Italy ports

[swimfin]

Hello!
I am wondering if someone can help me with the "port to city" time for the cities on the Italy itinerary. I thought I read somewhere that certain ports have quite a bit of a drive from the port to the city mentioned on the itinerary. If this is the case, can someone please fill me in on what cities those might be? I am interested in all details, yet Pompeii, Rome, and Florence in particular. Thanks! Cheers!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Hello!
I am wondering if someone can help me with the "port to city" time for the cities on the Italy itinerary. I thought I read somewhere that certain ports have quite a bit of a drive from the port to the city mentioned on the itinerary. If this is the case, can someone please fill me in on what cities those might be? I am interested in all details, yet Pompeii, Rome, and Florence in particular. Thanks! Cheers!

From Civitavecchia to Rome - about an hour on the bus.

From Livorno OR La Spezia to Florence - about an hour.

From Naples to Pompeii - 30-45 minutes (with good traffic). Longer normally.

 

[gotomu212]

La Spezia to Florence was an hour 45 minutes with little traffic.

 

[fredandkell]

If you look at the European port adventures on the DCL site, it tells you how long the drive is from port to city. For example, all the Civitavecchia/Rome excursions cite a 90-minute drive time. https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/port-adventures/europe/list/civitavecchia-italy/

The Rick Steves' Mediterranean Cruise Ports book does a great job of telling you all the ways to get from port to city, how long it will take, and how much it costs. Of course every family is different but for us we decided after reading his book to do DCL excursions in Cannes, Pisa, and Rome, just for simplicity's sake when traveling with kids.

 

[GPaLarry]

I bought Rick Steves' map of Italy to help orient me to as to where our destinations would be. You could print a random one up from your computer, too, if it is big enough. Rick's map uses cruise names for ports/cities, so I felt very comfortable with it.

 

[swimfin]

Hello! THANK YOU for ALL of your quick responses!!! I hadn't planned on being away from this thread for so long ...sorry!

 

[swimfin]

From Civitavecchia to Rome - about an hour on the bus.

From Livorno OR La Spezia to Florence - about an hour.

From Naples to Pompeii - 30-45 minutes (with good traffic). Longer normally.

THANK YOU!!!! PERFECT as always!!!!

 

[swimfin]

La Spezia to Florence was an hour 45 minutes with little traffic.

THANK YOU!!!!

 

[swimfin]

If you look at the European port adventures on the DCL site, it tells you how long the drive is from port to city. For example, all the Civitavecchia/Rome excursions cite a 90-minute drive time. https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/port-adventures/europe/list/civitavecchia-italy/

The Rick Steves' Mediterranean Cruise Ports book does a great job of telling you all the ways to get from port to city, how long it will take, and how much it costs. Of course every family is different but for us we decided after reading his book to do DCL excursions in Cannes, Pisa, and Rome, just for simplicity's sake when traveling with kids.

PERFECT!!! THANK YOU!!! We love Rick too and we have kids so I like the DCL approach if needed!

 

[swimfin]

I bought Rick Steves' map of Italy to help orient me to as to where our destinations would be. You could print a random one up from your computer, too, if it is big enough. Rick's map uses cruise names for ports/cities, so I felt very comfortable with it.

PERFECT!!! THANK YOU!!!!

 

[Stinkerbell1973]

Oh, two of my favorite things in the same thread.....the Mediterranean itinerary and Rick Steves!

We did the Med in 2014 on the Magic and our Rome day was logistically a nightmare. You should easily plan for 1.5 to 2 hours to get to your first stop (depending on where it is) from the port if driving/going by bus. We were in Rome on a Wednesday. The Pope was giving a Papal address in the morning at the Vatican and the Italian President was hosting another President in the city. We got to the outskirts of Rome in roughly an hour. That said, trying to get into the city and make our way to the Colosseum, our first stop, took us about 45 additional minutes because traffic was horrendous. Traffic in Rome is apparently always bad (our guide likened it to Los Angeles, but worse) so just make sure you factor that into whatever you do in Rome that day. It was our most favorite day on that trip in spite of it though.

We also used some guidance from our Rick Steves Med cruise ports guidebook and it was very helpful (for the entire trip, really). We just did one of his guided tours over the summer for the first time and it was AMAZING. I love his shows, books and blogs. Such great info!

Enjoy!

 

[swimfin]

THANK YOU for the tips!! My husband and I were super lucky to meet Rick Steves on our honeymoon in Vienna 15 years ago! We walked out of a side street and I heard my husband say hi and start talking to this random "stranger" as if they'd known each other for years! Then I realized who it was!! We had heard back in Hallstatt that he was updating his book yet we thought we were 1 day ahead of him! Lucky for us, our paths crossed!! SUPER nice and very down to earth!!

Oh, two of my favorite things in the same thread.....the Mediterranean itinerary and Rick Steves!

We did the Med in 2014 on the Magic and our Rome day was logistically a nightmare. You should easily plan for 1.5 to 2 hours to get to your first stop (depending on where it is) from the port if driving/going by bus. We were in Rome on a Wednesday. The Pope was giving a Papal address in the morning at the Vatican and the Italian President was hosting another President in the city. We got to the outskirts of Rome in roughly an hour. That said, trying to get into the city and make our way to the Colosseum, our first stop, took us about 45 additional minutes because traffic was horrendous. Traffic in Rome is apparently always bad (our guide likened it to Los Angeles, but worse) so just make sure you factor that into whatever you do in Rome that day. It was our most favorite day on that trip in spite of it though.

We also used some guidance from our Rick Steves Med cruise ports guidebook and it was very helpful (for the entire trip, really). We just did one of his guided tours over the summer for the first time and it was AMAZING. I love his shows, books and blogs. Such great info!

Enjoy!

 

[Stinkerbell1973]

THANK YOU for the tips!! My husband and I were super lucky to meet Rick Steves on our honeymoon in Vienna 15 years ago! We walked out of a side street and I heard my husband say hi and start talking to this random "stranger" as if they'd known each other for years! Then I realized who it was!! We had heard back in Hallstatt that he was updating his book yet we thought we were 1 day ahead of him! Lucky for us, our paths crossed!! SUPER nice and very down to earth!!

Sooooo lucky! I’d prefer to meet him over 99.9% of all famous people. Haha.

While we were on our trip, our guide would randomly announce on a couple of mornings “I have a HUGE surprise for you at dinner this evening”, and every time he did it all 28 of us would say “Rick is coming to dinner?!?”. It became somewhat of a running joke. He was in Italy, then France - where he got pickpocketed and posted about it on FB - during our tour (we were in Germany, Switzerland and Austria) so we were all hoping he’d show up wherever we were. Such a great trip!

And I totally loved Hallstatt. So beautiful. I was so sick the one day/overnight we were there (food poisoning) so didn’t get to really sightsee a whole lot. Hubby has promised to take me back one day.

 

[Jason Martin]

Just did this cruise. Did DCL excursions to Rome. It will take about 2 hours from the time your get on the bus until you start your walking tour in Rome. That includes a 15 minute pit stop and driving from the autostrade to thE center of town. From the end of the tour straight back is a good 90 mins.

 

[swimfin]

Just did this cruise. Did DCL excursions to Rome. It will take about 2 hours from the time your get on the bus until you start your walking tour in Rome. That includes a 15 minute pit stop and driving from the autostrade to thE center of town. From the end of the tour straight back is a good 90 mins.

THANK YOU!!!!

 

[kiford]

Just did this cruise. Did DCL excursions to Rome. It will take about 2 hours from the time your get on the bus until you start your walking tour in Rome. That includes a 15 minute pit stop and driving from the autostrade to thE center of town. From the end of the tour straight back is a good 90 mins.

When we did a DCL tour to Rome in 2010, it was 2 hours into Rome to get to our first stop (Colosseum) and 2.5+ back to port because of rush-hour traffic. I cannot overemphasize the traffic that we encountered on our way back. Worst I've ever seen anywhere. At least the first hour was just a crawl. And that was just to get to the outskirts of the city.

 

[Dug720]

When we did a DCL tour to Rome in 2010, it was 2 hours into Rome to get to our first stop (Colosseum) and 2.5+ back to port because of rush-hour traffic. I cannot overemphasize the traffic that we encountered on our way back. Worst I've ever seen anywhere. At least the first hour was just a crawl. And that was just to get to the outskirts of the city.

This is why the further from the port the city/excursion is, the more likely I am to use the ship-based excursions. Does DCL offer an "On Your Own" kind of option? I know last summer when I was on RCCL, several of our port stops - Rome being one - had an "On Your Own" option where you were on ship-based transportation to and from but were on your own for the day, you just had to be at the meeting point at the designated time to return. The built-in security of knowing the ship will wait for the excursion (or the company will get you to the next port or onto the ship if that can be done via water) is worth the added cost to me. (And to be honest, as a solo cruiser, I've never found the excursions to be that much more - if at all - than what I could do on my own, if places would even entertain a single traveler as opposed to a group.)

 

[Stinkerbell1973]

When we did a DCL tour to Rome in 2010, it was 2 hours into Rome to get to our first stop (Colosseum) and 2.5+ back to port because of rush-hour traffic. I cannot overemphasize the traffic that we encountered on our way back. Worst I've ever seen anywhere. At least the first hour was just a crawl. And that was just to get to the outskirts of the city.

Same for us. We were stuck just trying to get out of a small parking deck/covered parking area for over 30 minutes.

There were many people who missed the ship and ended up finding their own way to Naples for the next stop. We did a private tour not booked thru DCL, but our dinner table mates took the DCL tour and walked back on the ship 30 minutes after the scheduled sail away (we walked on about 5 minutes after the scheduled time, and so did about 500 other people). The ship did leave port later than scheduled that night.

 

[remlap]

We did this cruise this year on the Magic and traveled independently in all ports, following Rick Steves. We always had a "safety train" beyond the train we took back to the port. Feel free to DM if anyone has questions...