Rome - take a tour or do it yourself?

[Cruisin'again]

We are going to Rome.....should we tour with RCCL shore excursions or do it on our own?

[worldsbestcandles]

I had the pleasure of spending 9 days in Rome and the Vatican and there was so much to see I don't know how you would pick what to do, but in regards to your question, I went with three people who had lived there and were big history buffs so I "toured" with them and leanred so much that isn't in a Fodor's guide.

 

If you are into learning about what you are seeing, I would suggest going on a guided tour of some sort, whether RCCL or independent. If you want to take pictures of a lot of different things, I would still recommend touring because a bus will be much faster to see things there. What kinds of thigns are you interested in seeing while you are there? If it is some place that I have been maybe I can tell you about a particular place?

 

BTW, I'm jealous... I want to go back so bad.... Rome and visiting Pompeii were my favorite cities to visit, ever.

 

WBC

[Stircrzy]

I don't know how many days you have in Rome, but we did it on our own. We caught the bus and we walked all over town.

 

If you're time is short, you may want to consider a tour guide...not necessarily a RCCL excursion.

 

You might be interested in checking out:

 

Eternal Tourist

 

Mayta Munson: American, born and raised in Chicago, with a B.A. in Art History and Archaeology from Washington University, St Louis, and graduate studies in Art History (M.A. program) as a Teaching Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. A long-time resident of Rome, she took and passed the Rome tour guide exam in 1999. She is a licensed professional tour guide specializing in small group tours.

[dougp26364]

If this is a port stop and you've never been to Rome before, I'd recommend taking a guided tour. We contemplated taking the train in and then taking one of the cities tour busses on our own. There were a few uncertanties that changed my mind.

 

One, strikes by transportation workers in Italy. They seem unpredictable from my vantage point and happen at will. Mostly on heavy usage days to have the most impact. It would suck to get to the port and then not be able to get into the city because of a strike.

 

Two, trains are not always predictable. Anything can happen and cancel or delay a train. I want to spend as much time in the city without worry of missing the boat. If I'm taking a train on my own, I'm heading back early to allow for the unexpected so I don't wave goodbye and try to figure out how to catch up with the ship at the next port of call.

 

Three, tours will at least hit the highlights and the guide will give you some of the history of what you're looking at. You'll never see it all but, who can see it all in a day anyway let alone less than a day that a port stop gives you. I can't think of one tourist city in the USA that could be done in a day let alone a city that dates back to before Christ.

 

Finally, since booking the shore excursion, I don't have to worry about any of the above anymore. Less stress. No worries about money conversions, time tables, strikes et... No more what if's we're just doing it.

[gkm]

Definitely take a guided tour. If you try to do it on your own, you'll miss so much. Must see is the Vatican Museum and that will take about 3 hours. Also a good tour will take you to the Roman Forum and the Colosseum, among other highlights. I don't know about the public transportation, but since your time is limited and the transportation to and from the port take about an hour, you want to cram in as much as you can. If you look at my webshots, you can see pictures of some of the highlights we had in Rome last September. If there's one place I want to go back to, that's it.

 

Good luck in finding the perfect tour. If you need a recommendation for a tour company, let me know. We had the best, and we organized a bunch of our fellow cruise critics together which made the cost less than what we could have done through the ship.

Garry

[Merion_Mom]

We are going to Rome.....should we tour with RCCL shore excursions or do it on our own?

Take me. I'll lead you on a guided tour that you will love. I'll read you all the inscriptions and explain all the history. I won't charge you a dime. By the way, I prefer balcony cabins. :D

 

Carol

[Dadofsara]

This summer while in Rome on RCCl we did the Imperial Rome tour which is a RCCl excursion. It was terrific! We went to many major sites. Didn't wait in the long lines and even went to The Vatican. Lunch was wonderful and included which came with wine etc..

[dougp26364]

This summer while in Rome on RCCl we did the Imperial Rome tour which is a RCCl excursion. It was terrific! We went to many major sites. Didn't wait in the long lines and even went to The Vatican. Lunch was wonderful and included which came with wine etc..

 

Boy am I glad to hear this. Imperial Rome is the tour we've signed up for online for our October cruise.

[xpcdoojk]

In 2000 we made our first trip to Rome while on the X Millenium. The port city is about an hour bus ride to St Peters. The train is doable as are regular buses, but I think it would be pretty stressful trying to figure out on your first time in Italy. We did the trains and subways on a recent Italian trip and had no problems, they are mostly clean and efficient, still it would be a little difficult. We booked the excursion that basically transported us to St Peters. Then we hit the museum on our own. Then we walked and covered as much of Rome as we could in 6 hours. We walked to the Forum, the Colluseum (went thru it), saw the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, and ate lunch on the street. Did a little shopping. Then we returned to St. Peter's and rejoined the bus and rode back to the ship. We didn't make it to the Spanish Steps, or a few other must sees. We were tired, but if you are young and in good shape, I really think that a tour is money wasted. If you need assistance, then by all means book a tour. Rome is a great pedestrian city. We have been back since and spent several days there because we were really intrigued by the city and wanted to see more. I have walked all over the main city and love it.

 

jc

[jstallt]

Hi - we're just back from Splendour of the Seas and did the entire cruise on our own. For the smaller ports we did just fine, but lessons learned...although we saw everything we wanted to see in Florence and in Rome, I would strongly advise getting some kind of tour - either through the cruiseline or independently. We had a great plan A and plan B, but it was stressful trying to keep up with ourselves..had we taken some sort of tour, we would have been able to relax a little more.

 

I think it's all up to you - you know how you travel and sightsee...we're not great sightseer's - we see it, think it's great, then on to the next thing..that's why we chose going on our own, using trains and hop on hop off bus tours. They were great, but I just feel a little disappointed because we didn't get the information and history that others on our cruise received through the various tours in Florence and Rome.

 

Either way - have a great time.