Itinerary help, please

Italy’s high-speed trains link so many major cities now in just a couple hours that train travel is replacing plane travel within Italy. From San Diego, it’s usually significantly less expensive to fly into and out of Venice than Florence. Flying into/out of Venice also is usually less expensive than Rome from San Diego. You can check flight schedules and airfares at www.Skyscanner.com.

If you arrive into Italy by flying into Venice, you can also easily return home from Venice by taking a high-speed train taking 2:15 from Florence to Venice at the end of your trip. Train fares and schedules with Italy’s two high-speed train companies, Italotreno and Trenitalia, can be viewed at www.Italotreno.com and www.Trenitalia.com. You’ll save money by buying your train tix several months in advance.

Your plan looks good.
Rome, Florence and Venice are the big 3 for Italy (top cities to visit).
Ravenna can be done in one full day. It is great. Some people stay in Bologna and do a day trip to Ravenna.

I like using TripAdvisor.com to research lodgings. There is a map feature that allows you to pick your lodging at a convenient location.

You could easily fly into Venice and out of Rome.

If you're flying out of San Diego and want to make it to Europe without a change in the US your choices are British Airways to London, KLM to Amsterdam (some days) and Lufthansa to Munich. BA doesn't fly into Florence so your best choices are Venice, Rome and Bologna. Lufthansa has about the same choices. KLM flies Amsterdam to Florence as well as the bigger airports.

Venice is a good airport to fly into but tends to be a pain to fly out of - early morning flights to connect back to the US and slower water based connections are a poor combo. Milan MXP is a popular destination for international carriers but not a great option for your trip.

If you change in the US then you have more choices of carriers and destinations. If you don't have a preferred carrier check Google Flights - they will let you simply put in "Italy" and see the various cities and prices. Flying multi-city into Venice and out of Rome or Florence are your easiest options but many carriers don't fly into tiny Florence. If it works for you Florence will probably cost you a couple more dollars to use than Rome but compared to the whole cost of your trip it really won't make a difference. But having done these flights I would pay more attention to layover times than cost. If you choose discount flights make sure they are all on the same ticket and not mixing carriers.

Here does your cruise actually dock? If it ends in "Rome" it probably actually docks in Civitavecchia. You would need to do Civitavecchia to Rome and then in under two hours be in Florence from Rome. Then simply flip Florence and Rome in your itinerary and fly out of Rome. You should always strive to be in the city you're flying out of the night before your flight.

Fellow San Diego flyer,
=Tod

I appreciate all of your replies.

I will definitely be checking the train websites and will book early. I didn’t realize that should be done months in advance, if possible, so great info.

TripAdvisor will be added to my list of websites to research lodging. The map feature will be extremely helpful. I have been fumbling around trying to decide what neighborhoods we should stay, this info helps. I decided on two nights in Ravenna because I wasn’t sure how early the train will get us there, we want a full day to see the mosaics, and the next morning we have to get to the ship relatively early.

I go back and forth whether to fly into and out of San Diego or should we rent a car (only $70) and drive to LAX. I thought LAX had easier flights straight to Europe, but now I’ll look to see about flights that change in the US, check to see the length of the layovers and see if the connections to Italy are on the same carrier. I wouldn’t mind driving to LAX on the way there. On the way home, that might be a different story. I had no idea I could just put “Italy” in Google Flights and all the cities pop up. That’s a huge timesaver.

Yes, the cruise actually docks in Civitavecchia, but last night when I attempted to spell it, you wouldn’t have been able to guess that it was a city in Italy.
Thank you for all of your suggestions and help. I truly appreciate it.
Kim

In a vast sea of ridiculous itinerary questions, yours' stands out as an island of good sense.

Flight cost and convenience depends upon your routing and your home. But ≈$200 for a more convenient flight that avoids backtracking is well worth it.

Where to place the cruise depends upon the destinations for me. But in general the cruise in the middle makes sense as long as you don't have some weird packing issues, like you are needing formal clothes or something.

I've toyed with the LA and San Francisco idea but I've never really found a way to make it really work. And then when you come home your return flight puts in one of those cities when you just want to be home. My dad used to live in south LA so it was a good option to stay there for a day but that was a unique thing unless you have good LA friends.

You can get nonstop from LA to Rome on ITA but that's the only Italian city you can get to nonstop so you'll be dealing with changes one some leg of your trip. (I'm more jealous of the direct flights to Paris from LAX and SFO. Maybe Air France will come back to SAN someday...) But I think your plan of into Venice and out of Rome is a really solid one, but options are always somewhat limited when you are set on your cities. I usually fly BA for a number of reasons and they had a decent sale earlier this month but Lufthansa seems like a solid choice. I've never flown them but I know several people who fly them often. London is an expensive city to connect through so sometimes other airlines that change in other cities have better prices.

Picking random days in Sept and Oct it looks like base, no bag on BA is about $1,000 into Venice and out of Rome which is pretty good - add $100/each way for a checked bag.

Anyway - you have time to keep watching the pricing, have a great trip,
=Tod

Thanks for the reply, Chris. No weird packing issues that I see. We will be packing light and no formal wear, thankfully.

Thank you for the extra information, Tod. Nothing personal to Angelenos (if that’s the correct word), but we don’t have any LA friends we can stay with before we drive home, so I’ll keep looking at the flights from SAN.
I’ve not flown on either airline but I’m glad to hear BA and Lufthansa are good choices. We were supposed to fly Lufthansa to Italy on a trip that was canceled at the start of covid. I’ll look and see if I can replicate those flights.
We’ve not been to Paris yet, but I agree, Air France should fly into/out of SAN at least a day or two each week.
Thanks again.
Kim