Scavi questions

[littlelulu01]

I have purchased and confirmed Scavi reservations for a Wednesday at 1pm.  Couple questions.  

 

Directions are to arrive at least 5 minutes prior and enter by way of Swiss guard. Do we have time to see Vatican Museums 9:30 entry, spending about 2 hours in museums, and then make our way to Scavi office for tour at 1? I understand the Scavi office and St. Peter’s basilica is closed till 1 on Wednesday.  In this case we would miss the Pope but potentially have a little less a crowd in Vatican Museums.  Just not sure if we’re going to be swimming upstream to get to Scavi tour. Will also likely need to eat something on the go in between if possible. 

 

Second question.  When I signed up for tickets I think I had to list our group names.  The confirmation just has my name.  Two people have decided not to go. Can I replace with two others from my roll call? Would hate to go through the process and have the 2 new people denied because names their names dont match the reservation.

 

Will a a taxi from hotel near Pantheon to Vatican Museums be feasible on Wednesday am and if so how much time should I allow.  It will be a lot of walking so want to save our feet as much as possible so would love to taxi to and from Vatican. 

 

Thanks for any suggestions.  

Edited November 12, 2018 by littlelulu01

[cruisemom42]

You should be able to do what you've planned. I'd allow a little more time than you normally would to get by taxi from the Pantheon to the Vatican museum, but the museum entrance is fairly well separated from the square in front of the basilica and the driver should know how to avoid the worst traffic. (Plus, most of the folks wanting to see the Pope will probably already be there by 8:30-9:00.)

 

The audience is usually over by 11:00 so again, you shouldn't have a problem going from the Museum to St. Peter's.

 

There is a cafeteria not far from the entrance of the Museum; it's nothing great but if you need to grab a quick lunch without going out of your way, it's an option...

 

I can't help with your other question regarding substitution of guests for the tour itself as I've only ever done it as a solo so I have no idea whether they have all of the names and check them off or just have "party of four".  Hopefully someone else will remember.

[littlelulu01]

Thank you so much.  I suppose I could email the Scavi office if I don’t hear anything regarding substitute names.  Your response makes me feel better about our plans.  

[euro cruiser]

It's been a few years since I did the scavi tour and things certainly could have changed, in our little group of four we had two different last names but no one checked anything.  The guard at the gate looked at my print out of the e-mail and ushered us in, the man at the scavi office simply looked up our reservation and check to be sure we had a matching number of people.  One of our kids was only 13 at the time (I think the minimum age was 15) and I was a little concerned that they would ask for proof but no one batted an eyelash.

Edited November 12, 2018 by euro cruiser

[TSUmom]

12 hours ago, littlelulu01 said:

I have purchased and confirmed Scavi reservations for a Wednesday at 1pm.  Couple questions.  

 

Directions are to arrive at least 5 minutes prior and enter by way of Swiss guard. Do we have time to see Vatican Museums 9:30 entry, spending about 2 hours in museums, and then make our way to Scavi office for tour at 1? I understand the Scavi office and St. Peter’s basilica is closed till 1 on Wednesday.  In this case we would miss the Pope but potentially have a little less a crowd in Vatican Museums.  Just not sure if we’re going to be swimming upstream to get to Scavi tour. Will also likely need to eat something on the go in between if possible. 

 

Second question.  When I signed up for tickets I think I had to list our group names.  The confirmation just has my name.  Two people have decided not to go. Can I replace with two others from my roll call? Would hate to go through the process and have the 2 new people denied because names their names dont match the reservation.

 

Will a a taxi from hotel near Pantheon to Vatican Museums be feasible on Wednesday am and if so how much time should I allow.  It will be a lot of walking so want to save our feet as much as possible so would love to taxi to and from Vatican. 

 

Thanks for any suggestions.  

I think I would just email and ask about adding the new names and dropping the others.  As you stated it would be aweful if the others were not allowed entrance.  I know when I reserved I also had to provide names and emails of the others in my group.

[dogs4fun]

Although we provided the names of those in our scavi group, the names were not checked upon arrival at the scavi office.

[littlelulu01]

Just to follow up.  Received a response from Vatican.  They do allow name change.  They asked for new names so it sounds like they very well might cross reference upon arrival.  Weather or not they actually check is another thing but at least we’ve got the ability to be legit/not have to worry about showing up with two wrong people. Thanks again for advice.