I&MsMom

I've been to Ostia, and been to Civitavecchia, but never tried to connect the two via public transportation. I suspect you are correct, in that you would have to train from Civitavecchia to Rome Termini, then head back out to Ostia. Seems like a lot of unnecessary ground to cover. :confused:

Have you considered renting a car? There is a Hertz quite close to the entrance to the port in Civitavecchia. We rented from them on the spur of the moment (no prior reservation) to drive to Civita di Bagnereggio (of Rick Steve fame.) It was very quick. The only thing is, they didn't have a huge inventory of vehicles sitting around, so if you require a large car or an automatic, I would pre-book.

I don't recall from my research, but there are at least one or two other companies with offices in Civitaveccia (one had an office too far to walk to). In any event, Hertz was the first we came to and the one we used.

Whatever you decide to do, enjoy! :)

I just wanted to say that we rented a car in Civitavecchia and drove to Civita di Bagneregio on our own. I had not pre-arranged the car, but rental was quick and easy. The drive was lovely, and the hilltown (as others have said) was just wonderful. IMHO it is a great way to spend a day in Civitavecchia!

Thanks so much for your inquiry, as we have similar thoughts as to how to spend our day in Civitavecchia.

However, I've having difficulty in finding out which car rental companies have offices near the port. So far, Europcar and Argus are the only ones showing availability. And only Europcar provides an actual address in Civitavecchia. Are there others? Also, for a single day rental in April 2007, Europcar shows 122 Euros for a Golf, and Argus shows 128 Euros for a Fiat Panda. Is this normal? (Seems high to me for a single day rental, but what do I know?)

I would really appreciate any helpful advice! Thanks!!

For what it's worth, DD hasn't been in a pool on board in our four cruises pre-potty training. And, she hasn't missed it. There were absolutely NO issues with her wanting to go. Possibly because our first cruise was when she was 25 months, and she was eligible for camp (we've only cruised Carnival.) We planned water-related excursions in most ports, and that kept her happy.

Now that she is potty-trained, I will still keep her out of the pools, for the reasons cited here. DS (now 7) is forbidden from going in the hot tubs, and I keep his time in the pool to "little or none". I do let him go down the slide (inconsistent, I know, but he so loves the slide.)

There's so much fun to be had on board, the inability to swim (in what are, after all, pretty tiny pools) just isn't a factor for us!

bellybutton: I don't believe that they do have a shuttle to the port, although I would check directly with them.

Sue: Thanks for the positive feedback...It always helps so much to hear that someone is willing to recommend a place!

After reading this ENTIRE thread, and spending a great deal of time trying to weigh the relative merits of the Tampa area hotels, I have booked the Marriott Westshore for our pre-cruise stay next month.

While the price was good compared to some others I was considering, and the free parking made the bottom line even better, in the end what tipped the scale in favor of this hotel was the indoor/outdoor pool. With two kids (3 and 7), I knew that if the weather was less than tropical - and that may very well be the case in Feb.- the indoor pool would be the difference between the kids having fun, and having a positive start to the vacation, and, well, not...

Even though many of the hotels had heated pools, that only goes so far, and doesn't cut it if it's truly chilly or raining.

Also, we'll have a car, and the activities I'm planning are sort-of weather dependent (Cap't Memo's pirate ship out of Clearwater and Busch Gardens.) So, if it's warm and nice the pool won't much matter, but if it's dismal, the indoor pool will (literally!) save the day.

Roberta: I'll hopefully add my thumbs up to Sue's in about a month!

What an amazing amount of info!

I have a question I hope one of you can help with. Do any of the Tampa hotels have an indoor pool? My research on TripAdvisor hasn't come up with any, but maybe I'm not as thorough as I'd like to think I am!

We'll be there for 2 nights pre-cruise in mid February. We'll have a 7 and 3 year old, and if it's cool, an indoor pool would be key.

For now, we have a reservation at the Belleview Biltmore in Clearwater, although (as per a thread I started for feedback on that hotel) I'm not all that confident choosing that hotel.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

Hi! I have a question (tried to run a search, but I keep getting the "website not responding" message).

Does anyone know what is in the Carnival drinks of the day? With the exception of here, I've never heard of a Yellow Bird...Does anyone know the general flavors of: Gombay Smash, Island Delight, Ultimate Suntan, Caribbean Breeze, Riviera Delight or the Funship Special?

I even tried searching epicurious.com and the food network site - nothing.

Thanks

Fergie1: Thanks! Exactly my point - he can't wear his regular dress shoes with his tux, and he can't wear his tux shoes with khakis...well, he COULD but he'd look kinda funny!!

I can't really tell from the web site - are the shoes patent leather? Thanks again!!

This is probably going to sound really odd, but has anyone tried the shoe rental? DH has a tux, but on our last cruise, which was also our first, we didn't bring it. Why? As it was, he had tennis shoes, sandals, water shoes and shoes for dinner with his khakis. He is a 13WWW!!! Adding his tux shoes would have just put me over the edge...LOL. (We were traveling with two small children also!!)

Thanks for any info.