Back to Back in Rome

[2910car]

We are doing the holy land eastern med cruise followed by a transatlantic on the Silhouette. Our turnaround is Rome.

 

For any of you who have done something similar, wondering if they will offer some tour of Rome and back to the ship. The shore excursions seem to end at the airport or hotel.

 

We have been to Rome twice already, but still don't want to spend the day just sitting on the ship. Unless there is something to do in Civitavecchia.

[ghstudio]

If you decide to stay in Civitavecchia which is what we did on our B2B...if you turn right after you leave the port gate, there's a women's shoe store about three or four blocks down with great shoes at bargain prices. I know because my wife found it :)

 

A day of shopping in Italy can be a lot of fun...

 

http://www.10best.com/destinations/italy/rome/shopping/shopping-near-cruise-port/

[Dick in Falls Church]

There's been some discussion of this on the roll-call. If you haven't already, drop in there.

[2910car]

Which roll call is that? I looked at mine - October 17 and October 31 and I don't see it there.

[Bruceandmaree]

We were on the Silhouette in Sept 2014 b2b started Venice to Civitavecchia then turn around to Israel finished back at Civitavecchia. The overall experience was fabulous. We did not change cabins.

 

The turn around at Civitavecchia was OK for us as we were tired and therefore happy to have a virtual sea day. We had originally thought to train it to Tarquinia for the Etruscan ruins but did not do any pre planning. We had a week in Rome in 2010 and did not consider returning for such a short time.

 

If we had wanted to spend the day touring there were three problems:

 

1 No tour options were offered by the ship.

 

2 the berth was not anywhere near town nor the rail line- as it was on a previous cruise in 2012. (getting to Tarquinia was therefore not easy)

 

3 there were some minor administrative matters to get past onboard - i.e. getting a new sea pass etc

 

On the positive side it was nice to chill out by the pool and watch the new cruise come to life.

[ladylemondrop]

Great day for spa discounts?

[varoo]

We are doing the holy land eastern med cruise followed by a transatlantic on the Silhouette. Our turnaround is Rome.

 

For any of you who have done something similar, wondering if they will offer some tour of Rome and back to the ship. The shore excursions seem to end at the airport or hotel......

The port is so far away from the city that it would hardly be worth traveling all the way to Rome if you need to turn around and come right back to the ship on the same day.

 

[cynbar]

Check out the Italy section of the Ports of Call forums:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=595

 

I was on there regularly last year before our Med cruise, and I seem to remember there were occasional discussions about what to do in or around Civatavecchia for those who didn't want to go into Rome ( a number of ships stop there for day calls.) A search should give you some ideas.

[travlr21]

We did a B2B2B on the Constellation last fall. The third leg was the TA from Civitavecchia to Ft Lauderdale. All the Rome tours available were those ending at the airport. We asked on board about something that would return to the ship, and they maintained a list of people interested in going to Rome for the day, rumour had it they wanted 25 people before they did anything. Eventually they announced a bus (maybe $60 per person?) to get you to and from Rome where you would explore on your own.

 

Turns out it was moot after all since the ship never made it to Civitavecchia as the port was closed due to high winds. We over-nighted at the last port, Naples, while Celebrity madly bused disembarking passengers to Rome and bused embarking passengers from Civitavecchia to the ship in Naples. But that is a whole different story.

[markf]

try romecabs.com they can arrange a private tour to rome and back to the ship-- a reliable resource..

[ECCruise]

The port is so far away from the city that it would hardly be worth traveling all the way to Rome if you need to turn around and come right back to the ship on the same day.

 

 

I disagree, respectfully.

 

We've done exactly that many, many times. There is a port shuttle that will take you to an area in Civitavecchia outside of the port gates. You can then walk to the train station (~15 minutes) and take the train to Termini in Rome where you can spend 5 or 6 hours exploring the city, then reverse the process and be back in plenty of time for all aboard.

 

Or, you can rent a car (Europcar is at the shuttle drop off, Hertz is at the train station) and do, for example, a trip to Tarquinia.

 

Being that close to both Rome and many areas in its environs, we wouldn't spend all day on the ship, and we've been there probably a dozen times and will be there 3 times in the next year.

 

I guess we just like that part of Italy. :)

[varoo]

I disagree, respectfully.

 

We've done exactly that many, many times. There is a port shuttle that will take you to an area in Civitavecchia outside of the port gates. You can then walk to the train station (~15 minutes) and take the train to Termini in Rome where you can spend 5 or 6 hours exploring the city, then reverse the process and be back in plenty of time for all aboard......

Oh, we like that part of Italy very much too.

That is why we prefer to stay in Rome, spending at least 3 or 4 days there when we visit Rome.

 

Taking that round trip back and forth between Civitavecchia and Rome in a single day does not appeal to us in the slightest.

 

After spending 5 or 6 hours exploring the city, we want to have a relaxing dinner there and spend the night there, not get on a train to start traveling back to the cruise port.

 

It looks like you are a lot more energetic than we are.

As the old saying goes, different strokes.......:D

 

 

But then some people travel back and forth on the train between New York City and Washington D.C. in one day too, and we have never had any desire to do that either. ;)

 

[Lady Chew]

We did the same b2b a few years ago, but on HAL.

 

We had planned to spend the turn-around day on the ship, just lazing about ... (we too think that it's just too long a day to go back & forth to Rome, and we always stay there for a few days before and/or after those cruises) ...

 

Anyway, they ended up kicking everyone off the ship so they could do a deep-cleaning for Noro (we refer to that cruise as the Plague Trip) ... so we spent the day in Civitavecchia. (Because they kicked everyone off, they arranged free bus transportation to Rome for the day for those who wished to go. Some people just stayed in the terminal for the day :eek:)

 

We walked off the ship, through the port, and into the town, and went exploring. It was a really fun day! We walked everywhere ... there is a lot to see ... we had a wonderful lunch in a cafe overlooking the water ... and we walked all the way back to the ship.

 

One of the more memorable things about that day was that we determined that we needed to buy another suitcase to bring all of our souvenirs home (we still had almost 3 weeks to go!), and we had to purchase it before the shops closed around 1 pm. So we carried this big empty suitcase around with us all day, posed for pictures with it around the town ...

 

All in all, a fun day. If we're ever in Civi again on a b2b we'll probably do the same thing, minus the suitcase.

[Chazteach1]

Walk along the boardwalk / beach, there is a statue of the couple kissing from the play Anything Goes. Visit the museum (free) lots of interesting facts about the port. See the Sangiorgio Hotel across from the beach. Great rooftop restaurant with entertainment. Loads of shops on the Main Street. Also the gelato places along the beach are very nice.

[4774Papa]

We are doing the holy land eastern med cruise followed by a transatlantic on the Silhouette. Our turnaround is Rome.

 

For any of you who have done something similar, wondering if they will offer some tour of Rome and back to the ship. The shore excursions seem to end at the airport or hotel.

 

We have been to Rome twice already, but still don't want to spend the day just sitting on the ship. Unless there is something to do in Civitavecchia.

We have been to Rome before and spend several days so we took a tour of the area closer to the port. We saw some Etruscan tombs and quaint towns. I think we did a bicycle tour that was a good change.

[yoj13]

I disagree, respectfully.

 

We've done exactly that many, many times. There is a port shuttle that will take you to an area in Civitavecchia outside of the port gates. You can then walk to the train station (~15 minutes) and take the train to Termini in Rome where you can spend 5 or 6 hours exploring the city, then reverse the process and be back in plenty of time for all aboard.

 

Or, you can rent a car (Europcar is at the shuttle drop off, Hertz is at the train station) and do, for example, a trip to Tarquinia.

 

Being that close to both Rome and many areas in its environs, we wouldn't spend all day on the ship, and we've been there probably a dozen times and will be there 3 times in the next year.

 

I guess we just like that part of Italy. :)

Hi,

This is an update regarding the new drop off point. The Port shuttle no longer goes to the port gates. The Civitavecchian authorities have been spending some money re-constructing the castle building just inside the port gates where you used to get picked up and dropped off. It is now a 'tourist attraction'. They have built a coach terminus much further along from the port gates (opposite way to the train station). It is not half as convenient as the port gates pick-up point used to be. If you are amongst the first passengers disembarking, the first shuttle bus does not leave for the railway station until 7.45-8.00 am, so it then becomes an even longer walk to try and catch one of the earlier trains.

Personally, I think the authorities could have done a lot better with the planning of this, but sadly it is what it is. It takes nearer 30 minutes now to walk from the bus terminus to the railway station and we are relatively fit.

[Dick in Falls Church]

Which roll call is that? I looked at mine - October 17 and October 31 and I don't see it there.

 

4Nov Rome- Ft Lauderdale