Looking for info about the Costa "Green Train" excursion from Civitavecchia to Rome

[OzzyCruzr]

Has anyone used Costa´s Green Train excursion from Civitavecchia into Rome? In particular, can anyone tell me the departure/arrival times, as Costa Customer Services don´t seem to know for sure 🤣

 

I want to book entry tickets for the Colosseum, etc, but without knowing when the train gets into Rome and when it leaves, I am worried I will book a time that makes life difficult.

 

Thanks

 

[Luffe]

I haven't used it but a slight warning. One cruise(-22) was during covid so it might be just an exception that green train was downgraded but this summer with fully loaded Toscana the Green train excursion was also downgraded to a bus service.  The amount of busses in the morning was astonishing - the port was packed with the busses. And the earlier busses had already left the port. The end result was that when Toscana left the port it was delayed  1 hour due to busses being stuck in Rome traffic etc. We had a balcony view on the show 😂

[At7Seas]

It sounds like using the Civitavecchia Express, a train especially designed for cruise guests visiting Rome, which runs again from spring to autumn: https://civitavecchia.portmobility.it/en/new-civitavecchia-express-non-stop-train-cruise-passengers. Out of season replacement busses are likely. The regular train connecting Civitavecchia with different stations in Rome every half hour is also quite useful, especially with a regional day ticket called BIRG for 5 zones (12 €). This ticket includes also local public transport within Rome as well. You can buy it in the train station’s newspaper shop and the bar therein. Regular train connections you can check on https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html. 

[OzzyCruzr]

Thanks for the heads-up about the buses out of season, etc. We are travelling in December 2023 so might be the same issue, although the train I speak of is supposedly dedicated to Costa customers only.

 

That said, I was only considering the excursion because of the predictability/reliability of public transport.  However, if the trains are reasonably reliable and we can plan our trip into the city and back with some degree of predictability, we will probably sack the excursion and head straight to the station ourselves.

 

Thanks again

[At7Seas]

I doubt Costa along gets enough guests booked for an entire train. The port of Civitavecchia states the tourist train doesn’t run in December. Public train service in Italy is definitely reliable and easy to use. It is just possible to get on a quite full train when a lot of people decide doing the same, of course it is often a popular port for passenger changes as well. And make yourself familiar with the train stations and the metro system in Rome https://www.atac.roma.it/en/utility/maps?r=4. For Colosseum go by train to Ostiense train station and change to Metro (confusing, the Metro station is called Piramide) line B to either Jonio or Rebbibia, but not to Laurentina. Get out at Colosseo and you are just at the opposite side of the street.

[OzzyCruzr]

Thanks for the info re trains and metro. There are a few fast trains from the port so I´m going to make my own way there. If I try to get Colloseum tickets from 11.00 onwards, that should give me enough time to get there.

Thanks again

[Janet&Carl]

The trains are easy - you should be able to get there fairly early - they take approx 45 minutes from the port to the "San Pietro" stop which will get you to St Peters Basilica and the Vatican. When you use the ticket machine at the station choose the english language button and buy an "All day ticket".  This costs around 12 euro and will get you travel on metro, train and buses as well as the light rail that goes out to places like Ostia.  There is also a free port shuttle that will get you from your ship to the train station and back to the ship again when you return.