Recommendations on tour to book for Vatican?

[Kidsoftheseas]

Ok, so its been decided that there will only be 2 of us for Rome day for Vatican, as kids and grandparents want to stay aboard ship that day.

 

that said, now trying to decide on a good option on how to see it. Should we book ship tour? Hop a train and if so do we pre-book a tour and if so which is recommended? Do it on our own with audio?

 

We don't necessarily want to spend hours and hours there. Just the highlights and Sistine..

 

would appreciate recommendations!

[judatt]

Ok, so its been decided that there will only be 2 of us for Rome day for Vatican, as kids and grandparents want to stay aboard ship that day.

 

that said, now trying to decide on a good option on how to see it. Should we book ship tour? Hop a train and if so do we pre-book a tour and if so which is recommended? Do it on our own with audio?

 

We don't necessarily want to spend hours and hours there. Just the highlights and Sistine..

 

would appreciate recommendations!

I would recommend using a tried and true company that gets great reviews time after time. There are probably several but the 2 that come to mind are Rome Cabs and Rome in Limo. We are using Rome Cabs. The other thing I would recommend is to form (or join) a group so that you have a total of 8. That seems to be the sweet spot in being able to use a van and get closer to the sites and the best overall cost. Have a great time in Rome.

[Kidsoftheseas]

would we not need to book a tour WITHIN the Vatican separately from that? Meaning a guide that will take us through?

[epixx]

Cruisemom42 answered this question recently in a very eloquent fashion. I have nothing to add but to provide her quote:

 

"Like most things, it depends.

 

There are 3 subsets of visitors to the Vatican museum:

 

The first group already has a good grounding in history, art history, and has researched the Vatican collection, comes with notes and has specific things they want to see. This group really doesn't need a guide.

 

The second group has no real interest in museums and mainly just wants to amble through in order to get to the Sistine chapel. (On Tripadvisor, they used to call them the "Sistine rockets" :D). I'm not sure this set really needs a guide either -- just download and listen to Rick Steves' info on the Sistine chapel.

 

It's the third group that will benefit from a guide -- those with some interest in seeing some of the "other" treasures of the museum besides the Sistine, but who maybe lack the knowledge that a guide can impart.

 

 

If you're on the fence about a guide, keep in mind that there is not a lot of description in the museum, which is very large and can be chaotic. As another option, the museum rents audioguides, which would allow you to hear about just the things that interest you -- but you'd still need to do some research to find out what areas of the museum you want to visit. Rick Steves' Rome book has a reasonable self-guided tour with the main highlights of the museum, but last time I checked, there is no podcast."

[Kharvavad]

Ok, so its been decided that there will only be 2 of us for Rome day for Vatican, as kids and grandparents want to stay aboard ship that day.

 

that said, now trying to decide on a good option on how to see it. Should we book ship tour? Hop a train and if so do we pre-book a tour and if so which is recommended? Do it on our own with audio?

 

We don't necessarily want to spend hours and hours there. Just the highlights and Sistine..

 

would appreciate recommendations!

 

My name Is Hema. My husband & I are planning Rome tour with private company. Please let me know which cruise ship & Date you are cruising?

[cruisemom42]

You have several options; the one you choose will depend on your own preferences.

 

Probably the least preferred (at least by posters on this board ;)) is to take a ship tour. Why? They are generally overpriced and are pretty slow moving -- they have to shepherd up to 50 people around, after all. Also (and this bugs me the most) are the "shopping stops" on these tours, where the guide gets a kickback from whatever great store or "factory" they bring you to.

 

Many people really like the private "all inclusive" tours; there are several mentioned with great frequency on these boards. The pros: you have little to research or worry about, it's smooth and easy. The cons: it can be pricey unless you can get together with a group from your roll call to share; the base price only includes a driver, who will give you some information (amount can vary from driver to driver) but doesn't actually visit the sites with you. If you/the group wanted a private guide for your Vatican stop, it would probably be 100-120 euro extra (split by the group) for a 90 minute to 2 hour tour.

 

A third option (and the one I prefer) is to do it on your own. Trains are cheap and run regularly from Civitavecchia to Rome; there are countless threads on this forum and other sites that give step by step info. A BIRG pass (ask for it at any ticket kiosk or tabacchi shop en route to the station) costs 12 euro and includes your roundtrip train fare PLUS the use of all regular buses and metro system in Rome for the day.

 

If you do this, you'll get to the Vatican under your own power and you can still elect to take one of the official tours, rent an audio guide, or do it on your own with a guidebook. Given that you admittedly have a limited interest, I'd suggest you get a copy of Rick Steves' guidebook for Rome and use his self-guided Vatican museum tour and St. Peter's Basilica tour. He also has a free downloadable podcast for the Sistine chapel.

 

The reason I recommend Steves is that he has a straightforward approach and tends to give only the key information in a conversational way. For most people, it's enough detail.

 

One reason NOT to rent the audioguide is the "secret door". (You can read all about it in Rick Steves.) Basically, if you plan to visit both the Vatican museum and St. Peters, there is a door in the Sistine chapel that allows you to "shortcut" from the museum to St. Peters without having to walk all the way back through the museum and then around to the St. Peters entrance. This alone could save you 30-40 minutes of time and energy. BUT if you rent the audioguide, you cannot take this shortcut as you have to return it to the desk where you picked it up.

[CruiserBruce]

My name Is Hema. My husband & I are planning Rome tour with private company. Please let me know which cruise ship & Date you are cruising?

 

Arranging a private tour share is done on your Roll Call, per board rules. Here is the master list of Roll Calls:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=34

 

Select your cruise line, then your ship, then your sailing date.

[CruiserBruce]

I agree with the others- the easiest way to do this is a private tour, which will include a Vatican tour. Many of the private tour companies mentioned on this board will plan this out for you, and provide a guide to the Vatican, which is extremely helpful. This guide will have an extra fee, but will be arranged by the company you select.

[Kharvavad]

Arranging a private tour share is done on your Roll Call, per board rules. Here is the master list of Roll Calls:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=34

 

Select your cruise line, then your ship, then your sailing date.

 

Thank you CruiserBruce. I have already register in Roll-Call under our NCL ship on 17th April leaving from Barcelona to Venice. I just saw that Kidsoftheseas is looking for to join Rome Excursion. So I requested if they are interested or not.

Hema

[cruisemom42]

Thank you CruiserBruce. I have already register in Roll-Call under our NCL ship on 17th April leaving from Barcelona to Venice. I just saw that Kidsoftheseas is looking for to join Rome Excursion. So I requested if they are interested or not.

Hema

 

Still, this is not allowed on this board. Please read the board guidelines for posting.

[Kidsoftheseas]

Hema, doesn't look like we will be there at the same time - our cruise starts end of April :)

 

thanks for the info!

Based on it being just two of us, I'm interested in doing the train on our own to save cost, but would probably benefit from a guide at the Vatican. I will be only "somewhat" familiar enough to do it on my own - of course I haven't researched the materials Rick Steves provides yet. Sound wonderful!

 

A 90 minute to 2 hour tour in a small group sounds wonderful though.

[Ashland]

We used RomeInLimo and they arranged our private Vatican tour...however I believe they will also arrange a Vatican tour for you without having to book their entire Rome option...

[RJHNorthyorks]

The Rick Steves down load for the Sistine chapel is excellent. We loaded it onto iPods on our last visit and got far more from the visit than on a previous trip with a guide. It was particularly successful for my son who was about 13/14 at the time.

[Markanddonna]

Rick has an app for St. Peter's also. Be sure they are downloaded directly to your device and not in the cloud. The apps were both excellent. We bought a guide for the Vat. Museum at the Vat. bookstore. Personally, it is pretty heavy and Rick's book on Rome was sufficient even if it didn't have the beautiful colored photos. If doing the trains, just be aware that the pickpockets are alive and well.

[Speedodeedo]

Just a quick question to those who have been to Rome and the Vatican.

 

We will be doing a private shore excursion to Rome and want to see the Vatican Museum/Sistine chapel. When is the best time to do this, at the start of the tour or after we have made the rounds of the highlights of the tour?

 

If we were doing both Vatican Museum and Colisseium interior, which do we do first? Considering we want to see other highlights of Rome.

 

Thanks

[cruisemom42]

Just a quick question to those who have been to Rome and the Vatican.

 

We will be doing a private shore excursion to Rome and want to see the Vatican Museum/Sistine chapel. When is the best time to do this, at the start of the tour or after we have made the rounds of the highlights of the tour?

 

If we were doing both Vatican Museum and Colisseium interior, which do we do first? Considering we want to see other highlights of Rome.

 

Thanks

 

If you are doing a private tour, your arranger should have some good input on how best to arrange your day, given your priorities. Below are some possible ideas, but I'd be sure to let them know what your highest priorities are. I've read sometimes that people get disappointed when they spend more time at early stops (often your driver won't rush you, but also may neglect to mention that spending more time in one place means cutting time in another place).

 

• If you are willing and able to get an early start, and the Vatican museum/Sistine chapel is a priority to you, I'd get the earliest possible tickets (in advance!) that your arranger would recommend. The Museum fills up quickly but if you get there around the time it opens, the first hour or so it seems empty by comparison. If you can't get there early, I'd recommend waiting until early afternoon (just after lunch) as the second-best time. Again, you should pre-reserve your tickets -- this saves a lot of time.
  
• Another option is to get to the Colosseum first. As with the Vatican, it will be less crowded early. And especially if you are going in the hottest part of the summer this may be desirable. (Not that the air conditioning at the Vatican is very robust either, in the heat of the day...but at least you are out of the sun later.)