Rome Excursion Help

[wishiwasindisneyjen]

I am torn between two excursions in Rome on the Med cruise. Has anyone done The Best of Rome (Adult Only) or Jumping Back to Eternal Rome (Adult Only)? I like what the Best of Rome offers but I would really like to take the train, so leaning towards Eternal Rome.

We want to do a Disney excursion because this is our first time and my husband would prefer to stick with Disney excursions.

Thanks in advance!

[Ajojo]

I have not taken either of those tours, but I have taken tours that bus you to Rome and one that you take the train into Rome. My experience is that the train travel is much faster and enjoyable. On the bus, we ran into traffic and the ride was quite long.

If we go to Rome again, I will choose to travel via the train.

[no1djay]

Hi there, I would highly recommend Rome Cabs. I used them my last time in Rome and they were excellent. Not cheap, but well worth it.

[o&smom]

We did The Best of Rome tour in 2010 and loved it! The bus ride was not that bad. With all the walking it was a nice break and the scenery was pretty. We are going on the 12 day to Greece and Turkey and will be doing Rome on our own and taking the train. I don't really think you can go wrong with either!

Best of luck!

Marni

[mca]

Read this link

http://www.roninrome.com/%20sites-an...y-for-cruisers

worked well for my family including 11 and 14 yr old.

total cost with lunch 200$

[Calfan]

We did Jumping Back into Eternal Rome on the 2011 Med cruise. We did the family version, and I would definitely recommend it for adults too. We did lots of excursions on that cruise that involved buses, so the train ride was a nice change. It was scenic and relatively quick. Once in Rome, we really enjoyed the tour. Our guide kept up a pretty brisk pace, and we got to see quite a bit. My husband and I had both been to Rome more than once before, and we were a bit skeptical about the ability to see Rome in a day, but we wanted our kids (6 and 8 at the time) to see Rome since this was their first trip to Europe. Also, we were specifically looking for a "Vatican light" excursion in Rome since we were a little worried that our kids would be bored with the Vatican. Jumping Back into Eternal Rome basically just does St. Peter's Square and Basilica. So part of your decision might involve how much time you want to spend in the Vatican. The excursion also included a a nice and not-too-rushed lunch. I am definitely with you on sticking with a Disney excursion for Rome. We did not want to risk getting back late and missing the ship if we did it on our own. We did Naples on our own with a private tour of Capri and Pompeii, but the overall distance had me less worried than heading into Rome on our own would have.

[geffric]

did a private tour with Rudi..http://www.rome-car-tours.com/ was great and saw much more than the boat excursions did.. plus did not have a big lunch.

[carpenta]

Originally Posted by Calfan

We did Jumping Back into Eternal Rome on the 2011 Med cruise. We did the family version, and I would definitely recommend it for adults too. We did lots of excursions on that cruise that involved buses, so the train ride was a nice change. It was scenic and relatively quick. Once in Rome, we really enjoyed the tour. Our guide kept up a pretty brisk pace, and we got to see quite a bit. My husband and I had both been to Rome more than once before, and we were a bit skeptical about the ability to see Rome in a day, but we wanted our kids (6 and 8 at the time) to see Rome since this was their first trip to Europe. Also, we were specifically looking for a "Vatican light" excursion in Rome since we were a little worried that our kids would be bored with the Vatican. Jumping Back into Eternal Rome basically just does St. Peter's Square and Basilica. So part of your decision might involve how much time you want to spend in the Vatican. The excursion also included a a nice and not-too-rushed lunch. I am definitely with you on sticking with a Disney excursion for Rome. We did not want to risk getting back late and missing the ship if we did it on our own. We did Naples on our own with a private tour of Capri and Pompeii, but the overall distance had me less worried than heading into Rome on our own would have.

We did the same excursion in 2010 and the train was really neat. I have to say it is a real nice overview on Rome and our guide was 1st class. Very knowledgeable and freindly. The lunch was good and the wine was a nice treat.

[jlwhitney]

Originally Posted by Calfan

We did Jumping Back into Eternal Rome on the 2011 Med cruise. We did the family version, and I would definitely recommend it for adults too. We did lots of excursions on that cruise that involved buses, so the train ride was a nice change. It was scenic and relatively quick. Once in Rome, we really enjoyed the tour. Our guide kept up a pretty brisk pace, and we got to see quite a bit. My husband and I had both been to Rome more than once before, and we were a bit skeptical about the ability to see Rome in a day, but we wanted our kids (6 and 8 at the time) to see Rome since this was their first trip to Europe. Also, we were specifically looking for a "Vatican light" excursion in Rome since we were a little worried that our kids would be bored with the Vatican. Jumping Back into Eternal Rome basically just does St. Peter's Square and Basilica. So part of your decision might involve how much time you want to spend in the Vatican. The excursion also included a a nice and not-too-rushed lunch. I am definitely with you on sticking with a Disney excursion for Rome. We did not want to risk getting back late and missing the ship if we did it on our own. We did Naples on our own with a private tour of Capri and Pompeii, but the overall distance had me less worried than heading into Rome on our own would have.

Actually doing Rome on your own is very doable and many many people did it on my cruise. It is such a long port day that it is so easy to plan to leave around 5 and still get back with time to spare, even if you miss your first planned train.

I highly recommend doing it on your own, we saw way more in a day than any of the excursions and it was nice not being herded around.

If anyone wants to do ROme on thier own, ask about it and many will help out and do some searches on the boards, since there is so much info out there

[DisneyHelen]

I am planning to do Journey Back to Eternal Rome in june. Next year lunch is on your own for this tour and it is much cheaper than the best of Rome which is over 300.00 dollars for an adult. My husband and daughter have been to the Vatican before which made us choose this tour

[justhat]

We're looking at these for our cruises too, and we're also leery of doing anything on our own. We did the Baltic in 2010 and there was a problem with the trains in Germany and our train was over 2 hours late as no trains were moving on the lines at all. We, thankfully, booked a DCL excursion and they were excellent about ensuring that we were occupied (not just sitting at the train station) in the interim and DCL waited for us to return before leaving port. That would NOT have been the case had we booked one on our own.

So we are looking at these as well. Last time (2007) we booked a private tour through DCL, but I don't see that option listed anymore so not sure it will be a choice so we have narrowed it down to these 2. We're doing a 7 night and 12 night B2B, so maybe we can do both.

[Angie_Ohio]

We did Rome on our own using a trip report from DisneyFalcon. It was so easy. I had my 16 year old son and my 70 year old parents. We followed her directions and had advance tickets to the Colosseum and Vatican, plus podcasts from Rick Steves. The trains run very regularly and we made sure to leave at 5 so we had plenty of time to return onboard by 7:30. We did the 11 night cruise and visited all the ports on our own. The people in Italy and Barcelona were very friendly and helpful if we were ever confused about the trains or metro system. An older gentleman, who spoke no English, helped us get on the right metro back to our hotel when he noticed we appeared unsure. Looking forward to our 7 night in June.