Rome

I am on Azura A510N on 8 May, 2015.

I have been informed that it is no longer easy to get a train from Civitavecchia to Rome, Is this true?

Can I get from Naples to ~Herculaneum by myself, if so how easy is it? Thank you.

I am on Azura A510N on 8 May, 2015.

I have been informed that it is no longer easy to get a train from Civitavecchia to Rome, Is this true?

Can I get from Naples to ~Herculaneum by myself, if so how easy is it? Thank you.

Good evening Pokey.

Depends on the level of your information. I was there on britannia's maiden cruise in March. What has become more irritating is the shuttle buses take you to a point further away from the railway station.

It is a con to get you to pay a fare on a second shuttle service.

If you do not have any mobility difficulties then my advice is to walk to the railway station yourself and give the shuttle bus a miss.

Once you are at the railway station it is all dead easy and the Italians run a pretty sleek service.

Want an idea?

Follow this link...

http://solentrichardscruiseblog.com/2014/05/15/one-way-to-do-rome/

This is Civitavecchia station on a busy day...

Rome: I think what's meant here is that whereas the shuttle bus from the ship used to drop people at the dock gates, it no longer does so (because of construction work at the dock gates, I believe). Instead it drops people off at a car park in the middle of the town, from where it is a harder walk to the station. I don't think the trains to/from Roma Termini have changed at all.

That said, it's possible that the construction work at the dock gates has finished and that the shuttle bus has reverted to the original route. Perhaps any recent passengers to Civitavecchia can advise?

Naples: yes, you need to walk (or get a tram) to the Napoli Circumvesuviana statio, from where trains can be got to Herculaneum, Pompeii, and all the way to Sorrento. There's lot of info online about tickets, etc.

Thank you for your excellent "visit to Rome" you highlighted what I perceived to be our problem. My wife is not a "good walker". Previously we alighted from the courtesy coach and walked to the railway station. That now seems to be a problem. However, we will find a way!.

Because of her walking problem we are also reluctant to join a P&O visit to Herculaneum because experience has taught us that we cannot keep up with the courier, consequently we miss part of the courier's talk. Regards.

Hi Pokeyhole

First of all, there is a roll call for this cruise - do come over and join us.

But to return to your query...it may depend on how many other ships are in Civitavecccia as to how busy the station may be. I don't know what the situation was when Solent Richard was there but there will be 4 ships on the day we are there including Quantum of the seas. We are not sure what we will do yet but may even give Rome a miss as we have been before. Although more expensive, there is a P & O excursion to Rome using the train, that might suit you better?

Herculaneum should be relatively easy to do on your own.

Hi all, we are on this cruise too and I rather thought we could get the Hop on Hop off bus from the stop by the Internet cafe at the security gates. Does anyone know about that option? I would,be grateful for advice. We have spent time in Rome previously and don't want to do the P&O tour. As Mysticalmother says, come and join us on the roll call !

Hi Pokeyhole

First of all, there is a roll call for this cruise - do come over and join us.

 

But to return to your query...it may depend on how many other ships are in Civitavecccia as to how busy the station may be. I don't know what the situation was when Solent Richard was there but there will be 4 ships on the day we are there including Quantum of the seas. We are not sure what we will do yet but may even give Rome a miss as we have been before. Although more expensive, there is a P & O excursion to Rome using the train, that might suit you better?

 

Herculaneum should be relatively easy to do on your own.

We did the Rome by private train last September with Celebrity and having done the public train twice before this was much better as you have a guaranteed comfy seat, albeit more expensive. We did it because of the changes to the port shuttle highlighted in earlier posts. If you would rather trail around on your own than a group this is a good trip and better than coach.

A coach takes you from the ship to a small siding just outside of Civitavecccia station and then goes direct to the Vatican station and does the reverse coming back so there is no walking or jostling with crowds at all.

It was very slick but if the original port shuttle is ever reinstated we would probably revert to that to save the money.

There's a comment on CruisePortWiki as follows:- "The temporary drop off location is looking more permanent and is still being used for the 2015 cruise season." This 'temporary' drop off point is apparently at a carpark near to a EuropCar rental place on Via Turco. That's by the northern entrance to the port. Here's a link to a Google Map showing it. If you switch to street view and explore around, there are a few shots that show what looks like a port shuttle bus parked by the entrance to the car park.

Looking at Google Maps again, I would think that it's an extra 650 metres or so from Via Turco to the station than it is from the old drop-off point.

When the "temporary" drop off point was in operation last year we actually walked it back to the ship rather than walk all the way to the car park and get the shuttle from there.

It was a 15-20 minute walk but probably faster than going for the shuttle.

If I was braver than I am, then id also do a DIY excursion to Rome.

Rome is the only excursion we've booked in advance for our Ventura cruise at end of May. I accept it can be done DIY, but as its our first time cruising I want the comfort of knowing I won't be stranded.

If I was braver than I am, then id also do a DIY excursion to Rome.

 

Rome is the only excursion we've booked in advance for our Ventura cruise at end of May. I accept it can be done DIY, but as its our first time cruising I want the comfort of knowing I won't be stranded.

One advantage we found of the 'Rome on your Own' excursion was that we actually had much longer in the city as we found when we went by train, we were heading back really early 'just in case'. We probably had a couple of hours more and provided we made the rendezvous on time, no worries about missing the ship irrespective of traffic, full trains - whatever. It's one of the few cities we take the easy, if more expensive, option.

Its a shame they are persisting with this 'temporary drop off'. Whilst there may be works around the port that stops drop offs there the local authourities must know most passengers want the train station but instead they choose a drop off in the opposite direction. Might be a way of increasing revenue by people having to then buy bus tickets to the station or an attempt to get people to stay in the port area. In any case, if you add an extra 20-30 mins to your transfer time then this will take car of the extra journey and extra bus.

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Rome: I think what's meant here is that whereas the shuttle bus from the ship used to drop people at the dock gates, it no longer does so (because of construction work at the dock gates, I believe). Instead it drops people off at a car park in the middle of the town, from where it is a harder walk to the station. I don't think the trains to/from Roma Termini have changed at all.

 

That said, it's possible that the construction work at the dock gates has finished and that the shuttle bus has reverted to the original route. Perhaps any recent passengers to Civitavecchia can advise?

 

Naples: yes, you need to walk (or get a tram) to the Napoli Circumvesuviana statio, from where trains can be got to Herculaneum, Pompeii, and all the way to Sorrento. There's lot of info online about tickets, etc.

Hi Tom.

We were at Civitavecchia last month on Britannia's maiden cruise.The construction work at the dock gates is completed and the pedestrian footway is again open.

having said that the ship's shuttle still continues to take passengers to that 'Car Park' further away. I'm afraid it appears that this is now the permanent routine.

Its a shame they are persisting with this 'temporary drop off'. Whilst there may be works around the port that stops drop offs there the local authourities must know most passengers want the train station but instead they choose a drop off in the opposite direction. Might be a way of increasing revenue by people having to then buy bus tickets to the station or an attempt to get people to stay in the port area. In any case, if you add an extra 20-30 mins to your transfer time then this will take car of the extra journey and extra bus.

 

 

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Hi Kevin. That's exactly what I said in my original post on the subject and again in the one above.

It's a money making scheme and a pain in the butt.

One advantage we found of the 'Rome on your Own' excursion was that we actually had much longer in the city as we found when we went by train, we were heading back really early 'just in case'. We probably had a couple of hours more and provided we made the rendezvous on time, no worries about missing the ship irrespective of traffic, full trains - whatever. It's one of the few cities we take the easy, if more expensive, option.

You make an excellent point. The trains, on average, run every hour from Civitavecchia. Missing one through this re-jigged shuttle system can cost you up to an hour in Rome before you think of the 'safety' margin for the return.

Costs, after all, aren't everything.

We've gone up to Rome on the train a few times, generally using the cheap (Regional) ticket. The problem with that is that you can't use it on the fast trains, only on the slow stopping trains. That said, you can get off wherever you want to in Rome, or get back on, and on one occasion we made our way to Trastavere station rather than slog back to Termini.

But more recently we've reached the view that Rome on our own from Civitavecchia is just too much hassle, or too expensive on an excursion. So last time we were there we did an excursion that we wouldn't have been able to do on our own: 'A Taste of Tuscania'. We'll be calling at Civ on our next cruise, and I'm pretty sure we'll again be doing a non-Rome excursion. The one to Ostia Antica looks interesting.

As far as Rome itself is concerned, these if we want to visit Rome we do that for a weekend - we can get cheap-enough Jet2 flights to Fiumicino for a Friday to Sunday stay.