Civitavecchia shuttle bus

[Jammy Bun]

Very soon we'll be joining a Viking cruise which calls at Civitavecchia, where some guests will disembark and others will join for the next cruise.  No excursions have been offered in advance, though I guess maybe they will be offered for those staying onboard for both cruises.  We've been to Rome before and therefore we've been thinking we might explore the local area.  Have any of you done this?  And do Viking run a shuttle bus into the town centre?

[SantaFe1]

18 minutes ago, Jammy Bun said:

Very soon we'll be joining a Viking cruise which calls at Civitavecchia, where some guests will disembark and others will join for the next cruise.  No excursions have been offered in advance, though I guess maybe they will be offered for those staying onboard for both cruises.  We've been to Rome before and therefore we've been thinking we might explore the local area.  Have any of you done this?  And do Viking run a shuttle bus into the town centre?

Yes, we did this last February.  They did offer a few bus trips into Rome for those staying aboard.  But we had been many times and weren’t interested.  So we took a shuttle bus into town, and walked around and had lunch.  There are some interesting things to see, and it was a nice day, and a GREAT lunch!

 

 

[Jammy Bun]

Thanks!  I’ll do a little research on the port now. 😊

[Peregrina651]

The Port runs a shuttle from the ship to front gate(s) or you can get a cab on the dock to take you into town.  Passengers are discouraged from walking through the port as we are a hazard to the workers. Besides, it is a long walk.  Multiple shuttles back to the ships; make sure yours is going to Viking. 

 

On our 2 day stay in Civi, one a turnover day, we did two Viking tours.  One to Old Ostia, the seaport of ancient Rome at the mouth of the Tiber River and the other to see the Etruscan  Necropolis and the Etruscan Archeology Museum in town of  Tarquinia.  Loved them both. Plus we had time to wander into Civi.

[wine-wine-wine]

9 minutes ago, Peregrina651 said:

Etruscan Archeology Museum in town of  Tarquinia

Goodness, that sounds cool. There is so much amazing archaeology in the world - DW and I never tire of it!

 

BTW, has anyone on this thread been to Crotone? DW and I are devotees of Pythagoras and would so enjoy visiting. It's a bit of a pain to get there from many of the more touristed areas. A cruise visit sounds ideal.

[Jammy Bun]

3 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

The Port runs a shuttle from the ship to front gate(s) or you can get a cab on the dock to take you into town.  Passengers are discouraged from walking through the port as we are a hazard to the workers. Besides, it is a long walk.  Multiple shuttles back to the ships; make sure yours is going to Viking. 

 

On our 2 day stay in Civi, one a turnover day, we did two Viking tours.  One to Old Ostia, the seaport of ancient Rome at the mouth of the Tiber River and the other to see the Etruscan  Necropolis and the Etruscan Archeology Museum in town of  Tarquinia.  Loved them both. Plus we had time to wander into Civi.

Thanks, very helpful.  I now feel sure we'll get to see something on our day there!

[SantaFe1]

10 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

On our 2 day stay in Civi, one a turnover day, we did two Viking tours.  One to Old Ostia, the seaport of ancient Rome at the mouth of the Tiber River and the other to see the Etruscan  Necropolis and the Etruscan Archeology Museum in town of  Tarquinia.  Loved them both. Plus we had time to wander into Civi.

We had hoped to,do Ostia, too.  But it wasn’t offered.  You just really can’t plan for that turnaround day until you see what Viking offers you.

[kcpvwill]

The tours on the change over day were only offered once on board and turned out to be long days of 10-12 hours, which are beyond our capabilities nowadays.  We would have liked to go to Ostia having been to Rome 10 years previously when we were fitter.  
 

We complained  that none of the included tours was suitable for us and the excursions manager said he would feed this back.  We did take the port shuttle bus to the town and did an ‘Adventure Lab’ which is a GPS enabled treasure hunt linked to Geocaching.  It took us to some nice sites and a decent walk.  
 

Note the shuttle  is run by the port authorities just to get you out of the dock area.  They take a 90 minute lunch break and the times are not fixed.  

[Peregrina651]

15 minutes ago, kcpvwill said:

The tours on the change over day were only offered once on board and turned out to be long days of 10-12 hours, which are beyond our capabilities nowadays.  We would have liked to go to Ostia having been to Rome 10 years previously when we were fitter.  
 

We complained  that none of the included tours was suitable for us and the excursions manager said he would feed this back.  We did take the port shuttle bus to the town and did an ‘Adventure Lab’ which is a GPS enabled treasure hunt linked to Geocaching.  It took us to some nice sites and a decent walk.  
 

Note the shuttle  is run by the port authorities just to get you out of the dock area.  They take a 90 minute lunch break and the times are not fixed.  

 

We had originally planned to do Ostia with Viking our second day in Civi and to do Tarquinia on our own on turnover day.   We didn't know at that point Viking would be offering tours for us on turnover day.  Once on board, we moved Ostia to turnover day and added the Tarquinia shorex for the second day.

 

Ostia was a 5 hour tour and we were back on board for lunch.  Tarquinia was 4 hours.  

 

I did not look into other tour companies but it would not surprise me that there are tours available from Civi to Ostia, Tarquinia and other nearby destinations.  

[Reaniel]

We did a deviation after disembarking in Civ, and stayed at a hotel in Lido di Ostia for 3 nights.  While you can argue that it's not as convenient to visit Rome than staying in central Rome (the train is ~30 minutes from Lido Centro to San Paolo), Ostia Antica is only 2 train stations away, and we went there twice during our stay.  Highly recommended, and it's not as crowded as the Colosseum/Roman Forum.  I would assume joining a tour would be pretty enjoyable as well because of the lack of crowd.

 

[OneSixtyToOne]

18 minutes ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

We had originally planned to do Ostia with Viking our second day in Civi and to do Tarquinia on our own on turnover day.   We didn't know at that point Viking would be offering tours for us on turnover day.  Once on board, we moved Ostia to turnover day and added the Tarquinia shorex for the second day.

 

Ostia was a 5 hour tour and we were back on board for lunch.  Tarquinia was 4 hours.  

 

I did not look into other tour companies but it would not surprise me that there are tours available from Civi to Ostia, Tarquinia and other nearby destinations.  

 

We also did the shoex to Tarquinia. Since it was Easter Sunday and we've been to Rome before, we decided to take this marvelous tour that is just a short drive up the coast. Here is my review from April of this year:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2927474-almost-live-viking-sky-mediterranean-odyssey-april-2023/?do=findComment&comment=65232669

 

[Jammy Bun]

9 minutes ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

 

We also did the shoex to Tarquinia. Since it was Easter Sunday and we've been to Rome before, we decided to take this marvelous tour that is just a short drive up the coast. Here is my review from April of this year:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2927474-almost-live-viking-sky-mediterranean-odyssey-april-2023/?do=findComment&comment=65232669

 

Thank you!  I've just read your review, it sounds just perfect for us.  And I can earmark that day as a laundry day too. 😁

[Peregrina651]

1 hour ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

 

We also did the shoex to Tarquinia. Since it was Easter Sunday and we've been to Rome before, we decided to take this marvelous tour that is just a short drive up the coast. Here is my review from April of this year:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2927474-almost-live-viking-sky-mediterranean-odyssey-april-2023/?do=findComment&comment=65232669

 

 

If the pictures don't sell you that you have GOT to visit Tarquinia, then nothing will. We were there

 

Great Courses does a helpful lecture series on the Etruscans.  I don't know if it is available outside the US.  I bought it (audio only) on Audible as part of my membership and it may be available for loan through the library as audio only or video.

[Jammy Bun]

Onboard now, the list of trips  us are all to Rome, so it looks like we’ll be heading to Civitavecchia on the shuttle bus.  Thanks for all your replies, and Merry Christmas!

[longterm]

On 12/18/2023 at 10:02 PM, wine-wine-wine said:

BTW, has anyone on this thread been to Crotone? DW and I are devotees of Pythagoras and would so enjoy visiting. It's a bit of a pain to get there from many of the more touristed areas. A cruise visit sounds ideal.

We did the Italy, Adriatic and Greece cruise in 2022; one of the stops was in Crotone. I will say in all honesty that it was our least-favorite excursion from Viking. They drove us to the town center, where an actor dressed in period costumes did an oratory. After that, we were guided to a small museum...

 

The best part of our day in Crotone was walking through the farmer's market.

[Peregrina651]

Thank you.  I'm saving your comment for our 2026 cruise which stops in Rome. I was looking for a non-Rome option and it seems that Crotone is not it.

 

[OneSixtyToOne]

1 hour ago, Peregrina651 said:

Thank you.  I'm saving your comment for our 2026 cruise which stops in Rome. I was looking for a non-Rome option and it seems that Crotone is not it.

 

 

On our Journey to Antiquities cruise, one guest lecturer highly recommended Ostia. He said they are some of the best Roman ruins to visit and the place is not crowded.

[Peregrina651]

7 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

 

On our Journey to Antiquities cruise, one guest lecturer highly recommended Ostia. He said they are some of the best Roman ruins to visit and the place is not crowded.

 

For me, it would be a toss up between Ostia and Herculaneum -- both were sea ports but other than that, they were polar opposites. Herculaneum was small, compact and smothered by the eruption of Mt.Vesuvius. Ostia was spread out and and slowly withered away.

 

Our 2026 trip will be with my sister. I know she has been to Italy before (Junior Year Abroad) but I don't know if BIL has. So, it will be their choice what we do the one day that we have. At this point, it is too soon to even think about; who knows what life will bring in the interim.

 

 

[Mrs Miggins]

7 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

For me, it would be a toss up between Ostia and Herculaneum -- both were sea ports but other than that, they were polar opposites. Herculaneum was small, compact and smothered by the eruption of Mt.Vesuvius. Ostia was spread out and and slowly withered away.

 

Our 2026 trip will be with my sister. I know she has been to Italy before (Junior Year Abroad) but I don't know if BIL has. So, it will be their choice what we do the one day that we have. At this point, it is too soon to even think about; who knows what life will bring in the interim.

 

 

Don't think  that you meant Herculaneum from Civitavecchia -  (bearing in mind the thread title) You would visit from Naples or Sorrento  much further south.

[bookbabe]

On 12/25/2023 at 9:19 AM, Jammy Bun said:

Onboard now, the list of trips  us are all to Rome, so it looks like we’ll be heading to Civitavecchia on the shuttle bus.  Thanks for all your replies, and Merry Christmas!

If you get a chance, could you post a pic of the Rome excursions list please?  Just curious about what types of options there were.  

[Peregrina651]

5 hours ago, Mrs Miggins said:

Don't think  that you meant Herculaneum from Civitavecchia -  (bearing in mind the thread title) You would visit from Naples or Sorrento  much further south.

 

You are right. I was not clear.  I was responding to the lecturer's comment about best Roman ruins and did not limit my answer to accessible from Civitavecchia. 

[Jammy Bun]

Here are the excursions offered to us from Civitavecchia this week.

[Jammy Bun]

Sorry I think I duplicated one sheet - here’s the final page. 

[Peregrina651]

I like the way they are offering three areas of the city to explore instead of having everyone going to Vatican City.  It will save some folks the time and expense if that is where they wanted to be in the first place.

 

Viking is always tweaking things and I would not be surprised if these changes have come about because of guest comments. I'm looking forward to seeing what 2026 and our non-turnaround stop at Civitavecchia has in store for us. 

[Reaniel]

1 hour ago, Jammy Bun said:

Here are the excursions offered to us from Civitavecchia this week.

 

I see that they went with the same logistic setup for Rome as we did.  This should definitely allow you enough time and flexibility to visit Villa Borghese and Galleria Borghese.  🙂