Cruise ship to Colosseum

[tuliplvr]

Hi My family is booked on Harmony of the seas Next July. I understand the port is about 1 1/2 hours one way to Rome. Our main goal is to spend time at the Colosseum. Would you suggest we do this on our own or take some kind of excursion thru the ship? I'm not seeing anything much, but one that could be $300 per person. Just want to make sure we can make the most out of this long day.. but not spend a fortune getting there. Thank you

[CruiserBruce]

Unless mobility is an issue, I would suggest taking the train. Faster, cheaper. You can walk, cab or subway from the various train stops. Just takes a little research. Lots of train info on this board.

[euro cruiser]

At the newsstand inside the Civitavecchia station you can purchase a 5-zone BIRG ticket for €12 (current price, may be different by the time you travel). This ticket covers round trip regional train fare between Civitavecchia and Rome as well as all public mass transit (metro, buses, trams) in Rome for the entire day. It's a great bargain.

 

To get to the Colosseum you would take a regional train to the Roma Ostiense station, where you follow the signs through the underground passage that links the train station to the Piramide metro station. Take the metro (direction Rebibbia or Jonio) for two stops to Colosseo and you're there.

[laughing husky]

not sure if you would be able to do this, but I took a tour with Walks of Rome....it was a bit pricey, but it was some of the best money I spent in Europe. Our Coliseum tour took us up, down, on the main floor....and Francesco was a historian. He made it come alive. It was the best tour I ever was on. He shared it half way through with an archaeologist who did some of the excavations there.....Wonderful....at least look the group up. There were only 8 people on our tour.

[tuliplvr]

Thank you all so much!

[John Bull]

At the newsstand inside the Civitavecchia station you can purchase a 5-zone BIRG ticket for €12 (current price, may be different by the time you travel). This ticket covers round trip regional train fare between Civitavecchia and Rome as well as all public mass transit (metro, buses, trams) in Rome for the entire day. It's a great bargain.

 

To get to the Colosseum you would take a regional train to the Roma Ostiense station, where you follow the signs through the underground passage that links the train station to the Piramide metro station. Take the metro (direction Rebibbia or Jonio) for two stops to Colosseo and you're there.

 

I concur with E.C.

But I'd add:

 

If you walk to the train station in Civi you can alternatively buy your BIRG tickets from booths along the waterfront - buying from them, or from the newsstand at the station, avoids you joining a usually-long line at the station ticket booth. They also normally provide a slip of paper with train times - it's important to know the times of return trains from the main Rome stations, Termini, Ostiense and San Pietro.

Train journey time is something under an hour to San Pietro, about 70- - 75 mins to Ostiense, about 85 minutes to Termini.

Aim to return on the second-to-last possible train, leaving the last one available if you screw-up.

 

Ostiense train station & Piramide metro station are effectively the same place, the metro is well-signed.

http://www.rome.info/metro/rome_metro.gif

 

I strongly suggest you buy your Colosseum tickets on-line, one ticket covers Colosseum, Forum and Palatine Hill. With those tickets in your pocket take the metro two stops to Colosseo metro station.

If you don't have tickets for the Colosseum, take that metro just one stop to Circo Massimo, and walk down the hill to the Colosseum. Halfway down, on your left, is the entrance to Palatine Hill. Buy your tickets here, there's usually no line. Then continue down to the Colosseum.

At the Colosseum there are usually ginormous lines for tickets. With the tickets that you bought on-line or at Palatine Hill you can breeze straight to the entrance past those long ticket lines. :)

 

The Forum is right opposite the Colosseum.

If you then want to return to the ship take the metro back to Piramide/Ostiense & the train back to Civi.

 

If you also want a peek at the Pantheon or Trevi or Spanish Steps or Vatican (you won't have time for all of them) you can start by walking through the Forum to an exit behind the Vittoria Emanuelle memorial - big white building known as the "Wedding Cake".

To then return to Civi:

Take the metro to Termini train station from Spagna metro station alongside Spanish Steps, or from Barberini metro station which is a short walk from Trevi. Termini is a big station and it's quite a walk - 10 minutes or more - to the platform for the Civi train.

Or if you end up at Vatican it's a 15 minute walk to San Pietro train station.

 

The trains will be crowded in both directions at the times you are travelling. If you return from Termini you'll probably get a seat, if you return from Ostiense you probably won't, if you return from San Pietro you've got no chance of a seat for most of the ride.

But you will be able to get on the train.

 

The BIRG train is waaaaay better value than ship's coaches or special train, or any private or shared tours.

But it will be crowded.

It's the way we always do it.

Unfortunately it's also the way most others do too. ;)

 

JB :)

[helpthejuggler]

If you walk to the train station in Civi you can alternatively buy your BIRG tickets from booths along the waterfront

 

JB :)

 

The walk is now longer.... as the port gate is now at the port exit at the far end of Civitavecchia so many take the port bus, then the Argo shuttle to the station for €2 pp.

 

Agree with the buying from the shop in the station, much quicker.

[Keith1010]

If you are seeing $300.00 per person you can easily do this and more through a private tour and that is what I would look at.

 

If you want suggestions on private tour companies please let us know.

 

Keith

[tuliplvr]

If you are seeing $300.00 per person you can easily do this and more through a private tour and that is what I would look at.

 

If you want suggestions on private tour companies please let us know.

 

Keith

 

Yes I would most definitely love the private tour suggestions.

 

Thank you all so much for your help!

[Keith1010]

tuliplvr, these web sites will provide some nice options for your day in Rome.

 

http://www.romecabs.com/shoreexcursions/civitavecchia/

 

http://www.romeinlimo.com/tours-of-rome/

 

https://www.joebananalimos.net/shore-excursions/shore-excursions-from-civitavecchia/The-Best-of-Rome-from-Civitavecchia-Port

 

http://www.driverinrome.com/civitavecchia-shore-excursions-rome-italy.html?sub_menu=roma

 

Keith

[b_cruise]

Wow Keith... Awesome links.. I strongly suggest using cruise critic for info as it really helped me a lot over the years find the best info and save a ton of money. Use your roll call and organize the tours u want. I have never had any trouble starting and filing a tour from italytoursharing.com which is Joe bananas ( as mentioned above). If you get three tours I think u get a discount too but I'm not totally positive on that.

 

Iknow affordability is a big consideration but I can attest that tours are very worth it as u just 'go' and enjoy. Do as many as you can on your own but for the 'can't miss' stuff use a company in my opinion. Enjoy!!

Edited December 6, 2015 by b_cruise

[hnsummers]

We took the on-your-own bus from the ship to Rome. Yes, the cost is higher than the train but we were with small children and sometimes the headache isn't worth the train. I purchased combined tickets to the Colosseum online before we left for our cruise. This allowed us entrance into the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palentine. Because we already had tickets we could jump the que and save time. We had just enough time to visit these sites and grab lunch from a food truck before heading back. The drop off isn't far from the Colosseum.