PISA transfer can this be a problem independently

[sparky876]

We are shortly going on our cruise and were considering doing Pisa on our own from the ship however there seems to be some confusion over costs of actually getting out of the port, as you have to pay a shuttle fee on some cruises to get from your ship to the taxis outside of the port area.

 

We are travelling with P&O can anyone please help with this question? We were thinking of getting a taxi to the train and then transferring to Pisa that way to save the expense of the ships tour there. Has anyone recently sailed with P&O and can enlighten me on this?

[syesmar]

Hi sparky876,

These recent threads should give insight on this:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2205147

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2175286

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2209462

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2206379

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2205464

 

Many passengers go to Pisa independently; I did so last summer via the train. (The threads above give various scenarios on how to get to there).

 

Enjoy your cruise!

Edited May 24, 2015 by syesmar

[envy4u]

Don't take the shuttle. Just grab a taxi outside your ship to the train station. It will cost approx. 25 Euros for the car. Find another couple to share the ride and then you can split the cost.

[sparky876]

due to the busy port, you are not allowed to walk from the ship to the area where the taxi are, so you have to take the shuttle as the taxis are not allowed in this area unless organised trip is booked with them

[euro cruiser]

due to the busy port, you are not allowed to walk from the ship to the area where the taxi are, so you have to take the shuttle as the taxis are not allowed in this area unless organised trip is booked with them

You can't make generalizations like this based on your experience, as Livorno is a large and diverse port and many of us have had difference experiences. There were plenty of taxis right there when I got off the ship but the cruise line (NCL) had told us the night before that we had NO OPTION other than their excursions or their port bus (for a fee of I think 5 Euro per person). They were wrong/lying, taxis were available and plentiful that morning.

[sparky876]

Euro-cruiser, I don't have any experiences of this port which is why I was asking the question. It was only from the threads on CC that I had gathered the information that you were not allowed to walk in the port area, and that only the taxis booked for tours were allowed in. I have no idea as I have never been, so I was not making any generalisations based on any experiences.

 

Thank you to all people replying tho offering all your kind advise.

[dallas16]

Was just reading an article on the livorno port website http://www.portolivorno2000.it/en/company/news/news-detail?id=367 which states that Norwegian Spirit managed to dock in the porto mediceo area (pier 61/62 calata sgarallino) that is normally used for smaller cruise ships and ferries. Hopefully more ships of this size will be able to dock on this pier as it allows you to walk in and out of the port easily without having to use the ships shuttle bus and also the pier has a bus stop with regular buses running to and from livorno train station, the pier is also just 1.3km walk away from the cathedral and the piazza grande in livorno city centre which makes it easier and will hopefully allow you to have longer for excursions as you won't have to wait for ship shuttle buses.

According to the article, it took a lot of teamwork from NCL and the port authority/ port captain/ pilot to dock on this pier which is 50m shorter than the norwegian spirit and also has a lower maximum draft (8.5m) than the cruise piers in the industrial port. Norwegian Spirit was originally scheduled to use the alto Fondale cruise terminal however a late change was made to use this pier in the old port which will hopefully be beneficial to people wanting to do independent excursions if they decide to use this pier again in the future

 

The picture below shows the old port area where norwegian spirit docked[ATTACH]350363[/ATTACH]

[dallas16]

The old porto mediceo livorno