Jump to content

Marella Explorer Western Med Cruise Excursion question.


Recommended Posts

Please, can anyone tell me if the Western Med cruise that docks at Livorno port went on the excursion to Pisa and Florence with Marella/Tui? If so, can you let me know if you had enough time at both places? Tui will not give us the itinery for this excursion. We have already booked this cruise for October and due to pay the balance of the low deposit and final balance. The ship is not in dock long enough for the 10 hour excursion they were advertising. We only found out once we tried to book this excursion privately. The excursions set off at 8am and the ship docks at 9am - too late!

Thanks in advance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can’t help specifically with this particular excursion, but having done it with anothey provider with another company it’s doable, but tight! More of a “seen it, tick it off the list, on to the next place” sort of excursions. If you want to actually go in any of the buildings/museums/galleries etc, then I suggest picking one or the other. If I also recall correctly the day we went there were lots of other ships and tours in so the coaches had to park quite far out of Pisa/Florence so it was a 15-20 minute walk there (and back) at each stop which ate in to the time somewhat.

 

If I had my time again I would have gone to Lucca and maybe saved Florence for a long weekend sometime :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Last September we docked in Livorno on Dream and did the Florence and Pisa all day trip We were off the ship first and last back. We had about 2.5 hrs in Florence with a guide and then taken to Pisa and did our own thing We got our own lunch there and Pisa is easy to do - except no time to go up the tower due to queues There is a separate trip for Pisa only which includes the tower climb Hope this helps

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you very much for your response and information. We particularly booked this cruise to go to Florence and Pisa to avoid booking a separate holiday. We wanted a flavour of both. It is the timescale that worries us. ie getting back to the ship in time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In that respect you will be fine :)

 

I felt sad not to have enough time in Florence, but I’m glad I didn’t make a specific trip to Pisa: for me anyway, I’m sure other people may feel differently.

 

Can’t you try and go on a tour via the ship? We went on an independent one for that stop and very nearly missed the boat!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you do the TUI trip there will be no problem with getting back on time as the ship will always wait for their own trips. When you say Tui will not give you the itinerary do you mean it is not available on line? If so this may mean it is fully booked but there are usually places available to book when you are onboard.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We too did this trip but with Celebrity. Not knowing the Marella time scale it’s difficult to give a definitive answer. However, on our trip, we left quite early straight to Pisa. We were there before many other coaches so it was very quiet for an hour or so. After that it was bedlam but we got some photos without crowds in them. From there we were taken to Florence. From memory we were there a good couple of hours which was enough time to look around and grab a glass of Chianti at an outside cafe. I would check what time your tour starts and if it’s early and Pisa first, do it. As someone else said earlier, you can expect a 20 minute walk from where the coach parks in Florence, but the walk is flat and easy! Enjoy

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you for all your replies. I was hoping that someone who had been on this particular cruise could tell me if TUI actually offered this excursion. We have sent many emails and had many conversations with them about it but they will not tell us. There was a problem because the excursion they were offering was 10 hours long but this was not possible because the ship is not even docked for this amount of time. They made a serious error. They will not confirm that the excursion is definitely taking place or give us the itinerary. We are already disappointed and haven't even paid the balance of the cruise yet. We do not want to go if it means there is no excursion to Florence and Pisa. If anyone out there can help we would really appreciate it. Most excursions leave at 8am. The ship doesn't even dock until 9am. Marella have changed the actual times and one country for next year to accommodate this excursion and is 10 hours again. We are very suspicious that they will take our money and then tell us the excursion is not available. They have already told us we can get a refund if it doesn't go ahead. The point is we do not want to go at all if it doesn't go ahead. Please help us. Thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you have got a booking reference I really don't understand why you can't find the excursion on line We are going to Savona on Dream 25th September and the Florence/Pisa full day trip is available to book We have already done this trip from Livorno last September but our friends who are with us this year haven't and have booked it and it's been available to book for some time so your cruise itinerary should be available now

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Apologies I meant Livorno not Savona and the excursion is 9.5hrs and costs £84 per adult There are 9 trips including the Florence/Pisa trip and there are 2 doing Florence on your own either 9hrs or 7 hrs the other 6 are half days visiting either Florence or Pisa Hope this helps

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is this "Cosmopolitan Classics" on Explorer?

 

I think I can understand the OP's problem.

That for whatever reason the arrival time in Livorno for this year is 9am whereas Thomson's advertised Florence/Pisa excursion shows an 8am start - and consequently Thomson are not currently offering that excursion.

(The itinerary has been changed for 2019 with arrival time at 7am)

 

With the scheduled sailing time of 7pm, there's still time for a ship's excursion which visits both for "a flavour" of them (little time for inside visits in Florence or with much more than a photostop at Pisa's Field of Miracles) so I don't understand why it's not being offered.

(With another cruise line we did both independently by train within that same time-frame)

 

There's even time for the full 10-hour excursion if the ship can be re-scheduled to sail away later - that would depend on tides, pilot availability, time/distance to the next port (Villefranche?), etc.

Villefranche is just 131 nm away, at a leisurely 14knots it would take only 9 hours. By contrast, TUI has allowed 16 hours from Naples to Livorno - that requires a speed of 16knots.

 

Sadly, altho I have confidence in Thomson ships' crews I can't say the same for their head office staff who are inefficient and often come up with inadequate or even incorrect information.

Explorer has been sailing this itinerary since May, so there are folks who know whether that excursion has been offered.

 

Keep hunting & good luck

 

JB :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We are on Explorer in October stopping at Livorno 9am to 7pm we have booked Florence on your own for 9hrs as we have been before and did the Florence and Pisa trip last time, they took us to Florence then onto Pisa spending lots of time in both places, good tour guide in Florence and some time on your own, left to do your own thing in Pisa. They have the Florence/Pisa trip online again when I booked our excursions its for 9.5 hrs £84 per adult, its expensive but if you have never been before and with only 1/2hr to spare with the ship only spending 10hrs there I would definitely pay the price, it is worth the money we enjoyed it. And you have the security of being on a Marella tour. It rained for a couple of hrs the last time we went to Florence so want to go again (hopefully rain free) and visit places we missed last time, and once you have been to Pisa in our opinion there is no need to visit again.

On my booking and online shore excursions I cannot see anywhere the shore excursions start time, it says on my booking that we get into Livorno at 9am to 7pm and the excursions are in hrs not start from and back to ship time. Same for all stops and excursions, we dont usually find out times coach leaves port until you are on the ship and find your tickets on the bed when you get in your cabin with dates and times on them. Thats how its always worked on all the other Marella cruises we have been on.

Edited by Pandasue
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...