Port to City Transportation in Italian Cruise

Question

I am taking a cruise to some Italian cities and would like to travel to other cities. What is the transportation system I would like to use, and how much is the cost.

Port city Livorno (I want to travel to Florence & Pisa)

Port city Civitavecchia (I want to travel to Rome)

Answer 1

The cruise ship port for Rome is more than an hour away from Rome. About the best option is the train. BUT you need to know that if you are going to Rome and coming back to the ship you had better not be late or the ship WILL leave you. If you are wanted to get to Rome but not go on a ship's tour the check to see if they are offering the "Rome on your own" option; essentially they take you by bus to a designated drop-off/pick-up point. You do what you want and get back to the pick up point by the appointed time. That's the best way not to be left behind. They offered that on our Royal Caribbean cruise which stopped in Civitavecchia.

You can take a train:

http://www.raileurope.com/us/train_stati...

http://goitaly.about.com/gi/dynamic/offs...

Or, you can arrange a limo or bus:

http://www.viator.com/Rome/d511-ttd?pref...

http://goitaly.about.com/gi/dynamic/offs...

Or you can ask your cruise line if they provide transfers.

In Livorno we did a ships tour that did both Florence and Pisa.  There will be taxis at the port but you would have to spend a bunch to go first to Florence and then to Pisa.  I think your best bet would be a ship's tour.  OR, you can go on line and arrange your own tour with a pickup at the port.  Here's some web sites:

http://www.italyguides.it/us/florence/fl...

http://www.italyguides.it/us/pisa/pisa_i...

Tour that you arrange yourself will likely be much less than what the ship offers.  Just make sure that you will get back to the ship at least 30 to 40 minutes before the ship is to depart; it will not wait on you.

Answer 2

Do what we did, hire a car for the day in all the major cities, it works out cheaper than the cruise tours, especially if you can have 4 people in the car, The rental companies, like Hertz will deliver the car right to the port you dock at. You can even make the reservations before you leave the usa ( or where ever you live, then the car will be waiting for you at each destination. just make sure you leave plenty of time to get back to the ship otherwise you will be left behind and have to make your own way to the next port. In Rome you will have trouble finding parking space, and the streets are very narrow, and many of them are one way, so get some maps too. In Pisa there is plenty of parking by the entrance to the tower, and there is a "market" just for tourists, watch the weather though, they get a lot of rain in Pizza. Florence has narrow streets too and crowds tourists everywhere. In some places you can get a train into the city if you don't want to bother renting a car, ask on the ship, they are usually very helpful. We took the train into Athens from the port Pairaius ( not sure of the spelling on that one) The train is quite a walk from the port, but easy to get to,  and only costs a couple of Euro each way. Make sure you buy a Return ticket and once again check your times, Don't miss the ship. Hope this helps

There was no need to give my answer a low rating, I presum "someone" is out for the points, fine you can have themI only want to help people not build points.