time and distance, not specific stops, and are comparable between all of them. They all have suggested itineraries, but just tell them what you want to do and ask for a quote. It would be good if you could add time in Venice at the end of your trip and fly back from there. But you do need a minimum of two nights there to make it worthwhile.

Three years ago we rented an apartment from this company. It's not an airbnb, but a well run, well maintained business. http://www.aspasios.com/ We stayed at the Rambla Catalunya building which is in a perfect location one block from the Passeig de Gracia.

I am glad you are considering doing the wine tour from Florence on the way to the ship. That would be the right place to taste the fine Tuscan reds. There is a lovely wine region (Castelli Romani) right outside Rome, but those are white wines. You do need three nights in Rome (two full days) to see most of the main sites. Don't shortchange it by going on a long day trip into Tuscany. You will be right in Tuscany when in Florence and you can do it on the way back to the ship. (You got a good suggestion for a wine tour in the previous post.) A day trip to Venice makes no sense. You would spend 8-9 hours traveling. If you do want to go to Venice, you should plan on at least two nights there. Better yet, plan on your next cruise starting or ending in Venice and going down the Adriatic coast and into Greece. Venice really deserves at least three nights. And after this trip you will definitely want to get back to Europe. You said you were concerned about long flights. There are direct flights from Charlotte to both Rome (we took it this summer) and to Barcelona. If you get your tickets the moment they become available, you can get decent prices for upgrading to premium economy, or maybe they will be available with points. Basic economy would be a killer on those flights. There are no direct flights Venice-CLT.

Yes, you should stay in Florence overnight. The most efficient option is to take the ship's shuttle there. Check in to your hotel and tour all day. Get tickets in advance if you want to go to the Uffizi or the Accademia (Michelangelo's David). For the following day, I have an idea that could be a little pricey, but would accomplish a lot of things that you want to do and that would not be possible using public transport. Book a private tour that would pick you up at your hotel, take you to Pisa, then to a winery for tasting and lunch, and then back to the ship. There are a number of tour companies mentioned on this board. Just ask for price quotes.

Beef or pork cheek are the cheeks (guancia) or jowls of the animal. It is wonderful braised or in sauces. If it is cured, it is called guanciale and it is used in pasta dishes, like carbonara. You will not see the braised guancia dishes in the US except for a very few, authentic Italian restaurants. Maybe the ones in Arthur Avenue in the Bronx. Certainly not in NC, at least not on regular basis. Guanciale is becoming more common in the more authentic restaurants. https://www.lacucinaitaliana.com/glossary/guanciale Amatriciana and carbonara in Italy are made the way they were invented, with regional and individual variations. Most US restaurants serve standardized recipes that are amatriciana or carbonara in name only. If you like Italian food, you are in for a great and wonderful surprise when you have the real thing. You might enjoy reading Katie Parla's blog. https://katieparla.com/. Also, look up recipes in La Cucina Italiana, an Italian food magazine now published in English. https://www.lacucinaitaliana.com/ Do book a private tour to the Vatican museums. It is best to do it directly on their website. https://tickets.museivaticani.va/home Their guides are the best and you don't have to pay extra for a tour company. There are a lot of threads on this board about Vatican tickets. For example: If you do your own tickets, you can have an early morning tour and walk to Bonci's for lunch. It opens at 11 am. There are a lot of taxis by the Vatican Museum entrance to get back to your next stop. They are very reasonable. It should be around 10 euros for a ride to/from central Rome.

Reserve as soon as possible. If you can, get a table in the wine cellar (cantina). Make sure you click on the time and slide down to see all availability for pranzo (lunch) and cena (dinner). Same in the next page for tables in the cantina or in the deli section. If you scroll down that page you will see photos of the different areas. Right now the reservations are open trough June, but they fill up quickly. https://www.salumeriaroscioli.com/en/book-old/ And yes, you will find many things on the menu that you don't normally find in Charlotte (I go there often 😁), but when in Rome . . . eat like the Romans do. You might want to try Guancia di Manzo (the technique is similar to braised short ribs, but the beef cheek is far better). And for pasta, either the amatriciana or the carbonara, both made the Roman way. BTW - save Bonci for lunch if you visit the Vatican Museum. It is a couple of blocks away. Otherwise, it is too far from anything else in Rome.

Pizzarium Bonci is a takeout place. It's open all day. The serve pizza by the slice. You take a number near the door and wait for it to come up. You pick the pizzas you want at the counter and can take them to a table. Don't expect any of the usual US combinations (such as "meat lovers") either here or in most other places. It isn't clear why you would have a hard time eating at Roscioli. Do you mean one of the three Rosciolis or just at the Salumeria? I hope you give it a try. It is a woderful restaurant. It is best to reserve well ahead of time if you do go.

We stay at the junior suite. Great view of the square and Pantheon. Here isthe view. Lots more pictures on the hotel's website. Take a car transfer to Civi. Yes, you would need to take a taxi to the station and then another taxi or bus to the port. Save your train travel for a more convenient location.

Edinburgher- There is a very good reason for the urban myth. Wildcat strikes in Italy used to be frequent, unpredictable and disruptive years ago. Like the train strike between Milan and Venice we were caught in. This all changed in the 1990s when the right to strike was codified and the labor unions and the government agreed to the new rules. Of course, this is not well known elsewhere and the memories of painful strikes linger on.

Edinburgher- My apologies if you felt "flamed." That was never my intention. In the past 30+ years we too have been caught in strikes twice. The first time was on a train strike between Milan and Venice. That was before the labor agreement that set the rules for striking rights. The second time, it was on the Cinqueterre trains. They were posted, but we never checked. Our fault, but not a problem because the ferries were running. Yes, it is a lot worse if you are caught, but, like cruisemom says, it is an urban myth that there are spontaneous strikes all the time. Happy holidays to you. And please keep posting. Your contributions are thoughtful and appreciated.

Taxis are inexpensive and plentiful.

Italian law require strikes to be listed in the sciopero.it website. Minimum notice is 15 days (normally, it is 2 or 3 months). It must specify the duration of the strike (such as 8 a.m. to midnight). It must make provision for minimum services in essential services sectors, such as transportation and health. Strikes are seldom national. More often than not they are settled ahead of time. The status of negotiatons and settlements must also posted in sciopero.it. All of the above are good reasons for reserving a cancellable hotel room in Florence for the overnight stay. If there is a strike the first day, you can get out the next day. If there is a strike the second day, you can cancel the room and return to the port. In any event, it is extremely unlikely that a strike will disrupt your plans. It is not "infrequent" that strikes are scheduled. It is "infrequent" that they actually take place.

One path.

Look at post #22 for a good area to stay. Just go on a hotel search engine and look for places around there.

The Byzantine and Christian Museum. It is very near the Museum of Cycladic Art.

I agree with Green Family's advice. Make sure you check the hotel locations on a map.

That tour would be a good idea to see the island. Just a suggestion: There is a ferry/shuttle boat that transfers passengers from the old port to Oia. The boats are near the place where you would take the cable car up. (Read about it on this board.) Plan on taking the boat and meeting your tour guide in Oia. There seems to be a wait of maybe half an hour until the boat is full, but that would be a lot less than a couple of hours to go up the cable car.