Shore Excursion To Florence From La Spezia

Great value for money full day. Busy day so group need to be prompt!! Well organised and great guide plenty of knowledge Our trip was actually changed last minute due to numbers we were not planning on Pisa but glad we were offered the change as our day in Florence would have been too long on original booking. 3.5 hrs is enough to enjoy Florence and then have benefit to revisit Pisa 1.5 hrs. Our day was 10 hours and was left than 50 euros The only improvement I’d suggest to the excursions is the drop off point for Florence. It’s too far out of the town and no toilet facilities on the coach or at drop off and need walk 15 minutes minimum for toilet . After a 2+hr journey from a cruise port this was a challenge for a number of visitors ages and abilities. If smaller groups and minibuses instead of big coaches could get closer to the town it would be more comfortable. However once on arrival. Florence is a beautiful town full of history. Food and restaurants so laid back expect service to be slow and relaxed. A little pricey so shop around. Tipping is expected and standard. (Be aware of beggars and pestering to give you free bracelets. They will follow you!) Pisa has a great market and lovely places for food and Drink and plenty of ice cream options. Beautiful to visit and revisit. Doesn’t disappoint.

We bought a shore excursion just to go to Florence. But once we got there, they said we are also going to pisa which we didn’t ask for! We had museum tickets later in the day in Florence that we lost the money for because we couldn’t go because we had to leave to go to Pisa which we didn’t want!!! They said we don’t have a choice and we couldn’t get our money back. Lost a whole day of our vacation doing stuff we didn’t want and didn’t pay for.

We booked a bus from La Spezia to Florence for 10 for 7/6/22. We did not request to go to Pisa and specifically did not want to go there. Upon arrival at our check in point we were told that we would most likely have to go to Pisa. I told our contact person that wasn't what I booked and she did make arrangements (to her credit) for us to be picked up by another driver. However, that pick up ended up being 2 hours later than we had desired. We arrived at the meeting point at the appointed time only to have to wait half an hour for the guide of the other tour to come to the bus (everyone else was on board). He told us we would arrive at the port at 7:30 (that was our all aboard time). When I asked if he had been in contact with the ship he proceeded to tell me we had till 9 pm to get back. Luckily we arrived back at 7:15 but those on our bus were the last passengers to embark. Our plan was to be back to the ship at approximately 5 pm. There was supposed to be wi-fi on the bus (there was even a sign on the bus with the info) but he said no wi-fi. We were hoping to complete our airline check in on the return trip. All and all not a great experience.