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Destination: Mediterranean Cruising

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Docking in Livorno — Florence’s Port

Here are some of my photos of Livorno, along with some tips cruise travelers might consider to save money or time (or both) while visiting a port.

Each morning our ship arrives in a new port — today we’re in Livorno, the port for Florence. I stood on my little deck and surveyed the scene as buses, taxis, and security forces waited for the cruisers to disembark. When you’re on vacation and in a cruising mind-set, it’s easy to be oblivious to the fascinating economic metabolism of the cruise industry.

Aggressive cabbies smell easy money when a ship docks — but it’s still a competitive business and taxi drivers are eager to deal. Plus, more and more local governments are regulating taxis since rip-offs give a city a bad reputation. If you can organize a group from the ship ahead of time, a good plan for a day in Florence is to hire a mini-bus taxi that holds eight people and split the (otherwise high) cost of hiring a taxi. While spending 400 euros for a day trip into Florence from Livorno is costly for two, for a group of eight, it’s just 50 euros per person — which is a steal. While you could certainly go cheaper by bus or train, with a shared taxi you’re dropped off in Florence in an hour (twice as fast as the train), picked up at an agreed-upon time, and zipped back to the port.

While the initial cost of a cruise vacation may seem too good to be true, cruise operators earn their gravy with extra profit centers: mostly drinks, gambling, onboard shopping, kickbacks from shops on land, and excursion tours to places of interest within an easy bus ride from the port. I was struck by how most cruisers are happy to pay the inflated prices ($150 to $200) for an excursion. Anyone willing to hop the shuttle bus to the main square of the port town and survey the options for local sightseeing tours could easily plan their own day trip — and save around 50 percent. Here in Livorno, right on the main square where the shuttle buses drop off passengers going ashore who aren’t taking the cruise excursions, is a tourist info kiosk staffed with an English-speaking person happy to explain your options. In most ports, there are nearly always local buses, shared taxis, and small tour operators offering plenty of good options to those who want to see a lot without spending a lot.

I found that the various ports (Civitavecchia for Rome, Livorno for Florence, and Toulon for Provence) had their own surprising charm. While all three are generally panned as boring industrial ports, I found each had a gritty harbor character, a long maritime history, were substantially bombed in World War II, and are legitimate urban representatives of their respective regions — just without the famous sights. In other words, if you’ve already seen Florence’s famous art treasures, save yourself three hours of bus time and just enjoy slice-of-life Italy in Livorno.

Cruise travelers generally stampede through Livorno to head for nearby Pisa (20 minutes away by train), Lucca, or Florence. But the city of Livorno has a rough charm with a “Little Venice” district that is built around canals. A €10 hour-long boat tour leaves from the port’s tourist info center, right where the cruise shuttle buses drop off visitors.
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It’s 6:30 in the Morning: Welcome to Civitavecchia — the Springboard to Rome

Massive cruise ships keep a graceful rhythm at sea: sailing through the night, docking in major ports at dawn, and letting their passengers off to frolic on land until about 6:00 p.m. and return to enjoy evenings on their floating home at sea. This video shows the view from my little deck as we arrived in Civitavecchia, the port of Rome. Rather than going into Rome, I spent today nailing down all the details of this port and figuring out good travel strategies. Rome is an important cruise port because many cruises start or end here, and many travelers just get a single day in the Eternal City during their cruise.

As is the case in so many great ports, at first it seems complicated to get into the main city (an hour away by train), but actually, it’s really easy. From the huge dockyard in Civitavecchia, you take a free shuttle bus from your ship to the cute little gateway to the port, walk ten minutes to the Civitavecchia train station, and then catch the train into Rome (1-hour ride, 2/hour, €4 ticket). My challenge in fine-tuning this book is to find the smartest plan (for example, a €9 day pass covers your round-trip train ticket into Rome — plus all your bus, tram, and Metro travel within the city). Once you reach Rome, get off at the Ostiense train station and then hop on the subway; in two stops, you’ll land on the Colosseum’s front door. After you do some frantic sightseeing for the day, walk from St. Peter’s Basilica to Rome’s San Pietro train station and catch your train back to Civitavecchia. Do it once and it’s a snap. My hope is that with my guidebook, it can be a snap for you on your very first time.

If you can’t see the video below, watch it on YouTube.

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Getting to Know the Ship (It’s a Ship…Not a Boat)

Our ship is big: 200 feet tall and over a thousand feet long…longer than the Eiffel Tower is tall. It's basically a floating city — with a population of 5,000 made up of about 1,500 crew serving 3,500 passengers staying in 1,800 staterooms.

A great thing about cruising is that you really notice the sunset (and — if you happen to be up that early — the sunrise). Our ship has a Jacuzzi (shown above in the photo), built both dramatically and romantically out over the top deck, which seems to be a popular hangout. For the first time in my life, I spied the elusive “green flash” at sunset. This tiny green flare can only be seen on a clear evening at the moment the sun disappears into the sea.

The ship (Royal Caribbean’s Liberty of the Seas) was a floating cross between Disneyland and Las Vegas with a flair for splashy design. I couldn’t stop marveling at the wild, womb-like lines of the staircases in the huge “main street” core of the ship.

We produced a new thousand-page guidebook to the top Mediterranean cruise ports, and I’m pleased at how quickly it’s been embraced by cruise travelers. It’s selling well, and I meet lots of people using it on our ship. Cruise travel is booming and this book fills a great little niche. Ninety percent of Mediterranean cruisers visit the same predictable ports, and since we already had solid chapters for nearly all of these in our various country guidebooks, making this book was a natural. Of course, cruising is — in many ways — anathema to the “back door travel” philosophy that I’ve been preaching for 30 years. But my goal with this new book is to enable (or even empower) people who want the ease, economy, and fun of a cruise — if that’s their style — to travel efficiently and independently in the ports. And as always, I encourage my traveling readers to be destructive — rip up the book and go ashore only with the chapter you need tucked in your pocket. On this trip, I have a pile of the ripped-out cruise-port chapters and am passing them out to travelers who need information, in the hopes of getting their feedback at the end of each day.
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FlowRider: Leaving Barcelona with a Splash

Within minutes of leaving Barcelona, I started learning why so many people enjoy cruising. These new cruise ships go to great lengths to make sure that the onboard entertainment rivals attractions on shore. Along with putt-putt golf, an ice rink, and all the predictable activities, our ship had a new hit: the “FlowRider.”

If you can’t see the video below, watch it on YouTube.

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Is Cruising Really Travel?

OK, I admit it. I’m on a cruise. Among European travelers, more and more people are cruising…and I want to know what it’s all about. My learning curve will be steep, as I’ve gone cruising in the Caribbean but never in the Mediterranean — and I’m giving our new Mediterranean Cruise Ports guidebook a shakedown cruise of its own. This new guidebook (a collection of existing chapters from our other guidebooks brilliantly reconfigured for the cruise traveler by Cameron Hewitt and others on my staff) is hot off the press, and is selling very well. 

Today’s blog entry is the first in a two-week series on cruising. I’m not trying to sell the typical cruise traveler on independent travel. My hope is to equip independent types who are taking cruises with the information necessary to enjoy the best of both worlds — the economy, ease, and glorious hedonism of cruising with the joy and challenge of dipping into the cultural wonders of Europe on your own. It’s an attempt to travel “through the back door” — as much as is possible when you make land with 3700 shipmates (along with several other, similarly big shiploads). 

Sailing away from our port of embarkation, I joined my fellow cruisers on deck to wave goodbye to Barcelona. As we gracefully floated by the Disney ship docked at the next berth, its passengers waved happily to us. Insinuating that we were envious of not being on a Magic Kingdom cruise ourselves, the ship’s thunderous horn gloated to the tune of “When You Wish Upon a Star.” 

Meanwhile, on this trip I’m sailing with Royal Caribbean on the good ship “Liberty of the Seas”. Already I can feel some “ship pride” setting in. I love this boat. We’re sailing with 3700 passengers and a crew of 2000 (although the ship holds 4000 passengers, we’re sold out as some single passengers paid to use a double cabin).  

I make a point to thoroughly move in, as I’ll be here for a week. With a tight compartment, it’s important to be organized. I’ve never packed so much before: deck wear, nicer evening wear, and more-rugged travel clothing to use on land. I even brought four pairs of shoes…if you count my flip-flops.  

Attending the “Destinations Review” program in the huge theater, I expected a big crowd. This was the chance to survey the shore excursions that’ll be sold throughout the week, but only 30 people showed up. People are here to do what cruisers do: eat, lay around, shop, gamble, and sightsee…not in any particular order. 

Back in my room, I sorted through the mix of papers that I picked up: special offers, schedules, events, and educational opportunities. One page asks “Thinking about Botox?” Another offers a “free teeth-whitening consultation.” One reason is clear about why cruising can be so inexpensive: they make more money off you once you’re on board.     

By the time I’ve surveyed the deck scene, shot a few baskets, played ping-pong, checked out the gym, and watched a couple of guys surfing on the raging “FlowRider” surf simulator, we’re far out on a glistening sea. As the sun sets, I stand atop this floating city of fun playing putt-putt golf. Scanning the horizon futilely for Mallorca, I’m wondering how I’ll do: will I enjoy the people, the food, the congestion as we spill into port, evenings at sea, and the days on land? During the next week, I’ll enjoy days in Provence (Toulon), the French Riviera (Villefranche), Florence (Livorno), Naples, Rome (Civitaveccia), and then a day at sea to return to Barcelona. Then I’ll catch a fancier cruise line (Celebrity) and sail the eastern Mediterranean for a second week.

Anchors up and stay tuned. Europe through the Back Door is going to sea.  Stay tuned for an upcoming post where I try out our new cruise book on actual shore excursions.