Carnival Vista Review: Day 6 – Livorno, Pisa & Florencefeatured

I remember our last (and first) visit to Florence vividly.

Granted, it was only a year ago, but I remember it as if it were yesterday.

I remember entering through the Palazzo Panciatichi and wondering to myself what was so special about Florence that everyone I know who has visited waxed poetic about it. I remember the first time I saw the Duomo di Firenze and the way it made my breath hitch as I took in its red tiled roof and imposing stature. I remember the shopping. I remember the gelato. I remember everything.

((Everything except, apparently, the names of the places we dined and shopped at. But more on that later))

So when we docked in Livorno, I knew exactly what I was in for and I couldn’t even try to temper my anticipation. I made sure the batteries (and extra batteries) were charged, I had extra Euros for the shopping I’d surely be doing and a list of places to see and things to do. I was ready.

The only thing I couldn’t anticipate was the weather. The Weather Channel and Accuweather were both changing their forecasts for this day almost hourly since it was forecastable ten days earlier. Rain, sun, heat, cold. How do you dress for that?

((Rhetorical question, but the answer is layers and lots of ‘em))

When we figured out the outfit situation, we grabbed our tour tickets and our bags and headed out for breakfast. One of the new options on the Vista is a full hot breakfast served at the Taste Bar in Ocean Plaza. This helps aid the crowding issues that usually plague the Lido Marketplace on port days and we found it quiet with ample offerings (eggs, sausage, bacon, grits and oatmeal bar, cereals and milks, fruits and cheeses and meats and yogurts, breads – all of the typical breakfast fare). It was also super convenient for us, since the Taste Bar was steps from our cabin.

Once we were fed and caffeinated, we headed to the Horizons Dining Room on Deck 3 to meet our tour. Having done a full and comprehensive tour of Florence last year, we opted for a tour that would optimize our free time and also allow us a visit to Pisa (which we’d never visited before): Florence & Pisa On Your Own. This tour would give us about an hour in Pisa and four hours in Florence to do whatever we wanted. We could sightsee, we could dine, we could shop, we could stand in Miracle Square and pose with the Leaning Tower or sit in front of the Duomo di Fiorenze and gape at its enormity. Whatever we wanted. Free time is a premium on many of the tours offered through the ship and one we’ve come to really appreciate.

Our tour number was called just as we got our stickers and we headed down to the gangway to meet our tour guide. One thing that’s been done differently on this cruise is instead of all tours meeting in one place and multiple tours leaving at once, on the Vista, multiple venues are used as meeting spots, which cleans up the process a bit and makes it much less frenetic.

We were escorted down to deck zero to disembark, where we met up with our tour guide, Sibilla, at the end of the cruise terminal and boarded our motorcoach for the day. As we pulled away from Livorno, Sibilla handed out maps and gave an overview of the day: we’d begin at Pisa (a 30-40 minute drive from the pier), where we’d have an hour at Miracle Square. From there, we’d have an hour and 40 minute drive to Florence, where we’d have until 3:30 pm to explore whatever we wanted before the hour and a half drive back to the ship in Livorno.

As we pulled out of the port, the skies darkened and it began to drizzle heavily. The storm seemed isolated and as we approached Pisa, a beautiful rainbow appeared over the Tuscan countryside, an omen for the day to come.

The bus pulled into a lot about a ten minute walk from the Piazza dei Miracoli, or
Miracle Square. Sibilla explained that the busses can’t pull up to the sites for a few reasons, namely because they are protected places and busses (and in some cases, cars in general) can’t enter because of the pollution and vibration they cause. The walk wasn’t bad, but some members of the group had trouble keeping up. Even though this was an “on your own” tour, it was a moderate activity level and there was some level of activity that was required of the tour.

The walk took us across a few streets and some railroad tracks where we were immediately approached by vendors hocking umbrellas, and as we approached the square, there were more and more vendors with carts and shops full of trinkets and souvenirs. Prices were pretty cheap at Pisa, so if you’re looking for the typical keychains and t-shirts, Pisa may be a good place to start if you’re stopping that way.

Sibilla had mentioned that Miracle Square was given that name by an artist who saw it and said “What a miracle of a field!” and, walking in, it’s clear why: there’s so much beauty in such a small space. The square was actually bigger than I had expected it to be, but it’s still small in comparison to the field of exploration in, say, Florence. The whole field and everything in it is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

We arrived at 9:00 am and didn’t face too heavy of crowds, but by the time we left, it was difficult to navigate the walkways. People were everywhere, trying to replicate the typical pushing-up-the-Leaning-Tower or squishing-the-Leaning-Tower-between-their-fingers poses (we opted for the Tower-in-the-palm-of-our-hands shot, ourselves).

There are four main sites in the square: the Pisa Cathedral (a medieval cathedral dedicated to Santa Maria Assunta), the Pisa Baptistery (a circular Romanesque structure built in the 12th century and dedicated to St. John the Baptist), the Leaning Tower (also known as the campanile, or bell tower, which took over 177 years to build – the fabled lean in the tower began five years into construction when the tower began to sink due to a poor foundation and weak soil) and the Camposanto Monumentale (a cemetery built on sacred soil brought over from Calvary in the 12th century). You can see aspects of all four structures from most vantage points throughout the square.

While the Leaning Tower is the marquee attraction, the most striking thing to me was actually the way all of the monuments were lined up. The square may be small, but there’s a lot of beauty packed into that small space. And while we only had an hour to explore, it was plenty to not only see and explore all of the monuments, but we also had time to peruse the shopping and, if we wanted to, grab food (there are a few cafeterias, as well as a McDonald’s and a Burger King).

As an aggregate, these sites all go together really well. Next to each other, they all make sense. But separately, they’re even more stunning. The detail on each, from the etchings to the arches, are so meticulously designed. They’re marvels.

Our group reconvened at the front entrance at 10:00 am and the tours were really starting to pile in. Sibilla led us on the walk back to the tour bus, where she let us know that our tour bus was equipped with free wifi. Wifi on busses?! What a time to be alive! I did try to minimize my usage, though, because while my cellular dependency can reach levels that heavily embarrass my mother and sister, I was in Tuscany, and nothing on my phone was going to be more important or better than what was outside of my window.

The drive to Florence passed quickly and we arrived around noon. On the drive over, Sibilla went over the maps with us, noting a shortcut she’d highlighted on our maps, where our meeting point was and her recommendations.

Though the tour description offered four hours of free time in Florence, by the time we had walked from the bus to our meeting point in Piazza Santa Croce, it was just over three hours. While the rest of the group followed Sibilla into a shop for a leather demo, we ducked away to begin going through the list of things we wanted to see and do.

Stop one? Lunch. I wanted to grab sandwiches from a little hole in the wall (literally) that I’ve seen recommended everywhere. Stephanie wanted to sit somewhere and have a formal meal. She won, and we ended up at a restaurant called Francesco Vini, which was just up the street from Piazza Santa Croce. We dined on bruschetta, pastas and pizza and washed it down with some Chianti. The food was great, but European style dining is much more relaxed than in the US and a sit down meal can take hours. This one was much quicker than our meal in Arles the day before, but still took up well over an hour our free time.

After lunch, we made our way through as much of Florence as we could, starting at the Palazzo Vecchio, where a replica statue of Michelangelo’s David stands in the same place the original once stood, to the so-beautiful-it-could-be-a-Hollywood-studio Piazza della Repubblica and the Ponte Vecchio, considered to be the most beautiful bridge in the world (so beautiful, Sibilla told us, that Adolf Hitler spared it from destruction in World War 2). We stopped into some shops along the way to browse for leather goods and scarves. We tried to find the leather shop and coffeehouse we visited the year before, but Florence is a massive maze of streets and side streets and we just didn’t have the time to wander around to find them. But you know, being forced into making new favorites is never a bad thing.

My favorite part of our visit to Florence, though? That didn’t change – it’s still the Duomo di Firenze and the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore. I have a…thing…an affinity for larger than life structures. The Golden Gate Bridge is, far and away, my favorite structure in the US. I can (and do) spend hours sitting in Chrissy Field and just staring at it when I visit San Francisco. But nothing I’ve ever seen compares to the Duomo di Firenze. It’s nearly incomprehensible how something can be so big and so beautiful. It’s larger than life. It imposes itself over everything and it’s impossible to see or focus on anything else. In some way, it reminds me of how small we are, how small everything is, in light of all of the beauty that exists in the world.

I stood on the Piazza del Duomo staring up at the magnificent structure in front of me until Stephanie literally dragged me away. I would have lost all track of time and stayed for hours, completely mesmerized, if she hadn’t. As it was, we didn’t have too much time left, so headed back towards the meetup point a half hour early, which allowed us just enough time for some last-minute shopping and a scoop of some fantastic amarena gelato.

The walk back to the bus was brutal – it was early in the afternoon and I’d already logged 18,000+ steps (and ended the day with 21,000+!). If you’re planning on visiting Florence, plan on wearing shoes you can walk extended distances in – you’ll definitely get your steps in for the day.

The police were talking to the driver trying to get him to move when we approached the bus, so we all quickly boarded and headed out of Florence. Before we left, though, Sibilla had the driver take us up to the Giardano Bardini for a quick in-bus photo stop. The view was stunning, to say the least.

I must have fallen asleep sometime on the ride back, because when I woke up, it was in the middle of a pretty heavy sun shower and we were approaching Livorno. The rain ended (again, as if it was planned this way by some version of fate) just as we entered the port. We said arrividerci to Sibilla and reboarded the Vista.

The dinner menus for the main dining room didn’t seem all that appealing, so we headed to the room and called Cucina del Capitano to see if they could squeeze us in. The only time they could take us was immediately, so we dropped off our bags, did a quick change and refresh before heading upstairs.

We were immediately seated and our servers came over immediately to greet us – they recognized us immediately and welcomed us back. It seems that the Vista got many of the servers, hosts and chefs from the Sunshine’s restaurants, and having sailed on the Sunshine just a few months prior, we had a lot of friendly faces greeting us.

The space for Cucina del Capitano on the Vista is much bigger than it is on any other Carnival ship, with tons of natural light and a casual, comfortable atmosphere perfect for family dining.

The menus aren’t entirely extensive, but filled with solid options for all courses. We’ve dined at Cucina more times than I can count and we all have our favorites, so we wasted no time in placing our order and digging in to the plank of delicious grilled bread and whipped ricotta that was placed on our table.

Everything was as good as we remembered it, but if I had to highlight a few favorites, the arancini are one of my favorite dishes served at sea, Mom always raves about the short ribs (the mark of how much she enjoys them is by how fervently she tries to push them onto my plate to get me to try them!) and the warm apple crostada is so sublimely delicious that, even after a heavy meal, I can always seem to make room for it (…and I don’t even like apples!).

Sailaway was delayed as we waited for tardy guests, so we were still docked when we were settling our bill ($15 a person for a dinner like the one we had was a total steal!). We headed outside to get some fresh air and wait for the ship to start pulling away from Livorno.

The Vista finally set sail just before sunset, and we were treated to a truly spectacular one as we set sail towards Rome. Matt even came over the PA to urge people to go outside and watch the sunset.

In what soon became standard practice for us, we headed back to the room to change shoes after dinner, finding a new towel animal waiting with our Fun Times for Rome, as well as a note saying that because they were able to work with the Greek authorities to expedite things before our arrival, they no longer needed to hold our passports and we could pick them up at Guest Services at our leisure.

The line to pick up passports was lengthy, but we were able to bypass it and go straight into the dedicated Platinum/Diamond line (one of my favorite VIFP perks). We signed for our passports and then headed out to wander around the ship.

We perused the shops for awhile before ending in Cherry on Top, the onboard candy store. Unlike other Carnival ships, the Cherry on Top onboard the Vista also houses an ice cream parlor that’s similar to a Coldstone Creamery. You can choose from six different ice cream flavors, nearly two dozen mix ins and six toppings and someone will mix you up a cup of ice cream for a couple of bucks. The preset menu served a better value ($2.50 for a Smaller, $3.50 for a Bigger), or you could create your own combo starting at $2 (Smaller)/$3 (Bigger).

Each of us ordered a different creation and took them back to our patio to enjoy them in the evening air. If you aren’t sailing in a Havana Cabana or a balcony cabin, you can still enjoy your treat al fresco – Cherry on Top has it’s own dedicated outdoor seating on the Lanai.

There were no Playlist Production shows this evening and we had big plans for Rome, so we opted to stay in for the night, enjoying our patio and watching movies in the room. It was challenging to sail on a ship as new and different as the Vista and opt for early bed times instead of late night exploration, but on such a port intensive itinerary, rest was a premium we needed to take advantage of. And we still had a sea day to look forward to later in the week!

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