travel from Trieste to La Spezia

What amount of time do you have...just being curious...but might help, maybe list your arrival and departure times. Difficulty is the distance, then the size of the vehicle needed, chance you might be looking at two vehicles.

The ship docks at 6:am and by the time we disembark, it most likely will be by 10:00. Orignially the last port was Venice, but Venice is not allowing cruise ships at this point as they are causing some sort of foundational distruction. We then have 3 free days those being May 25, 26, and 27, 2022 before we again leave for Cortona where we rented a villa for a week. Our travel agent suggested either trains via Bologna and again at Parma or a very expensive private driver, neither of which appeals to everyone, so we thought we could save by finding a transfer ouselves. Any info is helpful.

Did you check mydaytrip.com? It’s been mentioned here a few times. We are researching their services for a trip to Spain in late September. Also, toursbylocals.com has a link for shore excursions, sometimes they have guides who will provide the service.

It's 5 hours plus stops by car on boring mountain motorways; 95 € for gas and tolls and you'll have to pay for the driver's return journey. What's your group's budget?

Going up to La Spezia when you are so far doesn't make much sense, didn't your travel agent suggest any alternative destination between Trieste and Cortona? Or a maybe a lake? Or he knows only the worst, overcrowded tourist traps?

I guess that is why I wanted to know more of your schedule. Basically you are looking for a private driver, of a large van, to wait at the dock for you, then drive 5+hours to La Spezia, then likely the driver has to drive back to Trieste...a long day for a driver, and even a cheap one, will be expensive. There really are no regular "scheduled" transfers between the two points, like I imagine there is for Trieste to Venice. It might be justified if you absolutely had to be in La Spezia that day, say to board another cruise at a specific time, but it sounds like you at least have some time.

You might consider a hybrid approach. Due to the change, there are probably a number of options to get from the dock to perhaps Venezia Mestre Station, and from there catch a train onward. It would eliminate the hassle and rush of crowds to get to the Trieste station, and probably faster than the train.

Again, assuming, but I get you maybe are planning on seeing the Cinque Terre, but you would then be backtracking to Cortona (somewhat), you might consider a stop in between, but just me.

There are so many other places you could spend 3 days that won’t cost you a fortune in time and money to get to.

Starting with Venice itself
Or Verona/Lake Garda
Bologna or Florence

The list is endless

If you do decide to use a private driver, I think you'll need to be very careful about the size of vehicle available. I don't cruise myself, but I believe some cruisers take quite a lot of luggage, and I remember warnings here on the forum about limited luggage capacity in many van-type vehicles--and those warnings were not for groups of people coming off cruises.