"Florence on your own" drop off point

[Trapman7]

We are booked on the September 10th sailing of the Norwegian Viva from Rome to Lisbon.  Does anyone know the exact location of the drop off point for the “Florence on Your Own” shore excursion?  If someone has taken this excursion recently, that would be great.  The Shore excursion desk doesn’t seem to know.

[KeithJenner]

The Marathon was on when we did this, so it was a bit disrupted, but my understanding was that we were dropped off at roughly the usual place.

 

The coach dropped us off near the Ponte S. Niccolo where there is a bit of a loop in the road that the coaches can drive round to drop off or load up.

 

They then walk you as a group to Piazza di Santa Croce which seems to be the meeting point for many tours. It is about a 5-10 minute walk depending on the speed of your group.

[The Traveling Man]

9 hours ago, KeithJenner said:

The Marathon was on when we did this, so it was a bit disrupted, but my understanding was that we were dropped off at roughly the usual place.

 

The coach dropped us off near the Ponte S. Niccolo where there is a bit of a loop in the road that the coaches can drive round to drop off or load up.

 

They then walk you as a group to Piazza di Santa Croce which seems to be the meeting point for many tours. It is about a 5-10 minute walk depending on the speed of your group.

We did this tour just prior to the COVID lockdown.  As I recall, the walk from the bus parking area to the meeting point was at least 10 minutes, almost 15.  From the meeting point to some of the interesting parts of town was another 10 minutes or so.  In the afternoon, you’ll need to plan on leaving the Uffizi museum about a half hour before your bus departure time, or about 15 minutes prior to the appointed meeting time.

[Trapman7]

Thank you so much.  This is just the information I was looking for.

[1bighund]

I strongly recommend that you visit the Duomo Museum

[The Traveling Man]

5 hours ago, 1bighund said:

I strongly recommend that you visit the Duomo Museum

Absolutely!  A stroll across the Ponte Vecchio is also a touchstone for a visit to Florence.  Also try to get reservations for the Academia del Arte to see Michelangelo’s David.

[ontheweb]

15 hours ago, 1bighund said:

I strongly recommend that you visit the Duomo Museum

Yes. Oddly when we did Florence on Your Own we seemed to be the only ones on the tour who were doing it for art as opposed to shopping. With DW being an art teacher (now retired), we were not going to miss the major museums.

 

And echoing another post, buy in advance timed tickets for the major museums.