I took this excursion from the Norwegian Epic. The Epic was 2.5 hours late, so the tour started later than planned. Nonetheless, our tour guides caught us up throughout the day and we still got a 7+ hour day.
Many cruises don’t do both Florence and Pisa in the same day – they usually say choose one or the other (or go someplace else like Cinque Terre). So this one was a great value to see both sites.
It would have saved time if they picked us up at the cruise port directly outside the security gate. Instead, you have to take a shuttle bus (costs an additional 5 Euros) to the meeting point.
I would have appreciated more guidance in Florence. The wine tasting provided was actually a crouton-sized piece of bread with some olive oil in the market. Once we were there we were given 90 minutes and a tourist map of the area, so we didn’t really have a suggested walking path or stops. Also, we simply could not sightsee and have lunch – you’d have to choose one or the other. The market is a great place to drop off a tour, as it has everything you could ever want to eat, whether for a full lunch or quick snack.
To point out the obvious (and of course there is nothing they can do about this): you cannot see all of Florence and Pisa in one day. This trip included sightseeing in Florence and The Field of Miracles in Pisa, but we couldn’t go inside in the Leaning Tower or the Baptistry – the lines were easily 2-4 hours long and it costs extra. So this is a quantity over quality excursion, and if you want to go into some of these locations then you need to be willing to spend most of the day waiting in line to get in.
This was a good deal if for no other reason than the amount of driving involved. Livorno to Florence is a 90 minute drive; Florence to Pisa is 60; and then Pisa back to the cruiseport another 40. They also dropped us off directly at the cruiseport (rather than the meeting point for the shuttle service) which saved us 20+ minutes.
