Livorno or La Spezia???

[teacherman]

I read a cruise review where someone on Celebrity Summit said their ship docked in La Spezia rather than Livorno, thus making it much more difficult to access Florence "on Your own". Does anyone know if any other ships are now doing this? We are scheduled on Legend of the Seas in October and are planning to do Florence on our own and stay there overnight. Any information is welcome. Thank you.

[nparmelee]

La Spezia is a tender port so Livorno is preferred by the cruise lines. Some cruises stop at both. I believe that person's cruise had to go to La Spezia instead because of rough waters at Livorno that day. If you do go to La Spezia instead, I would suggest going to the Cinque Terre instead of Florence unless you are really set on getting to Florence. In reality, its easier to get to the train station in La Spezia, you can just walk, in Livorno you really need to take a cab or the bus to get to the train station.

[eandj]

I just posted the question and got a couple replies on the tripadvisor.com forum board. If the ship indeed ends up at La Spezia,intead of Livorno, it appears you would have to take a regional train, not the cir. Italian trains. It would take 2 1/2 to 3 hours to get to Florence. That's the info from an Italy expert. I'll post the page of replies when I get a few more.

Since we are part of a private tour, I think I'll check with Romeinlino too.

[GSPLover]

From La Spezia to Pisa you will have a choice of ES, IC or Regionale, depending upon the time. Connecting trains from Pisa to Florence will be Regionale. Same thing on the return trip. Times are not that great.

 

Travel times vary from 2h 44m on all Regionale, to 2h 27m for ES + Reg, to 2h 14m for IC + Reg. Double that and you will have almost 5 hours on the train for a day trip. Pisa is about 1/2 way, time wise.

 

Costs are from 9,20€ to 16,60€ for 2cl. 12,10€ to 19,50€ for 1cl (for one way between La Spezia and Florence.)

 

La Spezia options include Cinque Terre, Massa/Carrara (marble), Lucca, Portovenere, Lerici and a host of other small towns.

[shushh]

I can confirm that DCL now also docks at La Spezia as we are on their April 24 mediteranean cruise. Not sure if that helps you!