euro cruiser

The six and a half hours does include a high speed train! Italotreno does not serve Civitavecchia so Trenitalia is your only option from there. Italo also does not serve Stresa, so Trenitalia/Trenord is your only option at that end. The key shortest-travel-time options are departing at 7:30 and arriving at 2:12 PM, or departing at 9:58 and arriving at 4:32 PM. Both include a regional train from Civitavecchia to Termini, then a high speed to Milano, followed by a regional to Stresa. You could increase the comfort level, but also increase the travel time, by waiting for the first Frecce of the day from Civitavecchia to Rome, then a second high speed train from Rome to Milan (on either Trenitalia or Italotreno), but there's no avoiding the regionale from Milan to Stresa. You could replace this segment with a car service, if ease and comfort are more important. The first Frecce train from Civitavecchia to Termini is at 9:16, arriving to Termini at 10:03. This allows you to easily connect to either the 10:30 on Trenitalia or the 10:40 on Italo to Milano Centrale. PLEASE NOTE: If you take a regional train from Civitavecchia to Rome you will arrive to auxiliary tracks at Termini and will have a three-block walk, with luggage, to the main terminal and track head for the train to Milan.

A responsible adult with a healthy appreciation of the need to get back in plenty of time runs little risk of missing the ship. There are trains every half hour back to Naples, it's very easy to do on your own with plenty of "plan B" options for the return.

From the port to Messina Centrale train station is an easy, short walk of about 1 km/three-quarters of a mile. You can now purchase one ticket from Trenitalia that includes both the train and the bus up to Taormina. Simply enter Taormina Centro as your destination and you'll get both. The trip takes between and hour and a quarter and two hours, depending on the connection timing. For example, there is a train at 9:15 that arrives to the center of Taormina at 10:28, the trip costs 6,30 euro.

You can see the map of Terminal 3 arrivals here: You depart from baggage between belts 9 and 10 and there are places to get something to eat while waiting. If she waits airside without collecting her bags, they will be hard to find a couple of hours later. They don't leave them just sitting around waiting, they will be collected and stored somewhere that you'd need to track down.

By train from Civitavecchia to Stresa (that's where we stayed for Lago Maggiore as well) by train is six and a half hours, with two changes en route.

Sad, but true. The fees are both necessary and understandable but the implementation is awful. They have newness as an excuse for the Pantheon, but what's the excuse for the Colosseum?

I doubt they will be ready that early, they'll still be unloading the luggage from the prior cruise. Tarquinia is a beautiful hilltop Etruscan town, with a lot to see, an easy bus ride from the port.

I don't think you have enough time to get to Rome and back, as it takes about an hour each way and you'd need to be on board the new ship in time for the muster drill, usually about two hours prior to the stated departure time. So let's say you are able to drop off your bags with RCI somewhere between 9 - 9:30, that would allow you to get to Rome between 10:40 - 11. If you need to be on board by 3 PM, you'd need to be on a train leaving Rome by 1:20, which only leaves you with a couple of hours in Rome. Much as I love Rome, I don't think it's worth it.

For fine wines, the closest enoteca I know of is Cavacini, on Via Gorizia at the corner of Via Alberto Guglielmotti, about a half mile on foot from the port shuttle drop off at Largo della Pace. Enoteca Cavacini | Facebook For everyday wines the closest place is the Todi's supermarket on Via Isonzo, about a tenth of a mile. Todis Orari e Indirizzi | Punti Vendita | Supermercati Todis

There are several car service companies that target the cruise business in Rome, many of them are mentioned in threads on this forum. In addition to the one noted above, here are a couple of others frequently recommended: Rome Limousine Tours | Civitavecchia Shuttle | Rome Limo Transfer (romelimousines.com) Private tours, Transfers & Shore Excursions - RomeCabs As Cruiser Bruce says, you are quite late so you may have to try several companies, and ask each if them can recommend someone else if they are full. Also, as a side note, drivers and guides are two different professions in Italy so if you want a guide, you'd need to pay extra for that. The firms that target the cruise business all have English-speaking drivers who are generally quite chatty, that may be sufficient information for you.

Sometimes cruise ship personnel lie but often they are just misinformed. I've observed that they simply memorize what they've been told and then act as if what they "know" is all there is to be known. Consider also that when these folks do get off the ship, it's certainly not going to be into a private car service, so they'd have no frame of reference.

When you purchase the ticket on line you still have to line up at Pompei to pick up a paper ticket, which you need to get through the turnstile. Sooner or later they will have the technology to simply read the code off your phone, but at this point that's not how they are doing it. There is zero chance of being shut out at Pompei, the site can hold 15,000 visitors before it is declared "full". That has only happened on free Sundays in the summer months. The service contract at Pompei "guarantees" that lines for entry will not exceed 15 minutes in length. I have not seen any reports or data on how well they achieve this goal, but I also have not heard complaints about long waits on line (Trip Advisor forums discuss Pompei frequently). If people were waiting on long lines to enter, the online b&m would be loud and continuous.

While I have no concerns about these professional services, the same advice holds true for this as for luggage on a flight - carry anything important/hard to replace (medications, jewelry, passports) with you, don't leave it in checked luggage.

Yes, your things are safe. This is a professional, staffed luggage office. Here is the Venice Santa Lucia train station service: Deposito KiPoint Venezia Santa Lucia (kibag.it) Here is the service in Piazzale Roma: Cooperativa Trasbagagli Venezia – Logistica bagagli, merci e persone a Venezia

I feel like I'm a half mile behind on this thread, only slowly picking up the pieces. Okay, so the cruise is ending in Trieste prior to the stay in Venice, right? You have two realistic options for getting to Venice, land (bus, car service, shuttle or taxi) or rail. There are no ferries between Trieste and Venice, as far as I know. That means you will either arrive at Piazzale Roma (land transportation) or Venice Santa Lucia train station. There are left luggage offices in each of these locations, I can't urge you strongly enough to leave everything except the essentials before heading into the heart of Venice. If you're going to leave Venice by train the next day, the most logical option is to arrive by train from Trieste, stow your luggage at the station, then continue on to your hotel. Your things will be there waiting for you the next day when you're ready to depart, absent the incredible hassle of dragging them around Venice.

Within the city a point-to-point water taxi is € 85. It's a little hard to be helpful without more information. Are you getting off a cruise ship, then spending one night in Venice before continuing on elsewhere in Italy by train?

More expensive doesn't necessarily mean better, just that people will pay more. Personally, I want to see what's around me so I'd rather go early in the morning, while it's still a bit quieter. Piazzale Roma is the end of the roadway into Venice, it's where you would arrive by bus or taxi. If you are arriving by train there is a left luggage office right in the train station. A vaporetto is a bus that runs on water. It's that kind of crowded, especially in the summer, so yes it's a real pain to have luggage with you. If money is no object you could use a private water taxi and take all the luggage you want.

Regarding gondolas, the fare is set by the city of Venice and is not negotiated, regardless of what some people will tell you. The currrent fare is 80 euro for 30 minutes during the day, or 100 euro for 35 minutes at night (7 PM - 3 AM). The city lists the fares on their website, along with a list of the gondola stations: Tariffe, orari e stazi Servizio Gondola | Comune di Venezia.

Getting around in Venice is challenging in the summer, due to immense crowds. Nothing is really very far away from anything else, so if you're only staying for one night I would at least consider staying near Piazzale Roma, so you're not dragging your luggage onto and off vaporettos, and along crowded cobblestone streets. I can understand going through that for a several night stay, but for one night ... Alternatively, if you really want to stay in/near St. Marks, consider packing in such a way that you can leave all of your luggage, save for an overnight bag, at the left luggage office at Piazzale Roma and only carry one small bag to your hotel.

Yes, the trains are just to Civitavecchia. If you enter "Civitavecchia Porto" as your destination they will also include the ticket for the port mobility bus to the ship/terminal (an additional 6 euro per person). I haven't been on an IC train in several years, the train stock may have changed. First class on those trains used to be six passenger compartments, the luggage space was racks overhead. If you get one of the newer trains, the compartments are gone, you can see a picture here: Livelli di servizio - Trenitalia As for getting to Termini, with luggage a taxi is your easiest option. There are of course buses and the metro (Barberini), but either of those is a challenge with luggage.

Here's a You Tube video about the clock:

From Messina I would guess that most people go to Taormina and/or Mt. Etna. If you want to stay in town, the regional art museum (with a couple of good Caravaggio paintings) is an easy taxi or tram ride from the cruise port, or a longish (3 km/1.8 miles) walk. Visita – Museo di Messina (mume.in) The Duomo is quite close to the cruise port (about a third of a mile on foot), it's known in part for having the world's largest astronomical clock. Duomo di Messina | Messina, Sicily | Attractions - Lonely Planet

Which port in Sicily? It's the largest island in the Mediterranean and there are several ports, including Messina, Catania, Siracusa, Palermo and more.

Sometimes it's just years of experience looking things up, other times it's simply being able to google in Italian.

There's really no point in a rental car along the coast in the summer. You would only be able to use it every other day as they have a system to reduce traffic based on license plate numbers.