Europe Cruise Question

[kventventx]

We are planning on taking the European Cruise in 2013 the Venice route. The itinerary says that the boat stops in La Spezia for Florence, and Pisa. On a map it looks far away. Has anyone previously taken this cruise and give me an estimate of what time it takes to actually arrive at the cities? I have the same question about Civitavecchia which is suppose to be Rome. Looks like a far distance from city to city but I'm geographically challenged as my DH likes to point out. Thanks for any information you can provide.

 

[nzdisneymom]

We are planning on taking the European Cruise in 2013 the Venice route. The itinerary says that the boat stops in La Spezia for Florence, and Pisa. On a map it looks far away. Has anyone previously taken this cruise and give me an estimate of what time it takes to actually arrive at the cities? I have the same question about Civitavecchia which is suppose to be Rome. Looks like a far distance from city to city but I'm geographically challenged as my DH likes to point out. Thanks for any information you can provide.

You are right - both of these ports are quite a distance from the cities. To Rome, it's over an hour by the train. Not sure about Florence as we haven't been there, and for Pisa, we did an excursion that took us through the countryside as part of the trip - it was a 4 1/2 hour excursion and we were in Pisa itself for about 2 1/2 hours.

Oh wait - look here:
[URL="http://www.mapcrow.info/]http://www.mapcrow.info[/URL]. You can find the distances here.

I have to laugh at your "geographically challenged" comment because I was talking with a coworker once about going to Alaska. She said "Where's Alaska?" and I replied, "you know, up here" and showed her where Alaska would be. She said, "Well, you know I *am* Geologically challenged."

 

[TDC Nala]

bus ride of about 2.5 hours to reach Florence from La Spezia.

 

[kventventx]

Thanks so much that link was great! Looks like we will be able to see what we want to.

 

[scrapycruiser]

We were on the 2007 Disney Med cruise and went to Florence on a DCL bus tour. It was 2 hrs ea way but so worth it. We were there 6 hrs and saw so much. In 2011 we did the med cruise and from La Spezia went to Cinque Terre.
Enjoyed both !0

 

[bibbidibobbidibecky]

We did both of these ports on our own (well all of them actually) and skipped Florence b/c we thought it would be too much time to get there and back comfortably. If I remember correctly with train stops etc. it would have been over two hours each way. We did go to Pisa and it was a short train ride from La Spezia and ended up having time to come back and do one Cinque Terre town, too! Rome was an easy hour train ride from the port. We were able to see several major sites and still make it back for dinner.

 

[woody73]

. . . The itinerary says that the boat stops in La Spezia for Florence, and Pisa. On a map it looks far away.

It is far away.

I wonder why DCL does not go to Livorno Port, which is the official port of Florence and is much closer.

Woody

 

[clclaude]

We are planning on taking the European Cruise in 2013 the Venice route. The itinerary says that the boat stops in La Spezia for Florence, and Pisa. On a map it looks far away. Has anyone previously taken this cruise and give me an estimate of what time it takes to actually arrive at the cities? I have the same question about Civitavecchia which is suppose to be Rome. Looks like a far distance from city to city but I'm geographically challenged as my DH likes to point out. Thanks for any information you can provide.

While I would never want to steer you away from Florence, if you are concerned about time an option would be to visit the Cinque Terre which is minutes away from La Spezia. Take the train to Monterosso and look for the trail to Vernazza. It is a nice hike (not for the weak, however) through olive and lemon groves - right along the Mediterranean. Very scenic and enjoyable. There is a nice cafe on the water in Vernazza with good gelato. The train ride from La Spezia to any of the 5 (cinque) towns or lands (terre) is no more than 10-15 minutes with stops. Good luck!

 

[kventventx]

This information is great! Thanks so much. Will look at all the options.

 

[kcashner]

It is far away.

I wonder why DCL does not go to Livorno Port, which is the official port of Florence and is much closer.

Woody

I have wondered this also, and even asked. The answer was that the port wasn't able to handle the ship. Made no sense to me since other passenger ships use Livorno.

 

[kventventx]

It may have to do with docking fees to the cruise line since Disney doesn't run the route every year; it may be more economical to dock at La Spezia rather than Livorno.

 

[RedSox68]

We did the Florence/Pisa tour through Disney and it was one of our favorite. That could be in part to our Italian Tour guide who was amazing. It was in 2007, so the length of it is a little fuzzy, but I believe it was about 10 hours. We went Florence first and took a nice tour there - but the scenery on the way was breathtaking. We had an included luncheon there that was fantastic. Then we went onto Pisa. We were back to the ship at about 6 p.m. I think. I know we were able to have dinner onboard that night.

 

[carpenta]

We did the Florence/Pisa tour through Disney and it was one of our favorite. That could be in part to our Italian Tour guide who was amazing. It was in 2007, so the length of it is a little fuzzy, but I believe it was about 10 hours. We went Florence first and took a nice tour there - but the scenery on the way was breathtaking. We had an included luncheon there that was fantastic. Then we went onto Pisa. We were back to the ship at about 6 p.m. I think. I know we were able to have dinner onboard that night.

We did the same tour in 2007. It was a great tour through Trumpy tour company. I only wish the lunch, which in Italy is a dinner, was a little shorter and had more time to view Florence, We are going back in 2013 also. This will be our third Med. cruise on the Magic.

 

[Anal Annie]

It is far away.

I wonder why DCL does not go to Livorno Port, which is the official port of Florence and is much closer.

Woody

One advantage to using La Spezia is that it's ultra convenient to do the Cinque Terre too in addition to Pisa & Florence. We did the Cinque Terre on our own by train & ferry 'cuz we didn't want to schlep for 2 or 2 1/2 hours on a bus or train in each direction. I would love to see Florence one day but it sounds like it's really more of a destination in of itself.