overnight in Florence

[gmadvm]

Just wondering if anyone has stayed overnight in Florence and then caught up with the ship in Civitavecchia the next day? Our upcoming cruise stops in Livorno on a Monday and we have visited Rome on a couple of land tours before so we were thinking of taking the train to Florence and staying overnight and then taking the train to Rome Termini and then on to Civitavecchia. We don't want to rush through Florence in 6 hours, and this way we figure we will be able to absorb a lot more. Not to mention that Accademia and Uffizi are closed on Monday, so we would miss them on our regularly scheduled port day.

Other than taking our passports with us for hotel check in and notifying the ship, is there anything else we need to do?

[iancal]

I think your idea is great. We have done several land trips to Florence. We always think that cruisers miss out on so much when they are only in Florence for a few hours and miss the evening.

 

You will have the choice of taking the train through Rome or through Pisa on your way to Civiitavecchia.

[kuldalai]

You have two options by train from Firenze SMN .

 

1. Firenze SMN - Roma Termini (Change trains) - Civitavecchia.

 

2. Firenze SMN - La Spezia (Change trains ) - Civitavecchia .

 

Unless you spefically want to go via Rome the second option is best .

 

Check out Trenitalia website for times . Make sure you select a Firenze - La Spezia train that is direct otherwise you will have another train change at Pisa.

[gmadvm]

Kuldalai, why don't I want to go firenze to pisa centrale and then pisa to civitavecchia? We don't need to go through rome, in fact it looks like it is much less expensive to use the regional trains rather than the high speed, which aren't direct anyway. Just wondering why you singled out the la spezia route. thanks, these train schedules are confusing. I don't know why it doesn't give me all available options if I were to just choose firenze to civitavecchia and give me all the connection options. Instead I'm cobbling them together piece meal and trying to figure the best option.

[Hlitner]

We also think your idea is fine. DW and I have spent quite a few nights in Florence (we do a lot of extensive driving trips in Europe) and its a great city for multi-day stay. Getting to Civitavecchia is quite easy (we will not get into the debate on train routes) and the cruise lines generally have no problems with this type of overnight as long as you give them some notice.

 

Hank

[gmadvm]

Thanks Hank, I was hoping you would chime in. I've already cleared it with royal caribbean. I just need to confirm it with them and they will send me some paperwork to show the powers that be on the ship. I think we will take the 12:28 to Pisa which gets in at 1:28 and then the 1:52 Pisa to Civitavecchia. Do you think that 24 minutes is enough to make a connection at Pisa Centrale? We've never been so I don't know how big the station is. I'm assuming it is not as big as Rome Termini.