Originally posted by LouiseT:
Jim--sound like you took the train to the ship. Was it the local train? Did you have to do a lot of steps at the Civitavecchia station? Did you have to board the train in Rome in a terrible rush? We are a couple of seniors and DH thinks we would be better off taking the ship transport. How rough was the train trip? We are pretty tough and do plan to do most of the ports on our own.
Hi all! Thanks for kind words on my review. We really did enjoy it and look forward to being able to do something similar soon.
Louise- Yes, we took the train with our luggage from Rome Termini to the port in Civ. Its not as troublsome as is sounds and you are certainly not going to be the only ones doing it. The train starts in Rome so getting on with your luggage is not too time sensitive as teh train is usually waiting there for a while with time to board. We took a regional commuter train into the port and an IC+ (intercity) train back to Rome (without luggage). IF you do your best to limit luggage, it is very doable. You can determine if you can do it at home if you take ftroute's advice and see it you are capable of lifting your bags at least waste high. Have one of you take the smallest bag and board the train and then have the other pass the bags up. We had a large suitcase, a garment suitcase, a meidum to small suitcase and then the carry -on and we had not problems getting on or off with plenty of time. Everyone does seem to work as a team and help each other. If you are coming into the airport and going to the ship the same day, it may be worth the cruise transfer costs (from the airport you would have to take a train into Rome, change trains and go back out to Civ and that might be a bit much all at once.) If you are going to be staying in Rome, than its probably worth the train trip.
Steps in Civ... yes, you have to get your luggage down one flight and up one flight as you have to walk under the tracks to get to the station. Make sure all your bags have wheels as its a few blocks walk with them to get to the cruise ship busses.
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================================================== ========== Carnival Cruise Lines:
Fantasy 90, Celebration 95, Victory 05, Conquest 05, Spirit 6/06, Freedom 6/08, Holiday 7/08, Victory 6/09, Valor 9/09, Dream 6/10, Splendor 8/10,Conquest 8/11,Magic 11/11,Triumph 4/12,Spirit 7/12,Freedom 11/12, Triumph 2/13 - The fire cruise
NCL Dream October 2006, RCCL Mariner OTS June 2007
rollerboy1- I really wasn't watching for lifts or such, but I do not remember seeing them. You can go to the trainitalia website here and see if they say anything about it.
On a similar note though, I do remember a lack of ramps from sidewalks to street areas while going from the train to the hotel (we were dragging our luggage behind us) so maybe they are not handicapped aware over there??
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================================================== ========== Carnival Cruise Lines:
Fantasy 90, Celebration 95, Victory 05, Conquest 05, Spirit 6/06, Freedom 6/08, Holiday 7/08, Victory 6/09, Valor 9/09, Dream 6/10, Splendor 8/10,Conquest 8/11,Magic 11/11,Triumph 4/12,Spirit 7/12,Freedom 11/12, Triumph 2/13 - The fire cruise
NCL Dream October 2006, RCCL Mariner OTS June 2007
Thanks Jim for the train info. We are staying one night at the Rome Hilton, so my guess is we will stay with the plan to take the ship transport. My DH would have to do the heavy lifting and since we are doing a b2b it is not worth getting a pulled muscle. We are doing most of our tours by train so will spring for the ship bus.
I really appreciate your posting your excellent review. I have been researching for a while but was hoping some of the early summer cruisers would post their experiences. We are really looking forward to the trip--eastern med cruise and TA back home. Good way to celebrate our 50th anniversary.
Originally posted by LouiseT:
Thanks Jim for the train info. We are staying one night at the Rome Hilton, so my guess is we will stay with the plan to take the ship transport. My DH would have to do the heavy lifting and since we are doing a b2b it is not worth getting a pulled muscle. We are doing most of our tours by train so will spring for the ship bus.
I really appreciate your posting your excellent review. I have been researching for a while but was hoping some of the early summer cruisers would post their experiences. We are really looking forward to the trip--eastern med cruise and TA back home. Good way to celebrate our 50th anniversary.
No problem. Using the ship's transport is probably a safe plan. It's also the most comfortable. Having to tote your luggage all over and on and off the train can be exhausting and definetely was work... you don't need to arrive the first day of this cruise tired out to start with!
If you come up with any other questions, feel free to ask!
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================================================== ========== Carnival Cruise Lines:
Fantasy 90, Celebration 95, Victory 05, Conquest 05, Spirit 6/06, Freedom 6/08, Holiday 7/08, Victory 6/09, Valor 9/09, Dream 6/10, Splendor 8/10,Conquest 8/11,Magic 11/11,Triumph 4/12,Spirit 7/12,Freedom 11/12, Triumph 2/13 - The fire cruise
NCL Dream October 2006, RCCL Mariner OTS June 2007
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