Pisa / Florence From Where?

[ROSEBASKETS]

My yearly Thomson cruise wouldn't be complete without a trip to Pisa.

So how do I get from Marina di Carrara to Pisa on my own?

Why have Thomson moved to this port?

Is this a money making excercise?

Is the port far superior to Livorno?

Has anyone been to both?, can you give us a comparison?

 

It's 22km from Livorno to Pisa

It's 60km from Marina di Carrara to Pisa

 

It's 122km from Livorno to Florence

It's 133km from Marina di Carrara to Florence

 

With both destinations being further away what's the motive or have I missed something?

 

Sorry for so many questions! :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

[ROSEBASKETS]

I have got the right place haven't I? or am I just being negative?

 

Pictures courtesy of Google Earth

[kruzseeka]

Hi Rosebaskets - yes I spotted this change of port. I guess it's financial. They used to berth in Copenhagen really close to the Mermaid and you could just walk off the ship right into the city centre. Now they go to Kalundborg (for Copenhagen) and I think that's about an hour's transfer. :(

 

The berthing charges are enormous and given that many Thomson cruises are pretty port intensive the costs for this element must be proportionally quite high. A back-to-back 14 night Med cruise out of Palma for example has 11 days in port compared with a cruise from, say, Southampton which will perhaps have only 7 port days for the same cruise period because of having to travel to get into the Med and back. I reckon they have probably found cheaper berthing at Carrara and have made the move to try to keep prices down.

 

Like you, I did a bit of research on Carrara and it doesn't sound like a fantastic destination in its own right and I'd looked at the possibility of getting to Lucca from there. It was possible by train (changing at Viareggio) - but your trip to Pisa will clearly not be so easy as it was from Livorno.

 

I'll be very interested to hear from someone who's done this port too.

 

P.S. You provide some pretty interesting and detailed info too!!! Thanks!:) ;)

[kruzseeka]

:eek: :eek: :eek: your pics hadn't come through when I posted my message - now I've seen those - the berthing must be cheap!! In fact, they might even pay the ships to come!!!!!!!!

[Girl Cruiser]

Apparently work is being done to 'improve' the port of Livorno allowing only 1 ship to dock there, therefore Thomsons changed it to Marina di Carrara.

 

Rachel.

[ROSEBASKETS]

Thank you for that info, where did you pick it up from?

[Girl Cruiser]

Crew on destiny.

[ladyjayneq]

I've got a cruise booked for October on the Spirit and am supposed to be porting in Livorno. Which ship/itinerary have you got that has been changed and how did you find out.

[ROSEBASKETS]

Hi Ladyjayneq, I visited the Thomson web site to read up and noticed that the port write up was different to the picture, (which still says Livorno) We have booked a cruise on the Destiny in Sept. one of the highlights is Pisa.

 

As we have been to Livorno on numerous occasions and know it's only a 14 minute train journey to Pisa. We do our own thing rather than paying the £150+ (2 adults, 2 kids) tour charges as we can hit Pisa before the tour crowds get there and are not marched around by the tour guide, which our kids hate.

 

I'm still waiting for Thomson to confirm and explain the change.

 

I would ask your travel agent to confim your itinery if you can to make sure that they are still docking in Livorno.

 

I was there in May and i didn't notice any development signs or anything unusual, but I suppose the crew know best

[zetarose]

Hi Rosebaskets,Ive just checked brochure for our cruise,are we going to Pisa?didnt think we would be going to Pisa,I might be wrong,maybe you could confirm that for me please.

[ROSEBASKETS]

Hi Zetarose, sorry to confuse you, i'm on for a fortnight, from the 18th.:)

[zetarose]

Phew thanks for telling me,I thought the itinerary had been changed,mind You,I wouldnt have minded that much,pisa would have been nice to see,maybe on my next cruise:D