Pre-Cruise - How to divide the time?

[Wine-O]

20 minutes ago, dirtydan said:

As for our making the most of our shore excursion to Florence, I am hopeful that I can find 2 or 3 other couples on our roll-call who will be interested in booking a private van tour rather than dealing with the larger (and overpriced) tours offered by CC.

DR

 

You can certainly find 2-3 couples on your Roll Call to share a private tour to Florence.  Florence is very easy to do on your own if you do your research and book entrance fees ahead of time.  Just take the train from Livorno to Florence, then you can walk everywhere, and train back.  We've done it several times without issue.  Just do your homework/maps of the city ahead of time.

[dirtydan]

11 minutes ago, Wine-O said:

You can certainly find 2-3 couples on your Roll Call to share a private tour to Florence.  Florence is very easy to do on your own if you do your research and book entrance fees ahead of time.  Just take the train from Livorno to Florence, then you can walk everywhere, and train back.  We've done it several times without issue.  Just do your homework/maps of the city ahead of time.

 

Thanks, I will continue with my research.

DR

[kathynorth]

IMO you made the correct choice to drop Florence from your precruise itinerary. I tend to be one of those people who want to see everything I can on our trips and cram in more stops than most other people. On our first trip to Rome we planned for a 9 night trip with a loose plan to take the train to Venice, Florence, and Pompei. Once we arrived to Rome we ended up cancelling all of our side trips and spent the entire time in and around Rome. We've been back to Rome as cruise stops several times since and still haven't seen all there is to see in Rome. Venice was beautiful and an experience in itself, but I think the 2 nights would meet our needs. IMO the best way to manage Florence as a stop is to use a knowledgeable private guide who can take you from ship and back.

 

Couple of suggestions: Vatican Museum: Purchase tickets online so you can skip the long entry line. Don't bring anything that would need to be checked in at the entry since you exit on the opposite side of the museum and it's a long walk back to retrieve items. See everything you want to see before you enter the Sistine Chapel. When you are finished in the chapel mingle with a tour group that is exiting from the right side rear of the chapel (everyone else exits to the left and has to walk around the museum) and you will end up inside St. Peter's without having to go through the security line. The Vatican Scavi Tour (purchase online) is excellent. The end of this tour also end inside St. Peter's without having to go through the security line. Underground Tour of the Colosseum (purchase online) with Roman Forum and Palatine combo ticket- Brings you below and also to the top for great views that can't be seen on the typical tour. You are given a ticket with a tour time so you skip the long lines. After the tour you can stay as long as you want. Leaning Tower of Pisa- On the way to Florence consider making a short photo stop in Pisa.  

[dirtydan]

1 hour ago, kathynorth said:

IMO you made the correct choice to drop Florence from your precruise itinerary. I tend to be one of those people who want to see everything I can on our trips and cram in more stops than most other people. On our first trip to Rome we planned for a 9 night trip with a loose plan to take the train to Venice, Florence, and Pompei. Once we arrived to Rome we ended up cancelling all of our side trips and spent the entire time in and around Rome. We've been back to Rome as cruise stops several times since and still haven't seen all there is to see in Rome. Venice was beautiful and an experience in itself, but I think the 2 nights would meet our needs. IMO the best way to manage Florence as a stop is to use a knowledgeable private guide who can take you from ship and back.

 

Couple of suggestions: Vatican Museum: Purchase tickets online so you can skip the long entry line. Don't bring anything that would need to be checked in at the entry since you exit on the opposite side of the museum and it's a long walk back to retrieve items. See everything you want to see before you enter the Sistine Chapel. When you are finished in the chapel mingle with a tour group that is exiting from the right side rear of the chapel (everyone else exits to the left and has to walk around the museum) and you will end up inside St. Peter's without having to go through the security line. The Vatican Scavi Tour (purchase online) is excellent. The end of this tour also end inside St. Peter's without having to go through the security line. Underground Tour of the Colosseum (purchase online) with Roman Forum and Palatine combo ticket- Brings you below and also to the top for great views that can't be seen on the typical tour. You are given a ticket with a tour time so you skip the long lines. After the tour you can stay as long as you want. Leaning Tower of Pisa- On the way to Florence consider making a short photo stop in Pisa.  

 

Great tips, thank you.

[begood2me]

7 hours ago, dirtydan said:

Well, the mob has spoken and we are heeding your advice (some of it anyways).  Due to other family commitments we cannot depart for Italy any sooner than we already are so we have decided to split our "pre-cruise" time between Venice (2 nights) and Rome (3 nights) and do a shore excursion to Florence when the ship stops in Livorno instead.   

 

I know I will take some flak from you for our choices (especially choosing Rome over Florence) however, in doing so, there were some logistical factors for us to consider.

 

Firstly, even if we wanted to skip Venice (which we don't) and concentrate instead on Florence and Rome, we are committed to flying into Venice. When I booked our flights we used air miles and at the time there were no direct (or reasonably direct) flights available to get us to Rome (or anywhere else in Italy for that matter) unless we made several awful connections along the way.  Also, even, if I were able to change our flights now (which I can't), the cost to do so would be quite punitive.  So.... Venice it is.

 

As for choosing Rome over Florence pre-cruise  (again, in my view there are no "bad" choices") we wanted to keep our 2 "travel days" within Italy as straight forward as possible.  While we could get to either Florence or Rome by train pretty easily (both direct, high-speed, with reserved seating etc),  I'm sure you will all agree that it is far more cumbersome to get from Florence to Civitavecchia than from Rome.  In fact, so as not to have any worries getting to the port, we we will likely use Roma Cabs (or similar service) as it pretty much door to door service from our Rome hotel as compared to going by train from Rome... which I'm told can be a pain in the butt once you get to the Civitachecchia train station. 

 

As for our making the most of our shore excursion to Florence, I am hopeful that I can find 2 or 3 other couples on our roll-call who will be interested in booking a private van tour rather than dealing with the larger (and overpriced) tours offered by CC.

 

Again, thank you all for your input.  If you have other suggestions/recommendations for our trip (in particular, hotels, restaurants, tours, museums etc. in Venice and Rome), I welcome your suggestions.   I will of course, continue to scour the "port" boards for general advice as well.

 

DR

 

 

Given that you have chosen to do Rome rather than Florence, I would also suggest to not do Florence from the ship's tour.  It does not in any way do it justice.  I would suggest Pisa and Lucca from the ship or Cinque Terre as you will not have to spend 2 hours each way to get to Florence.  Florence is a magnificent city and it's best seen while walking leisurely all over the place.  A ship's tour will not provide you a good impression of Florence even if you do it as a private tour.

[Wine-O]

21 minutes ago, begood2me said:

 

Given that you have chosen to do Rome rather than Florence, I would also suggest to not do Florence from the ship's tour.  It does not in any way do it justice.  I would suggest Pisa and Lucca from the ship or Cinque Terre as you will not have to spend 2 hours each way to get to Florence.  Florence is a magnificent city and it's best seen while walking leisurely all over the place.  A ship's tour will not provide you a good impression of Florence even if you do it as a private tour.

The train takes an hour to an hour and 20 minutes, depending what time you choose.

[dirtydan]

All, a brief update.

 

After weighing all of the kind advice... especially everyone’s not so subtle suggestion that we should find a way to do Florence right.... and with a little wheeling and dealing with the airlines, I am pleased to report that we managed to change our flights to arrive in Italy sooner.  

 

We will now be 2 nights in Venice, 3 nights in Florence and 3 in Rome before we head to the ship.

 

Now I just have to figure out how to pay for all this 🤔

 

Oh well, how often do you celebrate a 20th wedding anniversary with a European trip!!!

 

Thanks again for all the tips.

[chemmo]

Thanks for coming back with your update! Your itinerary will be so much better with those extra days...

 

Re cost...think in reverse, with the price of flights from Toronto to Italy it would be irresponsible not to see as much as possible!

 

Memories are priceless, money comes and goes...Sincere best wishes for an incredible 20th anniversary trip...

[kathynorth]

10 minutes ago, chemmo said:

Thanks for coming back with your update! Your itinerary will be so much better with those extra days...

 

Re cost...think in reverse, with the price of flights from Toronto to Italy it would be irresponsible not to see as much as possible!

 

Memories are priceless, money comes and goes...Sincere best wishes for an incredible 20th anniversary trip...

 

I agree, it costs $ to fly from NA to Italy, so more nights makes it more cost effective. lol  That's the way I explain our early arrivals to my DH. Also, we much prefer precruise nights over postcruise, because we have more energy and excitement at the start of our trips. I hope you have a great trip and happy anniversary! The 20th only comes once!

[vickykay]

Good choice to,concentrate on just two cities.  We did five days in Rome prior to a !ed cruise and then five days in Florence prior to a transatlantic.  Much better way to enjoy each city.  Check put the Cesari hotel in Rome.  Walkable to everywhere and many stay there from these boards.  We were able to fine a few other couples staying there on the cruise and booked transport together..