My family and I will be in Italy for 10-14 days end June/beginning of July 2020. I’m not set on exact dates. I’m wondering how much the cruise ships should affect which days I stay where. This is the itinerary I have planned (not necessarily this order): Rome 3N, Naples 2N, Florence 1N, Monterosso 2N, Venice 2N
For example, I assume I don’t want to be in Venice on Sat, Sun or Monday bc there are 5-7 ships in port. Do the ships make that much of a difference in Rome? Or Naples (really just want to see Pompeii)? I see July 4 there are no ships in Genoa or La Spezia but it’s a Saturday so would this be a good time to be in Monterosso? I appreciate any insight. I might be over thinking the cruise crowd.
Posted by
Wilmington, DE, USA
1069 posts
Rome and Naples are going to be crowded anyway in July. For some reason I don't seem to notice if the ships make that much of a difference. Unless you look for their name tags with the ship's emblem, it's hard to tell tourists apart. However, it is a different story (for me) in Venice. The ships coming through the Giudecca Canal seem like something out of a Star Wars movie. I have learned over the years to deal with the crowds this way: I'm up and out early in the morning by 10 o'clock I try to be away from the typical tourist places e.g. the areas around San Marco and the Rialto. There is so much of Venice to see besides those places anyway! I grab a quick lunch to take back to my hotel. It's hot and humid in the afternoon so it's perfect time for a nap, a shower, a spritz. The ship people head back to their ship by about 5 o'clock. The city is pretty much left to us who know the best time to be in Venice: the evening hours! The cafes are crowded at dinner time but not with the ship people - just us.
BTW, if you are in Venice the 3rd weekend of July make sure on Saturday night you come to (the very crowded) walkway along the canal (near San Marco) for the most spectacular fireworks! And on Sunday, walk across the Giudecca Canal on the pontoon bridge. Hmmm, that would mean cruise ships can't get in or out while they are putting together or taking apart that bridge! That's when I try to book my week in Venice!
Posted by
Minnesota 🎒
16687 posts
Honestly, I don't think you can plan your trip around the ships. What you do is plan your ACTIVITIES around the ships. Rome, Florence and Venice are going to be very, very busy during high season, ships or not. Still, there are interesting attractions/corners of all of them which are not affected by the day-trip crowds. Exploring those corners where those crowds don't go can be a really good strategy. If you are intent on visiting the most-visited attractions, then don't try to do too many of them in one day. That means allotting enough time to DO that.
1 night in Florence? Not enough. If you are planning on visiting the Uffizi and Accademia, you'll spend an exhausting partial day in the thick of the mob and miss much of what the city has to offer. I'd scrap this one and add it to Rome, or scrap Monterosso and add 1 night each to Florence and Rome. You might also look at scrapping Naples, as it's the outlier, and adding 1 night each to Florence and Rome. Save Naples/Pompeii to a future trip when you can do the Amalfi Coast as well and give them the time they deserve.
Posted by
Atlanta, GA
1151 posts
There are going to be cruise ships every day in the summer. Last year, in July, I was in Rome (on a cruise) and ported with 7 other ships. It was the largest crowd of the month (!!) that day, with around 28K passengers. Rome was very crowded but it actually wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. The only place that was too crowded to really enjoy was the Pantheon.