Cinque Terre on your own?

[Double Trouble]

Thanks for this - this is exactly why I'm glad I asked here on DIS - to get opinions and experiences! I am a "collector" by nature so my tendency is to want to "collect" all 5 of the villages

I did not have DoubleTrouble on my list of who is doing Cinque Terre on their own - I pulled the list from the Excursions spreadsheet for the Meet thread and had had some PMs with another family as well. So that makes 7 families doing CT on our own. We may have to get our own Tender (LOL). Or at least make sure to chat at the Meet in case any of us want to walk over to the train station at the same time (and remind each other to stamp our tickets).

We were out of town and I just now found this separate thread. I may need to go to the "excursions" sheet on our main thread and add a few things. Thanks Travelbee for bringing us up.

We are definitely planning to do Cinque Terre from La Spezia as we have been to Florence and Pisa before. I'm always up for joining forces, or we can just keep an eye out for each other as we trek the coast. Maybe we can have a little mini-meetup to loosely coordinate if anyone is interested. This may be our one and only trip to Cinque Terre so I want to get it right. Too bad about some of the trails, but we'll make it work. We're definitely looking forward to this trip, but the details can be a bit overwhelming.

I thought I recall someone saying one of our ports has (or is getting) a new dock to eliminate tendering. Was it Villefrance? La Spezia? Other? None of the above?

Thanks!

 

[bellelinus]

I thought I recall someone saying one of our ports has (or is getting) a new dock to eliminate tendering. Was it Villefrance? La Spezia? Other? None of the above?

Thanks!

It's La Spezia that has just gotten a new dock and some (but not all) big ships have been able to dock instead of tender over the past month or so . . . we don't know for sure if the Magic will be able to dock but it is at least possible!

 

[nzdisneymom]

It's La Spezia that has just gotten a new dock and some (but not all) big ships have been able to dock instead of tender over the past month or so . . . we don't know for sure if the Magic will be able to dock but it is at least possible!

I had our TA call DCL to ask about it and they were still saying tendering for La Spezia for us on the June 15th sailing. Of course that could change in the next two weeks, but who knows?

 

[nzdisneymom]

We were out of town and I just now found this separate thread. I may need to go to the "excursions" sheet on our main thread and add a few things. Thanks Travelbee for bringing us up.

We are definitely planning to do Cinque Terre from La Spezia as we have been to Florence and Pisa before. I'm always up for joining forces, or we can just keep an eye out for each other as we trek the coast. Maybe we can have a little mini-meetup to loosely coordinate if anyone is interested. This may be our one and only trip to Cinque Terre so I want to get it right. Too bad about some of the trails, but we'll make it work. We're definitely looking forward to this trip, but the details can be a bit overwhelming.

I thought I recall someone saying one of our ports has (or is getting) a new dock to eliminate tendering. Was it Villefrance? La Spezia? Other? None of the above?

Thanks!

I'm definitely up for a mini-meetup - I'll post something over on the Meet thread so we can figure out when and where would be best.

 

[abayaflowers]

Since someone mentioned good gelato in Monterosso and food is my favorite thing, I just had to Google! For all the gelato lovers it looks like "slurp - Gelato Artigianale" is the place to go! Via Fegina, 86

See you all there!

Marni

That's what my DD10 researched as well. Her goal is to stop at every bakery and Gelateria until we get back to La Spezia.

My DD13 is going to take photos.

My DH wants to hike all over the place and I want to have a relaxing time.

 

[nzdisneymom]

I just looked to see what the DCL excursion to CT says to try to figure out time and such for going ourselves. Looks like they go by boat so we don't have to worry about them filling up the trains They go about an hour on the boat and then stop at Vernazza, and then an hour or so later cruise up to Monterosso before heading back.

So I think if we go to Monterosso first, then Vernazza, we'll cross paths but not be in either place at the same time.

A friend at church this morning was asking what part of Italy we were going to, so I was telling her Florence, Rome, etc., and then mentioned CT - she was so excited because she had just this week started looking at CT and at the Amalfi Coast for a possible trip for her and her family. So I have a mission to not only have a great time with my family, but be attentive for things she might want to know about as she is planning this herself.

 

[pjacobi]

Trains in Italy are pretty regular, like a subway, so I would not fear getting stranded.

Italian train are clean and promptly on-time....except when on strike! In 2003, I was stranded for about 12 hours in one town while the trains were on strike/slowdown. The shuttle boats between the towns were also on strike/slowdown. The return trip to my hotel was just a little longer than expected. I'm glad that I was not racing back to a cruise ship!


-Paul

 

[Double Trouble]

Here's a link to the site I've been watching the CT trail status...

http://www.parconazionale5terre.it/sentieri_parco.asp?id_lingue=2

Still a few closures it looks like, but I need to study it more closely based on a potential plan.

 

[nzdisneymom]

I had our TA call DCL to ask about it and they were still saying tendering for La Spezia for us on the June 15th sailing. Of course that could change in the next two weeks, but who knows?

The Magic is on her way to La Spezia tonight with an 8:30 AM arrival time (Marine Traffic). If I remember to check in the morning, I want to see if it says she is moored/anchored or if she ports. I'm still hoping she'll port - so if she ports tomorrow, there is great likelihood she'll port for us. But we will have to wait and see.

 

[nzdisneymom]

The Magic is on her way to La Spezia tonight with an 8:30 AM arrival time (Marine Traffic). If I remember to check in the morning, I want to see if it says she is moored/anchored or if she ports. I'm still hoping she'll port - so if she ports tomorrow, there is great likelihood she'll port for us. But we will have to wait and see.

She is moored/anchored and you can see the track of the tender vessel. So that answers my question about tendering vs porting.

 

[debsters41]

perhaps porting instead of tendering would have incurred higher port charges that Disney was not keen on adding to the cost of the cruise?

 

[nzdisneymom]

DCL tendered on our first cruise and portend 12 days later.

 

[StephenKay]

Cinque Terre is easy on your own.

Assuming nothing has changed in 2 years, when you get off the tender with back to the water walk left until you come to a TI office( probably closed if you are trying to make first train). Cross the road to a pedestrian road, follow that road to the train station , about a 15 minute walk.

A little tip following the above instruction,

Yes, with your back to the water walk straight ahead and you will cross a large road, the "Vialle Italia" Then turn left, the gardens should be on your right. You turn right up the Via Armando Diaz" if you walked along then you pass a large mounted horseman statue you've gone to far. The Via Armando Diaz, becomes the Via Del Pirone which takes 10mins to do walk this road. Then you arrive at the at small roundabout and the train station should be straight head up a slight incline.

I have tendered from the Magic from both forward and aft in 2011 and 2013 and I shall be returning in 8 weeks to do the same.

 

[abayaflowers]

DCL tendered on our first cruise and portend 12 days later.

Hi! nzdisneymom and our family DIY via La Spezia C. Here's the address of the train station:

19122 La Spezia Province of La Spezia, Italy ‎

It might take longer than 10 mins. if your family or party will take pics. It was nice to have this fun trip with nzdisneymom. She had a schedule. She coordinated our watches when we arrived and off we went.

The train traveling to Monterosso was extremely packed. It was the fast train. By the way, there's a beautiful beach here. This is where we will spend our next MedCruise or Italian vacation.

Actual sand ... not rocks like along the coast of Sorrento.

nzdisneymom had a written schedule and I had the PDF. Remember in Corneglio, the train has a sporadic schedule. This stop and Riomaggiore was an EXTREMELY Hot and Humid stop.

There are beautiful restaurants and wonderful places to eat.

Our family ate something at every stop.