Jewel of the Med Excursions

Portofino: While Portofino is a postcard town on the water, you'll probably port in Genoa arriving in a large ship.  Genoa is where Christopher Columbus was raised, so it can be your primary destination, if you like.  You can explore on your own, if you don't want to pay the $92 for Genova City Tour - IP04.

 

If you dock in Genoa, you could find public transportation to Portofino or take a tour there.  Portofino Walking Tour & Brown Castle - IP22 would be a good choice, but you will walk quite a bit.  There are some other longer tours if you want to splurge.  For a longer day, at $147 you could tour Portofino, Rapallo & St. Margherita: The Three Pearls of Paradise Gulf - IP01.

 

 

La Spezia: It depends on how much you want to spend, but the combination of Florence and Pisa is pretty great ($199 Florence & Pisa - LL05 ) but possibly exhausting.  At a minimum, I would recommend $99 Explore Florence - LL02.

 

Civitavecchia: Obviously, go to Rome, unless you've gone so many times that you're now blase about it.  If you're adventurous, you can find your way to the train about 2 miles away from the port and then go on your own for a long train ride, just being certain to allow enough time to get back, including returning that last two miles back to the port at the end.  But once you're there, you still need to do something.  A hop-on, hop-off bus can work, but why not save yourself all that additional aggravation and just take a tour.  That's the cheapest way, and that's how I have done it sometimes, but I don't recommend it for you.  Take an excursion like this one or something better: $99.75: A Taste of Rome - CV13.

 

 

Naples: After full day tours in Florence and Rome, you will be tempted to take it easy in Naples, but this is your last port before a relaxing sea day, so why not do something great?  You can simply walk into Naples, which is supposed to be where pizzas were invented. I think you would enjoy Pompei, and while there is a less expensive excursion that drops you there leaving you to buy your own admission, get the most of it with a guided tour.  There's an "easy-walking" version --- often in ports, there are excursions geared to a slower pace and in fact some cater to people in wheelchairs --- if you want to be able to go places but don't feel up to walking rapidly to keep up with younger travelers.  The slower pace also works for people who just want to move slowly to take more photos. At $79, Easy Exploration of Pompeii - NPN6 costs $3 more than the standard tour for more energetic folks.  If you want to splurge at the end, include the Amalfi Coast or Sorrento in a style that appeals to you, possibly something like this one for $159.75: Amalfi Coast by Motor Launch and Pompeii - NPL5.