7 day W.Med Cruise - Need Input Please
 

Help!<BR>Booked RCC 7 day Western Med.in June. Will be making 10 hour stops in Rome and Florence.Cruise offers shore excursion but I consider them extremely expensive. approx $650.00 for 3 people. Also,too hectic for my taste, too many places too little time. <BR><BR>On previous trips to Spain I have been able to get a regular taxi driver for an entire day (6-8 hours)for a reasonable amount of money to drive me to points of interest for approx 1/2 the cost of the shore excursion proposed by the cruise. <BR><BR>Is this possible in Florence and Rome. My stay is so short that I do not want to spend time in lines in the museums, etc., rather visit a couple of places of interest and the rest of the time (few hours) sitting back and enjoying the city. <BR><BR>If anyone has input on this subject, please post a reply. I would really appreciated.<BR><BR>Thanks,<BR><BR>Miriam

Miriam-- the port for FLorence is LIVORNO--it is a 2 hr drive into FLORENCE--a cab or private car will run you about $400 rdtrp- YOu may want to hire a car ahead of time....ONLY negative is you have to make sure the cab /car gets you back to ship before it leaves---email me if you need a car service....<BR><BR>AS far as ROme, that port is Civitaveccia and it is an hour and 1/2 into ROME--same thing applies--a car service is about $220 each way--the people to email for pickup and return is www.limoservicerome.com and make it to the attention of Andrea Raguso--<BR><BR><BR>Also Museum tkts can be ordered online for FLORENCE--go to www.spendini.com --you can get Uffizi Gallery and the Academia Gallery for a small surcharge and avoid the lines and walk right in....<BR><BR>Hope this helps--and ENJOY THE CRUISE!!

ttt

We cruised the Mediterranean in September 2000 on Celbrity's Millennium. I recall it being 1-1/2 hours from the port mentioned above (prior responses) into Florence and Rome. I don't know which line you are on, but I would take the cheapest bus excusion offered by the cruiseline if you want the time to walk around on your own. I wouldn't hire a private car service because there is the chance of not making it back to the ship on time. In 2000, a bus trip to Florence and Rome (with no guided tour) was about $70 per person round trip. They dropped you off in a particular location and told you when and where to meet the bus for the return trip back to the dock. We paid $90 per person in each port and it included a half day guided tour with 1/2 day on our own. We found it helpful to have the 1/2 day tour as we had never been there before. Shore excursions through the cruise line were more necessary in Italy than in Spain - I assume you stopped in Barcelona. Barcelona is not far from the dock, but Florence and Rome are quite a distance. The ship did not leave the port in the evening until all shore excursion buses had returned from Rome and Florence, and some buses were late getting back. If you don't book through the cruise line, they will not wait for you.

We did the western med last June we took the train in Livorno and Civitaveechia and in both cases made better time into Florence and Rome than the buses did. The cost is around $7 to $8 apiece roundtrip!!! Take a taxi from each port to the train station - that will cost about $20. We did all our own excursions in Villefranche, Livorno, Civitaveechia, Naples, and Malta as well as spent time in Barcelona and Mallorca. Email me if you have any questions.