Rome DIY between Back to Back Cruises?

[Nibby73]

We are doing a back to back from Civitavecchia and would like to spend a few hours in Rome to visit the Colosseum on that port day. We are in port from 7:00am to 5:00pm. Is there enough time if we take the train to spend a couple of hours at the Colosseum and have a quick lunch before coming back to the ship? Does anyone have any experience or advice? The cruise doesn't have any tours available for this. I did a search and couldn't find anything. Any insight would be appreciate.

 

[euro cruiser]

Yes, there is enough time but you might want to get your Colosseum tickets on line ahead of time.  In the past I've always just purchased them at either the Palatine or Roman Forum ticket offices without a line but I'm hearing/reading such horror stories of crowds lately that I don't know if that's still a viable option.   I'll be back in Rome in October and can check it out then but perhaps someone with recent experience of buying tickets on site can fill us in.

 

You'll probably need to be back on the ship around 3 PM, even though it's a back-to-back for you they may require you to go through the safety drill again.

 

Therefore, you'd need to be on a train from Rome by around 1 PM.

 

If you are able to get the 8:42 train to Rome you could be at the Colosseum by 10 AM (regional train to Rome Ostiense, change there to the metro for two stop to Colosseo).