euro cruiser

Get Your Guide is a third party site, purchase directly from the operator. I provided the link in your other posting.

This is the site for the SIT shuttle bus. Get Your Guide is a third party site. Sit Bus Shuttle, transfer bus to and from Rome's airports.

Which airport to which port?

Also, sign up for the roll call for your sailing to see if you can find another couple to share the ride with.

The St. Regis is in a popular location, right on the Grand Canal. Now you'll start learning the complexities of getting around in Venice. Assuming you are willing to pay the fare, a car service can get you as far as Piazzale Roma in Venice, the end of the paved road system. From there to the St. Regis isn't all that far (one and a quarter miles, in what approximates a straight line in Venice), but unless you are a professional sherpa it's not comfortable dragging or carrying luggage through the streets and across bridges, all teeming with seemingly endless crowds of tourists. So your next decision is whether to use public transit (the vaporetto) from Piazzale Roma to the hotel, which will include a walk of about a third of a mile from the vaporetto stop to the hotel, or to spend the money for a private water taxi that can drop you off right at the hotel.

Those of us who have been following the development of cruise ships in Venice (or dismantling, in this case) are well aware of the subterfuge used by all of the cruise lines when they discuss Venice as a port. For those new to European cruising, however, it can come as a shock. Other, less egregious examples are calling a stop Florence when they are actually porting in Livorno (55 miles away) or worse, La Spezia (90 miles away), or Rome when the port is Civitavecchia (70 miles away).

It's not clear to me if you are looking for two transfers or if you want a car service while you are in Rome. Presumably two transfers would be less expensive than a full day tour, so if that's what you want I would look for that. With six people you can probably have a shared transfer to yourselves.

And unless your hotel in Venice is either at Piazzale Roma or in Mestre, a drive is only part of the trip. The hotel location is also a key factor.

The last time I was in Venice, right before Covid, we stayed at the L'orologio on the Grand Canal, right near Rialto: https://www.hotelorologiovenezia.com/

There is an elevator. It was a typical Italian buffet breakfast, not as vast as a five star hotel but it had both hot and cold offerings. It's easy to walk to many sites, and easy to get to public transit options. I take the regional train from the airport to Trastevere, and either the bus or the tram (whichever is working at the moment) to Porta Portese and walk from there (four-tenths of a mile).

I did a little digging and found the web site for the train, it looks like you can easily do it without the ship excursion if you want to. Il Trenino della Felicità | Sali a bordo e visita Bari col sorriso (treninodellafelicita.it)

There is both a manned ticket office and machines at the Civitavecchia station.

There is no train option between 9:23 and 10:13. As for the ferry, I'm not sure how easy it would be to change as they have strict capacity limits. You might have to change to the train if you can't get the ferry you need back.

You do need a timed ticket to go up in the tower. You can get them here: Opera della Primaziale Pisana: sito ufficiale – A few words of advice before you buy your ticket (opapisa.it) Note that they only go on sale 20 days prior to the visit, so you'll need to be on line that day to get the time you want/need. If this is really important to you, I would suggest hiring a car service for a half day to take you to Pisa and back, going by train will waste too much time. For example, you MIGHT be able to make the 9:23 train but I wouldn't count on it because first you have to take the shuttle bus from the ship to the cruise terminal, then walk 1.9 km/one and a quarter miles to the train station. There are buses but I think it would be faster to walk. While there will be taxis they are looking for half or full day fares and won't want a short trip to the train station. If you do make the 9:23 you'd be in Pisa at 10:17, then you've got a 1.7 km/1.1 miles walk or a 10 minute cab ride to the tower. More likely you'll wind up on the 10:13 train, arriving at 11:03. So I would look to get tickets for the tower around noon. Assuming you can get them, you'd be back in La Spezia between 2:30 - 3 PM, which is enough time for a quick ferry ride but not much more.

I'm not sure you could even get a taxi, they don't want to do short shuttle runs, they will simply point you to the bus. There is a cruise terminal for ships docked on the 10 - 13 pier, but if you're on one of the mega ships you'd be berthed at #25, quite a distance away. The easiest route is to take the 6 euro per person Port Mobility bus from your ship to the train station.

I don't know anything about the train, but I have walked all around the area. From the cruise port to the basilica is about 1.2 km/eight-tenths of a mile if you stay on the main road around the centro storico. It's a little shorter in distance if you walk through the middle of the historic center, and more interesting, but it's easier to get lost.

Just so your expectations are somewhat aligned with reality, Civitavecchia is a small town, not a city. It's not particularly charming but it's a straightforward walk on streets with sidewalks.

ADA cabins are an ongoing frustration. As the population ages the need for these cabins will only increase, but the cruise lines so far are not reacting. My brother is wheelchair bound and requires a roll in shower, often cruises with tons of empty cabins don't have any ADA ones available.

I've never tried with an app, I suppose it's not much different from an audioguide. Your time estimate is correct, it's about 1.2 km/three quarters of a mile on foot from the basilica to the entrance to the museums.

Yes, this is what you'd do. For what it's worth, everything within Vatican City is the Vatican. You are distinguishing between St. Peter's basilica and the Vatican museums. There used to be a one-way passage from the Sistine Chapel (part of the Vatican museums) into the basilica but that has been closed for a few years. When it was open it was supposed to be only for authorized tour groups, but individuals did sometimes slip through.

Your ship will offer transfers, that's probably your best option. You cannot count on taxis at the Ravenna port.

A four-hour excursion would get you no more than two to two and a half hours in the ruins. That's a tour with no time for exploring on your own. It's quite simple to get to Pompei on your own, how depends on which port you'll be at (Naples or Salerno are ports, some ships tender at Sorrento).

Nothing before 11 AM if it's a direct to the States flight as you'll need to check in three hours prior. If you'll have a connection somewhere within the Scengen zone before your transatlantic flight you'll need to be checked in two hours prior so you could take one after 10 AM.

Yes, all trains require a change in Rome but only the high speed requires you to go all the way to Termini. When using the regionals the most efficient change is at Roma Trastevere. Strikes are announced about three weeks prior to the date of action, the web site to check is here: Scioperi - mit2 There are several transfer companies mentioned frequently on this board. I'm a big public transit user so the only one I've used, and this was several years ago, was Bob's: Civitavecchia Transfer, Italy Transfers, Rome Limousine Transfer (romelimousines.com) I'm sure others will add in with their favorites. There is also a fixed fare for taxis from the airport to the port at Civitavecchia, set by the city of Rome, of 125 Euro. The fare chart is here, page 2 is in English: Tariffario_Taxi_REV.pdf (comune.roma.it)

If you are using the official site (IT - Trenitalia) it is absolutely possible to purchase on line in advance. There is no need to do so for regional trains as they do not have seat assignments and cannot sell out, but the high speed trains are seat assigned and can sell out (although it's rare on this line), plus you can get a lower fare by purchasing in advance. In this case, from the airport, the regional line makes more sense. To use the high speed, seat assigned trains you'd have to go into Rome and change there. When taking a train immediately after a flight I always recommend waiting and buying at the airport train station, so you're not racing to try and meet a schedule or hanging around for hours waiting for one. However, some folks feel more comfortable having this arranged in advance. In this case, note that regional tickets purchased on line are good for four hours after the time you purchased for, so unless your flight is VERY late, you could still use the tickets.