Pisa

A very early start for our excursion to Pisa so we ordered room service breakfast for 6.30-7am and got abruptly woken with them calling at 6.20am! Breakfast was a bit of a haphazard collection of some of what we ordered which we had on the balcony while the ship reversed into port in La Spezia. The view wasn’t bad as we started breakfast but by the time we had docked it was probably the worst view yet!!

We met at the excursion point at 7.45, and headed off on a long old bus trip, Italy laws still enforce FFP2 masks on public transport so we had to wear them which made the bus trip a bit more unpleasant but thankfully we got the front row of seats so it could have been worse!

In the distance, from the bus, we could see the white marble quarries and factories (which the guide made out to be far more special and interesting than they actually were!)

The bus trip finished by going through a lovely park where we got onto a boat, again we got great seats up front, outside and after a cloudy start to the day the sun came out. After a very picturesque 30 minute boat ride along the Arno riverwe disembarked for a short walk to an Italian trolley. We were lucky enough to get a whole row to ourselves while all the others looked very snug with four in a row!

The trolley ride was very bumpy but not too long and pretty much as soon as we got off we could see the leaning tower. Quite spectacularly big and surprisingly central! We were however rushed past it by the guide to a restaurant where we had a gelato and drink included in the excursion. Nice in theory but he then announced we only had 15-20 minutes before we had to meet back up to head back to the ship!

We had a speedy gelato and a gulp of beer / wine and then headed off for the obligatory holding up the tower photos before heading back to the ship. It was a lovely trip but no where near enough time allowed for actually being at the main attraction.

Back on the ship for lunch, where there were some pretty spectacular cakes, then some more pool time followed by champagne on the balcony courtesy of our quiz win the night before. The champagne softened the blow slightly of having to pack up ready for our cases to be collected at 10pm.

After packing we enjoyed our last dinner at the Cosmopolitan, including cocktails, and enjoyed a final sunset at the appropriately named Sunset Bar before the most fantastic late night magic show (where Vikki ended up on stage!).

A really really fun filled last day of an absolutely fantastic cruise.