euro cruiser

The closest Vesuvio Express bus pickup to the cruise port in Naples is at Piazza Giovanni Bovio, which is just 900 meters/six-tenths of a mile on foot from the cruise port.

It's relatively easy. As I was answering your question I discovered that Vesuvio Express now offers service from Naples, so you no longer need to take the local train to Ercolano to get the bus. That's a big improvement. Right now advance tickets are required for the climb to the crater's edge and they can only be purchased on line. Vesuvio Express will buy them for you but they charge quite a lot more for that service. It's not hard to do it yourself. HOWEVER, if you want the bus from Naples the only offer is the transfer including the ticket. You have to go to Ercolano (which means the local Circumvesuviana train from Naples) to get the transfer only option. The Transfer and ticket from Naples costs 40 euro. On your own it would cost 28,48 euro (Circumvesuviana train 2,40 euro each way, plus transfer only from Ercolano 12 euro, plus the self-purchased ticket 11,68 euro). So you pay quite a premium for the convenience, but I would seriously consider it. Here is the national park web site with the link for tickets, which are sold: The Great Cono | Vesuvius National Park (parconazionaledelvesuvio.it) Tickets are only sold up to 30 days prior. Here is the website for Vesuvio Express: Vesuvio Express Transfer For the Vesuvio You will see that the transfer alone from Ercolano is 12 euro, while the transfer plus ticket is 30 euro.

No, it's not. For a direct flight to the States you need to be at the airport three hours prior, or 8:05 AM in this case. It's about an hour by car from the ship to the airport, but there's no way to be sure you could get off the ship right at 7 AM.

Europcar, Hertz, Budget and Avis all have locations within walking distance of the port. Do note, however, that in addition to ZTLs (limited traffic zones), it is never a good idea to leave a parked car with luggage inside.

La Spezia is closer and easier, it offers more transportation options. Plus it's not a tender port like Portofino, so you have a little more control over your timing.

It's possible, I think the requirement is at least 10 days in advance. It's highly unlikely that there would be two national strikes in the same month, much less the same quarter. Given that the 20th is a Friday, that ups the chances that it will actually happen, in my experience/opinion (I have not collected data to support this conclusion).

I'm sure it didn't feel good, but nobody "shook you down". You broke the law by not validating the ticket (without validation you could keep using the same ticket over and over) and appeared to the ticket agent to be trying to scam the system, which largely works on trust. Put yourself in the agent's shoes, every tourist can claim to be ignorant of the process ... but ignorance isn't an excuse for breaking the law.

While the are physically connected, the basilica and the Doges' Palace are two different places. Here is the basilica's web site, with a link to the reservations center: Basilica San Marco Reservations For the Doges' Palace, see here: Tickets | Doge's Palace, Venice (visitmuve.it) The Secret Itineraries tour is worth the extra time and money. Also note that it is way too far in advance to book tickets for sites in Italy in 2024.

It depends on the cruise line, each have their own policies. Check with them.

There is some luggage storage space, but not a lot. It's first come, first served (and all self-service). Note that if you select Civitavecchia Porto as your destination they will add 6 euros to the fare to cover a bus from the train station to the port.

Yes, the port shuttle serves all ships, all lines. There is no way to book in advance. There are two shuttle options, the free one to the Largo della Pace exit, or the pay one (6 euro per person) to the train station. For the later you can pay the driver on the bus.

You can try posting on the roll call for your sailing to gather together a small group interested in the same thing.

I would expect you'll get more replies by posting on the Carnival board, and naming the specific ship you'll be on.

I've used Bob's Limos: Rome Limousine Tours | Civitavecchia Shuttle | Rome Limo Transfer (romelimousines.com)

There is also a bus option, that eliminates the need to get from the shuttle bus drop off to the train station and back. It's much more expensive than the train, however (19 euro round trip vs. 5,60 euro) Transfer service to Pisa from Livorno (shore-experience.com) There is also a public bus (CTT Nord line #10) but it only goes as far as the train station. It's slower than the train, so only useful if there is no train service for some reason: Linee extraurbane (cttnord.it)

I've never heard of a shuttle at Livorno going to a port entrance, they all go to Piazza Municipio.

I know this is very old school of me, but I always encourage travelers to take a paper copy of the regional train and metro network with them to refer to. ATAC has a great one on their site you can download and print: mappa ferro e tram (giu 2022) (atac.roma.it) It's especially helpful since the directions in the metro stations are given by end points, so if you know where you are and where you want to go, following the line to see the name at the end tells you which side of the tracks to be on.

Public transit isn't for everyone, and it's especially trying if you don't use it at home (an issue for many Americans, who live in places without much mass transit). It sounds like you maybe used two different train stations, one upon arrival and another for departure? At any rate, even in the same station, it's easy to get turned around when you approach it from a different direction than you did before. In the afternoon, trains leaving from Rome to Civitavecchia can be as frequent as ten minutes apart, to accommodate commuters heading home after work. The trick is to know which ones are regionales, vs. Frecces or ICs, because you could get on any regionale with your ticket.

Yes, the United/Lufthansa code share uses FRA as the connection while American uses FCO. You will pay significantly more for the one-stop flights vs. two stops on Delta/KLM code share (Altanta, FCO) or ITA (JFK, FCO). If you purchase directly from the airlines vs. through a third party they are obligated to get you on the next flight if you miss a connection they booked. At FCO that sometimes means, in my experience, someone meeting you at your first flight, escorting you through passport control and on to the next flight in order to make it. That was almost the norm with Aliitalia, it may be that ITA has carried on that tactic.

From the Hotels in Rome thread at the top of the page

Which means I was correct, they are describing Villa Comunale.

You can take the train, Trenitalia. It will require at least one change en route, and the total travel time will be at least two hours. Once at the station in Chioggia you'd still need to get about a mile and a half to the port area. By car from Venice would be about an hour. This is one situation where I'd look carefully at what transfer options your cruise line offers or, failing that, at a car service. Perhaps you can find fellow passengers to share the cost of a private transfer.

Naples has several large parks but given the odd translations so far, I'm guessing they mean the Villa Comunale: Comune di Napoli - La Villa Comunale di Napoli

Basilica Reale Pontificia San Francesco da Paola Basilica Reale Pontificia San Francesco da Paola, Naples (tripadvisor.com)

That's an odd translation - what you're looking for is the Cloisters of Santa Chiara: English – Chiostro di Santa Chiara (monasterodisantachiara.it) This is one of my favorite places in Naples, an oasis of peace and quiet in the heart of the city. There's a lot to see there beyond just the cloisters as well, see the information linked above.