taylortime05

Thank you! I’ll definitely order a set for our luggage. I’ve read different views on tipping in Italy for restaurants and tours. Is it customary to tip 18%-20% for good service similar to US?

Thank you so much! The article was very helpful. Since we’re having lunch on our 1st day at Armando Al Pantheon I’m going to try to get tickets about 3:30 PM. It’s nice that our Rome visit is after our cruise so we will be adjusted to the time difference and should have little risk of arriving late. I’m so excited for our trip. I hope all the walking offsets all the good food we’re going to eat. On a different subject, have you used the apple AirTags for your luggage? We haven’t used them before but I’m considering getting them for this trip.

I didn’t realize that I needed tickets for the pantheon. Do you think it’s worth getting a guided tour or just use the audio from Rick Steve? Should I buy the tickets now instead of waiting until we get there? Thank you!

You're right that I might be planning too much and need to be more spontaneous, lol. 😉

Thank you! I put in a request with sharedshuttle.it. It was 80 Euros for the 2 of us from the port to the hotel.

Wow, I was surprised at the costs for arranging transportation. Do recommend pre arranging transportation? Are these reasonable rates? Everything has went up since Covid. Thank you. Daniele Your Driver in Rome 140 Euros Port to Hotel 80 Euros Hotel to Airport Rob Cab Transfer 125 Euros Port to Hotel 60 Euros Hotel to Airport

Have you eaten at Naumachia or Trattoria Pizzeria Luzzi? They were recommended by the Roman Guy and Rick Steves.

Thank you! There are so many choices.

@cruisemom42, thank you so much. It makes me feel better being out there so late. I looked up La Taverna dei Fori Imperiali and it’s closed on Tuesday. Do you have any other suggestions? I’ll do more research too. Thank you!

@cruisemom42, thank you so much for all the great suggestions and the details of each site. I’m adding all this info on my sheet. I was able to get tickets from Coop Culture for the Colosseum underground tour on our 2nd day. I wasted so much time refreshing the Coop Culture screen for this excursion. I hope it’s worth it. The tour is 1 hour 15 minutes from 10:30 PM - 11:45 PM so it's very late. It makes the 2nd day very busy with tours. The good thing is we will be adjusted to the time difference because our Rome visit is post cruise. I think I should find a restaurant closer to the Colosseum than Negresco Pizza e Cucina. Also, if we eat a heavy meal at Ristorante Arlu then we’ll probably want a lighter meal before the evening tour. Do you know of any good restaurants near the Colosseum? Also, will it be easy to get a taxi or uber when we finish the tour near midnight? I definitely do not want to try to walk the 1.4 miles back to the hotel at that time of night.

I kept Roscioli on Thursday. For our last dinner in Rome on Friday, I booked Dilla at 6:00 PM. It’s .2 mile from the hotel and it came highly recommended. Most of the reviews on TripAdvisor are very good. Have you heard of this restaurant? I’m still trying to get the tickets for the underground of the Colosseum through Coop Culture. If we don’t get the tickets that will be fine. The only thing I have left on the itinerary is to put in ideas on what we could explore during our free time. Now I need to focus on our packing list and what extras we need to buy. I checked the accu weather for the Oct 9th - 14th and it looks like great temperatures. It looks like I’ll need summer cloths during the day but either sweaters, jackets or long sleeve tops during the evening. We’ll bring travel size umbrellas. I think I’ll buy us collapsible water bottles. I’ve read so much about pick pocketing. What do you use to carry your credit cards, money, passport (or copy of passport), water bottle and phone? Are there any other must have items that I should purchase for the trip?

Below is my revised itinerary. Thank you so much for answering all my questions and being so patient. I hope I’m not over doing it on the restaurant reservations. So far Tues & Thurs are the only 2 days where I have lunch and dinner reservations. On Tuesday the dinner reservation is at a pizza shop - Negresco Pizza e Cucina so I think we’re good there. I think I should cancel Roscioli on Thursday and go to Pizzarium for a casual lunch near the Vatican. What do you think? On another topic, we have a very early flight at 7:00 AM on Saturday. To make it easier I have both Hotel d’Inghilterra and Hilton Rome Airport Hotel booked for Friday night. Both are booked with points. We can stay until Friday evening enjoying Rome with access to our hotel. Then we can checkout Friday evening and head to Hilton Rome Airport Hotel. The other option is to checkout of Hotel d’Inghilterra on Friday prior to our Appian Way bike tour and ask that that they hold our luggage. Which do you think is the better option?

Thank you!

I just made lunch reservations for our 1st day in Rome on Mon, Oct 9th. Do you think it’s worth requesting an outside table?

I was able to get a reservation at Armando al Pantheon on Monday, Oct 9th at 1:15 PM for lunch. I would have preferred a dinner reservation but we have the golf cart tour that evening. I need to check if they have different menus. Would you suggest sitting inside or outside? Now I’m trying to determine where we should eat for our last dinner on Friday. I’ll send an email to Ristorante Maccheroni to see if they have availability for Friday. Do you have any other recommendations? Thank you!

Thank you! I think I need more than 5 days in Rome. How often do you visit Rome?

I want to make sure we get a chance to try the Jewish style fried artichoke when we visit the Jewish Ghetto. Is it available at SALUMERIA CON CUCINA ROSCIOLI? I didn’t see it on their online menu. If not, are there any restaurants you’d recommend that we’d be able to just stop in for an appetizer in the Jewish Ghetto? Thank you!

Thank you! I think Enoteca Cavour 313 might be temporarily closed. I can get to the website but the button for making reservations isn’t working and google has it as Temporarily closed. Do you think a few hours is enough time to explore the Jewish Quarters? I want to fit that in and maybe have dinner there which means I need to cancel one of our dinners. I think I need more time in Rome!

Thank you! We're 60 & 65 and most of the time even on the Caribbean cruises we’re in our cabin by 10-10:30 PM. We enjoy some of the big production numbers but we really prefer the entertainment in the small venues with a piano or guitar player. We have a port intensive cruise at the end of the month sailing from Barcelona to Rome. We only have one sea day and most of the excursions are 8-9 hours. I think we’ll probably come back exhausted and want to clean up, have dinner and then go to bed. I’m hoping we have some energy for some evening entertainment but this is not the priority. I’ve read that some of the smaller ships are able to do more interesting itineraries. I definitely need to do more research.

@cruisemom42, thank you for your thoughtful & detailed review. We started cruising with our teen children about 10 years ago with Royal Caribbean. When we were empty nesters we moved to Celebrity. We enjoyed the ease of visiting different ports without packing and unpacking. We enjoyed the food and the evening entertainment and meeting other travelers. We’ve been on about 15 cruises mostly in the Caribbean. Our kids are grown with babies of their own. We’re recently retired but still very busy helping with the grand babies which we love. But we also have so many places to visit that are on our bucket list. I’m starting to look at other cruise lines for interesting itineraries. I still busy planning my Europe cruise & Rome visit which you’ve been so helpful with planning. Other than itinerary and food, I do enjoy live entertainment in the evening. Did you enjoy the evening entertainment? I usually prefer the smaller venues over the large production shows.

I’m still working on our itinerary for next month. We’ve been so busy this summer with our grand babies that I’m just getting back to it. And we have a new grand daughter arriving any time. I really appreciate all the great feedback I’ve gotten. Below is our current itinerary but I’m still flexible on moving things around. I didn’t want to make this post too long so I’ll ask questions on a few days at a time. 1) Oct 10- Do you think we have enough time to tour Castel Sant’ Angelo after our Vatican Necropolis tour and before our lunch at Ristorante Arlù? Do we need to get tickets and is it doable without a guided tour? Maybe I should cancel the lunch reservation to give us more flexibility to explore Castel Sant’ Angelo and other sites in that area. 2) Oct 11 - We have an early food tour starting at 5:00 PM. Is there anything near the Colosseum or walking towards Hotel D’Inghilterra that would be good spot for us to take a little break and have a light lunch or a slice of pizza and possibly people watch. 3) Oct 12 - Salumeria Con Cucina Roscioli has great reviews but it was difficult to get a reservation so I booked what was available. It’s not very close to our morning excursion at the Vatican or the hotel. Do you think I should cancel this reservation and use the time after the Vatican to explore the Jewish Quarters and have lunch there? 4) I need to do more research because I want to put in ideas in all the blue free time boxes. During these times we can explore if we have energy or relax at the hotel or find a spot to relax and people watch.

Thank you! I would love to read it. We’ve taken so many Caribbean cruises that we’ve decided that we may take 1 Caribbean cruise a year just to relax and escape the cold winter in Michigan. We’ve cruised mostly with Celebrity and a few with Royal and NCL. Going forward we’re trying to pick cruises with more interesting itineraries and also try out different cruise lines. There is so much to see in the world. We just got back from a Caribbean cruise. I’m back to trying to finalize my Rome itinerary. Do you think I should post my questions in this thread or start a new one? I think I’m going to cancel the Jewish food tour and possibly the Walks Crypts, Bones & Catacombs: An Underground Tour of Rome.

Hi Cruisemom42, How was your cruise? I hope you had a wonderful time. Thanks Sue

This sounds so exciting! Iceland and Greenland are on my bucket list. Which cruise ship are you sailing on? Please let me know if you do any trip reports. I’d love to read and dream. I hope you have a super time.

Thank you for the suggestions. I’ll look at the menus and prices. Thank you for the tip on difference between “ristorante” and "osteria”. I don’t mind going to 1 or 2 more expensive “ristorantes” if the food and atmosphere is worth it. But overall I prefer to go to restaurants that are reasonably priced, have yummy authentic food and have more locals than tourists. Thank you for all your tips.