Sat. and Sun in Rome, Vatican as the focus

[happy cruzer]

Hi, Our ship will dock on Saturday morning the last weekend in Oct. We have a hotel reserved near the Vatican. Our flight is for Monday morning. We are fit and can manage luggage; however, would consider a tour if it adds alot of value.

 

 

So we need to decide how to get from ship to hotel with luggage. Then how to spend Sat afternoon and evening and full day Sunday.

 

We have been to Rome once before and spent most of our time at Pallatine Hill and the Colesseum. This time the focus will be the Vatican, we are interested in the museums and gardens as well as the normal big items. Having trouble telling what can be visited on Sunday.

 

All suggestions appreciated.

[cruisemom42]

 

We have been to Rome once before and spent most of our time at Pallatine Hill and the Colesseum. This time the focus will be the Vatican, we are interested in the museums and gardens as well as the normal big items. Having trouble telling what can be visited on Sunday.

 

All suggestions appreciated.

 

The Vatican museum website contains all the information about dates and tickets, but a few points:

 

-- The Vatican museums are closed on most Sundays, but they are open (and free) on the last Sunday of the month -- which is when you'll be there. However, going on these days is extremely unpleasant due to the crowds. It's bad enough on a normal day...

 

-- The Vatican gardens tours are available on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. You can buy a combination ticket with the gardens and the museum. Information here: http://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/visita-i-musei/scegli-la-visita/ville-pontificie-e-giardini/giardini-vaticani/giardini-vaticani/visita-guidata-giardini-vaticani-per-singoli-e-gruppi.html

 

-- Saint Peter's itself is open every day, including Sundays. Hours in October are 7am to 6pm. There is no charge but there is a security line and no large bags are allowed. (Also observe appropriate attire.)

 

-- Saint Peter's Dome is also open every day, hours in October are 8am to 5pm. There is a charge and there can often be a long line.

[kawagama]

You might also consider a trip to the Borghese Gallery if you enjoy art. You need to book your date and time here as you are only allowed 2 hours at the gallery. They also only let in 200 people at a time. This is good because you can then actually see the art, unlike at the Vatican. We enjoyed the Borghese much more than the Vatican because of the lack of crowds.

 

Having said that, if you can afford to book a private tour of the Vatican that includes museums, sistine chapel, and gardens, do it. The general tours (which we did) are so crowded that it's all you can do to keep up with your guide. We felt that we spent more time trying to find his raised umbrella than actually seeing anything. It was not a great experience.

[cruisemom42]

Hi, Our ship will dock on Saturday morning the last weekend in Oct. We have a hotel reserved near the Vatican. Our flight is for Monday morning. We are fit and can manage luggage; however, would consider a tour if it adds alot of value.

 

 

So we need to decide how to get from ship to hotel with luggage.

 

 

With luggage, and with the relocation of the port entrance, the hassle factor for doing it on one's own at Civitavecchia has increased. Also, if you will be alighting at San Pietro, it's not guaranteed that there will be a taxi to take you to your hotel. If you travel light enough, it's not terribly problematic. However, there are shared shuttles that will pick up at the ship and drop you at your hotel for as little as 65-70 euros per couple.

[BarbinMich]

Another thing to consider is whether the Pope is speaking from his balcony that Sunday. We stumbled into that situation while visiting from Civitavecchia on a Sunday. St. Peter's Square was mobbed so entry to the church was probably hampered. We'd previously visited both St. Peter's and the art galleries so it was ok and we visited Castel Sant'Angelo (down the street, so to speak, on the river) instead. Very interesting place.

[happy cruzer]

Thanks for the helpful details.

 

Yes we are there the last Sunday. So we will probably do a tour on Saturday afternoon and join the busy crowds on Sunday. Is the last sunday in October particularly bad at the Vatican?

 

Shared shuttle from the port is looking good for us.

[cruisemom42]

Thanks for the helpful details.

 

Yes we are there the last Sunday. So we will probably do a tour on Saturday afternoon and join the busy crowds on Sunday. Is the last sunday in October particularly bad at the Vatican?

 

I wouldn't say it is 'particularly' bad -- but those free Sundays are really like sardines in a can, pretty much year-round. My sister and BIL tried it once (I think it may have even been October) and said never again....

 

Good luck to you; hopefully it won't be as bad as I've painted it. ;)

[happy cruzer]

Followup questions:

 

How big are the tours that you book through the Vatican website? Do you get audio equip on the tour? Don't see this info on the Vatican site :) . We see one for Sat at 11am (last time offered on the Vatican site) that we like. We are to dock at Civ at 7am and want to use a shuttle to hotel that is .5 mile from the Vatican. We would need to prepay both the shuttle and the tour so there is some risk if the ship is late or traffic is bad. Any suggestions?

 

Also on the free Sunday, how does touring the Vatican work? Do you go through on your own, can you get a private tour? Is there audio tour? We may fall back to Sunday if Sat looks too tight schedule wise. We would go to Borghese Gallery as well on Sunday.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Made Up Name]

Hi, Our ship will dock on Saturday morning the last weekend in Oct. We have a hotel reserved near the Vatican. Our flight is for Monday morning. We are fit and can manage luggage; however, would consider a tour if it adds alot of value.

 

 

So we need to decide how to get from ship to hotel with luggage. Then how to spend Sat afternoon and evening and full day Sunday.

 

We have been to Rome once before and spent most of our time at Pallatine Hill and the Colesseum. This time the focus will be the Vatican, we are interested in the museums and gardens as well as the normal big items. Having trouble telling what can be visited on Sunday.

 

All suggestions appreciated.

 

You can take the train from Chitivecchia to the Rome San Pietro train station and walk to your hotel if it's not too far from the station. That's what we plan on doing as our airbnb in Rome is less than a 5 minute walk from the station. On Saturday afternoon you can visit the Vatican museums (get your tickets in advance) and on Sunday St. Peter's Basilica and perhaps Castel Sant'Angelo which is near the Vatican.

 

How's that sound?

[cruisemom42]

Followup questions:

 

How big are the tours that you book through the Vatican website? Do you get audio equip on the tour? Don't see this info on the Vatican site :) . We see one for Sat at 11am (last time offered on the Vatican site) that we like. We are to dock at Civ at 7am and want to use a shuttle to hotel that is .5 mile from the Vatican. We would need to prepay both the shuttle and the tour so there is some risk if the ship is late or traffic is bad. Any suggestions?

 

Also on the free Sunday, how does touring the Vatican work? Do you go through on your own, can you get a private tour? Is there audio tour? We may fall back to Sunday if Sat looks too tight schedule wise. We would go to Borghese Gallery as well on Sunday.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

The regular Vatican museum tours are not small. I believe they can have up to 30 people, though not every tour is full. They do include the audio headsets so that everyone can hear. Which tour are you specifically looking at?

 

Delays into Civitavecchia are pretty rare. Assuming you plan to be off the ship at a reasonable time and have private transport arranged, I think there's not much risk in an 11:00 tour. If it is a shuttle with multiple pick-ups/drop-offs, it can take a while -- recently used a shared shuttle service and it was about 2.5 hours from the time we boarded the van until arrival at our hotel (we were the last drop-off).

 

Regarding the free Sundays, first let me reiterate that the crowds are terrible. Really terrible. If you want additional opinions, see what some of the Rome experts on Tripadvisor say about it here: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g187793-i1891-k10351834-Last_Sunday_of_month_is_free-Vatican_City_Lazio.html

 

There are no tours on these free Sundays. People just line up and enter.

[happy cruzer]

The 30 person tour option through the Vatican sounds very good for us. We are looking at Vatican Museums with St Peter's Basilica tour at 11 am. Might change to another Saturday tour if it were to start later? Not really interested in private tours. Might re-enter on Sunday just to walk through one more time, after visiting Borghese Gallery.

 

 

 

We have done the train before but this time with luggage, we am leaning to a shuttle that will pick up at port and drop at hotel.

[happy cruzer]

The 30 person tour option through the Vatican sounds very good for us. We are looking at Vatican Museums with St Peter's Basilica tour at 11 am. Might change to another Saturday tour if it were to start later? Not really interested in private tours. Might re-enter on Sunday just to walk through one more time, after visiting Borghese Gallery.

 

 

 

We have done the train before but this time with luggage, we am leaning to a shuttle that will pick up at port and drop at hotel.

I want to book tomorrow. I would like to do the 11am Vatican Museums with St. Peter's Basilica, 3 hour tour. What does the tour time mean? Is it a time to be at a window to show a receipt? Does it mean you have gone through security? I think we will check into the hotel at 10am, leave luggage, and have .5 mile walk to the Vatican. So 11 is tight? There is the 2 hour tour that starts later. Help?

[happy cruzer]

Ok, payback time for all the good info that everyone shared with us.

 

We took a shared shuttle from the ship to our hotel near the Vatican.  We booked through Expedia.  It picked up at 9am and we stopped at another ship for a few more passengers.  We were at the hotel at 11:30am.  Checked and walked to the Vatican which we had a little trouble navigating because it is very large with a couple of entrances.  We stopped for lunch since we needed to be at the Vatican museum checkin for 12 to do a 1pm tour.  At the restaurant, the waitress suggested a taxi because we were not at the Vatican Museums entrance.  Best advice!  We were able to have a nice lunch of fish of the day and take the taxi to arrive at the correct entrance at 12:15.  Since we had purchased tickets online we skipped the LOOOOONG line and went through security.  The tour started at 1 on time.  We had about 30 people with a leader who held a flag so we could follow her.  It was crowded.  We could always hear with the audio guide gear but were not able to always stay close to the leader.  At the end we were able to visit the Sisten Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica.  The actual tour was 2 hours; we spent about 4 in total at the Vatican.  The next morning, Sunday, we visited again from the square in front.  There were many video screens showing the mass being held.  Glad we did the tour.  However, I think the breakfast or evening tours would be less crowded which would make a better experience.

 

We took the Metro to the Borghese Gallery.  We had very hard rain so we had to take cover a few times on the way to the Borghese and in the Gardens.  We had purchased tickets which was very good since at the entrance they were turning people away with no tickets and telling them that Tuesday was the next time to buy for.  They allowed about 200? people in for 2 hours at a time.  It was crowded at first but then everyone spread out.  The Bernini statues were the highlight.

 

We took the Bus Shuttle from the hotel to airport ( 6 euro each).  Bottom line check with your hotel for their suggestion.  How far and how hard a walk will determine how you might want to get to the airport.  Our walk was over even ground for 5 blocks.  We took the 7am shuttle for a 10:20am flight.

Edited November 12, 2018 by happy cruzer

[BarbinMich]

Thanks for your report.  Sounds like you had a few very full days in Rome!

Edited November 13, 2018 by BarbinMich

[cruisemom42]

Happy cruzer, thanks for returning and letting us know how it went -- it's always good to hear about what worked and what didn't. Sounds like you had a busy but ultimately pretty successful visit. More and more recent reports on how crowded the Vatican museums are. I wonder if they will eventually institute some stricter controls on the number of visitors per day...?