Avoiding cruise ship tourists

Here it is.

https://www.whatsinport.com/Livorno.htm

Another good site is:

http://www.cruisetimetables.com/#destports

Alecica: The port you need to check for Cinque Terre day tours is LaSpezia. Some excursions do go to Florence or Pisa from there.

From the port of Livorno, most cruise excursions go to Florence and/or Pisa and a small number go to Cinque Terre or to Lucca.

The cruise ship schedule for La Spezia is not only often inaccurate, but it won't help you avoid crowds. Many many bus tours include the CT, arriving both directly and by train from nearby stations. A better strategy might be to avoid the main streets in midday.

Aha! So it's not just those ghastly cruise ship people who are causing the. crowded situations in places like Cinque Terre! Apparently they, the hordes, arrive by bus and by train and by car, and perhaps even on foot.

Norma,

From what I've observed the cruise ship hordes on official tours from the ship, either arrive at La Spezia or Levanto via large coaches (which can't get into the five towns due to their size). From there the hordes (and their umbrella-toting guides) use the local trains. They're not hard to spot as they're usually wearing matching whisper headsets and each group is numbered.

CT is a popular destination now. With the trails partially closed the train travel between villages can be a nightmare. Unless you go in the off-off-season I would anticipate crowds always.

Thank you everyone!! So, I'm assuming mid September isn't quite "off off season"??

Alecica: September and October would not be considered "off-season" for cruise ships docking in LaSpezia.

In late September 2016, we were "day-trippers" on a guided tour to CT from a 600-passenger ship docked in Livorno. (The majority of our fellow passengers from our rather small ship did not go to Cinque Terre, opting for Florence or Pisa or Lucca or Livorno). However, our excellent tour guide did warn us in Monterosso to have an early lunch on our own because many visitors from the world's largest cruise ship would be arriving soon and the restaurants would fill up - he was right! The 5,400-passenger Royal Caribbean ship docked in La Spezia. Even so, we encountered no difficulties or delays in touring, strolling, shopping, boating, or taking the train between the towns on this busy day. My only suggestions would be to plan an early lunch and "don't plan on using the toilet on one of the boat tours between the towns" - the line-up there was noticeable!

Avoid 5 Terre, choose Lucca or Gubbio instead. Avoid, as in do not go there. I've spent over 6 months total in Europe, and the 5 Terre were the worst place I ever found myself in.

In Rick Steves Italy 2017, re Vernazza, Rick wrote, "Antica Osteria il Baretto is another solid bet for homey, reasonably priced traditional cuisine, run by Simone and Jenny. … Sitting deep in their interior can be a peaceful escape."

I tried to sit there in that interior, in flight from the torrent of tourists from a Hieronymus Bosch painting, and they forbade it. I told them that I had read it in Rick’s book (speaking Italian), but they did not appear to care. Perhaps they were formerly warm and wonderful, but have been corrupted, as have so many other things, by that very torrent.

What year will Rick admit that the 5 Terre no longer resemble the experiences of his youth?

Two members of our group went on a day trip to Lucca to escape the torment/torrent. I found this ironic, as Lucca itself makes a better, less costly, more accessible base for visiting Lucca.

If one avoids the trails, avoids the boats, avoids the trains, and avoids the town, all of which are rendered intolerable by the torrent between 1000 and 1700 each day, what exactly does one do? My wife and I played gin rummy yesterday in our rented room.

I hope Rick will consider upgrade/updating his text to reflect current conditions in this part of Italy. I thought he did a much better job of warning potential visitors about Venice, which I avoided entirely based on his advice (as well as my own prior disagreeable experiences there). Lest you suppose me a curmudgeon, I mention that we had a great time following his advice in Verona, Padova, Bolzano, Varenna, and Milano. Even though he did not direct us there, I felt confident as we left Vernazza that we were going to enjoy Gubbio more, and we did.

I’m with you, Norma—apologies due to Rabelais.
The problem may lie in depending on the word of one person writing in one guidebook instead of using multiple resources for information. The situation in CT has been known for many years.

My personal plan to deal with the crowding is to stay away altogether. No doubt, I am far too plebeian to merit walking those streets anyway.

Interesting thread. In spirit, I am with 'gargantua-backwards', although I think 'swine' might be a little strong a term. They can't help not grasping the allure of independent travel. But...I did have to find out who this painter Hieronymus Bosch was. Perfect analogy, only somewhat exaggerated...:)

I'll admit that I too avoid cruise ship 'people', and frankly try to avoid tourists as a whole by employing these tactics:

--Travel Off-Season. Not many cruise ships dock anywhere in March. And except for American college students traveling abroad (don't forget their compatriot non-assimilating parents that come to visit) to Florence, most anywhere in Italy's pretty chill and serene in late winter. Best time to travel in my book.

--Go where they ain't. Campobasso. Bari. Matera. Pescara. Sardinia. I could go on, and plan to visit them all over the next few years. Zoe's mantra (I think it would be, anyway...)--'Find beauty where most don't see it'.

Overcrowding of Venice and the CT is admittedly an issue. While I have issues with cities + a cruise industry which have allowed docking massive ships in places too small to comfortably accommodate their loads, that's not the fault of the passengers?

While I have issues with cities + a cruise industry which have allowed
docking massive ships in cities/areas too small to comfortably
accommodate their loads, that's not the fault of the passengers?

It's a concern, Kath, and it comes down to the almighty dollar/Euro/shekel into parts of these countries where beyond tourism, their economies are barely surviving.

This is back in March 2015, but it's gotta be apropos now. I was speaking with the owner of the B&B in Salerno where we were staying, and this 70-ish woman Lina was a lifelong resident of Salerno. Cruise ships had just started docking in high season the prior summer, and while she was happy to see the increased business for the stores in their charming Old Town, those daytrippers obviously didn't help their bottom line at the B&B one iota, and Lina was ruminating about what will become of her beautiful Salerno.

Hiya, Jay!
Yep, I know there are problems with that industry where funneling $$ into small local businesses (shops, restaurants, accommodations) is concerned. It's a problem when local infrastructure is badly stressed on top of that. I just don't like to demonize PEOPLE who might prefer to travel - or maybe even need to travel - differently than I do? It's the ugly label I'm objecting to. Not everyone is equipped to manage indie trips.

Probably 99.9% of the people who come here to ask or answer questions have been or plan to be TOURISTS.

Let's help each other, not insult one another (or groups of other tourists). What makes one tourist better than another? It sure is not the method by which they arrived at the destination.

Even though the mega ships are not for me (we like the small ships), I would NEVER insult groups of people (that I don't even know) just because that 's the way they arrived.

I visited Cinque Terre as a group (a group tour thru Rick Steves)....yes, we added to the hordes. EVERYONE who visits there adds to the hordes. Hordes can be avoided/minimized by timing. Alecica asks a reasonable question, and I encourage all to give helpful answers without the insult toward your FELLOW tourists.

As for the poster who said the place that RS guidebook mentioned would be a good place to find quiet, but the owners did not allow, I wonder if he tried to sit there without ordering a meal. Did he take the advice of the guidebook too literal, not realizing a restaurant sells food? If the attitude that comes thru in his posting was obvious that particular day, they may have felt he might offended other patrons??? Something to consider.

We spent three nights at Villa Steno in late October, and had a wonderful time. There was a large cruise ship at La Spezia on one of the days, but other than jammed train platforms that day we had no trouble. We walked all of the towns and had a meal bayside in Vernazza and never felt oppressed. I would never do CT as a daytrip from elsewhere, however...you need to spend a few days (and nights) to soak up the ambiance.

I suggest www.cruisemapper.com.