My husband and I are going on a cruise which stops in ports near Naples, Rome, and Pisa/Florence. The shore excursions/tours offered by the cruise line seem to be quite expensive (roughly $500/day for both of us). We're not as much interested in the guided tour as much as just getting to the various destinations to do our own looking and shopping, etc. We also like to move at our own pace, skip the stuff we're not interested in, spend longer at the things we like. For example, when in the Naples area, we would like to visit Pompeii and Sorrento. Is it possible to visit these areas on our own without going on a tour and will we be able to save any money by doing so?
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Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
Janice, we see this kind of request now and then. Yes the ship tours are $$$$$. And, yes you can very easily tour on your own. But, be cautious. The ship tours are guaranteed to get you back to the ship in time for departure.
For docking in Naples, you can easily get to Pompei and even Sorrento and back in time as long as you are departing Sorrento about 2:30pm (5:00pm departure).
For docking in Livorno (Florence), Florence is 90 minutes away by train. It's really easy. 13Euro round trip on the local Regionale train. I can even post sample train schedules on this site. However, if you dock on Monday, as some ships tend to do, most of the great sites are closed on Mondays. Incidently, you are also slightly less than 90 minutes by train from the Cinque Terre. 19Euro round trip on the ICPlus train.