September 17th – Rome, Italy

The day had finally arrived! After months of planning and anticipation, I was finally going to Rome!!! This was obviously one of the ports I was most looking forward to when planning this trip. As soon as I knew my cruise would be going to Rome, I knew I wanted to see as much as I could in 1 day since I had never been there before. The problem was, my mom spent 4 days in Rome less than a year ago and she had no desire to repeat everything she just saw. It didn’t take much time for us to realize that we should split up for this port day and each do our own thing. She ended up organizing her own tour with Rome in Limo, geared towards people who have been to Rome before (Jany even let her use the 50 Euro discount for booking multiple tours, even though I was also benefiting from that discount for my tour!) 

I booked the Rome Highlights tour and found 7 people from the roll call to join me. Like usual, I woke up at 6:15am, ate breakfast on Lido, and met my group at 7:45am in the lobby. We met our driver Enrico just outside the port area at 8am. Enrico told us a tidbit that made me even happier I booked all these tours with Rome in Limo… he said that he and all the other Rome in Limo drivers arrive at the port 1 hour before our tour is scheduled to start! He had been in the port area since 7am even though we weren’t supposed to meet him until 8am! He said that way, the drivers can discuss any traffic issues they know of, and if someone has problems with their van, they have time to get a new van before the tourists get off the ship. 

We drove for 1 hour and 20 minutes from the port area in Civitavecchia into the city of Rome. Our first stop was the Pantheon. Enrico left us right next to it and gave us 20 minutes to explore. I listened to the Rick Steves audio guide as I walked around and took lots of photos. Sadly, it was an overcast day, and the light streaming in from the oculus didn’t create the direct beam of light effect which I have heard sometimes happens. The room seemed brightly lit, and lacked the spiritual effect that I was hoping to experience.

Next, we drove to the Trevi Fountain, and Enrico left us a 5 minute walk away, pointed us in the right direction, and told us to meet him back at the van in 20 minutes. When we arrived, there were a few people there, but it wasn’t very crowded. Of course, we all threw coins over our shoulder in hopes the legend would come true and we could all return to Rome someday!

After we got back in the van, Enrico drove us past a few other famous landmarks. I was a bit disappointed that we didn’t get to walk/sit on the Spanish Steps and that we couldn’t take 5 minutes to hop out of the van to take a decent photo of these iconic Rome sites, but I guess there were just too many other things we had to get to…

The Spanish Steps

The Victor Emmanuel Monument

We got back out of the van when we reached Circus Maximus and the Palatine Hill. Enrico explained a bit of the history, and even showed us a book with pictures of how it likely looked when there was actual a stadium there…

Up next, we drove to the Roman Forum, and we had about 20 minutes to take photos and walk through the museums on Capitol Hill to meet Enrico at the bottom of the stairs.

Incredibly, we had done all of that and it was still before 11am! Our next stop was the Coliseum. Enrico dropped us off and said to meet him at the Arch of Constantine in a few minutes while he parked the car.

Unfortunately, the Arch of Constantine was half covered in scaffolding…

When I was planning this trip, my goal was to pre-purchase tickets to as many attractions as possible. My mission was accomplished with one exception: The Coliseum! For some reason, they never updated their website to sell tickets for any dates in September. I literally checked it multiple times every day, but for whatever reason, they never had tickets available for our date. I had emailed Jany a few times about the problem, and she said she was aware of it, that everyone was having the same problem, and not to worry about it. We told Enrico about it when we first met him at the port that morning, and he was able to purchase our tickets magically so that we had our skip-the-line passes by the time we arrived at the Coliseum later that morning!

After he parked the car, Enrico escorted us directly to the entrance. We literally had no wait at all, but there was a HUGE line waiting to get in (Enrico said they had at least a 2 hour wait! The skip-the-line passes were well worth the minimal extra charge!!) Enrico said to meet him at the van in 30 minutes, so I listened to the Rick Steves audio guide as I quickly walked around the first and second levels and took tons of photos. It was a bit rushed, but in the end, I don’t think I missed anything by not staying longer.

For our last stop before lunch, Enrico drove us to the top of a hill with several embassies. He told us to look through the keyhole in the doors of one of the buildings, and we had a perfect view of the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica! Sadly, the Basilica isn’t visible in my photos, but you can just imagine how cool it was to see it through that little key hole!

Enrico gave us two options for lunch. We could get some take away food in a market or go to a sit down restaurant. Enrico said we had the time to sit down, so we chose the restaurant option. We went to a place called L’Insalata Ricca. 

They offered very reasonable prices and a huge menu with many options for appetizers, salads, pizzas, pastas, and entrees. They also allowed us to do separate checks. 

I ordered the brushetta with garlic and olive oil:

They brought out each dish from the kitchen as it was ready, but mine was last to arrive and came 15 minutes after the last person before me, so everyone was almost done eating by the time my dish arrived. The waiter said it was because we did separate checks, but that did not make sense and I think they probably just forgot about my dish. 

I ate very quickly, and we paid and left to drive to the Vatican. We arrived at the back entrance to the Vatican at 2pm to meet our guide Marco. He has not given many Vatican tours before, but he was a great guide. He warned us that we would have to walk/run fast to see everything in just 2 hours. We had pre-purchased tickets online, so we went through the metal detectors and exchanged our vouchers for real tickets.

Marco took us through several rooms and halls, and stopped along the way to explain the history and art. It was very crowded inside, but Marco moved fast and dodged between people so we had to rush to keep up with him! It was worth it though because we got to see a lot. 

I was amazed by the ceilings throughout the Vatican… I think I gave myself a neck ache by the end of the day because I spent so much time looking up!!

Marco explained each of the paintings inside the Sistine Chapel before we entered because you cannot talk inside. Unfortunately, no photos are allowed but it was incredible to view in person, especially considering Michelangelo had no prior experience painting before he did this project!

Once we left the Sistine Chapel, we made our way back outside and ended up in St. Peter’s Square.

Marco lead us into St. Peter’s Basilica. I was not prepared for how grand it is inside this building! The ceilings go so high and looking down the hall, it looks so majestic. 

Marco showed us the tomb of Pope John the XXIII. I was very weirded out by it because his body is so well preserved despite him passing 50 years ago.

Marco then lead us out to the exit at 4pm, which was timed perfectly to see the changing of the guards!

Here are a few photos from standing in St. Peter’s Square…

We met Enrico with the van on a side street right next to the Square. Our last stop was a bit of a surprise, as it was not scheduled on our original itinerary! Enrico took us to see Piazza Navona and to get some gelato. Marco gave us 20 minutes to see the square, take photos of the fountain featured in the drowning scene from Angels and Demons, and to buy gelato. It was delicious and the perfect way to end a fabulous day in Rome!

On the 1 hour drive back to the port, I read some of the information in the Rick Steves Mediterranean Cruise Ports book to try to take in all that I had seen and learned all day. It is a jam-packed itinerary, but it was fabulous and well worth the extra expense over doing it yourself on public transit. We really saw all of Rome in 1 day!

We got back to the ship at 6pm and said goodbye to Enrico before boarding the ship to get ready for dinner.

My mom got back from her tour at 6:30pm, and neither of us was hungry at all, so she called Irena in the MDR. Irena said it would be okay if we came to the late seating in the MDR. She sat us with our usual wait staff because one of the tables was empty as they ate at the Italian specialty restaurant. It was kind of funny to have a table for 8 all to ourselves, but we were grateful that she accommodated us and we could avoid eating from the buffet.

Mediterranean Seafood Chowder

Hawaiian Fruit Plate

Duck a l’orange

Dessert menu

Pistachio and Almond Clafoutis

We finished dinner at 9:30pm and we were completely exhausted! We were very happy we didn’t have the late seating for dinner every night haha We went back to the cabin and were asleep by 11pm.

Up Next: “Under the Tuscan Sun” in Pisa and Florence!