You will absolutely love your mini Rome vacation… the only worry you will have when thinking of your cruise Rome visit to the Italian capital is the fact that your ship isn’t staying there longer!
Are you planning a mini Rome vacation before or after your Mediterranean cruise? Or just hoping to learn more about Rome Italy culture during your 12 hour visit?
You must be so excited! I know I was, as I dreamed of visiting the Eternal city since the times I learned about it from the history books back in school and had no idea Rome could be visited by cruise ship.
But, dear cruisers, I am not going to write much about the anticent Rome architecture, art, artifacts and buildings here.There are so many websites you can read more about that.
What I want to focus on here and drive into your head is how important it is to…organize your time in Rome well! To arrange and book everything you can ahead of your trip!
From here you can either jump straight to the pages below or keep reading to get a better understanding of the problematics of staying in Rome...
Why? Regardless of how much time you have in this city, there will never be enough and you are setting yourself for frustration if you find yourself standing in just another two-hour long line, unnecessarily!
I am writing the new and imporoved version of this page at the very end of 2019 and just at the end of October this year, my hubby and I visited Rome on our honeymoon. Here's us on the flight to Rome...
Namely, my husband has always believed he was a Roman soldier in one of his past lives (hope he never finds out I am telling your that).
He is fascinated by the law and oder of the ancient Roman army and gets goosebumps just by watching Viasat history channel programmes about ancient Rome, especially the ones about the legionaries.
So, what a great opportunity to combine pleasure (his big desire to see Rome, celebrating our wedding) and business (me updating my Rome web pages)!
What does all of this have to do with you? Regardless of how much we enjoyed our little honeymoon Rome vacation, we were both so stressed by…
And I don't want the same thing to happen to you dear cruisers!
Here's just one of my 'queueing in Rome' photos...
You may think I came unprepared…oh, no, I spent two months planning everything ahead online: buying tours, planning where to stay in Rome, transportation tickets, planning our mornings and afteroons.
Still, at one point, it all led to my husband's total meltdown: he was stomping his feet at the pavement and crying in despair: 'I refuse to go anywhere anymore! I am tired! I've had enough of walking up and down and getting lost!', just like a little child.
It took a cold beer at Rome's legendary Mariani cafe and a promise that after this next Airbnb experience (organic cheese and salami tasting) we'd go straight home, for him to calm down.
And my husband certainly isn't a couch potato: he is very fit, he wanted to be out and about exploring. It's just that the distances, the lines, the physical strain and rushing all the time got the best of him.
So, if you know you and your loved ones want a relaxed pre/post-cruise Rome vacation, do yourselves a favor and do the following steps ahead of your visit…
So how do you fit everything into a 12-hour mini Rome vacation? Cruise ships dock in the small seaside town of Civitavecchia Italy which is just over an hour away from the centre of Rome.
Your major concern will be...
1) getting from the port of Civitavecchia to the city of Rome
2) maximizing your stay here i.e. seeing as much as possible in this short time
Of course, there are always cruise line organised tours to cover both but today independent tour operators have perfected their tours to suit the needs of the cruise passengers...which gives you more choice and lesses the risk of coming to the ship only to hear your favourite tour has been 'sold out'! My page Getting from Civitavecchia Port to Rome on a Tour saves you time trying to pick the best one among hundreds of them.
Lucky
you! You get to experience all the major attractions of Rome, feel the spirit
of this amazing city, taste pasta Carbonara, see the best museums in Rome, maybe even visit an
archeological location a little outside Rome (we loved Ostia Antica)!
Jump to the page that tells you What to do in Rome before or after your cruise for a well structure guide to your mini Rome vacation, as well as tips on getting to and from the airport or cruise port before or after your stay.
ROME VACATION ARTICLES TABLE OF CONTENTS:
4. Capri ferry
10. Livorno Italy
13. Naples to Capri
16. Messina Sicily
17. Pisa Train
18. Visiting Pompeii
19. Pompeii forum
20. Port of Piraeus
22. Venice vaporetto
23. Venice water bus
24. Livorno map
25. Getting to Zadar
27. Walk Venice
28. Mykonos beach
29. Tourist information Lucca Italy
30. Pomepii homes