Cruise ships docking in Cinque Terre?

If you look at the cruise brochure, you'll see that when they say "Cinque Terre" they actually dock at Portovenere and Viareggio. Maybe the passengers take on e of the local ferries to the cinque Terre villages from there. but there is no way for a cruise ship to actually dock at any of the five villages that make up Cinque Terre. Have you seen those docks? and the rocks? Even the ferries have trouble sometimes. Nevertheless, the villages can all be crowded with daytrippers during the day. Vernazza is the worst, IMHO, but that may change now that the village has been damaged.

Judy, From what I understand, the cruise ships dock either at Portofino or Livorno (or possibly La Spezia), with passengers transported to the dock via motor launches. At least a portion of the passengers may be interested in visiting the Cinque Terre, either via an excursion booked on the ship or on their own. Although I've never taken a cruise in that area, I believe those are also the "official" stops for Florence and other parts of Tuscany, so lots of the passengers will be heading there on excursions during that stop. Based on my observations last September, the cruise ship passengers tend to "disperse" across an area from Portofino to Portovenere, so they don't seem to "overwhelm" any one area. When will you be travelling to the Cinque Terre? As others have mentioned, that area can be VERY busy at the best of times (especially in July and August). The crowds tend to be worse during the daytime with "day trippers", but at night it's usually much quieter and more "magical". Happy travels!

Try this website: http://www.cruisecompete.com/vacations/visits/cinque_terre/1

First, CT is an area and not a port. So even if a cruise ship dock at a port in the CT area, doubt if the whole area would be affected. I do know they dock at Portofino and Livorno and the schedule is irregular. I doubt if there is anyway for you to plan to miss the cruise ships.

It has been a while since I have been there, but the information is correct, they do not Dock at the CT, but likely do dock near with excursions to the CT (and Pisa, and Florence) In high season, there simply is no avoiding groups, whether they be cruises, bus trips, Rick Steves tours, school groups, it is just a popular place. Maybe with the recent flooding crowds will be down a bit, but who knows. Maybe the good thing is that since the ship is not backing up to the dock and disgorging a 1000 people at once, you will notice it less. Crowds are controlled a bit in that Bus traffic is limited by access and trains pace the arrival (and departure) of the crowds.