How do people who spend as much time as they can on cruise ships stumble of a new port?
Funny you should ask.
The port is La Spezia and, as you can probably tell from the sound, it's in Italy. Yes, we did stumble on what we now think is going to be a cruise port to watch. The reason this discovery was almost accidental is that, a few days after disembarking from the Oceania Riviera in Venice, we stayed on the train from Monterosso, the northern village in the famous Cinque Terre.
It makes a better story to say that we missed our stop and couldn't get off until La Spezia, but the truth is that we planned on going there.
We just didn't realize what an ideal cruise port La Spezia is.
During a five-kilometre walk along the Italian Riviera, we had spotted a cruise ship anchored offshore. It was Silversea's Silver Spirit and obviously it was running tenders to the shore…destinations could have been Portofino, or Santa Margherita, or Rapallo. While they're not close to the picturesque Cinque Terre, all could be disembarkation points for making your way south-east to Monterroso, as is Livorno, the most popular cruise port in the area.
Having visited all three these places (and passed through Livorno), we can volunteer the opinion that La Spezia is better.
Here's why:
In addition to being an interesting town or city to visit, like so many Italian towns and cities, La Spezia is the ideal place to launch a tour of Cinque Terre. The five villages — Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore — are walkable if the conditions are right, but for people like us the train is a better option. They run regularly and travelling from town to town takes minutes. Five minutes south (okay, south-east) of Cinque Terre is La Spezia.
So, picture this…
Your cruise ship anchors off the shore of La Spezia. After the short tender ride, you catch the train north to Cinque Terre. You spend the next several hours seeing some or all of the
towns, hopping on and off trains. You return to La Spezia (an all-day train ticket is about $20) and a few minutes later, you're back on the ship. From Livorno, figure on at least a two-hour trip to get to Cinque Terre.
Several cruise lines — Oceania, Royal Caribbean, Seabourn, Crystal, Azamara and Windstar — currently make the odd stop in La Spezia's waters. Three more — Disney, Holland America, Celebrity — will in 2013.
Civic officials in La Spezia want to build a cruise ship terminal. When that happens, this place figures to be as popular as Livorno.
Panorama photo by William Domenichini
Norwegian Jewel
15 nights
September 27, 2012
Los Angeles, Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta, Huatulco, Puerto Chiapas, Puerto Quetzal, Puntarenas, Panama Canal, Cartagena, Miami
Inside: $1,099
Cost per day: $71
www.ncl.com