For me, I always arrive the day before the cruise on an overnight flight from Atlanta. I cannot sleep on a plane so I arrive tired and wrinkled. I have done the shared shuttle to Civi,which was not bad, but I usually do the private transfer to Civi. I just want to go to my hotel,take a 2 hour nap, then walk around awhile then have a nice dinner. I will take an Ambien before I go to bed and try to help my body get use to the time change. Yes, there is nothing special in Civi, but there are a several nice restaurants and I feel safe walk walking around alone.(I tend to travel solo). I do love Rome, but why stay at the airport hotel? The cost for a taxi into Rome and back is fairly expensive. I would stay in Rome and put they money towards a shared van to Civi on cruise day. You can often find others on your roll call to share a hotel pickup transfer. (I think I saw you on a roll call this morning) I will be on that TA,too.