Hello

We are going on a 7 night western mediterranean cruise leaving/ending civettechia (Rome) (9th to 16th July).

We will have 4 full days in Rome prior to boarding the ship and due to flight times will need to spend an extra night in Rome post cruise before flying home. Cruise arrives back in port at 7am.

Do you think that by the time we disembark and then get the train back to Rome that we would have time to drop off our bags at a hotel near the train station and then perhaps go to Florence for the day? Does anyone have any other suggestions as to what we can do for our final day? (Family of 4 with two girls aged 11 and 8). This is our first time in Italy. The cruise does go to Naples and Le Spezia so we plan on doing a tour at each place to see Pisa and Pompeii and could include florence on the day in Le Spezia.

Thanks

Why not go to Florence one of the 4 days before the cruise? If I read that correctly...

Exactly what I was going to suggest, but Jamikins beat me to it. Give yourselves a nice whole day before the cruise for Florence. Rather than making that last day hectic, see something else in Rome.

I agree.

while you are in Rome before the cruise, you will probably come up with an idea for the day after the cruise. racing off to Florence and back seems a bit stressful to me.

Florence! No way. Way too hectic. I vote you spend it in Rome. That means you have 5 days in Rome. 5 lifetimes wouldn't be enough in the eternal city I suggest a memorable dinner in Trastevere. Happy travels.

As much as I like Florence, I would skip it this time. You cannot do it justice on a rushed day trip from Rome. You will be closer to it during your port of call in La Spezia, but I would spend that day taking the train to the Cinque Terra towns. Look forward to your next trip to Florence, Tuscany and Venice.

I would take an early train to Florence while you are in Rome PRE-cruise; that train trip only takes 1.5 hours each way if you use fast services. And if you REALLY want to make the most of your Florence day go as early as possible and return as late as possible.

I would NOT plan on seeing Florence from anywhere that a cruise ship docks.

And trains from LaSpezia take over two hours each way to Florence...DON'T.

I agree with the others, it is too hectic. Try to work Florence in your 4 days. Where will you be spending your one night post-cruise? That would make a difference also. You still have to get back to the airport (FCO?) for your flights home.

Are you planning to do your own tours while in Rome? There is so much to see and do there. We can't ever get enough Rome!

http://ciaobambino.com/rome-with-kid...o-in-72-hours/

Some other ideas:
Take them to see the Mouth of Truth at Church of Santa Maria.

"La Bocca della Verità: Your kids probably don't know who Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck were, but that won't stop them from getting chills when they play the ultimate game of truth during their own Roman holiday. La bocca della verità—"the mouth of truth"—is a giant marble face found at the Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin. Legend has it that if someone tells a lie and then slips their hand into the mouth, their hand will be bitten off. Don't worry. The mouth won't bite your child's hand off... or will it?"

Bartolucci: A toy shop near La Fontana di Trevi that sells gorgeous handcrafted wooden toys. Home of Pinocchio!

Here is a tour that I think might be nice for your 2 girls:

https://rometourswithkids.com/ostiatourwithkids.html
(tour of ostia antica - outside Rome)

There are some nice kids' tours on the website.

Hope this helps.

And taking the train from Roma Termini to Florence <B>Santa Maria Novella</B> station is ideal because you can easily walk to major sites from the SMN station including the Duomo as well as major museums.

If you are smart, IMO, getting to FCO from your Rome hotel is WORTH taking a pre-arranged taxi which usually only costs 5 Euro more than a regular one. If you are returning to the US you will need to check in at Terminal 5 first. If you take the train to FCO from Termini you'll need to take the shuttle service from terminal 3 to 5; just go there directly and be done with that.

Hi everyone and thank you all for your advice. I like the idea of going to Florence on one of our Rome days.

To clarify some questions, Whilst in Rome we are staying right next to the Pantheon. When we return from the cruise we chose to stay next to the Termini train station. We will have the day in Rome post cruise and then one night before our flight back to Australia at 12 noon.

Luv2travel15: Thanks very much for all of your suggestions - i will certainly look into them. Our must sees in Rome are the Colloseum, Roman Forum, Vatican and some of the beautiful fountains i.e. Trevi, Bernini. To do these places and keep the kids interested i thought i might look into tours that especially cater to children. The kids especially want to learn how to make pizza, pasta or gelato so i will look into that too.

Thanks

Are you and your family physically prepared to explore on foot an entire city in just one day? What do you hope to accomplish? Do you have a must-do list? What will you settle on not seeing?

It's true, Florence is a rather smallish city — from Galleria dell'Accademia to Pitti Palace is just 1.6 km — but it's one of the richest in Renaissance history. What it lacks in walking miles is quickly filled with the strains of standing long hours. How many hours of a day can you and your family tolerate standing and walking on your feet?

If your plan is to arrive by 9 AM in the morning and see a thing-or-two before grabbing a leisurely lunch, and then seeing something else in the afternoon, then I suppose that can be accomplished without wearing you all out. With travel, it will be an exhausting day, nonetheless. How does one exhausting day affect the following day's scheduled plans? Will everybody's legs and feet keep up with your ambitions?

These are types of questions one needs to ask before planning a side trip from a short visit to a city like Rome. It's one thing to be an ambitious solo traveler with only one person's stamina to consider. When traveling with four people in tow, it's an entirely different animal.

if you plan well, no reason why you shouldn't have a very interesting day in Florence. However, with children the age of yours, I'm not sure that I'd use one of my precious Rome days this way. Other day trip options are Tivoli to see the Villa D'Este with its lovely gardens and fountains, Ostia Antica, [the old port of Rome] and Orvieto with its gorgeous cathedral.

Of them all, in July Tivoli would be my choice, so long as I could get there other than in the non a/c public bus.

Hi.. after much thought we have decided to leave Florence for another time. Hopefully we will have the opportunity to come again and visit more of Italy - Florence will certainly be on the list. We will probably just spend the last day in Rome and go shopping, walking and yes travelinggaby we will visit the Borghese gardens.
Thanks

Put "Rome" into this forum and you will see a plethora of ideas/suggestions/comment to make planning easier.