Rome and Florence On Your Own

[darrenclarke]

Hi, try to contact this company : info@tuscany-trips.com http://www.tuscany-trips.com Probably at the price of 320,00€ they should take you to Pisa and then to Florence and you'll have plenty of time doing and visiting everything.

Good Luck

 

 

 

 

Thanks for all the specific info...pick up times etc for the ship tours.

 

The Florence on your Own, by Celebrity, is $72 pp. For four of us, that's $288... with about 5 hours in Florence. No worries, easy transportation.

I have contacted a tour service and they will provide JUST transport for the 4 of us for E320. That's E80 per person plus tip. A bit more, but that would probably give us more time in the city, as we will get out of Liverno much earlier and can get dropped off where we want.

If we do it by train, its MUCH cheaper, but then we need to deal with the schedules, getting from the ship to the train station... and a possible (but unlikely I hope!!) train strike. We have pretty much given up Pisa, as there is so much we want to see in Florence...and we don't want to make ourselves toooooooo crazy, trying to "do it all".

 

Tough Decisions!!!

[Gogie]

Nancy,

 

We were dropped off at about 10am and met up again at 4pm. I have some notes and map for a walk yourself tour if you are interested.

 

Andy

 

Andy,

 

Could you e-mail your information to me as well - bgoguen@hotmail.com.

 

Thanks,

 

Gogie

[itsanita]

We have decided on the ship's Florence on your Own tour. I just got off the phone with reservations and have booked our time for Accademia and Uffizi. Very easy to do....I was given a reservation number and we do not need to pay until we pick up the tickets at the appointed time. Phone number is:

011 39 055 294883.

 

I saw that the bus lets us off around 10 at the Santa Crocein church...has anyone noticed if there are taxi's there? as we need to get to the Accademia by 10:30...and I think that would be a pretty brisk walk! I may have made the reservations a little too early, but if we can get a cab, we will be fine. We plan on walking in Florence the rest of the day, our reservations for the Uffizi are at 2:30....and thats very near the Santa Crocein Church for the 3:30-4pm pick up time. So no problems at that end.

 

Anyone remember seeing Taxis around? Or is there a bus stop at Santa Crocein?

[itsanita]

We have decided on the ship's Florence on your Own tour. I just got off the phone with reservations and have booked our time for Accademia and Uffizi. Very easy to do....I was given a reservation number and we do not need to pay until we pick up the tickets at the appointed time. Phone number is:

011 39 055 294883.

 

I saw that the bus lets us off around 10 at the Santa Crocein church...has anyone noticed if there are taxi's there? as we need to get to the Accademia by 10:30...and I think that would be a pretty brisk walk! I may have made the reservations a little too early, but if we can get a cab, we will be fine. We plan on walking in Florence the rest of the day, our reservations for the Uffizi are at 2:30....and thats very near the Santa Crocein Church for the 3:30-4pm pick up time. So no problems at that end.

 

Anyone remember seeing Taxis around? Or is there a bus stop at Santa Crocein?

[lucyjohnz]

On our RCI Splendour cruise, our group of 4 combined with another group of 4 (online) for a private tour of Florence and Pisa for 600E combined. That worked out to 75E/pp. While our private guide/driver didn't really provide any narration in either city, he did drive us right to the overlook (probably St. Michael's point) then drive us right to the Accademia museum. He then went in a picked up our pre-reserved tickets which we paid for in cash (about 11E each). After we looked in this museum for an hour, he picked us up and took us to another square by the duomo and agreed to meet us in 3 hours. We walked all over by ourselves and got back to the van around 3. He then drove us back to Pisa where we had about 30 minutes to look - we'd have liked to stay longer but our driver somehow thought we needed to be back to the ship an hour earlier and therefore got us back a full hour early. If you think about it, we paid about the same as a "Florence on your own" trip, but got Pisa too and were dropped off directly in front of sites and even had our reservations at the museum done for us by the tour operator.

 

In Rome, we did a full ship's tour that included the Vatican museums, lunch and the Colleseum. This tour cost $189/pp - WHEW! But, it included a tour guide for the bus ride there, and another tour guide for Rome itself. She was an art historian and guided us through the Vatican and Colleseum. The tour also included a 3-course catered meal at a nice restaurant. If you don't want to have to think or plan and can afford the price, this is a really nice way to go. Pluses: 1) you're given wireless headsets and can hear your guide without having to crowd around her; 2) all your entrance fees are provided in the cost and handled by the guide; 3) you are basically dropped off at all your visited sites and picked up when done; 4) no lines at the Colliseum, but we did have to wait in a long line at the Vatican which actually only took 30 minutes to get through; 5) no worries about the ship leaving you. Minuses: 1) you're travelling with approx. 50 other people EVERYWHERE; 2) no time for shopping or looking around - it was GO, GO, GO the entire time; 3) the cost is outrageous for 4 of us - almost $800; 4) no customization whatsoever - you go on their timetable to their chosen restaurant (which was actually quite good) at their chosen times.

 

If you have to choose between a private tour or a "Rome on your own", get a big enough private group (some groups can be up to 14 people) and you could end up meeting or beating the price of the ship excursion.

[trbasso]

Does anyone know if bike or scooter rental is available in Rome or Florence? Or is it even practical? Maybe things are too spread out? This is our first time to Europe, and we haven't heard anyone talking about biking or scooters, so we thought we'd ask.

 

Thank you in advance!

[goldenprincess53]

I wouldn't rent anything mobile in Italy - there does not appear to be any rules of the road - traffic is horrific in Rome and drivers do what they want. Relax and enjoy a taxi, bus or private driver. Walking is good in both Rome and Florence as well. Parking is at a premium everywhere.

 

I'm still not sure how I would have done Rome if I were to do it over again. (did Rome on our Own with RCCL bus). We missed seeing anything at St. Peter's (inside) and I do regret that, but I also didn't want to spend my whole day there either. So many things out of our control the day we were there - demonstrations in 4 areas around Rome which backed up traffic; a flash storm in mid-afternoon, which came up from no where. Didn't last long, but downpour was too heavy and took 1/2 hour out of our schedule - a lot for such little time of an already packed schedule.

 

We visited Accademia in Florence for 11 (walked there from Santa Croce). If you are disciplined and keep your eyes focused on the street (not the shops) you can do it, but oh it was hard not to venture into the odd store! I'm sure there are taxi's around - again depending on the day sometimes its quicker to walk. Spend no more than an hr (we spent 1/2 hr) if you want to see other parts of the area (Ponte Vecchio, Piazza Michaelangelo lookout for spectacular views). If you spend too much time in museums (unless that is your passion) you miss so much of the sites and sounds etc.

 

Whatever is decided - these ports of calls are ingrained forever in my mind - wonderful memories!!

[PharmD72]

Hi Andy,

 

I will be traveling on Carnival Liberty and one of the stops is Rome. Would you mind sharing your information on doing a walking tour?

 

I would really appreciate it.

 

My email address is: gsk421@hotmail.com

 

Thanks alot,

Grayce

[mrs-mack]

hi andy sorry to trouble you i saw some of your post and was wondering if you can send me any thing relating to diy to get buses trains from diffrent ports we are off to med cruise on ocean village this is list of places we go

palma, villefranche,livorno,naples,citavecchia,ajacciogenoa,st raphael,barcelona. Thanks in advance

my email addy is jackelinemcnally@ntlworld.com