Rome to Citavecchia

[cinycat]

Hi, have a couple of questions and perhaps someone more experienced than I has the answers. So, here goes--

1. How does one get from Rome to Citavechhia, any ideas? Is it worth taking Oceania's shuttle?

2. Does anyone know if there is a train from Geneva (Switzerland) to Rome, particularly to Cittavechia?

3. Any hotels in Cittavechia?

 

This one boggles me. I'm good at the other places that Oceania goes into but Cittavechia seems to have me stumped.

 

This is for the TA in November on Marina.

[sitraveler]

Rome is possibly the furthest city for a departure port. I would suggest you go to your roll call and try to combine with others making this trip. Marina being bigger than the R ships, this should not be hard. Are you arriving day of cruise or before? How many are you? There are vans that could hold 8+ baggage. Transfer would be approx 200 euro for all. I am on Insignia 11/22 to Rio from Rome.

[nparmelee]

We shared a ride with Romecabs.com on our last trip, met up with 2 other couples on the roll call for our cruise. This was a great way to go for us. In our case we all stayed in different places and I think we all spent 60-65 euros per couple plus whatever tip we chose to give. If you can handle your luggage easily, the train can also be a great option.

[Mura]

I'm deleting this one since there was a double post and the later one has better info!

[Mura]

I'm not going to be much help, but maybe a little.

 

From what I have heard, the ship transfer is expensive. There IS a train. Do you want to trundle your luggage to the train and then to the ship? That's up to you! People who want to do the transfer cheaply take the train. (I've never done this myself so I'm only going by posts I've read.)

 

For train information, you need to go to a european train site. For example, the swiss train system is at sbb.ch.en/home.html.

 

I have found it somewhat confusing to negotiate at times (it helps to know exactly what routing you want), but they do have a page in English. As an example, we booked train fares from Zurich to Florence at this site. http://www.raileurope.com is another good site for information although I haven't found their fares to be that great.

 

There are a number of train systems that are interchangeable. Even if you are traveling from Geneva to Cittavecchia (or hope to do so), you don't necessarily have to book through the Swiss system. You might be able to use the French or German system as an example. But yes, I do think the first place to go is http://www.sbb.com.

 

For hotels in Cittavecchhia I would google "hotels in Cittavecchia"! Whether they are recommended or not is another issue, but I have routinely -- for years -- just googled a destination and booked online. If you want luxury, look for a 4-5*. If you want to save money, look for a 3*. We HAVE found that some 2* hotels (especially in France, outside of Paris) were absolutely fine. For example, the Ibis chain is not bad at all.

 

I (out of curiosity) will go to the sbb site and see if I can figure out Geneva to Cittavecchia in November.

 

Do you prefer going to Cittavecchia (for boarding the ship) or going into Rome, to see Rome? That's an important question!

 

Mura

 

 

P.S. Okay, my quick search did discover Geneva-Cittavecchia on Swiss Rail. It takes about 12 hours. I didn't get into cost! But you CAN buy online if you do the proper search.

 

I didn't look to see if you could do Geneva-Rome, but I would assume you can.

 

 

LOL. I just checked Geneva-Rome on Swiss Rail and that only takes 8-9 hours! So it really depends on where you want to go. If you are traveling from Geneva just to board the ship (I'm guessing that because of your hotel question), then you should go Cittavecchia, even if it takes longer. If you want some time in Rome and THEN transfer to Cittavecchia to board the ship ...

[orchestrapal]

Intra Europe flights have become quite economical. Personally I would not waste a vacation day on a train. You can fly to Rome and take a car from the airport to the ship. Just 2 cents worth!;)

[RetiredFL]

We are on the October Rome to Istanbul cruise.

We are going in a day early and have booked a hotel in Civitaveccha as we have been to Rome.

We personally booked through hotels.com and reserved at the Hotel Traiano but there are many others. They offer airport pickup for 55 euros pp. I suspect they also do the Rome train station or the local station.

The next morning they offer free transfers to the ship.

As to the trains, Geneva to Rome should be pretty easy. My guess you have to change in Milan. Look carefully at the time between trains as some stations are large with up and down stairs to change platforms.

As orchestrapal says a plane might be more economical and easier.

[RetiredFL]

Some additional thoughts:

If you have more than one suitcase per person, do not use the train. We travel with a 23 inch bag and one small carry-on each and that is about maximum to get on and off trains. There are few porters and the trains only stay in the station for 2-3 minutes.

Having traveled from Switzerland to Italy, both to Venice and Rome, we have found that the Italian high speed trains have very little luggage storage. On our last train, everyone had their luggage piled in the aisle and, of course, the woman with the drinks cart had to get through. Being Italy a loud "discussion" transpired and then the conductor got involved and it became a three way discussion. Bottom line the luggage was somewhat moved into peoples' laps so the cart could get through and then back down into the aisle. Of course she had to come back through the train so the entire farce was played out again (Think Fellini!)

Also, although they accept seat reservations, the Italians think of this as only a suggestion and not a rule and sit wherever they like. You have to find the conductor to get them to move.

It can be a fun experience but you have to keep your sense of humor and melodrama.

[JimandStan]

Hi, have a couple of questions and perhaps someone more experienced than I has the answers. So, here goes--

1. How does one get from Rome to Citavechhia, any ideas? Is it worth taking Oceania's shuttle?

2. Does anyone know if there is a train from Geneva (Switzerland) to Rome, particularly to Cittavechia?

3. Any hotels in Cittavechia?

 

This one boggles me. I'm good at the other places that Oceania goes into but Cittavechia seems to have me stumped.

 

This is for the TA in November on Marina.

 

Not to pick nits, but if you're doing research for the port city that Oceania uses for Rome, you'll have better luck searching under Civitavecchia.

[caribbeansun]

1. How does one get from Rome to Citavechhia, any ideas? Is it worth taking Oceania's shuttle?

Depends - if you stop in Rome first then Romecabs is what we used - cost was around 40-50 euro if I recall correctly. They have the rates posted on their web site.

 

 

2. Does anyone know if there is a train from Geneva (Switzerland) to Rome, particularly to Cittavechia?

 

 

The quick answer is "yes". Getting there and routing are all a matter of personal preference and how much time you wish to take getting there.

 

You can take a variety of routes through Switzerland. Here is a pdf overview of the Swiss rail system . As a minimum, you will have to get over to Lugano which will require a number of train changes which isn't in and of itself a big deal if you have a manageable amount of luggage and ample time.

 

If you want more of an adventure you can reserve seats on the Glacier Express and then transition to the Bernina Express down through Tirano and then onto Milan. You would most likely want to break this trip up with an overnight in say St. Moritz. If you decide to do the scenic route I'd recommend reserving your seats ahead of time via Swiss Rail.

 

From Lugano/Tirano you will route through Milan, from Milan to Rome and from Rome on to the port if you choose to do all segments using rail.

 

There is no need to pre-purchase rail tickets (other than reserving seats on the scenic routes in Switzerland) and if you buy through Rail Europe you will pay a significant premium but that's your decision to make.

 

It can be as complex or simple depending on your choices. Personally, I'd spend a couple days in Rome and use Romecabs but that's my own bias as I loved walking Rome so would not bypass it on a return visit.

[swifs]

We took the train to Civitavecchia in April and it is very easy. We took a cab from our hotel, the Westin Excelsior, to the Termini train station. There are touch screen kiosks everywhere that sell the tickets by credit card. The fare was very cheap, like 9 or 10 Euros. We each had one large bag and either an over the shoulder bag or one addl carryon. While our track was some distance from the entrance, we were able to wheel the luggage there without dying (we are 58/65). The luggage fit next to our seats in the train. The only problem was that at the train station in Civitavecchia our train landed on a track where we had to use stairs to get the train exit- we had specifically opted for a local train to avoid this. However, again, we survived. At the station exit we opted to take a cab the rest of the way to our Seabourn ship. Did it take a little effort? Yes. But the ship and the Westin were quoting us over 100E for this and we preferred to save our vacation money for more fun things, like a silver necklace in Santorini!:)

[cinycat]

Not to pick nits, but if you're doing research for the port city that Oceania uses for Rome, you'll have better luck searching under Civitavecchia.

Thanks for the info--I didn't realize it was spelled that way.

[Corvette]

We are staying at http://www.sangiorgiohotel.biz/en/services.htm

 

They have some good pre and post cruise packages.

[Corvette]

We are staying at http://www.sangiorgiohotel.biz/en/services.htm

 

They have some good pre and post cruise packages.

[BerkCruiser]

We just did this in late April for a Marina cruise. It was MUCH more expensive to do the ship transfer than to use Rome Cabs. For a fraction of the cost, Rome Cabs drove us to the port. You can book it online. The guy even showed up at our hotel early.

 

From my research, I saw that many people complained that unless you're in really great shape, you don't want to make this trip by train. In the Rome train station, there's apparently a flight of stairs you have to lug your suitcases up. Sounded too strenuous for us.

[Paulchili]

Another vote for Romecabs, especially if you can share the cost with someone from your roll call (can be different hotels).

Easy "door to door" service and can be quite reasonable when cost is shared. Same for transfers from the airport to ship - they do both.