Need some good information on going to Italy next year in June.

[meapass]

We & family (total of 6 adults) are flying to Rome next year (June 2019) We plan on staying in Rome for 4 days & are going on Royal Caribbean cruise on the Oasis on June 13. We already booked our cruise with RC. We still need to book airfare & hotel reservations (we want to stay at River Palace Hotel in Rome) Need some info if booking thru travelocity & expedia are good to book thru. We also need help in booking tours, in the past we always booked our tours with an independent when we got off the ship. That worked fine in the Caribbean, however, none of us have ever gone to Italy & we don,t know if it is a good idea to book tours thru independent or go thru cruise ship. We all want to see The vatican, sistine chapel, St. Peters Basicila & other sites. To see these sites do we purhase skip tickets to avoid lines. Is there an admission fee on top of the skip tickets. Would appreciate some help from fellow cruisers who have travelered to Italy & can share some good info with us! Thank You!

[Lori Dobson]

I've been to Italy and Rome three times, going back again in October. You can find your own (much better) tours for less money on the Internet - Tripadvisor is a good resource. Things that I have done and Loved are Vatican tours (which include skip the line, St Peter's and the Sistine chapel). Another fun thing to do are Segway tours in Rome - there are several companies that do this ranging from a couple of hours up to a whole day. Great way to see the city. My favorite is probably the food tours - an incredible and delicious way to see some great neighborhoods. Eating Italy is my provider of choice but again, check Tripadvisor for ideas.

Italy is amazing - Have a great trip!

[cruisemom42]

Hi and welcome to Cruise Critic!

 

I see you're pretty new to the site, so let me suggest a wonderful resource here is the Ports of Call forums. Each forum deals with a specific country or area and you'll find a lot of info from experienced cruisers and sometimes locals.

 

Here is the Ports of Call Forum for Italy: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=595

 

You're already on the right track by planning to stay in Rome for four days -- a decent amount of time to see the main sites. Since you'll be going in early and not via a cruise package (which again is a smart move in my opinion) you will need to book tours independently. There are a number of well-recommended tour operators, but it's also pretty easy to do some things on your own, assuming you'll be staying somewhere in the historic center. I've never heard of the hotel you have chosen -- where is it, relative to other sites?

[CruiserBruce]

First, come over to the Italy board for tons of info on Rome:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=19

 

Second, we are not allowed to discuss or even name travel agencies on Cruise Critic.

 

Third, a group of your size is absolutely perfect for private tours in Europe. Take a look over on the Ports boards for vendors in each of your ports. You may find booking multiple tours and transportation gets you discounts. For example, if you fly into Rome, book the wonderful Rome in Limo to get you to your hotel, and perhaps a tour, plus a tour in some of the other cities they operate in, you will get a discount to be be treated like royalty!!

[marco]

Four days will provide for a nice visit, but obviously, still not long enough to see/do "everything". I'd suggest you first get a Rome travel guide. Rick Steve's, Lonely Planet, Fedor, Michelin, etc and first decide what you want to see. Break it down to "Must see", "Would like to see",Will see if time allows" and work from there. Tickets for some things you can get on line prior and you'll save time by not having to queue in line, sometimes for an hour or more. We've been to Rome and Italy over a dozen times and still have not seen it all. While we've not sailed on RC in Europe, lines we have sailed with offered the best price on air compared to anything I could find on my own and they did allow for going'returning pre/post cruise. Check out RC air. With our proximity to JFK, everything has been on non-stops, but even if they were not, a couple of hour layover somewhere to save $400 would make it appealing enough for me to forgo a non-stop. Mind you, every cruise line is not going to save you several hundred $$$'s by using their air nor is every line going to offer you the "better" price if you are doing a pre/post add-on, but certainly it bodes well to check out. I'm sure someone is going to post "they didn't.....we couldn't, etc etc, but like I said....check out various options and see what RC does (or doesn't) offer before you book anything.

[taglovestocruise]

Agree with Marco to check Royals Air2Sea program. There prices for non stop are under $500.00 from California on many airlines. Be sure to check round trip and two oneway prices. Check into the Vatican Scavi tour, It is only for a dozen per tour and only 10 tours a day. Under $20.00 per person and and on our tour it ended leaving through the Sistine chapel.

[JMorris271]

We & family (total of 6 adults) are flying to Rome next year (June 2019) We plan on staying in Rome for 4 days & are going on Royal Caribbean cruise on the Oasis on June 13. We already booked our cruise with RC. We still need to book airfare & hotel reservations (we want to stay at River Palace Hotel in Rome) Need some info if booking thru travelocity & expedia are good to book thru. We also need help in booking tours, in the past we always booked our tours with an independent when we got off the ship. That worked fine in the Caribbean, however, none of us have ever gone to Italy & we don,t know if it is a good idea to book tours thru independent or go thru cruise ship. We all want to see The vatican, sistine chapel, St. Peters Basicila & other sites. To see these sites do we purhase skip tickets to avoid lines. Is there an admission fee on top of the skip tickets. Would appreciate some help from fellow cruisers who have travelered to Italy & can share some good info with us! Thank You!

 

We had wonderful results with this company and have used it twice. Skip line tickets are included on all of their tickets. The web site explains it all to you.

 

Select Italy.com

Edited September 6, 2018 by JMorris271

[broadwaybaby123]

When I went to Rome years ago, we flew out to Rome 3 days before our cruise started. We didn't need tickets for The Vatican, but they do have a strict dress code you may want to check out before you go.

 

We went in June as well (the end of June to be exact) and it turns out that there was a festival going on in The Sistine Chapel so they had to close down the chapel. You may want to check the dates that you're going to be there to make sure that you actually can get into the chapel.

 

St. Peter's Basilica also didn't require any special arrangements on our part, in terms of tickets or anything, but again, we had to abide by the dress code (since it's part of The Vatican).

 

That was years ago though, so things may have changed.

[sail7seas]

St. Peter's is open to the public with no tciket required. Go in, walk around Read before you go so you ha e an idea what it is you looking at. at While it is not required, a guide is very helpful with history and 'color'. We visited Rome many times and always St. Peter's and never saw enough. I remain totally enthralled by it.

[taglovestocruise]

When I went to Rome years ago, we flew out to Rome 3 days before our cruise started. We didn't need tickets for The Vatican, but they do have a strict dress code you may want to check out before you go.

 

We went in June as well (the end of June to be exact) and it turns out that there was a festival going on in The Sistine Chapel so they had to close down the chapel. You may want to check the dates that you're going to be there to make sure that you actually can get into the chapel.

 

St. Peter's Basilica also didn't require any special arrangements on our part, in terms of tickets or anything, but again, we had to abide by the dress code (since it's part of The Vatican).

 

That was years ago though, so things may have changed.

Things have not changed at all. To the OP, it is hot in June and pants for men are required at most churches. If you wear shorts there is usually a kiosk that sells paper pant legs for a few dollars. The one I am thinking of is on the corner just as you walk across the street into Saint Peters Square.

[Essiesmom]

Get a copy of Rick Steves' Mediterranean Cruise Ports. Written specifically for cruisers. You can also use it for Rome, but his Rome guide is also good. You can go to his website and download free audio tours for ipod/mp3, and print out maps to go with it. You should get a good map of Rome, and I recommend Streetwise maps. Very durable. You can also get a map from your hotel. EM

[cruisemom42]

Check into the Vatican Scavi tour, It is only for a dozen per tour and only 10 tours a day. Under $20.00 per person and and on our tour it ended leaving through the Sistine chapel.

 

Did you mean that the tour ended in St. Peter's? I can't imagine how you could end up in the Sistine chapel since the only way to access it is via the museum (whose entrance is a long way from the excavations under St. Peter's.....)

[SRF]

I have booked hotels through Booking.com and Trip Advisor. Both worked well.

 

But realize that some things may not be what you expect. I booked a number of hotels and such around Sicily in May. Since we rented a car and were driving around, parking was required.

 

One hotel, the parking was a public lot, a block and a half away. The next, the parking was at the hotel and dedicated to the hotel (what I expected everywhere). The next, the parking was street parking. And the last one, was a public garage, almost 1 km from the B&B, NOT what I expected.

[Spike2015]

You might try Royal for the airfare. They were $500 below everything else I found for our cruise from Barcelona this year :)

[SuiteTraveler]

We used Through Eternity tours in Rome and the rest of Italy - they were awesome and a fraction of the cost of other tour providers. https://www.througheternity.com. The guides will personalize the experience to what YOU want to see - it's not a canned tour. And they are all historians so they know all about the history of what you are seeing and can really it bring it to life for you. I just emailed them with a list of the sights we wanted to see at each location, let them know we wanted to have lunch in a locals restaurant (not a tourist restaurant) and they planned everything and made the most of each day. It really went very smoothly. What I loved about it was that we weren't stuck looking at stuff that was of no interest to us like we would be on a canned tour and we could move on quickly thus maximizing what we were able to do in a day.

[CruiserBruce]

We used Through Eternity tours in Rome and the rest of Italy - they were awesome and a fraction of the cost of other tour providers. https://www.througheternity.com. The guides will personalize the experience to what YOU want to see - it's not a canned tour. And they are all historians so they know all about the history of what you are seeing and can really it bring it to life for you. I just emailed them with a list of the sights we wanted to see at each location, let them know we wanted to have lunch in a locals restaurant (not a tourist restaurant) and they planned everything and made the most of each day. It really went very smoothly. What I loved about it was that we weren't stuck looking at stuff that was of no interest to us like we would be on a canned tour and we could move on quickly thus maximizing what we were able to do in a day.

 

Most private tour vendors will customize to your needs. It is not unusual.