Rome for Dummies - the dummy would be me

[LDL1220]

Hi all:

Thank you for your kind help so far. 

 

My better half and I (late 40's/50's), and my son and his wife (mid 20's) will be arriving in Rome sometime on Sun, Apr 29 (unknown arrival as we booked through NCL Air) and will be boarding our ship the next day. We have to be on board at 3. 

 

On the back end, we will have 2 days in Rome (we disembark on May 9 - we will carry our luggage off and use private transportation) and will fly out some time Saturday, May 11 - TBD. We will be staying at Hotel Lancelot for all three nights. 

 

We do know we want to do the Vatican ( the museum and St.. Peter's) and were thinking about hiring a guide (I've been in touch with To Rome with Dino) and was thinking about May 10, as early as possible but are totally flexible. Beyond that, we are all over the place. 

 

We all are more into scenery then we are long, informative tours. We love to walk and just use our eyes to take it all in. We would love to sample "not to be missed foods" from a casual bent. We are not fussy. Things off the beaten path intrigue us - Jewish ghetto, maybe I'm being lured by the thought of artichokes.  I am looking at a tour through RomeCabs on embarkation day that will take us to Lake Bracciano sp? and a castle and then to the ship. Again, not etched in stone. 

 

if you are still here, thank you for reading. All the planning is in my hands as the others are open to anything. I appreciate anything you can offer. 

 

 

[rdt10]

We did an early entry tour of the Vatican Museum in 2017 with Rome with Marisa. We did it the morning of embarkation as it started around 7:30 am. It worked out great. The museum was essentially empty compared to the normal shoulder to shoulder crowds. We then had Rome Cabs pick us up at our hotel around noon and take us to the ship. Marisa was great to work with.

Edited August 15, 2023 by rdt10

[marazul]

1 hour ago, LDL1220 said:

We do know we want to do the Vatican ( the museum and St.. Peter's) and were thinking about hiring a guide (I've been in touch with To Rome with Dino) and was thinking about May 10, as early as possible but are totally flexible.

Book the tour directly with the Vatican Museum.  They have the best guides.

https://tickets.museivaticani.va/home

"Prime experience" tours start at 7:30 am and are followed by breakfast.

"Breakfast at the Museum" tours have breakfast first followed by tour at 8-8:30 am.

"Extra Time" tours start before closing hours and arrive at the Sistine Chapel just after closing hours. They are followed by a "happy hour."

 

These tours put you in a group of up to 20 persons. The VIP version of these tours would be private  just for you and your group. 

[LDL1220]

58 minutes ago, marazul said:

Book the tour directly with the Vatican Museum.  They have the best guides.

https://tickets.museivaticani.va/home

"Prime experience" tours start at 7:30 am and are followed by breakfast.

"Breakfast at the Museum" tours have breakfast first followed by tour at 8-8:30 am.

"Extra Time" tours start before closing hours and arrive at the Sistine Chapel just after closing hours. They are followed by a "happy hour."

 

These tours put you in a group of up to 20 persons. The VIP version of these tours would be private  just for you and your group. 

Thank you. I'll go this route. 

[jb12]

Make sure to book your tix in plenty of time through official Vatican site.

[amypintx]

We had a great time on this food tour. Lots of interesting stories about the area (Jewish ghetto included) with samples of food, wine and beer (including fried artichokes). 
 

Tasty Rome Street Food with Bruno

[LDL1220]

25 minutes ago, amypintx said:

We had a great time on this food tour. Lots of interesting stories about the area (Jewish ghetto included) with samples of food, wine and beer (including fried artichokes). 
 

Tasty Rome Street Food with Bruno

This looks like something I would love. Can you tell me about what time you took this tour? 

[amypintx]

@LDL1220 We did 6-8:30pm. It starts in Campo de Fiori, goes through the Jewish Ghetto and ends near the Pantheon. 5 stops with lots of food and drink to sample at each place. The tour guide was amazing. We learned so much about the area that we wouldn’t have known if we just walked around on our own. Highly recommend! 

[CCJack]

If you are going to hire a guide anywhere... the place to spend the money is at the Vatican....   They can get you through in an efficient manner..

 

Other than that you could basically walk Rome on your own for the other full day.    If you are good walkers, it is doable to walk colosseum, Pantheon, Vatican, etc.   Just do a little pre planning on what order you want to walk to things....   I would also buy tix to Colosseum ahead of time.   

 

Have fun....

 

[erby2283]

I just wanted to say I love the title of your post - not that you're a dummy at all - but it just made me laugh out loud. 

[LDL1220]

20 minutes ago, erby2283 said:

I just wanted to say I love the title of your post - not that you're a dummy at all - but it just made me laugh out loud. 

Well that makes me happy. Laughter is a wonderful thing! 😄

[UKWildcatCruiser]

On 8/17/2023 at 11:30 AM, jb12 said:

Make sure to book your tix in plenty of time through official Vatican site.

I've been trying to do this for a trip in February 2024.  I can't get the calendar on the Vatican site to go past Dec 2023.  Anybody else having this issue?

 

[marazul]

51 minutes ago, UKWildcatCruiser said:

I've been trying to do this for a trip in February 2024.  I can't get the calendar on the Vatican site to go past Dec 2023.  Anybody else having this issue?

 

Those tickets have not been released yet.  Check again every couple of weeks. 

[Dreamer68]

On 8/31/2023 at 4:31 PM, erby2283 said:

I just wanted to say I love the title of your post - not that you're a dummy at all - but it just made me laugh out loud. 

Same! Thanks so much for the LOL moment every time I check back in with this thread @LDL1220 I'll be in Rome in May 2024, first time back since backpacking through Europe as a university student  decades ago...so, I'm updating my info on this port reading this forum and following your journey closely to prepare for mine. 😉
 

PS - I too have found that Vatican tickets have not been released for my stop in the spring. So, I will set a reminder to check once a week. 

[Got2Cruise]

Rome is very crowded and frankly overwhelming. Even if you are going to the Vatican with a private tour it’s still overwhelming. You need to do a bit of research and narrow down what you want to see there. I wouldn’t want to leave Rome without seeing the Sistine Chapel. 
 

 

[LDL1220]

On 9/4/2023 at 9:34 AM, Dreamer68 said:

Same! Thanks so much for the LOL moment every time I check back in with this thread @LDL1220 I'll be in Rome in May 2024, first time back since backpacking through Europe as a university student  decades ago...so, I'm updating my info on this port reading this forum and following your journey closely to prepare for mine. 😉
 

PS - I too have found that Vatican tickets have not been released for my stop in the spring. So, I will set a reminder to check once a week. 

I will also be there in late April/May 2024 pre and post cruise and it will be my first time. I'm glad I found these forums as I am used to sailing the Caribbean where it is easy to just wing it. 😄

[LDL1220]

15 hours ago, Got2Cruise said:

Rome is very crowded and frankly overwhelming. Even if you are going to the Vatican with a private tour it’s still overwhelming. You need to do a bit of research and narrow down what you want to see there. I wouldn’t want to leave Rome without seeing the Sistine Chapel. 
 

 

I'm trying to do just that. The planning itself is overwhelming and I want to see it all but know that will not be possible. The Sistine Chapel is definitely a must as well as the Colosseum. Thank you for your advice. 

[Got2Cruise]

1 hour ago, LDL1220 said:

I'm trying to do just that. The planning itself is overwhelming and I want to see it all but know that will not be possible. The Sistine Chapel is definitely a must as well as the Colosseum. Thank you for your advice. 

I’m going to confess that when I got to Vatican Museum I didn’t stop to look at any of the magnificent paintings in the hallways or ceilings. Walked straight into the Sistine chapel. We also went into St Peters to see the magnificence and of course the Pieta. 

[CatBoiler]

I highly recommend checking out the Baths of Caracalla, they're pretty close to your hotel. It's the second largest Roman bath!