Civ - Rome, train, not usual ?, if you have ridden train-advice please

[Dog Bear]

Hi HeinBloed,

 

Thank you very much for your very useful information.

 

I will arrive Civitavecchia on 26.08.08 :-)

 

We have tried to book the morning tour for Vatican Museum but unsuccessful. Finally we are allocated the 2:00P.M. tour.

 

The tour will end at around 4:00P.M., then we would like to visit St. Peter's Basilica .. which I think takes at least 45 minutes.

 

What do you think will be the best way to go back to the port, in case we insist on the 2:00P.M. tour.

 

Or should I book another private tour for Vatican Museum visit? Any suggestion?

 

Thanks a lot

 

Bog Bear

[cruiseryyc]

Last summer, my family used the BIRG ticket, but on our return journey we puurchased a supplement at the Central Rome station to go by express, which then arrived late, due to a breakdown!

 

I would stress to allow plenty of time for the return journey.

 

I have to agree, we left three people behind in Civ on our cruise in June due to them staying a little too long in Rome. GIve yourself extra time to get back, trains are notorious for being delayed or breaking down.

[bunnyette]

DH got on an express train with just his BIRG ticket - he didn't have to pay extra (long story as to why I wasn't with him).

[amanda blake]

we plan to do the HO HO...what train should we take...how much will it cost if we dont need BIRG..and what is the most frequent running HO HO since we plan to get off , look around and get back on...

[ceciliasowh]

Heinbleod you are a god to me!!! I have been planning our cruise through the help of people on this board and , while they are all VERY helpful, you are in a league all your own!!!!! My goodness you have pictures of everything. Thank you for all your kind and thorough answers!:D

[HeinBloed]

Hi HeinBloed,

 

Thank you very much for your very useful information.

 

I will arrive Civitavecchia on 26.08.08 :-)

 

We have tried to book the morning tour for Vatican Museum but unsuccessful. Finally we are allocated the 2:00P.M. tour.

 

The tour will end at around 4:00P.M., then we would like to visit St. Peter's Basilica .. which I think takes at least 45 minutes.

 

What do you think will be the best way to go back to the port, in case we insist on the 2:00P.M. tour.

 

Or should I book another private tour for Vatican Museum visit? Any suggestion?

 

Thanks a lot

 

Bog Bear

 

 

That's your connections from

 

Roma S. Pietro

back to Civitavecchia.

 

Youj need to walk about 15 minutes from Peters Square to the station.

 

All trains from there are regional trains so your BIRG ticket works from there.

 

Now you need to calculate your self:

 

Bottom-Up:

 

Ship's departure in Civitavecchia

 

45 minutes ahead you should be onboard

 

15 minutes ahead you should be at the port gate for the free transfer bus

 

15 minutes ahead you should be at Civitavecchia station as you need this time to walk from the station to the port entrance to catch the bus

 

30 minutes I would calculate for unscheduled events like small delays, buying a bottle of water, seeing a washroom, waiting for the lift etc...

 

If you catch a train which leaves S. Pietro at a time that you are 1.45 hrs ahead of your scheduled departure of your ship you should be o.k. to use anyone of the trains.

 

Now you can calculate yourself if it should work with your 14.00 hrs visit and the time after the visit you might spend additionally around St. Peter.

 

Have a nice trip in Rome.

 

Regards,

HeinBloed

[newbie2468]

I have a question regarding the use of trains... We are going to take the train from Rome to Naples and have a tour guide pick us up there to tour Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast. Time is not a factor (coming back as we are staying another day in Rome).. My concern is how to use the train and not to MISS the train (having never used European trains) We plan to take the early (around 7:20 a.m.) train It is the fast train... If we miss it it will through our whole day off.

 

How difficult is it for a novice US person to find the place and get on the train? Should we get there early?

 

We have the option to take a tour guide from Rome to Naple and take us all around, but we felt it would be more "authentic" if we have a local tour guide doing the tour rather than someone from Rome... Would we be better off not taking the train and using the guide from Rome?

 

Sorry to be so long, but we want to make the most of our day.

 

Thanks

 

Tory

[HeinBloed]

I have a question regarding the use of trains... We are going to take the train from Rome to Naples and have a tour guide pick us up there to tour Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast. Time is not a factor (coming back as we are staying another day in Rome).. My concern is how to use the train and not to MISS the train (having never used European trains) We plan to take the early (around 7:20 a.m.) train It is the fast train... If we miss it it will through our whole day off.

 

How difficult is it for a novice US person to find the place and get on the train? Should we get there early?

 

In most European Countries you just go to the station and check the departure boards:

 

in all European Countries:

 

yellow = Departure (in Italian: Partenza)

white = Arrival (in Italina: Arriva)

 

 

(That's Germany but most European countries use same system)

 

or you check the

 

actual display like in the airport.

 

The difference in using AMTRAK and VIARail:

 

1. Mostly (exception UK and Netherlands) all trains are displayed by order of time (UK and Netherlands mostly by destinations and routes).

 

2. You do not have a entry to the trains (exception e. g. Eurostar UK - Belgium/France) where you have an official check-in time or lounge. You just walk to the platform (In Italy: do not forget to punch/validate/cancel your ticket at the yellow boxes at the entry to the platform).

 

3. If you are using long distance trains and you have seat reservation: check for the boards showing the the location of your car. Mostly platforms are marked with sections and you'll find a board showing that e. g. car 252 is in section C of the platform. So just walk to platform C and walk into your car and check for your seat nos.

 

 

 

(Look for a board like this when you access your platform. Build up nearly the same way!)

 

4. If you are using high speed trains especially in France, Spain and Italy you must have a seatassignment and cannot use as walk-ins like in Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium etc..

 

In your trains you'll find little notes on paper showing occupied sections (hope you have a map with you to check if you can use it on the vacant sections...) or electronic displays:

 

 

Again Germany but you'll find in Italy nearly same system.

 

Regards,

HeinBloed

[newbie2468]

Thank you so much for your quick replay AND the visuals. This is what we want to do and if you could give me your opinion that would be great.

 

We want to visit Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast.. an all day trip

We can get a car/driver from Rome for the whole day at about 600E

OR.. we can take the train .. not sure of the costpp..and the car/driver in Naples for the day would be 500...

 

My concern is that it is a LONG day for the Rome driver and he/she isn't based out of Naples to perhaps give us the flavor of the area..

 

My other concern is maneuvering the train (we have one with mobility issues.. not bad, but nevertheless a little more slow)

 

Any thoughts?

[HeinBloed]

We want to visit Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast.. an all day trip

We can get a car/driver from Rome for the whole day at about 600E

OR.. we can take the train .. not sure of the costpp..and the car/driver in Naples for the day would be 500...

 

My concern is that it is a LONG day for the Rome driver and he/she isn't based out of Naples to perhaps give us the flavor of the area..

 

My other concern is maneuvering the train (we have one with mobility issues.. not bad, but nevertheless a little more slow)

 

Any thoughts?

 

From my part I cannot help.

 

My first time in Naples it rained cats and dog.

And my Civitavecchia visit was limited to Rome but great.

 

600 EUR sounds for me very much. When I got the quotations I just thought "made for American Cruise Industry".

 

When I asked the companies here in the forum for their quotation I got 4-digit Euro-Amounts and I was shocked.

 

With the help of the Rome Tourist Board I found the organisation of the Official Roman Tour Guides: http://www.cast-turismo.it/

 

They arranged everything I wanted for just 2/3.

 

Before I am paying 600 EUR for one day I am going for 600 EUR 11 nights on my next cruise in MedSea...

 

I can be on help after January 16, 2009 when I hopefully had a chance to made a shore excursion without rain in Naples on my MSC FANTASIA cruise.

 

Regards,

HeinBloed