Hi

We have a cruise planned for October 2007 which starts in Civitavecchia, Italy. Does anyone know how easy it is to get to Rome on our own? We have found on previous cruises that there are plenty of taxis at port after we paid for a Shore Excursion on board. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks!
Jen

Travel to and from Rome is quite easy and inexpensive as long as you take the train. Go to [URL=Italian Trains]www.trenitalia.com[/URL] and search for Civitavecchia to Rome or vice versa.

Jen, I think I have answered this question more than 50 times over the years on several different web sites. Let me try to give you a very detailed answer which should help you decide how to handle the issue. Civitavecchia is about an hour from Rome on the train or by road. The town has little tourist use other than as a port. As ftroute said, you can take the train from Rome's Stazione Termini (main train station). Once you arrive at the port you will exit the station on the street that leads to the huge port complex. You would make a right and walk along the street (the water is to your left) until you see the main port entrance about 5 blocks). At the port entrance the authority does operate a free shuttle bus that goes to the cruise ships (it can be a very long walk and they don't like folks walking through the busy port). This is the cheapest way to get from Rome to the ship (or vice versa) but it can be a real hassle when you have a lot of luggage. However, the cost of a taxi or private car from Rome to the port can easily exceed $150. Some of the cruise lines will sell you transfers for a reasonable amount (check with your travel agent) but this is not always possible unless you have booked an entire pre or post cruise package. By the way, the trains generally run once per hour with a few additional trains intercity trains (these are high speed and pretty plush) running on the line (you need to be sure that do stop at Civitavecchia). The regular trains are generally pretty old and can be crowded depending on the time of the day. These trains have Italian air conditioning (open windows) so if its really a hot day you will sweat and get nice and clammy.

Hank