getting from port in Rome back to Florence post-cruise

[Grammabev]

Hi, We are doing Florence post-cruise for five days. When we get off the Carnival Freedom in Rome, is the train right there to get back to Florence that day? Do I have to make previous arrangements? Can it be done that day? Any help is appreciated. Bev

[S_B_S]

Hi! You may want to take a look at www.trenitalia.it for Italian train schedules. The page loads in Italian first, but they also have an English version of the page. Serge

[ftroute]

Grammabev,

Train station is a short walk from the port entrance in Civitavecchia. Take shuttle from ship to the entrance.

To travel to Florence (Firenze) you have essentially two choices. (1) Take the train to Rome. Change in Rome for a train to Firenze. Eurostar is the fastest. (2) Take a train to Pisa. Change in Pisa for a train to Firenze. Try to get a direct (regional) instead of a local. There are a lot of small stations between Civitavecchia and Pisa.

My wife and I are going to do the same thing in June. Spend some time on trenitalia.com/en/ as it has a lot of useful information. Some trains can be booked before you leave, some cannot.
Foye

[joyceh]

One other note on booking with Trenitalia. You cannot book tickets online (ie. their website) until 30 days before departure date. We also checked with a travel agent who had the same constraint. Joyceh

[Grammabev]

Thanks to all for the info on the train station. I am making all the arrangments by my lonesome and it gets a little scary when it's our first time to Europe being I'm in my mid 60's. Bev

[ftroute]

Bev,

First of all, don't be worried because of your age. Those same fears were mine when I first went to Italy 39 yeras ago.

You have plenty of time to make it to Florence before nightfall. Not to worry there.

Given what I understand of your situation I would do this. (1) Take a train to Rome. As earlier stated, go to Italian Trains and check out the schedules. Do this before you leave for your trip. You really want an IC train to Rome versus the local.

When in Rome (Roma Termini station) get a ticket to Florence on the EuroStar (the fast train.) The EuroStar trains appear to run about every hour on the hour. Again, check trenitalia.com.

My investigations on this about a month ago indicated that you could buy, in advance, on-line. Checks yesterday afternoon indicated that this was true only if you were in Italy.

My wife and I had a discussion about this at dinner tonight. We decided not to worry about it as we never had a problem with trains when we lived in Italy. If second class is full, go first class. At our age, we have earned the difference.

Email me at My Email for more info.

[ftroute]

Bev,
Well the email link didn't work. Will try another: ftroute@bellsouth.net