Touring Rome with tour company or independently

[living in vacationland]

On an upcoming June cruise, we will stop in Rome (Civitavecchia). We will also be staying in Rome for 3 days post cruise (along with touring other areas of Italy). Our first thought was to not tour Rome while on the cruise but to book an excursion elsewhere or use the day as an "at sea day".

 

However, after talking with friends who visited Rome, they recommended touring with a tour company vs. touring independently. Their reasons were, while expensive, saved more time because you were not standing in lines waiting to view the attractions (i.e. St. Peter's Square, the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel, the Colosseum). They suggested booking the cruise excursion (or from another tour company) the day we are in port. And while we are visiting Rome on our post cruise stay to walk around the city, visit restaurants, shop and have a more leisure approach to the touring.

 

Do you REALLY save time (not standing in lines) when on a tour? How bad are the "lines"?

 

Any suggestions or thoughts?

 

Thanks

[CruiserBruce]

If you read down the board here, you will see many comments on how much more efficient private tours are in crowded areas where there are lots of tourist interests. Rome is probably the text book example of a perfect place for private tours. Private tours absolutely move you much more efficiently thru these sorts of place.

 

However, if you are spending 3 days after your cruise in Rome, you will have plenty of time to see Rome, with, or without a private tour. You probably don't need to see it on your layover day at Civi. On the other hand, a private tour on your layover day would definitely whet your interest, and help you focus more what you might want to do on your post cruise days.

 

A cruise ship excursion is horrible in this type of location. You and 45 of your new best friends, in a big bus in tight city streets. 45 people, at least 2 or 3 whom can't tell time, and thus are always late, and cut your stay short in later stops.

 

Rome is very popular. In June lines have not reached their peak- that would be July or August- but there will be lines.

[cruisemom42]

IMHO, your first idea is a good one. With 3 days in Rome post-cruise, you have plenty of time to sightsee and enjoy the city if you don't get overly ambitious. You will get a lot more out of the touring by breaking it up into reasonable chunks each day (and you will remember more) than by trying to run a marathon in a day -- and a short day at that.

 

As to the lines -- there is absolutely NO reason to face a long line at the Vatican museum now that you can purchase tickets in advance on the Vatican website. You do have to pick a time, but you avoid the long queue of folks who were not smart enough to reserve in advance. And the long lines at the Colosseum are easy to avoid by either purchasing a ticket in advance or (my favorite method), walking two blocks to the Palatine Hill ticket office, where there is rarely much of a line. (The tickets are good for the Colosseum/Palatine Hill/Roman Forum, wherever you buy them.)

 

Should you feel the need of a guide, you can look at small group walking tours or get a guide onsite at the Colosseum. The Vatican offers an official guided tour, also available for reservation on their website.

 

While I wouldn't spend the day in Civitavecchia as a sea day (I can rest when I get home, lol), I would look at alternatives, such as a tour to Orvieto, Ostia Antica, or some of the Etruscan tombs/museums that are not as far from the port.

 

Of course, you can also choose to take the train to Rome on your own for the day and perhaps accomplish a couple of things on your own, depending on how much you want to see. There are many posts on this board giving directions on how to do this; it's quite easy.

[maryann ns]

I agree with Cynthia. I have yet to see Ostia Antica, but I hear great things, so that is a great idea.

 

However, there is more than enough to do with four days in Rome itself. Why not take the train in and wander around without any pressure to 'do it all'? You can avoid the crowds by taking an earlier train back to Civitavecchia.

 

You could book a time near mid day for the Borghese Gallery if you wish. For sure you should consider this for one of your days. You must book this in advance.

[nparmelee]

If you are worried about lines, for the Colloseum/Palatine Hill/Forum, this is a combo ticket, go to the Forum or Palatine Hill entrances and then you bypass the ticket line at the Colosseum. For the Vatican, you can reserve timed entry tickets from the vatican.va webite before you leave if you are concerned about lines there. The Borghese Gallery requires reservations for a 2 hour time slot so that one you do need to arrange ahead of time. For anything else the lines are not likely to exist or to be quite short. I would look at either an easy day trip to Rome or to Ostia Antica or Tarquinia for you one day stop, it just depends on how much you want to do in Rome later.

 

While we may do individual tours of individual sites, we are much more likely to wander between sites at our own pace and enjoy things we find along the way, little churches and piazzas that we would not have found without our wander.

[euro cruiser]

The primary benefit of a tour is not avoiding lines, as the previous posts have explained. One can easily avoid them if you do five minutes of research ahead of time and pre-arrange your entry into the Vatican museums on line.

 

Therefore, the real benefits of a private tour are (1) "door-to-door" transportation between the port and Rome and whatever pleasure and/or insights you glean from conversation with the driver along the way and (2) avoiding the need to do any research or planning yourself.

 

Many people on these boards believe that these benefits are worth the cost of a private tour, others do not. Only you can determine what value you put on the benefits.

[hylasgirl]

On an upcoming June cruise, we will stop in Rome (Civitavecchia). We will also be staying in Rome for 3 days post cruise (along with touring other areas of Italy). Our first thought was to not tour Rome while on the cruise but to book an excursion elsewhere or use the day as an "at sea day".

 

However, after talking with friends who visited Rome, they recommended touring with a tour company vs. touring independently. Their reasons were, while expensive, saved more time because you were not standing in lines waiting to view the attractions (i.e. St. Peter's Square, the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel, the Colosseum). They suggested booking the cruise excursion (or from another tour company) the day we are in port. And while we are visiting Rome on our post cruise stay to walk around the city, visit restaurants, shop and have a more leisure approach to the touring.

 

Do you REALLY save time (not standing in lines) when on a tour? How bad are the "lines"?

 

Any suggestions or thoughts?

 

Thanks

 

 

I would totally rather book a private excursion any day over a ship tour. And most others would agree if you are talking tours. The ship tours are overpriced and overcrowded. I have done both and I'll never go back.

 

And YES, you REALLY save time in lines with certain tour companies. I can't vouch for all of them, but any private tour I have taken has taken me to the front of the line and off we went. But that's not to say all lines are bad.

 

Last time we cruises out of Rome we spent 5 days before boarding the ship and on our return to Civitivecchia we did a Countryside tour with Romeinlimo. It was delightful! This year we are using the same company and going to Orvieto and another village. I, personally, would rather go into Rome again because I ADORE it, but the husband wants to see something different.

 

There are many that make their way independently and that's great too. But I certainly wouldn't spend the money for a ship tour vs a private tour with a recommended company.

 

Have fun!

[newcruisers04]

Hi...we were on the Carnival Magic B2B cruises this past October and enjoyed two separate days in most of the ports. On our first visit to Rome, we took the express train in, pre-booked online as well as the timed Vatican tickets, visited the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain and wandered around in our group. I don't know how many are in your group, but safety in numbers to be sure.

On our second visit to Rome, we had prebooked a golf cart tour...YES, and it was amazing. This tour we did not go into any of the tourist sites, but Paulo drove us around the city in and out of the back streets to see so many things you wold never see on a tour bus, or even a van. His wealth of knowledge was outstanding about his city and he has such a great sense of humour. It was a little pricey for only the 4 of us, but if you got a couple more ppl. from your roll call, you will have an amazing restful day after a busy one perhaps going into the Vatican etc.

Enjoy your cruise

Lori

 

http://golf-cart-tour-rome.com/faq.htm

 

On an upcoming June cruise, we will stop in Rome (Civitavecchia). We will also be staying in Rome for 3 days post cruise (along with touring other areas of Italy). Our first thought was to not tour Rome while on the cruise but to book an excursion elsewhere or use the day as an "at sea day".

 

However, after talking with friends who visited Rome, they recommended touring with a tour company vs. touring independently. Their reasons were, while expensive, saved more time because you were not standing in lines waiting to view the attractions (i.e. St. Peter's Square, the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel, the Colosseum). They suggested booking the cruise excursion (or from another tour company) the day we are in port. And while we are visiting Rome on our post cruise stay to walk around the city, visit restaurants, shop and have a more leisure approach to the touring.

 

Do you REALLY save time (not standing in lines) when on a tour? How bad are the "lines"?

 

Any suggestions or thoughts?

 

Thanks

[Compass Rose Monica]

I'm heading back to Rome in November - 6th visit I think. Rome is easy to do on your own. Book the required places in advance, enjoy the sites, wander everywhere.

Ostia Antia is a wonderful place to visit. Many people try to get to Pompei from Rome but that's just a long, long day. Ostia is much small and very easy to get to from Rome. Here's part of my trip journal:

We took the metro to the Piramide stop. We walked to the the market in Testaccio. I always love visiting and taking photos of markets. After, we headed to Volpetti (Via Marmorata 47), a wonderful gourmet meat, cheese, and wine shop. I had three sandwiches made (with olive bread, proscuitto, and buffalo mozzarella) for our picnic lunch at Ostia.

We took the metro to Ostia, which took just 23 minutes along with a 10-minute walk to the entryway of Ostia. It rained all morning long. We walked along the ruins and when the sun finally came out, we ate our sandwiches. Carol had purchased some slices of pizza that we also enjoyed. Once the sun was out, we truly enjoyed the sights at Ostia. The amphitheatre was quite impressive, as were the mosaic tiles in the Baths of Neptune. The main road in Ostia is about a mile long, but we didn’t walk the entire distance.

Monica

[cruisemom42]

We took the metro to the Piramide stop. We walked to the the market in Testaccio. I always love visiting and taking photos of markets. After, we headed to Volpetti (Via Marmorata 47), a wonderful gourmet meat, cheese, and wine shop. I had three sandwiches made (with olive bread, proscuitto, and buffalo mozzarella) for our picnic lunch at Ostia.

 

 

Monica

 

Monica, thanks for posting this -- a wonderful idea, which I intend to steal when I head to Ostia next October. Wouldn't have thought of it on my own.

[living in vacationland]

Thank you for all your replies. After reading your responses, we have decided to keep to original plan. Our style is more 'walk around, have a cup of coffee, take in a site, walk some more, have lunch, some wine, take a nap and venture back out for more adventure'. So touring Rome over three days is perfect.

 

Did not know that we could purchase advance tickets for the Vatican and thanks for the tips on how to avoid the lines for the Colloseum/Palatine Hill/Forum. We also love the golf cart tour idea.

 

 

 

Thanks again.

[nationaltreasure79]

We are a group that plans to see Rome on our own. We are planning on purchasing our tickets ahead of time, our cruise ship will be in port for two days. Has anyone taken the underground, dungeon tour of the collosseum? Where did you purchase the tickets online?

 

Thanks for your help.

[wantocruisemore]

We are a group that plans to see Rome on our own. We are planning on purchasing our tickets ahead of time, our cruise ship will be in port for two days. Has anyone taken the underground, dungeon tour of the collosseum? Where did you purchase the tickets online?

 

Thanks for your help.

 

We did this tour this past July. We are very glad we did but the guide, although not bad, was not as good as the other guides we utilized in Rome through RomeinLimo. I purchased the tickets online ahead of time. I just kept checking each day and the first day they were available to book I grabbed them. Since we had 9 I wanted to be sure to get them. The link is below:

http://www.tickitaly.com/tours/colosseum-dungeon-upper-level-tour.php

 

I printed off the confirmation and then bypassed the line and straight up to the ticket counter to get our stickers.

 

Even with the just ok tour guide and the trouble with the little mics you hang around your neck, I would still recommend the tour for the access and views.

 

 

 

 

[epixx]

We are a group that plans to see Rome on our own. We are planning on purchasing our tickets ahead of time, our cruise ship will be in port for two days. Has anyone taken the underground, dungeon tour of the collosseum? Where did you purchase the tickets online?

 

Thanks for your help.

 

We didn't want to pay the markup charged by Tickitaly, so we purchased the tickets here:

 

http://www.ticketclic.it/Gb/HTML/musei/colosseo.cfm

 

The guide was very good, and we enjoyed the tour.

[wantocruisemore]

We didn't want to pay the markup charged by Tickitaly, so we purchased the tickets here:

 

http://www.ticketclic.it/Gb/HTML/musei/colosseo.cfm

 

The guide was very good, and we enjoyed the tour.

 

It looks like this is just a tour of the Colosseum. Did it include the dungeon and the uppermost level? I thought you could only get to those places with the extra colosseum tour done just through the colosseum.

[DrmnOfMaui]

You've already had a lot of wonderful advice, but I thought I'd add my two cents.

We were 4 days pre-cruise in Rome and did nearly all of it on our own. We did choose to use guides for the Vatican and the Colosseum/forum. We chose to use Angel Tours, they have small groups which we liked. Mostly we took a tour so that we would really know what we were looking at. My history of Rome is long forgotten, and Lindy did a wonderful job explaining what we were looking at without being too technical. The Forum/Colosseum tour remains one of our favorite days and she even recommended a wonderful (inexpensive and great food!) restaurant to top it off.

 

Cruisemom's Palatine Hill ticket purchase is an excellent tip.

 

The rest of Rome we did on our own. We stayed on Via ****onale and walked the entire city. The metro is easy to use, though we only used it once (on our way to the Vatican) and we walked everywhere else.

 

Rome is truly a wonderful city and you will indeed find so many ideal places to sit, enjoy the coffee and food.

 

Enjoy!