Skip the line Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel Guided Tour

Paid for but did not get to see it. We booked it but was never informed that we could not see it. Yuck

Having a tour guide who knows so much history about the Vatican and its museums helps to learn about the art and all the history! It was easy to meet our guide at the meeting point before the tour. Good organization.

The night before our tour, I received a message that our tour had been pushed back a half hour, and I was concerned because we were on a time schedule with another tour in central Rome booked for the afternoon. The meeting point had also been changed which for locals, is not a problem but when you come from Australia for a day in Rome, it is a challenge to navigate to a very small office. Anyway, we made the meeting point, after asking other guides, police , taxis etc only to stand and wait for guide for another 15 mins into our new tour time. We then walked to the Vatican lines for another wait in lines…… an hour gone of our original tour time! Then the guide wanted everyone to go to the toilet…. more time wasting! Eventually we started shuffling through the museums with a million others at 11.10am when our original booking was for 10am!!!! I loved seeing all the artifacts, statues, paintings etc. it was all fabulous, but stressful to keep up with guide, Anna. We were at the Sistine Chapel with 200 other people , herded into the middle of the room, when we realised if we didn’t leave now we were going to miss our other pre-arranged tour near the Coliseum. I spoke to the guide and she said we would miss the St Peter’s Basilica and shrugged her shoulders. So disappointed. I felt as though there was no consideration for time management and the assumption that we would all just go along with the guide’s agenda. They need to be more organised, esp since it’s not the busiest time of year in late October.

Our tour guide Richard was great! He was very informative & knowledgeable. Excellent experience with our guide. I can tell the people who book this tour are separate - communication with them was confusing at times. Our tour time was changed - I was notifying via WhatsApp. Also , an hour before the tour began I received a what’s app notification about the meeting place being changed . If I didn’t have cell service this could’ve been a nightmare. Not everyone is on their phone 24/7 during vacation- the correct meeting location should have been provided from the start

Poorly organised beginning. After getting into the museum we lost 2 members of the tour, and we spent 20 minutes waiting while it was decided what to do about the missing people. It then felt like the tour was rushed to make up that time. The guide was friendly, but their commentary was poor. Not very engaging, lots of talking while walking with commentary on random uninteresting things. Listening to other groups near ours, we had tour guide envy.

There is a lot to see at the Vatican so it was helpful to have a guide point out the highlights. We went quickly and got a good sense of the museum and Sistine Chapel. Basilica and St Peters Square were on your own.

The company canceled our tour a half an hour before our meeting time. We had already gotten into a cab to go to the Vatican. They offered us skip the line tickets a couple hours later but we were already on our way there.

We had started the tour on time. When we reached the Vatican museum, the tour began but it was very rushed. However, after gallery of maps, the tour guide gave us 20 mins for washroom and cafe and told us to meet him in the Sistine Chapel at 12:15 pm, which we did. We waited for 10 mins in the Chapel but he wasn't there. So he left without us which was highly disappointing and tainted the experience for us. We had to go ourselves through the Sistine Chapel and find the exit since he left us. I also ran ahead to see if I could catch him but he was nowhere. I don't know how he could leave without us or without checking if we were with the group or not. Even though we were exactly at the time he'd said to meet. So we were most disappointed by this. I've done many tours with Viator and this is the first time it happened. Please don't book this tour, it wasn't a good experience.

The tour is fully dependent on the guide and we would liked to have taken longer in the Sistine Chapel and the truly beautiful golden hallway was beautiful. The general queue outside was stacked up back against the outside walls and skip the line is much better but you lose the freedom to take your own pace. Nevertheless there were queues in busy areas and felt like a scrum at times. Our guide was very knowledgeable and fun but would have been happier if she’d taken a little longer at some parts like the Sistine Chapel would have made this more enjoyable.

10% of 1,000 is what Viator offered after a tour that nobody could understand. We payed 900.00 for a tour that we signed up for and specified in English but yet couldn’t understand due to the guides accent, as well as, your companies headphones didn't work. Our entire group of 20 took off their headsets and just walked around frustrated because we received no information on this tour. Your company should take more accountability. You hired a guide that people could not understand, and provided ear pieces that did not work. I would have hoped your company would want their customers happy so they leave good reviews and tell their friends and family what a wonderful experience they had. 100.00 is the best they could do. Do not book this tour!