Getting to the Cities from Mediterranean Ports

[Royal Consort]

Hi guys,
We're booked on one of the 7 night Med cruises in 2017. When we sailed Norway/Iceland in 2015 sometimes Disney supplied bus transport into the cities (though each was pretty close to the port).

I understand that ports such as Civitavecchia and Livorno are far enough away from Rome and Florence. I've been to these cities before so can manage seeing things without a tour. Does Disney provide any transport options to get to these cities other than Port Adventures?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Hi guys,
We're booked on one of the 7 night Med cruises in 2017. When we sailed Norway/Iceland in 2015 sometimes Disney supplied bus transport into the cities (though each was pretty close to the port).

I understand that ports such as Civitavecchia and Livorno are far enough away from Rome and Florence. I've been to these cities before so can manage seeing things without a tour. Does Disney provide any transport options to get to these cities other than Port Adventures?

Well, there is a Rome On Your Own "tour". Costs $99.00 each. They take you Rome via motercoach (90 minutes), you have 6 hours on your own, and then you meet up with the coach and driver for the trip back (90 minutes).

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

We did private tours in each port, they are cheaper than DCL, for a family or combined with another family, you dictate where you go and when, and if you book with a reliable agent it's very safe, in fact they get to places tour coaches can't.

Detailed here. http://mickeymed.blogspot.co.uk/

 

[FutureMrsF]

When we went in 2013 we just got the local train. We booked tickets before we went, it was cheap and easy.

 

[shelldub]

i've also been looking into this for the last couple of days. specifically rome, pompei and pisa. from my research it seems i can do these on my own without disney for the fraction of the price. All of them i can get to by train in a short time and in a time that i wouldn't be worried about getting back to the ship.

 

[Cousin Orville]

A private tour would possibly take some stress out of your day and allow you to get around the city faster. We've done a couple of private tours of Rome and of Pisa combining it with a Tuscan cooking class.

 

[Danni75]

It really depends on your personality and how comfortable you are with private transportation and dealing with unexpected delays.
Personally I do personal trips for short commute - wouldn't necessarily do it for Rome or Florence as I experienced many issues with the train while on vacation. To be honest, your main risk is probably not to be in the city waiting for a delayed train but simply find after walking off the ship that today there is no train at all (happened to us - strike). You want to have a plan B.

 

[deanimal]

There's a great book out there called "Rick Steves Mediterranean Cruise Ports" that we found to be perfect for our 2014 Med cruise. He goes through all the transport options for each port and gives you exactly the info you need to know and whether it's worth the cost an hassle. For example, instead of saying "there's a bus from the port to the city" he'll say, "to get to the bus stop cross the main street across from the terminal and wait in front of the Europa Bank building for bus 91 direction "Plaza" which comes every 20 minutes. You can buy tickets from the nearby convenience store with a card or on the bus (local currency, exact change only). Catch the return bus from across the street from where you were dropped off. Check the schedule posted on the bus stop before you head off; frequency drops to once an hour after 7pm". You can tell that he's actually checked it all out himself instead of copying the info from the tourist office or something. He'll also tell you stuff like when a place gets totally packed and it's best to take a guided tour to skip the lines and things like that.

The book also has lists of things like emergency numbers and embassies for each port, contacts for English speaking doctors and clinics and the numbers for each cruise line's local office in each port. There's even a paragraph at the end of each chapter telling you exactly what to do if you miss your boat for each port! We like doing things on our own and this book really gave us the confidence to get out and be independent.

 

[vinotinto]

We're doing a non-DCL cruise this summer and we will be in both of those ports. We purchased the Rick Steves Mediterranean Cruise Ports book mentioned by the pp.

For Rome, we are walking to the train station and purchasing a very inexpensive BIRG ticket that covers both the train and the metro. We're taking it to the stop before Termini, and then switching to the metro.

Livorno is a little trickier, only because it's such a big port. We will either take the cruise's bus from the port to the train station or a take a taxi to the train station in Livorno. There you can catch a train to many places in Tuscany. We want to go somewhere we haven't been to before, so we're taking it to Lucca, but you can take it to Pisa or Firenze. If we have time, we're taking a bus from Lucca to the Piazza dei Miracoli in Pisa and then the train from Pisa back to Livorno.

All of these options are very inexpensive - a few euros per person - as train travel in Italy is very economical. It's also faster than being driven, as the traffic around these main cities can be horrendous. It can take more than 1 hour by car to get from Civitavecchia to Rome.

 

[MaleficentUK]

Does Disney provide a shuttle into the port cities? I thought I found a photo someone had taken of a sign about the timings for the Disney bus into the city center.

 

[cedricandsophie]

Does Disney provide a shuttle into the port cities? I thought I found a photo someone had taken of a sign about the timings for the Disney bus into the city center.

Disney provides a bus but ther is a charge. We did a bus from Rome and the. Got the hop on hop off bus to get around the city. We did the same for Berlin. Copenhagen, and Oslo. Very easy and inexpensive way to see the cities.

 

[Ofinn]

I bought rick steves med ports guide book. It gives very detailed instructions on how to get from port to town. Theres also a website called Toms port guide. Very detailed with maps and pictures. I really see no need for excursions or tours.