31 Aug 2023
We were picked up at the Livorno port. We waited patiently for our driver, but he was not terribly late. Our supposedly "air-conditioned" van was ancient. The inside was missing panels and one of the seatbelts did not work. It just hung and clattered against the metal sides. The worst part of this old van was there was absolutely no air conditioning. This tour was on a 104 degrees F (40 Celsius) day. When we complained to Viator they contacted the tour operator. Their solution was for us to turn around (after 45 minutes already in this van) and they would refund our money. We had 45 minutes left for Florence, so we opted to pry the sticky windows open and ride the rest of the way to Florence. We opted NOT to drive through Tuscany because of the heat inside the van, so we missed out on 1/3 of this tour. After Florence, we continued in the hot van to Pisa, then back to our cruise ship. This tour was okay with the guide in Florence. Every minute in that hotbox of a van was almost human cruelty. The driver continued to say the air was on, but it was just blowing air, not air conditioning. We made the most of this hot day but would never recommend this tour company to anyone.