Shore excursions for Florence

[Artcricket]

My husband and I will be taking an 11 day cruise on Norwegian Jade next March. I would appreciate advise on which independent tour companies people would recommend for seeing Florence. I am a retired high school art teacher so art and architecture are top on my list

[Azulann]

Artcricket,

I would post on the Ports of Call and also look at Trip Advisor and do a goggle search of other Florence sites.

when I was on a cruise, I knew exactly what I wanted to see in Tuscany. found a private tour and the guide was a wine expert. we emailed each other and planned a great day including a local boutique winery, wine tasting and lunch on the veranda overlooking the vineyards with numerous bottles of Chianti.

As an Art teacher, I hope you do a private tour of the Ufizzi and the Academia. We hired a local tour guide, who was art historian, when we did a land tour of Tuscany years ago.

She met us at a cafe , had the tickets and we spent two hours in the Ufizzi and one hour in Academia. when I went into gallery 2 at the Ufizzi and saw Giotto Madonna, newly restored ,on the wall across from the entrance, I burst into tears. It was the most beautiful painting I have ever seen. I just wanted to sit in that gallery and reflect on the painting for a whole hour, but alas, we moved on and saw many more great paintings, up close, with our guide pointing out the richness, technique and the historical apects of the paintings she took us to

observe.

Many of the private tours you find on Port of Calla are drivers, local guides who know the sights but not real docents.

have a wonderful time in Florence. It is a city one can visit many times.

[boogs]

Many of the private tours you find on Port of Call are drivers, local guides who know the sights but not real docents.

have a wonderful time in Florence. It is a city one can visit many times.

 

Italian law prohibits drivers from conducting tours outside of their vehicles. They can only provide information while they are providing transportation services. For museum or major site visits, a licensed guide is required if you want the benefits of a guide. There are some licensed guides who also provide the driving services, but they are in the minority.

 

Through a tour company we hired a driver to take us to Pisa and Florence. In Florence, the company arranged for a licensed guide to show us around the major sites. After the allotted time, he returned us to our driver at a pre-arranged meeting point. The driver took us back to the ship, pointing out interesting views as we made our way back.

 

We did the same thing in Rome.

[Azulann]

Boogs,

You are correct.

After rereading my post ,it did sound confusing.

I just wanted to distinquish between a driver who can point out the local sights etc and a guide who can lead you through a museum and share their expertise on the subject you are seeing.

both kinds can meet people's needs.

[Keith1010]

For questions about Italy tours your best bet is to post this on the Italy Ports of Call board.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=595

 

We discuss tour companies all of the time.

 

If you have tours in other parts of Europe then go to the European ports of call board and from there you will find that it is sub-divided based on the area you are inquiring about.

 

Keith

[Essiesmom]

Get a copy of Rick Steves' Mediterranean Cruise Ports and check into doing it on your own. We took the ship's shuttle to florence and used the maps and free audio downloads (ipod,mp3) from Rick's site to do our own tour. Ditto for Rome. EM

[KirkNC]

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

[slidergirl]

For questions about Italy tours your best bet is to post this on the Italy Ports of Call board.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=595

 

We discuss tour companies all of the time.

 

If you have tours in other parts of Europe then go to the European ports of call board and from there you will find that it is sub-divided based on the area you are inquiring about.

 

Keith

 

We also discuss how one can do the Italian ports on your own, at your own pace, without tour companies and guides ;) There are several very knowledgeable cruisers on the forum with lots of info they are willing to share!

[Artcricket]

Thanks for the responses. I didn't even know that the ship would we providing a shuttle into Florence. I'll have to check on that. I think I'll be able to do a self guided adventure - especially since i just retired after 22 years of teaching high school art!

[Artcricket]

I also haven't quite figured out how to use the site.

[Keith1010]

Artcricket, you are doing great.

 

It took each of us a little while as well.

 

Keith