Ditching the Guided Tour on Excursion (Florence)

[Shaken_Bake]

We're on Harmony in October and are going to dock in La Spezia from which I'm determined to get into Florence for the day. I went ahead and booked the ship's excursion "A Taste of Florence" which includes a 2-1/2 hour highlights guided tour, then three hours on your own (plus a mandatory stop at a leather factory - boo.) I'm thinking of skipping the guided tour and catching up with the group when they're ready to depart. I'm much more of a DIY shore tour person, but the cost of this tour cost was less than any other transfer-only options I found, plus the distance to/from Florence is concerning in case of delay.

 

I can't find any reviews of this excursion. Has anyone just used a tour for transportation in this manner? Any reason this wouldn't be a good idea? Thanks.

[xpcdoojk]

We're on Harmony in October and are going to dock in La Spezia from which I'm determined to get into Florence for the day. I went ahead and booked the ship's excursion "A Taste of Florence" which includes a 2-1/2 hour highlights guided tour, then three hours on your own (plus a mandatory stop at a leather factory - boo.) I'm thinking of skipping the guided tour and catching up with the group when they're ready to depart. I'm much more of a DIY shore tour person, but the cost of this tour cost was less than any other transfer-only options I found, plus the distance to/from Florence is concerning in case of delay.

 

I can't find any reviews of this excursion. Has anyone just used a tour for transportation in this manner? Any reason this wouldn't be a good idea? Thanks.

 

That sounds like the tour we did with Celebrity in 2000. We took the tour bus to the leather factory. We spent 15 minutes there, and from there we walked into the downtown area. Where we did our own thing, and took the bus back to the port. Long bus ride.

 

JC