Cruisers: Driver & Florence Tour

For cruise ship passengers to maximise the experience when time is of the essence

For those holidaying on a cruise and wish to get the most out of the time docked at port, we will organise a private driver to meet you as you leave the ship and drive you to Florence where you will meet your private tour guide, one of the Freya’s Florence team.

Driver: 

The drivers with whom we collaborate are safe, reliable and puntual.Their cars are clean and new. They will meet as you get off the ship in the morning holding a sign with your name. They will then drive you straight to Florence to meet your guide. Usually, you will have to leave Florence by 4pm in order to be back at port in time for departure.

We include a photo opportunity from piazzale Michelangelo which overlooks the city.

Optional supplement: A stop at Pisa for a quick visit of the cathedral square with the cathedral, leaning tower and baptistery. This will mean less time in Florence. There may be a small additional cost. 

Guide:

We recommend a 3 or 4 hour tour in Florence visiting some of the important locations in the historical centre (see description of Florence Overture). If you would like to include the Accademia and/or the Uffizi galleries, we will make the necessary ticket reservations ahead of time for your party. If there are any museums or churches you wish to add to the itinerary just let us know, or, if there is a theme that you would like to follow we will plan an itinerary accordingly.

We will provide maps and clearly mark your meeting point for the afternoon with the driver.

 

 

 

 

 

Meeting place:

Your driver will meet you as you get off the ship holding a sign with your name.

It is important to sent us the ship company name, ship name, your full name and an active contact cell number that you will have with you when in Italy.

The driver will take you to the meeting place for the guide in the centre of Florence. The driver and guide have each others numbers to communicate any unforeseen changes to the planned program.

 

Driver: from Livorno 

Most vans are 7 or 8 seater. The cost for the private driver and van for the day (8:00am-5:30/6:00pm) is 650 euro.

If you are a group larger than 8 pax there are two options; option 1 is booking a 16 seater van (price upon request) however, these larger vehicles are not permitted to enter inside the historical centre. The guide will meet your party just beyond the Santa Maria Novella train station.

Option 2, with a group larger than 8pax, is to book two 7 seater vans (650 euro each van, as above) so that they are can drive inside the centre.

Payment for the driver+van must be paid in advance to secure the car and driver.

Please note: the prices above are from Livorno port. We organize private transfers from La Spezia also, price upon request.

 

Tours

The cost of the 3 hour tour

€420 for parties of 1-5 people (excluding admission fees)
€450 for parties of 6-9 people (excluding admission fees)
€540 for parties of 10 people or more (excluding admission fees)

 

The cost of the 4 hour tour

€560 for parties of 1-5 people (excluding admission fees)
€600 for parties of 6-9 people (excluding admission fees)
€720 for parties of 10 people or more (excluding admission fees)

Admission fees to sites not included in the hourly rate. Admission fees to be paid on the day at the ticket office with guide.

 

Accademia & Uffizi Gallery Admission Fees

Uffizi Gallery Ticket Costs: March 1st -October 31st: Full price admission costs €30pp (ticket €26, reservation fee €4).
November 1st – February 28th: Full price admission costs €16pp (ticket €12, reservation fee €4). 

Accademia Gallery Ticket Costs: Full price admission costs €20pp (ticket €16, reservation fee €4)

Children from 6-17 years inclusive have free admission but reservation fee must be paid, €4. Children under 6 years old are free and no reservation is necessary.

European Union students 18-26 years old are eligible for the reduced ticket, a student card is necessary for proof of enrollment in an institution.

Digital copy of passport must be shown as proof of age for free/reduced tickets to the ticket office staff upon ticket purchase. Payment for the tickets can be made by credit card or cash.

*Admission fees are subject to change.

Ticket Reservations for Timed Entry

Tickets to the Uffizi Gallery will be reserved in advance by Freya’s Florence so as to avoid the long wait in the unreserved queue. Due to the very busy tourist season there is often an unavoidable short wait in the reserved queue also. There is no ulterior way other than the reservation that we make to avoid this.


The gallery reservation fee is €4 per person for timed/priority entry and requires payment in advance as we are charged at the time of making the booking. We will send you a SumUp invoice for the cost of the reservations.

 

Payment:

Prepayment is required for guided tour costs. This is done as a security measure so that large sums of cash are not carried or exchanged on the day of the tour. We use a secure payment system provided by SumUP, you do not need to have a SumUP account to use it, you can sign in as a guest and use a credit card. SumUP charges a 2.5% handling/service fee which will be added to your invoice.

Payment for the tickets to the galleries is made on the day with the guide directly to the museum at the ticket office. The galleries accept credit cards.

 

Headsets

Groups of 4 or more people will require headsets, necessary for most of the museums and recommended for city walks due to surrounding noise.

Freya’s Florence will book these in advance and they will be distributed at the beginning of the tour and used for the entire duration of the tour. For parties up to 15 people the total cost for a half day hire is 30€ or for a full day tour the cost is 40€.
For parties greater than 15pax the cost of the individual headset hire for the half-day rental is 30€ + 2€ per person.

Dress code

Please remember that there is a dress code for visiting churches in the summer months, shoulders must be covered and shorts or skirts must be knee length.

 

Cancellation Policy

Cancellations or date changes made less than 1 week prior to the tour start time require full payment. Cancellations or date changes made within 2 weeks of your tour date will require half payment. Tours proceed in inclement weather. Museum reservation fees and pre-purchased tickets are non-refundable. SumUP handling/service fees are non-refundable.

 

Please Note:

Tuesday is the busiest day of the week as the Uffizi & Accademia galleries due to the Monday closures.  When possible, we STRONGLY recommend a start time of 8:15am or 8:30am.

The Uffizi & Accademia galleries are CLOSED on Mondays.

On the FIRST SUNDAY of the month between APRIL – NOVEMBER inclusive all state museums in Italy are free without the possibility of making a ticket reservation. As a consequence, we don’t offer tours of the Uffizi & Accademia galleries on these Sundays as the queues are long to enter.

The Uffizi & Accademia galleries will also offer free admission on 25th April & 2nd June so nor do we  organize tours at the gallery on either of these two dates.