Tuscany By Taxi ???

[palmettogirl]

Anyone used tuscany by taxi for Liverno/Florence/Pisa? Do they speak English or tell you about the sites? Thanks for your help.

[travellgirl]

When are you going? We have them booked for our cruise the end of May for a tour to Lucca and Pisa. If you are going after us, I'll let you know when we get back.

[palmettogirl]

I have looked into some other drivers and read one post about "tuscany by taxi". There rates are euro 320.00 (1-4) euro 360.00 (5-6) and euro 400.00 (7-8 people)....which is cheaper than guides. They are suppose to pick you up at the ship, stop at Michelangelo Square, stop at the Accademia, the Duomo area. Then a walking tour to see Signoria Square, the Uffizi, the Old Bridge, and have some lunch and shopping. Then go to Pisa and stop in Miracle Square and then back to the ship. It is 8-9 hours and it is a lot cheaper than the other tours....however, don't know whether to beware or not.....

[palmettogirl]

When are you going? We have them booked for our cruise the end of May for a tour to Lucca and Pisa. If you are going after us, I'll let you know when we get back.

We start our cruise on Oct.21....so maybe you can let me know. Thanks!

[fendere]

Hi,

 

We have them booked for June for Florence and Pisa. We are sharing a tour with another family and for the 7 of us, the price is 400euros, for an air-conditioned mini-van. The description of the "tour" is a little unclear on the website, as it does sound like a walking tour is included. When I emailed about this, they said no, but that everything is close together to reach. I think that is what they meant by "walking tour" on the description. We hadn't booked them expecting one though, only for the transportion and the ease of getting in and out of Pisa and Florence. Like you said, it is much cheaper than a guide and that is why we've booked them.

[Debbierpof]

We used Tuscany by Taxi by chance two summers ago. Our plan was to take the train in to Florence, but they were on strike. A Tuscany by Taxi driver was at the port and six of us hired him on the spot. He was great! Not a guide, but he got us into a very busy Accademia (by-passed the long line). He started by taking us to the Piazzale Michaelangelo (which was breathtaking), the Accademia, Ponte Vecchio, free time walking, Duomo. Afterwards, he took us to Pisa. Very impressive place (not one I had chosen as a stop on our tour). Got us back to the ship with plenty of time. Overall, it was a great value and sure saved us alot of time walking and waiting. Our driver, Riccardo, was very nice and answered questions. Again, not a guide, but extremely helpful. And he did speak English.

[palmettogirl]

We used Tuscany by Taxi by chance two summers ago. Our plan was to take the train in to Florence, but they were on strike. A Tuscany by Taxi driver was at the port and six of us hired him on the spot. He was great! Not a guide, but he got us into a very busy Accademia (by-passed the long line). He started by taking us to the Piazzale Michaelangelo (which was breathtaking), the Accademia, Ponte Vecchio, free time walking, Duomo. Afterwards, he took us to Pisa. Very impressive place (not one I had chosen as a stop on our tour). Got us back to the ship with plenty of time. Overall, it was a great value and sure saved us alot of time walking and waiting. Our driver, Riccardo, was very nice and answered questions. Again, not a guide, but extremely helpful. And he did speak English.

 

Thanks for your help...it looks like this is what we will do....since this will be near the end of our 2 week cruise, I just feel we will be so overwhelmed with all the tour guide stuff that we might just want to enjoy the ride and not have to worry about taking the train and missing Pisa or the cruise's bus....just needed to hear from someone who had used them.

[Jade13]

I don't think you will have time to go to the Accadamia and Uffizi and Pisa in 8-9 hours. The driving is several hours.

 

So, just be clear where you are going. Only the licensed guides can go into the museums.

[Crusier98]

Try Paola of Florence Tour she offers either a licensed guide tour or a taxi type tour with a driver

[palmettogirl]

Try Paola of Florence Tour she offers either a licensed guide tour or a taxi type tour with a driver

Thanks - she was booked but referred me to Paola (man) with unforgettabletuscany.com but I haven't read much about him on the boards but he was 30 - 80 euros cheaper than the others I had read about. Thanks for the info!

[Crusier98]

There is also Allessandro Camilli but he was only using a 4 seater van when we enquired.The email address for Alessandro is alecamma@hotmail.com I believe he is or was a Policeman ?

[dcdee]

Eight of us went to Florence and Pisa from Livorno in Oct. using tuscanybytaxi and had a great day-- much like debbierpof's experience. In fact, I think we got the name from one of her posts-- thanks, Debbie.

[LILynn]

Does anyone know if you can use Tuscany-by-taxi to go to San Gimignano and Sienna for the day?

 

I would love to have a driver for the day but there is no one on the roll call for our cruise and it is just my mom and me. So we are looking for a less expensve alternative.

 

If all else fails... we will do the ship tour.

 

Thanks

Lynn

[kimiata]

Hi Lynn, yes you can book Tuscany by Taxi to San Gimignano/Siena. They quoted us a fee of 450 euros.

[glenneagle]

we used them last summer.

the driver was great. we stopped in pisa first,before all the tours got there, then onto florence. we hired a guide to do the uffizi.great day, great driver great price

[luvz2run2000]

We booked Tuscany by Taxi for our cruise last May. They were great to work with and always responded promptly to my e-mails. They worked to make the day fit our needs as far as pick-up and drop-off times, going to Pisa first, museums etc. They provided the info and times so we could prepurchase our tickets to climb the Leaning Tower, made reservations for both museums (our group was planning to split for a while at that point), sent me walking tour maps in the mail in advance and generally answered every question we could come up with.

 

Unfortunately I can't report on anything beyond that because the wind and seas were incredibly rough that day and the port was closed. I

e-mailed to tell him we would not be docking and received a very kind e-mail in response. Based on my experience with them I would not hesitate to book them for a future trip.

[Broch]

When are you going? We have them booked for our cruise the end of May for a tour to Lucca and Pisa. If you are going after us, I'll let you know when we get back.

 

Hi Travellgirl, Did you ever get the Beach in Sardinia sorted out. Are RCCL doing the beach excursion on your cruise. We are doing the cruise after you and it is still on our Excursion list. I am using Tuscany by Taxi as well to Pisa and today I had an email from them asking if I would like to include Lucca as part of my itinerary. This I would like to do but I have another trip booked with RCCL for the afternoon and not sure when we would get back to the ship. Did you get pick up and return times from them. I have sent an e mail to them back but was just wondering what times you are working to.

[raynvic]

We just returned from the Freedom and tuscany by taxi on April 26th. Can't say enough good things. The driver picked us up as soon as we docked around 7 a.m. We were at Pisa before 8 and had the place nearly to ourselves. Got the mandatory picture and were on our way to Florence. We had the company reserve us tickets at the Academia for 9:30. We got there a little early so the driver walked us right up the the ticket counter got us our tickets and then we spend about 45 minutes there. The main interest here is David. We had reservations for the Uffizi for 12:30 and they would not budge on the time as we got there early. 2 out of our group of 8 elected to stay and ended getting in early. The rest of us took off on our own exploring the Ponte del Veccia, Duomo area. It was an awesome afternoon and Tuscany by Tax allowed us to do exactly what we wanted.

[travellgirl]

We have them picking us up at the pier at 8:00 and returning about 4:30-5. Glad to hear everyone has had a good experience with them.

 

We didn't have the Beach excursion on our cruise for Sardinia. I'm wondering if maybe they don't start them until June when it's a little warmer. No problem, we'll take a taxi and do things on our own.

 

Have a great trip.

[chgo couple]

We just returned from the Freedom and tuscany by taxi on April 26th. Can't say enough good things. The driver picked us up as soon as we docked around 7 a.m. We were at Pisa before 8 and had the place nearly to ourselves. Got the mandatory picture and were on our way to Florence. We had the company reserve us tickets at the Academia for 9:30. We got there a little early so the driver walked us right up the the ticket counter got us our tickets and then we spend about 45 minutes there. The main interest here is David. We had reservations for the Uffizi for 12:30 and they would not budge on the time as we got there early. 2 out of our group of 8 elected to stay and ended getting in early. The rest of us took off on our own exploring the Ponte del Veccia, Duomo area. It was an awesome afternoon and Tuscany by Tax allowed us to do exactly what we wanted.

Sounds good - tuscany taxi - how much did it cost? Did you check out the flea market area in Florence, the Lorenzo market near the Duomo?

[Broch]

We just returned from the Freedom and tuscany by taxi on April 26th. Can't say enough good things. The driver picked us up as soon as we docked around 7 a.m. We were at Pisa before 8 and had the place nearly to ourselves.

 

We are having an 8 a.m. pick up and going to Pisa first stop. Can you please tell me if you were able to go into the cathedral because on their site it says the cathedral does not open until 10 a.m. Thanks