Rome

[Jarronwood]

Can someone advise me - I have looked through other threads relating to Rome but have a few questions so thought I would post another thread. Sorry for any repetition that might be caused.

 

Hubby and I are crusing on LOS next June/July and one of the stops is Rome. Some people recommend DIY whereas others not so.

 

Now the question is this, if we did DIY by this I mean we would get on the train to Rome which I believe is about one hours ride or so. Hubby wants to visit the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican and by reading some posts I understand that there is a Scavi tour (which apparently you need to book for months and months before).

 

Will we have time to do this, visit the Vatican do the Scavi tour and see the Sistine Chapel? Any recommendations on the best way to do this, by hired driver, by train doing it ourselves.

 

ANy help you can give me would be so appreciated.

 

Josie

[kare8ear]

Hire Stefano Constantini!!! (I forgot his contact info, but can find it for you if you like or if someone else on here can post it)

 

It was our first time in Rome and we wanted to see everything and Stefano took us to just about everywhere (more than the trips offered by the cruise). He picked us up at the port and spent the whole day chaufferring us around and offering commentary. He prearranged tickets for us at the Vatican and Colosseum so we would not have to wait on a Saturday. It was just nice not having to worry about anything. We did some other cities on our own and my stress level was definitely higher. The nice thing about going on his tour was that I could just relax and not stress about catching trains/subways, communicating with taxi drivers or asking for directions. Stefano was wonderful and everyone in my group loved him!

[petlover]

Since this is your first time to Rome, I would definitely hire a private guide for the day (don't do a ship excursion). You will see so much more than trying to do it on your own and you can pace yourself for places you may want to spend more (or less) time. There are many good guides but my favorite is:

 

Executive Limousine Rome

Remo Melaragno (or his son Danielle)

http://www.driverinrome.com

email: shuttleservice@tiscalinet.it

[Linda in MI]

Stefano can be reached at romecabs@yahoo.com. I agree - he is the best, and reasonably priced, too!

 

Linda

[Andym]

Josie,

Seeing as you want to see St Peters and the vatican museum, which combined will take about 4 hours, I wouldn't entertain a private guide. You could take the ships 'on your own tour' which usually drops off by the Vatican. This would be a lot cheaper for just the two of you than a private tour. Look for the Vatican web site and you can get details of the scavi tour there. Once you have done the museum (which includes the sistine chapel) and St Peters, which includes the crypt to see the Popes tombs, you can stroll across to P.Navona and the Pantheon and The Trevi fountain. You usually get 6 hours in Rome.

Let me know if you need any more info.

 

Andy

[John667]

anybody knows how much are the on your own ship tours?

[teddytubby]

Hi John

Rome on your own :- £36.00 ea

The Eternal City :- £99.00 ea

Prices as May 2005. The Exchange rate now is about £1 - $1.69 I think.

2004 We took Ships excursion to the Eternal City & enjoyed the security as it was our first cruise. This year we had a private driver, it was supposed to be Limoinrome but ship changed days for Rome & Naples and Limoinrome could'nt do it but managed to arrange romatours with Vincent Macri for us. He was fantastic...............Ted

[John667]

Thank you teddytubby :)

[Jarronwood]

Thanks everyone for all your help.

 

I think hubby and I would prefer to go it alone rather than have a guide. We feel fairly confident about being in a strange city like Rome. To hire a guide for the day seems very expensive and it seems the better choice would be to go by train rather than take the road. A lot quicker too. Hubby and I are not very good in groups especially excursions - we do tend to get a bit side tracked which is fine although we would make sure we were on an early train back to the ship well before departure.

 

If anyone else has got any comments then please feel free to guide me.

[happy1]

We are doing the same thing. Lots of people have managed the train station on their own & we enjoy the flexibility of not being part of a group. Enjoy your time in Rome.

[kirky]

We did Rome on our own last summer and enjoyed it. I felt half of the fun was getting on the train and interacting with the locals. We did the Med last year on the Brillance (RCI) and they give us bus schedules as we got off the ship and I think the train was only about 5-7 euro. You can purchase a birg pass at the train station which allows for unlimited use during the day in Rome. There is a massive amount of info on this board so you should have no problems finding your way around Rome.

[KnoxvilleSam]

To obtain tickets for the Scavi tour (possibly the most difficult reservations to get in Rome), e-mail them at the following address: uff.scavi@fabricsp.va

 

You will have to specify the date, time, and language that you prefer; since you only have one day that can work for you, your chances of getting a reservation are somewhat limited. Moreover, your visit to other parts of the Vatican (i.e, museum and basilica) may have to be flexible in order for you to take the Scavi tour - it's your call. Of course, getting tickets to the Vatican Museum can also be time-consuming.

 

You can get additional information about the Scavi tour through the Vatican's web site, and you might check the Fodor's bulletin boards as well.

 

Good luck!

 

Knoxville Sam

[JLC@SD]

This is off topic, but if I can suggest, please prepare and guard against pickpockets.

 

They are pros. When I hear of people traveling to Rome by train, I am concerned because I have had too many friends and myself "picked". Friends lost credit cards wallets etc, fortunately I only lost some cash.

 

They work in typical crowded tourist areas including trains, stations, buses and even inside St Peter's (my mother got hit there). It is unfortunate but it is a real problem.

[fmax]

Another thing to take into account is the day that you are going to be in Rome. On a Wednesday morning the pope does his address in the open area and I believe some of the Vatican can't be toured at that time (The basilica I think) and you have to wait until it's over.

 

Frances

[Member]

We shall chech-in our Rome hotel on May 9, Tuesday 7:00pm. Besides restaurants and bars, are most shops on Via National opened late?

[John667]

I think the shops are open till 07:30 or 08:00 PM

[High C's]

Do the shops close from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm everywhere in Rome? We've elected to take the cruise line bus into Rome, then wander on our own. It is our second time there (no experts for sure, but a little more confident!), and we have seen all of the "major" sites except the Sistine Chapel and Pantheon. I understand they are relatively close together. I thought we'd start at the Sistine, go to the Pantheon then wander to the Spanish Steps area, have lunch and hopefully a little shopping.

 

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated!

[Member]

While in Rome last June's Tuesday and Wednesday, it seems at least the shops along Via National opened in the afternoon.

[John667]

The shops may be open no stop in the city centre

[cruisingmimi]

Jarronwood,

 

Here's a thread that I started last year on Do-It-Yourself-Rome. It has some great information on it that might be helpful to you in your planning.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=147961&highlight=Do-It-Yourself-Rome

 

We stayed in a hotel off Via Nationale in October & it seems to me that the stores were open late. We didn't really have time to do much shopping.

 

Mary

 

Mary

[kazwaz]

I don't know if it's still the same, but the last time I went to Rome, there were huge queues for the Vatican museum in the mornings. All of the tours do the Vatican first. It looked like a couple of hours queuing. When we went back at about 2ish, the queues had gone. We tried this for a few mornings before trying the afternoon. We were in Rome for 5 days though.

 

If you have time to spend the day, do the Vatican in the afternoon. Remember to keep shoulders covered and men to wear long trousers. I've seen the swiss guard turn people away who weren't dressed appropriately.

 

If you only want to see the Sistine Chapel, there is a shortcut. Look out for the signs near the end of the first gallery (I think).

[heatherzd]

My family and I (total of 11 of us) are spending a 2 days in Rome before boarding the cruise ship. Right now we are planning on booking a tour with DriverInRome. We want to do a full day tour that hits all the highlights (Collesseum, Vatican, St Peters Basilica, Forum, etc). Some of us have done it before and others haven't.

 

Has anyone used Driverinrome? What exactly is included in the tours? What additional expenses are there?

 

Thanks,

Heather

[mountainhouse]

An option to a guide for the whole day would be a small group tour:

http://www.througheternity.com/

http://rome2.contexttravel.com/

[Peter45]

How much are this tours?:)

[Chick's pal]

Italy (or at least Rome) has some sort of licensing / sanctioning of guides.

If your guide falls into this category, he / she will be able to bypass all ticket lines and get you tickets right away. Evidently, they CANNOT bypass lines of ticketholders waiting to get in to an attraction, though.

 

You will not find one of these sanctioned guides on the streetcorner. They are people who have been trained / educated to a particular standard. We used Driverinrome and everytime someone approached us from the street with "need a guide?" She would have words with them. They always retreated quickly.