Deviation from tour in Florence?

[Dmarie305]

Does anyone know if it is possible to deviate from an excursion to go off on your own and then rejoin for the ride back to the ship? My DH and I wanted to see the Uffize while in Florence but none of the excursions being offered include the Uffizi. The excursion we are booked on (Splendor of Florence) says that it allows for some time to shop prior to heading back to the ship but it doesn't say how long. Our plan was to make reservations to go to the Uffizi at this time, however if it appeared that we would run over our reservation time we were thinking of just skippin out on the excursion. I have never done a site seeing excursion and wasn't sure if this was a possibility. Any thoughts?

[catergirl]

why not book a private tour? there are lots of great tour operators if you do a search and they are reputable, cheaper, smaller group and better, more personalized tour!! thats what we are doing! have fun.

[Susan-M]

If the cruise ship offers a "Florence on Your Own" trip, you would probably find that more suitable for having enough time at the Uffizi. If you have a guide book or download some guide material, you can easily do your own tour of Florence ... the historical centre is compact and walking to all of the 'must see' sites is quite easy.

[JoeyJoJoShabadu]

http://www.florence-museum.com/?gclid=CNvzmNOOqpMCFQptswod1RbdoA

 

You can book tickets on line. Going this summer and this is what we did. Just past wekend and we got the times we asked for. Lines are apparently long. So book ahead and either train, rent a car or florence on your own would do it.

[texancruzer]

I agree with previous poster. Do the "Florence On Your Own" tour.

 

Basically this is just a ride into town....then you are on your own to do whatever you want....like the Uffizi or walk around or whatever.

 

Just be sure to meet back at the meeting location by the time set by the guide or you will get left :eek: and it will be up to you to get back to the ship - at your own cost.

[pvmkmyer]

It's hard to believe that none of the tours includes the Uffizi. What day of the week will you be in Florence? The Uffizi, like most museums in Italy, is closed on Monday.

[GloriaF]

I second the idea of planning a private tour. There are many tour guides, and someone on this board can most likely recommend one or two. Then go to your roll call and ask if anyone is interested in joining you to share the cost. Usually you do not pay until after the tour, so only a deposit will be at risk if you are unable to get a tour together and have to cancel later.

[KCcruisin07]

Our ship (RCCL) had a shuttle to town that let us off at Piazza Grande, then we walked a block to a tabachi shop and bought bus tickets, and caught the bus to the train station, where we caught a train to Florence. This sounds complicated, but we formed a group through Cruise Critic, and we all went together. In Florence we all went on our own and returned on our own. The only thing is to be sure to keep watching your train # and track #, as sometimes they change the track close to departure time.

[Dmarie305]

Thanks for all your suggestions. I am not very good at planning things and that is why we were planning to go with the excursion. I really like what is planned for the first part of the tour. I was hoping to skip out on the time left for shopping and head for the museum. We went ahead and purchased the tickets for the Uffuzi and I guess if it works out great, we are set and if not, oh well. After analysizing all the costs it actually works out to be less expensive to do it this way then to go with the "on your own" even if we wind up burning the tickets to the Uffuzi.

[FloatYourBoatSince2003]

Be sure to take a look for your ship on Roll Call as suggested - There may be a tour in the works already and you won't have to plan a thing!