Hello all

I'm new to this forum but have been reading what's written.

I have a question about travel from Civitavecchi and Livorno into Rome and Florence.

Has anyone taken local transport? Is there a bus or train? Where could I find information?

We have booked Holland America Rotterdam on Oct 24 going from Venice to Lisbon. I can book the transfer with HAL shore excursions for $75 each but that seems pricey. I'm also exploring car rentals but that might be a big hassle.

Any opinions?

thanks

Having just completed a cruise with HA on Rotterdam (April-May 2005) we took the local trains to both Rome and Pisa/Florence and had no problems at all. The cost of tickets is about 10% of what the Cruise Line charge. You can check the timetable on the net at <www.trentalia.it> and I think you can even purchase tickets on line. Also there is a bus service outside the gate at Civitavecchi to Rome but we found the rail service very good. Also there is a City tour Hop-on Hop-off bus service outside Rome Rail Terminal costing about $20USD for the day.
Hope this helps
Regards

Make sure you go online with the trains to make sure they are NOT on strike before you hit one of the ports..

Strikes in Italy are planned in advance.
You don't want to be in Florence or Rome and trying to get back to cruise ship only to find trains are not running.

You can also do a private tour with
[email protected]
Email Andrea and he will give you a price.
You will be in AC Mercedes with english speaking guide..The tour can be customized to what you want to see...
(note: this is for ROME only)...

thanks for the info. I'm fighting my way through the trenitalia site. My Italian isn't great and the English portion is pretty basic. It keeps throwing me back into Italian. But I have lots of time to figure this out.

We might do the limousine - then we could come and go when we wanted to.

The ship is in port in Civitavechhia until 8:00 p.m. so I don't want to go back too early.

What was the best thing that you did in any of the ports?

ldog-

get a good guide book for Italy..
In Florence, we did a ton of shopping and visited the Pitti Palace on one of our cruises...You can also get tkts to see the Uffizi Gallery and the Accademia Museum..

In Rome, go thru the book and see what YOU are interested in..We saw the Pantheon,the Vatican,went shopping on Via Veneto and walked the Spanish Steps,toured the Borghese Gardens...etc.
Just pick out stuff you really want to see up close and personal...

You will NOT need to buy tickets in advance for either of these routes; the trains are frequent both ways.

Some cruise lines will offer a free bus transfer to the main rail station in Livorno from the ship or you can also take a taxi.

Trains to Florence from Livorno all go through Pisa and you could easily stop off there to see the leaning tower on the way in or on the way back (take bus or taxi from the Pisa Centrale station to the tower).

The station you want to get off at in Florence is Santa Maria Novello (SMN); do NOT get off at the Rifredi station.

For simply checking schedules sometimes the GermanRail site is easier to use than Trenitalia (www.bahn.de)