High Speed Train Rome to Venice

[Lucinarei]

DH and I are doing a Med cruise out of Venice in July '15. Rome is one of the most important ports for both DH and me and I'm worried that we won't have enough time to see everything we want to see (I know that a week wouldn't be enough time!). It seems that the day in port would be best spent either taking in Rome OR checking out the Vatican. These are both really important to us. Hence my question:

 

Would it be feasible to fly into Rome, spend that day in Rome taking in the sights (Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Colosseum, Forum, etc), then take the high speed train the next morning to Venice to spend two days there before embarkation? This would leave us the entire port day in Rome to spend at the Vatican Museums, St. Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, etc. This would also mean that I would feel more comfortable doing Rome as a DIY port rather than doing a tour (the time crunch makes me nervous!).

 

I wish we could do a week before and after to take in everything, but we have only two or three extra days to play with outside of the 12 day cruise. As it is, DH's only vacation next year will be this cruise (including having to work on Christmas and New Year's).

 

To me, this sounds ideal, but I'd appreciate advice from people who have some familiarity with Rome, Venice, and Med cruising. I know there's squeezing, but I'm used to squeezing my time (I take a group of kids every year to London- it's amazing how much I can squeeze into a week!). :D

[bugeater2]

It is doable but that's a lot of stress on the body to do a red eye TA flight and then cram in as much of the non-Vatican sights as you can in one day. The train travel will be the least of your worries.

 

Another thing, you say you would be in Venice 2 days before embarkation. You embark on Monday the 20th but don't sail until Tuesday the 21st at 1:00pm. Are you saying you would arrive in Rome on Friday the 17th and be in Venice on the 18th-19th, embark on the 20th and sail on the 21st. If so move the 18th from a Venice day to a Rome day.

 

Another option to extend your Rome and/or Florence time would be to skip going back to ship in Rome and train it up to Florence late that night or early the next morning and then rejoin your cruise at the end of the day in Livorno.

Edited May 10, 2014 by bugeater2

[Lucinarei]

Another thing, you say you would be in Venice 2 days before embarkation. You embark on Monday the 20th but don't sail until Tuesday the 21st at 1:00pm. Are you saying you would arrive in Rome on Friday the 17th and be in Venice on the 18th-19th, embark on the 20th and sail on the 21st. If so move the 18th from a Venice day to a Rome day.

 

Thanks for the feedback! To clarify, the two days in Venice would include the day of embarkation. So, the idea would be to fly into Rome on Sat am (18th), train it to Venice on Sun (19th), and spend Sun-Mon (19th-20th) in Venice. I need to be be on the ship by 11pm on Monday as it departs at 1am on Tuesday morning.

 

It is doable but that's a lot of stress on the body to do a red eye TA flight and then cram in as much of the non-Vatican sights as you can in one day.

 

Years of practice have made this second nature for me. :) I know it's not ideal, but I'm actually quite used to doing it. I am keeping that in mind as I plan, though.

Edited May 10, 2014 by Lucinarei
Clarification

[bugeater2]

My bad, I looked up your cruise on Orbitz at it showed a 1:00pm departure but that is wrong (of course).

 

Anyhow the trains are easy and you actually get to choose between the state run Trenitalia or the private Italo trains.

[Lucinarei]

Anyhow the trains are easy and you actually get to choose between the state run Trenitalia or the private Italo trains.

 

Oooh! I didn't know about the Italo trains. Looking those up right now- great prices! Thanks for the hint! :D

[cruisemom42]

You can certainly do it; sounds like you have some experience navigating around and sightseeing in limited time, so you should be fine. I'd just plan everything out carefully and remember to give yourselves a little latitude here and there in case things don't go as planned or you want to linger somewhere a little longer.

 

It's too bad you are sailing out of Venice at 1:00 am....it's one of the prettiest sailaways in the world.

[Lucinarei]

It's too bad you are sailing out of Venice at 1:00 am....it's one of the prettiest sailaways in the world.

 

So I've heard. But I've also heard that the port location may change between now and our sailaway due to the current local controversy, so it may not be as pretty then as it is now. I guess we'll see what happens.

 

In any case, I'm still staying up and watching as we sail away! And then I'm crashing hard! :)

[bugeater2]

Not sure if you will be able to see this (depends on your cable/satellite provider) but it is TV show about the Italo trains.

 

I watched it when it first was on H2 a couple months ago. Very cool as it follows the train from Venice to Rome.

 

http://www.history.com/shows/rise-of-the-machines/videos/rise-of-the-machines-bullet-train

[pieshops]

We are doing the med cruise on the Jade in December.

 

We are flying into Milan as the airfare was 600 round trip as compared to 1400 to Rome. There are 5 of us so the savings are considerable.

 

We are doing Venice for 3 days on the way down to Rome.

 

This is something you might want to think about even flying into Milan as the air was so much cheaper.

[pieshops]

Not sure if you will be able to see this (depends on your cable/satellite provider) but it is TV show about the Italo trains.

 

I watched it when it first was on H2 a couple months ago. Very cool as it follows the train from Venice to Rome.

 

http://www.history.com/shows/rise-of-the-machines/videos/rise-of-the-machines-bullet-train

 

 

Just watched the show, it was very cool, getting excited for December

[Lucinarei]

I watched it when it first was on H2 a couple months ago. Very cool as it follows the train from Venice to Rome.

 

So cool! Thanks! That was very interesting to watch! I'm now very excited to take the train!

 

We are flying into Milan as the airfare was 600 round trip as compared to 1400 to Rome. There are 5 of us so the savings are considerable.

 

Definitely something we're keeping in mind. Of course, it wouldn't make sense to fly into Milan, train it down to Rome, and then back up to Venice. But as soon as airfare becomes available, it's definitely something I'm keeping an eye on. Thanks!

[Dittos]

We are leaving to fly to Venice to go on the Jade tomorrow morning! As I prepared, I thought back to my trip to Rome and Venice last year and thought I might have some ideas about what we found helpful that might help you.

First of all, flying out of Venice is harder to schedule than flying out of Rome. I am learning that the hard way as my flight out of Venice was rescheduled and I will have to miss another day of work (Gosh Darn). It also meant that I had to fork over money for an additional nights hotel stay in Venice.

Last year, we took the high speed Trenitalia train from Venice to Rome. It was a very pleasant ride and very reasonably priced. We would do that again in a heartbeat!

We found the Rome airport to be far from the town and we took a train to get there. Transportation in Rome was difficult and unreliable for us. We spent several hours trying to get back to our hotel from the Vatican one day. Perhaps it was because it was after the Pope delivered Mass in St. Peter's Square! The Vatican, especially St. Mark's Basillica, was my favorite part of Rome. Rome needs time, major attractions, especially the Vatican, need time. The lines to get into some of the ancient attractions like the Colliseum, were quite long. We stayed in Rome for 4 nights and still did not see the Trevi Fountain! I guess Rome just wants me to come back again.....maybe next year.

[Lucinarei]

We are leaving to fly to Venice to go on the Jade tomorrow morning! As I prepared, I thought back to my trip to Rome and Venice last year and thought I might have some ideas about what we found helpful that might help you.

 

Good stuff- thanks for sharing! Have a GREAT time on your trip this time around! :D