venice ports

We are booked on the Rotterdam departing Venice in October. Does anyone know which of the ports it leaves from? this seems to be important in selecting a hotel prior to departure. Larger ships leave from the main area but I'm not sure where Rotterdam fits in the equation and HAL can't tell me.

This may not be decided until the last minute. So, with a little planning, you can easily get to either port area. Some research on the Italy board, here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=595

will help you.

For those coming on this thread after me, I checked the Venice harbor schedule. It doesn't list dock assignments. I checked several of the commonly recommended websites, some didn't even show Rotterdam being in Venice on Oct 23. So much for their reliability.

If you stay at the Hilton Molino Stucky, you are pretty close to each docking location, and pretty accessible from the airport.

You will be docked at Marittima, along with Poesia, Jade, NCL Spirit, and Splendour of the Seas. The ship arrives in Venice on Oct. 23, but the passengers don't debark until the 24th.

This is a picture of the port area. You will probably dock somewhere in the area where Constellation is in the picture.

Here is a link to the map of the port area:

http://www.vtp.it/risorse/allegati/Pianta_Porto_Complessivo.pdf

NCL Spirit will be in and usually docks by terminal 117. EM

Maybe try whatsinport dot com - may be able to help you.

According to the calendar ( http://www.vtp.it/calendario/ ) all HAL ships dock at Crocieri the rest of this year, including Rotterdam in October. If you want to be close, stay near Piazzale Roma.

If you're looking for convenience, Piazzale Roma is probably the most convenient area to stay whether you are ultimately headed to Marittima (the big port) or San Basilio (the port that handles a few smaller ships).

From Piazzale Roma, you can take the People Mover (or a land taxi) to Marittima. And you can take a vaporetto (or a land taxi) to San Basilio, which is almost right next to Marittima.

I have doubts whether San Basilio would handle a ship of Rotterdam's size. Generally it is where you'd find the small ships -- around 30,000 tons, give or take and maybe up to 45,000?

We stayed at Hotel Commercio & Pelligrino, near Piazza San Marco. Stop for the Aliguna Blue Line is 5 minutes away, just one bridge to cross. This boat takes you from the airport to the hotel ( Zacharia pier) and to the cruiseterminal , luggage is taken care of on the boat. Would absolutely recommend boat as well as a hotel since it's close to transportation.

We stayed in the Best Western Quid Hotel. It is in the Maestre area of Venice. I looked at all those canals and bridges in Venice on the days prior to our boarding our ship and thought how I was glad we chose the Quid.

I liked the location as a shuttle bus picked us up directly from the airport. From the hotel there was a city bus a few minutes walk away that took us directly to Piazzale Roma. Then the People Mover took us to the port where we boarded the ship. Easy Peasy.

The hotel staff were wonderful and the hotel was very comfortable, too.

Stayed at Santa Chiara Hotel right in Piazzel Roma. Short walk to People mover, no bridges to cross and overlooks canal. Also, grocery store a block away for wine and water. Nice continental breakfast as well.