Rockolamamma

 Our private tour guide took us to Obica after we went to the Spanish Steps.  We told him we wanted something a little more authentic and representative of Rome. 

We were there on a Sunday in November and there was a cute little bustling market that was next to it.  We ate outside on the patio and a street guy even came over and played some italian music for us for some italian ambiance.  The food was absolutely delish!  I have posted a pic of the menu.  It was even quite reasonable.  I think we were there for less than an hour.  After we got our food it started to fill up and get crowded.

http://www.obica.com/ristoranti/roma-campo-dei-fiori

Hi There!  We cruised out of Genoa in November.  Pre-cruise we came on train from Venice and post cruise we went via train to Florence and flew to USA from Florence airport the next day after we did a whirlwind tour of the beautiful city.  All of that worked great!

Does anyone have this original file?  I printed it awhile ago (stupidly instead of saving it) and wanted to put it on my phone for reference, but the print-out is too blurry, so I am in need of the original file, since it doesn't look like it is there anymore after the upgrade  :(   Thanks!!

ACFrOgD03BNQP0nCFMOspjyjv59IqN1SCWAZwZaALBnoReSDmsSTPkevh91xj3wAI3JVIkV8O6z15njbb60qkENVEWWW0MlsEXLpsGDVbZgH0G-rqrsZmg4B0c0r56c=.pdf

Rockolamamma,

 

I can't find the info if when we were supposed to dock, but I do remember waking up around 6 and saw we were already in port. I think they started luggage tag colors around 7.

As far as getting off earlier, you certainly can ask at guest services for an early time frame, or you walk off with your bags like we did, and leave any time you're ready.

 

As always, we would be happy to answer any other questions you may have

 

- Shane and Macon

 

Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk

Thank you! So 'walk off with your own bags' is anytime after the ship is cleared then? That would be great! I thought that was also an assigned time.

I would like to catch the early train to Florence so that we have more leisurely time there, so it sounds like it is possible now.

Walk off as soon as ship is cleared and then a 10 minute walk to the train station. not bad! It's a Saturday so that I can get a 2 for 1 if I purchase train tix ahead of time, so I want to take advantage of that then. Thank you for all your help!

Rockolamamma,

 

I believe our scheduled time to depart was closer to 9. We left well before that, shortly after 8 or so.

 

The trip up to the station took maybe ten minutes, it's a pretty simple route, it's just a bulky suitcase over uneven sidewalks is slow going. But it's a great way to start burning off those cruise calories.

 

As far as the Genova station, just head towards the back and always head down. In the end, we just balanced the suitcase in the end on the escalator to the underground passage and the elevator at the platform.

 

Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk

Thank you for these notes! What time was your ship supposed to dock? We are supposed to dock at 9am, so not sure when they will start letting people off and wondering when I should plan for a train departure.

I heard that you can ask at guest services for an early time to disembark.

At this point we were just waiting around for our scheduled time to walk off was to be announced, so I took this opportunity to go up to the deck and take one last good look around at the empty pool deck. I do remember that it was significantly cooler that morning than the previous day in France. Heading back down, we decided we had waited long enough and there was no line to leave, so we made the our way to the gangway and back to reality. This was a super simple process, just a quick scan at the ship exit and we walked straight through the terminal. Really glad we decided to keep our suitcase with us, as it was a bit crowded in the baggage pickup area, with large tour groups milling about blocking paths everywhere, to include the pickup point of where our bag would have been. From there we walked to the train station, which rolling a large suitcase up hill on uneven sidewalks was less than fun. From there we booked our tickets back, and got a little lost in the station, as we took an elevator that did not go anywhere we wanted to. But we weren't the only ones taking the scenic elevator so that made us feel a bit better. We got on the train just in time for it to start raining in Genova, so glad we missed that, and were jealous of those we saw get off the train with their MSC tags heading to the ship.

 

Hi, Thank you for your excellent review!

I know this was a while ago, but in your memory, what was your scheduled time to get off and what time did you finally decide to disembark? How long did it take you to wheel your suitcases to the train station along those lousy sidewalks? We will be doing all this in November in Genova. Any advice for getting around in that train station so that we don't follow and take the 'scenic' elevator too :)

Pukekolive, thanks. I had planned to go to guest services and explain that we have a train to catch. We will be ready to dash as soon as we dock. Fingers crossed it all goes smoothly.

 

Laburgnoli, how exciting! We will just be one day ahead of you. :D

Mama Lo, This is an old thread, but I was wondering how it all ended up? Were you able to get off MSC ship in time to catch your train? I have the same concern. We are disembarking in Genoa in November and will need to walk across to catch a train to Florence. I think we are scheduled to arrive at 9am, so was wondering how early I could possibly carry myself and my luggage off if we dock on time.

Thank you all for the advice,

 

Originally I was leaning to the bus since it was quicker but I was worried about time. I am now 100% solid that we will be taking the bus.

 

I did think about trying to get off for an hour or two in Pisa to see some sites there since there is a luggage storage at the Pisa train station. Issue with that, is then we wouldn't be getting to Florence until about 6 pm, which essentially kills that day for us and we have to be at the airport by noon at the latest the next day.

 

For luggage I plan on only traveling with 2 rollers and 1 messenger bag and 1 medium sized cross body for 2 of us. Our "day" bags will be packed in luggage when we change cities at least. My husbands job is essentially playing Jenga with packages all day, so I am confident in his ability to get anything anywhere.

 

I had the same thoughts about the size of the seats, but then reality hit me again that I am only 5' and my husband is only 5'4. We don't need a ton of room, and why I was like.. oh yeah.. cattle class with flying is gonna be okay (especially saving thousands!)

 

Alas Rock, I will probably be on my cruise about the same time you will be unless you are going late late November as we won't be getting off in Genoa until November 15th.

 

Though I do agree with you it is crazy! Flying in and out of Genoa for us would have been about $3,300 round trip. Instead I found a travel agent that is listed on the airline that flies from the UNITED states that has me flying into Venice, a hotel for 3 nights there, 3 nights hotel in Rome, and the flying out of Florence on a Friday for $2,900 total. Sure, it is cattle class, but hey... for that price I will sit on my husbands lap for the full flights! But if I can I will post a quick not letting you know how the bus went!

LOL!! We are getting off in Genoa on Nov 17th.

Our plane leaves Florence the next day 11/18 at 1:35pm, so I was hoping to get out of Genoa and into Florence quick and early on the 17th so that we can see a couple of things before we have to fly home.

Hubby and I have never been to europe at all, so this will be a true adventure for us.

TIA for anyone who has done this!

 

We depart our cruise from Genoa, but due to how I chose to book our trip, we can't fly out of there but Florence instead. Good thing, we depart Florence the day after our cruise docks so have a ton of time and a hotel already booked.

 

Where my struggle comes in, is deciding to take the train or the Flixbus between the two.

 

We dock at 8 and taking the train I would rather get the 9:47 one as it gets to Florence at about 1:30 with a 15 minute change in Pisa. If that fails, we could get the 11:23 which gets us to Florence at about 3pm with a 30 minute change in Milan.

 

On the other hand the bus would be at 10 and get to Florence at 12:40.

 

Both are about the same price so that isn't even a consideration.

 

For anyone who has disembarked at Genoa, are these times reasonable? The bus station is also right by the train station (a little closer actually).

 

Alas the information I am finding isn't anything recent so hoping for any advice!

Hi Jasalth,

We will be doing this exact same thing in the fall. We could not get reasonably priced airfare back to the states either, so after disembarking in Genoa we are also going to go to Florence for an overnight in order to fly home from there the next day.

I had only priced out train fares. So thank you for calling my attention to the bus. I will look into that. Please post your final thoughts after your trip and how successful it was.

I was also thinking of carrying luggage off of the ship to expedite this trip to Florence, but not sure that this will work.