Shore excursions for Vision 12night Mediterranean Venice Cruise

I'm trying to explore alternative shore excursions in Venice & Florence besides what RCCL offers. Can anyone recommend another tour company, preferably one that will still transport from the cruise pier? In Venice we would like to do tours of the Doge's Palace & St. Mark's Basilica and see a glass blowing demonstration. In Florence, we

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I've been to Venice once before on my Honeymoon back in 2005. While not done in connection with a cruise, I will say it was very easy to go to the Doge Palace, pay the admission fee and take a tour. We had a similar experience at the Basilica. We were there 4 days in early June and loved every minute of it! Murano and Burano were really fun too, but in a different way. Granted, this was several years ago so things may have changed, but it was absolutely okay and easy to do it on our own.

My wife and I have always had good luck googling something like this: "Shore Excursions Livorno". This will bring up LOTS of choices. From there, we just explore a little and look for something that sounds up our alley. Then check for reviews of the outfit we've selected. We've never been disappointed in our results. Florence/Pisa is what we did, and it makes for a long day. We did a private excursion, so we actually got to Pisa before ANY other group tour...it was awesome. In Florence, you'll want to have purchased Accedemia (where David hangs out) tickets in advance, or you'll spend a lot of time waiting to get in. It seems like most tour companies will help you with that.

Venice we actually did on our own. It's pretty easy to figure out the public transport and get around. The water bus lines are easy to figure out. I HIGHLY recommend taking the "bus" all the way up the Grand Canal to St. Mark's Square. You'll take dozens of photos...it's just super cool. And very inexpensive. (Little known item: you can purchase admissions to St. Mark's Cathedral in advance. I think they were like $2 each...but they let us right in, instead of waiting in line.) As far as "tours" of the palace and cathedral...if you do decide you can do things on your own, consider having Rick Steves' book about Mediterranean Cruise Ports. There are self guided tours of both, and they get the job done nicely. We've used him in Venice, Athens, Olympia, Dubrovnik, Ravenna and parts of Rome. Most dog-earred book I own!

I did a precruise stay in Venice and it is easy to do that on your own. A log walk from the cruise terminal but 7.50 for one way ticket or 21 euro all day ticket for the water taxi (Venice equivalent of a public bus or tram). Buy ticket on arrival or prebook online to avoid the wait ( recommended in high season)

I recommend the all day ticket because with extra time the taxi is a great sight seeing cruise.

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Venice is very easy to DIY. Pre-book your Doge’s Palace tixx, and you’ll be set. You can take the vaporetto around and wander the streets and canals. For Florence, I would recommend sticking with the cruise line because it’s quite a distance from the cruise port.

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For Florence/Pisa, we used Rome in Limo - picked us up at the cruise terminal, small group of 8, wonderful driver, excellent experience! We did see David at the Accademia, but did not go into the duomo as the line was huge and our group decided to pass. We drove to Florence first, then Pisa on the way back, dropped us off very close the the ship.

Romeinlimo is the tour company we always use can highly recommend them.

We used Tuscany bus company last year..cheap..reliable..comfortable and you get roughly 5 hours in Florence

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If you do Florence and Pisa with Tuscany bus company still good but a bit of a rush particularly in pisa (I'd choose Florence only)

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Romeo limo is highly recommended. We (8 friends) used them in Rome & Florence & Naples & they were knowledgeable, friendly & couldn't have been more helpful.

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