Planning for Rome was somewhat more problematic than the other ports in that we dock in Civitavecchi
a, which is about an hour (depending on transportation mode) away. So we went back to the Cruise Critic forums to see what others have done.We made our first major decision by deciding we would spend the
night in Rome instead of going back and forth twice (we are in port from 7:00am one morning until 7:00pm the next evening), so that meant finding a hotel for one night…yup, back to TripAdvisor.
I emailed several places that were in our budget range, had good ratings, and were centrally located…FULL, all of them. (Did you know that according to TripAdvisor there are 1,152 hotels in Rome and 414 B&B’s…amazing!) I’m starting to get a little nervous now, so its back to Cruise Critic. One poster said they had had a great experience with a small place near the Coliseum, so I emailed them. Voila (oops, wrong country), they had a room,
and it actually fit our budget. Very cool. Relief. One more thing off the ‘To Do’ list.The name of the place is the Nicolas Inn. http://www.nicolasinn.com/ They have been SO helpful. We had already booked our room by the time Rich and Lynn decided to go on the cruise, and although the Nicolas Inn was full by then they recommended a place close by that had a vacancy. They have been great in telling me where to go (oops, I mean telling me how to ‘get around’), have r
ecommended a wonderful looking restaurant and even made reservations for us. I am looking forward to finally getting to meet Francois & Melissa in person!!! (Oh, and according to TripAdvisor they are the #4 B&B in Rome…not too shabby!)So now that we have a room, how are we going to get to it, and when there, how do we best fill our very limited time?
“Frugal” and “Adventurous” Meet on the Train.
No, that is not the name of a cheap screen play, it just sort of represents how we finally decided to take the train from Civitavecchi to Rome. The train is quite inexpensive (as opposed to a private car with a driver which we are doing enough of already), and…well, by now you k
now how I feel about buses (maybe it was those days of taking Greyhounds as a kid…no wait, THAT was fun). Plus it just seemed like a nice adventurous thing do to. And the Termini train station in Rome is only a 10 min. walk from the Nicolas Inn. (To see the kind of information one can find on internet, check out this site; http://www.europeportreviews.com/Rome2.htm. ) If we get lost now...no, let's not go there.
Now, how do we actually SEE what we want to see…back to ==>
Angel Tours http://www.angeltoursrome.com/en/index.html popped up multiple times in our searching on Cruise Critic as a good tour company. So, after several delightful emails back and forth with Angel Ruth, I booked the four of us on three tours that dovetail quite nicely with our ‘travel’ agenda. ("Look for the yellow umbrellas.")
So here is how we plan to fill our 36 hours in Civitavecchia/Rome;
1) Get off the ship ASAP and 'book it' to the train station (take the shuttle from the ship to the gate of the port then a 10 min walk to the station.) ~8:15am train
2) Buy our tickets (get them validated!) and hop the train to Rome (remember Termini station, as there are several)
3) Walk to our respective hotels and check-in (or at least drop off our bags)
4) Take the metro to the Vatican for a 12:30pm ‘Angels’ tour (3 hours)
5) Have lunch (Where? Dunno…as long as they have wine it doesn’t much matter...so I guess that rules out Mickey D's)
6) Go back to the hotel to relax a little (oh, maybe 10 minutes)…and get a gelato.
7) Meet Angel Tours at the Spanish Steps for a 6:00pm Heart of Rome tour.
8) Dinner at 8:45 Taverna De' Mercanti, http://utenti.lycos.it/iaschi/
9) Take a cab to the Trevi Fountain to see it at night…more gelato? Or wine?
10) Somehow get back to the hotel…whenever (but surely LATE)
11) Early breakfast, check out and leave bags at hotel(s)
12) 9:00am tour of the Coliseum and Forum with Angel Tours again.
13) Browse, shop, grab a bite (oh no, not more wine and gelato!), pick up our bags, and then catch the train back to the ship.
Sure hope this isn’t one of the 3 formal nights on the ship, as I’m exhausted just thinking about all this! ;-)
now how I feel about buses (maybe it was those days of taking Greyhounds as a kid…no wait, THAT was fun). Plus it just seemed like a nice adventurous thing do to. And the Termini train station in Rome is only a 10 min. walk from the Nicolas Inn. (To see the kind of information one can find on internet, check out this site; http://www.europeportreviews.com/Rome2.htm. ) If we get lost now...no, let's not go there.
Now, how do we actually SEE what we want to see…back to ==>
Angel Tours http://www.angeltoursrome.com/en/index.html popped up multiple times in our searching on Cruise Critic as a good tour company. So, after several delightful emails back and forth with Angel Ruth, I booked the four of us on three tours that dovetail quite nicely with our ‘travel’ agenda. ("Look for the yellow umbrellas.")
So here is how we plan to fill our 36 hours in Civitavecchia/Rome;
1) Get off the ship ASAP and 'book it' to the train station (take the shuttle from the ship to the gate of the port then a 10 min walk to the station.) ~8:15am train
2) Buy our tickets (get them validated!) and hop the train to Rome (remember Termini station, as there are several)
3) Walk to our respective hotels and check-in (or at least drop off our bags)
4) Take the metro to the Vatican for a 12:30pm ‘Angels’ tour (3 hours)
5) Have lunch (Where? Dunno…as long as they have wine it doesn’t much matter...so I guess that rules out Mickey D's)
6) Go back to the hotel to relax a little (oh, maybe 10 minutes)…and get a gelato.
7) Meet Angel Tours at the Spanish Steps for a 6:00pm Heart of Rome tour.
8) Dinner at 8:45 Taverna De' Mercanti, http://utenti.lycos.it/iaschi/
9) Take a cab to the Trevi Fountain to see it at night…more gelato? Or wine?
10) Somehow get back to the hotel…whenever (but surely LATE)
11) Early breakfast, check out and leave bags at hotel(s)
12) 9:00am tour of the Coliseum and Forum with Angel Tours again.
13) Browse, shop, grab a bite (oh no, not more wine and gelato!), pick up our bags, and then catch the train back to the ship.
Sure hope this isn’t one of the 3 formal nights on the ship, as I’m exhausted just thinking about all this! ;-)
