Livorno shuttle on a HAL ship

[lavalcruiser]

I would like to know if HAL offers a shuttle at the Livorno port or if we have to use the shuttle provided by the port.

 

I would also like to know if the shuttle takes you downtown Livorno, or to the train station.

 

Thank you in advance.

[Hlitner]

HAL does not actually offer its own shuttle service but does participate in a port bus service that will take you from the ship to the Central part of Livorno. But using it to get to the train station makes little sense. The first shuttle bus does not usually depart the pier until at least 8:30 and will drop you at the Piazza del Municipio which is still a long way from the station. So from that drop point you could either take a city bus or a taxi to get to the station. This means you would not likely be at the station until well after 9am, by which time those of us who had simply grabbed a taxi from the port to the station would already be in Florence :). Another issue is that the bus is not free. In the end, using the bus and then another bus or taxi will probably cost you more then a fast taxi from the pier to the train station. The taxis from the port charge about 25 Euros to the station, but split among 4 (or more if a van/taxi) its pretty reasonable.

 

Hank

[lavalcruiser]

Hank, thank you for your answer.

 

We are 4 people. Since we have already been to Florence, we were thinking of doing the combination Lucca/Pisa on our own.

 

This is our plan (I have been through a lot of posts about this) :

 

Taxi to the train station

Train to Lucca

Visit for a few hours, have some lunch

Train back to Livorno

Stop in Pisa, then continue to Livorno

Taxi back to the ship.

 

I understand that the train to and from Lucca has a stop in Pisa and that

our ticket will be good for a few hours.

 

We will be in port until 20H00, so we will have enough time for this visit.

 

Thank you for your input.

[CruiserBruce]

As Livorno is an industrial port, the port provides a shuttle. There is no need for HAL to duplicate that service.

[Steirisch]

I don't know if this is still the case, but a few years ago our Crystal ship stopped for the day at Livorno. Husband didn't want to get off the ship, so I took a taxi to the train station and had to wait 45 minutes for the next train to Florence. There was to be a one day strike on Trenitalia that day, which I didn't know about until I had been in Florence for a few hours. So I caught the next train back to Livorno and luckily made it back to that station. The really bad part is that there were two available taxis at the station and I got into the first one in line. When I told the driver I needed to go to Maritima, he started yelling at me and then got out of the car and started jumping up and down while still yelling. I stayed in the car, having been warned by an Italian waiter on the ship that I shouldn't get out of the taxi if the driver refuses (is this common?). Anyway, about that time a uniformed man came over and talked to the driver, then asked me where I wanted to go. I told him. Then he spoke to the driver in the next taxi and he agreed to take me, but didn't appear too happy about it. I never did find out why the first driver was so angry, but I hope to never go back to Livorno again.

 

So might it be easier to do a deal with one of the taxi drivers at the port and ask how much they would charge for the excursion you are planning? If I had to do it over again, that's what I think I'd do.

Edited March 13, 2015 by Steirisch

[Hlitner]

That last post made me smile. Do taxi drivers sometimes refuse fares in Italy? That is like asking is the sky blue? And the answer to both question is sometimes :). It is all part of the charm of Italy.

 

Regarding train strikes in Europe (and Italy) they do happen but nearly as often as one might think after reading these boards. Most strikes are announced well in advance. There are a few sites on the web that give notice but we hesitate to recommend any site because they often change. But one place to find info is:

http://www.italiarail.com/strike-information

 

DW and I have been traveling extensively in Europe (on both cruises and long driving trips) for over thirty years. In all that time we have only been inconvenienced by one limited strike in Italy (and this was when we were spending a month in Tuscany) and an annoying 1 day strike in France. But for those who spend their travel life worrying about everything that can go wrong we always recommend they take the overpriced cruise line excursions. But for us, a dozen train strikes, hurricanes, tornados, etc are preferable to being stuck on a large cruise line excursion :)

 

Hank