Transfer to Rome port

[Jim McLean]

Sailing from Rome's Civitavecchia port on August 23 on Carnival's Liberty. They have a bus service from airport to the ship for $85 per person one way.
Understand we can take the train for much less and the train station in Civitavecchia is only 3 or 4 blocks from the port entrance where a shuttle bus services any cruise ships in port.
Appreciate any information on this such as:
I assume one has to transfer at Rome's Termini
rail station to catch the Civitavecchia train after arriving from the airport. Is this fairly convenient?
When arriving in Civitavecchia how much is a cab to the ship?
If you choose to walk to the port gate is the short walk reported reasonable pulling a suitcase?
Once at the gate is there (as reported) a fairly frequent shuttle bus to the ship? What is the shuttle bus cost?
Any info along these lines would be appreciated including alternates and/or recent experiences.
Obviously we wish we had unlimited travel funds and could simply forego finding the less expensive transfer possibilities but the extra $170 for a couple just to get to the ship seemed a bit of a gouge!
Thanks, Jim McLean

[Hank]

Jim, Your info is pretty good. The port shuttle is free (operated by the port) and runs from the main port gate to the pier. When you arrive in Civatavecchia you might have a problem even finding a taxi,,but if there is a taxi they can take you to the ship for about 10 Euros (its negotiable and they don't want the short haul). If they run the meter is would somewhat less than 10 Euros. If you want to walk from the station to the port you just exit the station onto the sidewalk and make a right turn and start walking. Its pretty flat and doable if you can handle your luggage. Transferring at Rome Termini is a bit of a pain depending on the tracks. The bummer is that the train takes a lot longer than a taxi or transfer. It is about 1:05 from FCO into Rome and than another hour or so to the port. Add to that the time spent waiting for trains and you are looking at up to 3 hours on the trains. I can drive from FCO to the port in under an hour! Unfortunately the port transfer problem is common in many European ports but trains do save money. I know that the per person cost of the train from FCO to Rome is 9.50 Euros but not sure of the exact cost to the port (should be about 15 Euros per person). Be very careful with your luggage.. as thefts are quite common.

[Jim McLean]

Hank, Thanks very much for details on traveling from FCO to the cruise ships. Sounds like we have to decide if its worth the hassle of the trains to save $100 or so.
Still bothers me that Carnival hits you for $85 each for an hour bus trip. I quote their trnasfer comments, "We highly recommend you purchase a transfer...alternate transportation will be costly and difficult to obtain. Shuttle service and taxis are extremely limited and the train station is not within convenient walking distance." Apparently Carnival considers $85 a bargain compared to 20 Euros for the train.