Could anyone tell me the most cost effective way to get from Rome to Civitavecchia? My cruise offers transfers at 160 USD per person. Sounds like a lot to me. Any other suggestions?

We were just there about three weeks ago..also on a cruise. You can get a train for far less than that...I believe less than 10 Euros. The train station is a few minutes walk from the cruise ship docks. You could probably get a cab from the train station all the way to the ship easily enough.

We walked to and from the train station to the ship because there were no taxis going to the train station that morning or when we returned in the evening. I was very surprised by this. A recent poster talked about this also.
It was much more than a few minutes walk. We were exhausted after a full day of walking on our tour of Rome. Hired a private tour guide who met us there. It was an exhausting walk back and I would have paid a lot for a taxi but there were none. We even got worried about the time getting back to the ship because of the walk but we made it okay. We loved the private guide and did not mind the train at all but it was a hike to and from the train that we were not at all prepared for.
The only taxis around were only interested in taking people all the way into Rome. I surely thought there woould be taxis but no such luck.
Intrepid1, did you do the walk to the train?

I just realized that you will have your luggage going to the ship. Did not read closely enough. Do not depend on a taxi from the train station. It is way too far to try and carry any kind of luggage. You could do a search on this board for private car service in Rome. Several are recommended on this board. We used limoservicerome on another trip back and forth to the airport and were happy with them. I have no idea if the cost would compare to the cruise transfer or not.

My understanding is the cruise ship line will have buses. At least this is what Carnival told us.

Buses from Rome to the ship I would assume not buses from the train station in Civ. to the ship?? I think for the importance of this connection, getting from Rome to the ship, I would go with whatever the ship provides, even if it is $160.

Our cruise line had a shuttle (free) which took people back and forth from the ship itself to the entrance to the port area. From there we walked back and forth to the train station in Civitavecchia and for us that took no more than five minutes.

If we had had to walk all the way to the ship it would have been 10, perhaps 15 minutes from the train station at the most.

I would not do it hauling luggage but I did see several cabs waiting at the train station when we got off the train (upon return from Rome).

The cabs that want to "take you all the way to Rome" are usually the ones that are around when a ship first arrives.

We took the free shuttle bus from our ship to the dock gates, then walked to the station. It wasn't far; maybe 2 blocks? We had luggage, but we travel light so it wasn't much of an issue.

sunshynesl,

I would not recommend trying to do it yourself via train with your luggage. It would be very stressful if you had problems getting a taxi at the station in Civ., and it would be somewhat of hassle on the train as well. However, you can probably hire a driver for much less than what the cruise line is offering. I suggest posting your question on the cruisecritic web site, you will get many more suggestions there.

Mark

That seems unusually high, as Crystal only charges $80 roundtrip!

I went from Rome to Civitavechia just a few weeks ago and rode first class on the train and paid just a little over 14 euro...definetely take the train route

You can get a driver from Civitavecchia to Rome for about $90.00 to $100.00 for two people. Have the hotel you are staying at in Rome arrange for you to be picked up at the ship. They will be very happy to do this.
Alberto