08 Jul 2014
We booked (via email) Caesar Tours' private, full-day walking tour of Rome for our port call in Civitavecchia on the Disney Magic. This was the best port decision we made on the whole cruise. Our guide, Damiano, was incredible. His knowledge of art, history, politics and culture was unsurpassed. Plus, he was charming, accommodating and even kept the interest of our 12-year-old daughter with his engaging historical tales. A driver picked the three of us up at our ship and drove us to Rome. The trip, unfortunately, was longer than anticipated (90 minutes) because of the snarled traffic. Despite arriving an hour late to meet Damiano, everyone was helpful and accommodating. Caesar Tours even worked out a snafu with the tickets we had tried to purchase in advance as instructed for the Colosseum tour.
In all we toured the Colosseum, the Forum, Trevi Fountain (which Damiano alerted us wasn't working because of repairs, but we opted to see anyway), The Pantheon, The Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum and St. Peter's Basilica plus several other sites. We even managed to squeeze in a trip to a pizzeria. We saw and learned a lot and Damiano kept the pace perfect. Best of all, we were able to skip the lines at the Vatican and the Colosseum, which enabled us to spend more time viewing beautiful Rome. At the end, we were driven back to our ship (again skirting the worst of the Rome traffic jams).
The cost for the private tour is higher than what the cruise line offered, but the quality was worth every Euro. (And make sure you bring enough Euros to pay the full cost in cash; Just like in ancient Rome, Caesar doesn't accept credit cards.) Even the best of our cruise-organized tours failed to come close to the scope, breadth and detail that Damiano and Caesar provided.