mapleleaves

There is no train service between the airport and Venice! If you fly into VCE, you will take a taxi or the ATVO express bus into Venice. Both take 20 minutes. A taxi will cost about 45E. The ATVO is 10E pp. Both will drop you at Piazzale Roma, which is the last point of land travel in Venice. It's basically a big parking lot for buses, taxis and cars. It's also only a block from the Grand Canal ! and there is a vaporetto stop there. You can be at St Marks in 30 minutes! Venice is pretty small. The Santa Lucia Train Station is on the OPPOSITE side of the canal from P Roma, so you would need to cross a large bridge to get to the station. PRoma is a popular area to stay for cruisers due to the convenience factor. There are a few hotels right on the square, or if you can manage 1 small bridge and a block or 2, there are several more hotel options. 'How Many Bridges?' hotel listings for Piazzale Roma | Venice for Visitors (europeforvisitors.com) If you want to avoid the bridge to SLucia train staion, you could catch the train from Venice MEstre instead. Mestre is on the mainland, as you approach Venice; about a 15 minute cab ride, 30E. I took the train from Mestre to Trieste in Sept. I wanted to ensure that I got a seat so I booked a high speed train, Business Class with seat selection and a snack/coffee for under 20E.

You mention train station and hotel location ..... is that because you will take the train to Trieste?

We have no idea about your interests, budget or physical abilities so it's difficult to say what you should do at each port. Your best bet is to buy or borrow from your library, Rick Steves book "Med Cruise Ports". The book provides information on each port; the history, sights, activities, tours, and DIY options. Figure out what you want to see and do, then come back to this forum for assistance with specifics.

With a flight at 11:35am your only option is a private transfer, OR, you could bluff your way onto the first airport shuttle by telling RCI you're on Flight ?? to PHL at 12:15pm. ( but find a real flight#) My guess is that those shuttles will leave at 7am with the intent of arriving to the airport by 9:30am. NOTE: When you arrive at VCE prior to your cruise, take the time to check out the airport. When I was there in Oct I noticed overhead signage directing pax with nonstop flights to USA to a location on the ground floor. I was going to London and no bags to check so I went to Security which is on the floor above. So get that sorted out ahead of time .... you don't want to be waiting in the wrong line!

Funny, I felt the opposite.... loved the Epic, the Gem was just ok. Maybe I prefer larger ships

With a private tour you can make your own itinerary, within reason. Just don't jeopardize the company's ability to get you back to port on time. So give it some thought and decide what YOUR FAMILY wants to see and do. Our group of 4 wanted to see Pompeii but wanted the Amalfi Coast more, so we made the tough choice to skip Pompeii. We also had no desire to spend time in Sorrento as it would take away from our time on the coast. We visited Positano, Amalfi and Ravello, probably 1 1/2 hrs in each town. To maximize our time, the driver asked to meet earlier in order to get a head start on traffic so we met at 7:30am. And since we had a long port day I pd for an extra hour so we had a 9hr tour day.To avoid retracing our steps and getting caught up in the AC traffic jam, we took the back way home, thru the mountains. We got to spend time in each village and it broke up the day nicely so that we never sat in the car for more than 1 1/2 hrs at a time. We didn't use ItalyTours .... there are lots of recommended companies that provide the same tours.

I forgot to include a night photo of the Tower. I assume you're coming in on the train. If so, there is a bus just outside the station called LanRossa that will drop off just outside the gates of the Piazza Miracoli. But to save time, a cab will only be around 10-12 E each way.

A 2hr taxi ride would be very costly!! Getting dropped off at the airport isn't THAT bad. You could transfer to an ATVO airport express bus and be at Piazzale Roma 20 minutes later,, then a short walk to the hotel.

If the port is Trieste, it's a 2hr journey to Venice. Which hotel are you going to? Check with HAL about their shuttle. It might only go to the Venice Airport or it may drop off in Tronchetto (at the edge of Venice) as well. About $60 pp. Otherwise you could take the train from Trieste Centrale to Venezia S.Lucia. The train station in Trieste is about a 15-20 minute walk from the pier. About 15e pp. Or FlixBus is an option. It has drop offs at the airport or at Tronchetto. About 15e pp. The bus depot is on the same block as the train stn.

When you say you want a reservation, do you mean for a specific seat or just a reservation for a specific departure time? I took the train to Trieste last yr.. I had heard complaints about people standing the entire trip so I booked a FrecciaRossa train out of Venice Mestre station that didn't stop at venice Santa Lucia station and avoided the mess. Got a seat in business class, seat selection for under 20E.

@Macdooger4 As promised, a followup to my stay in Pisa. We felt very safe walking around at night. It was lovely!! Our hotel was near the Leaning Tower so we walked around that area several times after dark....just families and a few tourists. With the university being only a few blocks away there were always students around which was helpful when we could find our restaurant for dinner. At the train station there were lots of warnings about pickpockets but I think that is a worldwide issue at rain stations. Pisa was absolutely lovely and the people were so friendly and helpful. Florence is a different story.......

If you have too much luggage to easily handle, you could stay in the Piazzale Roma area of Venice. This is the last point of land travel in Venice so it's where taxis, buses, cars drop off their pax for a day of sightseeing. It's also less than 2 blocks from a vaporetto stop on the Grand Canal . There are are 3-4 hotels right on the square or if you can manage a small bridge there are several more options. The ATVO express goes from the airport to P Roma for 10E pp, a 20 minute ride, or a cab is 45e. . The SLucia train station is directly across the canal from PRoma but requires one very large bridge to cross. There are a lot of stairs but they're shallow so not too bad for dragging luggage along. 'How Many Bridges?' hotel listings for Piazzale Roma | Venice for Visitors (europeforvisitors.com) Mestre is also a convenient option for you, esp for catching the train to Trieste. There are a few large hotels right across the street from the Mestre station; Best Western, Plaza and Tritone. It will mean a 20 minute commute to Venice for your sightseeing, but you can get there by train or bus for less than 2E. And there is an ATVO express bus that runs nonstop from the airport to Mestre station, 20 minutes, 10Epp. Or cab also 20 minutes, 40e. Hotels near Venezia Mestre Railroad Station | Venice for Visitors (europeforvisitors.com)

Corfu, Athens, Mykonos, Argostoli, Montenegro I would watch the RCI forum for trip reports as they come in over the summer. They will provide a wealth of first hand information. Perhaps get your father a copy of Rick Steves 'Med Cruise Ports' so he can learn about the destinations and determine what he wants to see and do. I travel DIY mostly so have no excursions to recommend. We took a similar itinerary llate ast Sept ... stormy almost every day and we missed Kotor altogether, but this is what we did or planned to do. CORFU ....HoHo Bus to see the Vlacherna monastery on the little island. Then wander around old town and enjoy a cafe on the Liston. ATHENS .... walked up to the Acropolis, then watched the Changing of the Guard and wandered around the Plaka. My mother was 82 at the time of that cruise and managed the climb MYKONOS .... took the free shuttle into town. Walked to Old Venice, then the Windmills whch are a block or 2 further, then just enjoyed the ambiance of the lovely town and all the flowers and homes. MONTENEGRO .... speed boat to Lady of the Rock, 15E with www.kotorboat-tours.com Wander around the town. ( Argostoli was originally on the itinerary but was dropped several months prior. It looked like a neat old fishing village and a big draw is watching for the sea turtles around the docks.)

The easiest, most efficient option is a cruiseline transfer since it takes you door to door. About $60pp. The train and bus are also options; way cheaper but require more effort since they're not door to door. In Trieste the train station and bus depot are within a block of each other, but you'll need to walk about 20 minutes to the pier, or wait for a cab. And there is no train station at Marco Polo so you will need to get yourself to Mestre to board the train, From the airport to Mestre train station is a 15 ride, about 40 E for a cab or 10Epp for the ATVO express bus. We arrived for 2 nights precruise so we took the train from Mestre to Trieste, 2 hrs, 15E. After the cruise we used FlixBus from Trieste to Marco Polo, 2 hrs 15E.

@ fishiecrackers ..... sounds like a good plan. And if the other 2 ships have left, the cable car lines should be easy for the ride down. ( it worked that way for us)

Keep in mind that there are only 6 cable cars so they only move about 700 pax per hour. If you wait until 9am you might get caught up in the crowd of people who wanted to have a nice bfast before their busy day. It's so hard to predict. I'd be off the ship asap. Why waste 2 hrs, plus it will be cooler at that time of day, and fewer people around I felt ok about our chances given that the only other ship in port was Costa with 2700 pax, and it was scheduled to arrive at 7am. We were scheduled for 2pm but arrived a bit early, at 1:30pm. And we were on Tender #4. Yet we didn't get to Fira until 4pm !! Why we were in line for 2 hrs is beyond me! That means about 1400 pax were ahead of us, yet we were the 4th tender. So did Costa arrive late? did their pax disembark late so they could have lunch on the ship? I don't understand it, which is why I would advise getting off the ship asap.

You've left out several important factors: how many pax on your ship? and will you have priority on the tenders? which other ships are in port with you? the number of pax on each and their arrival/departure times. ie if you're the first ship to arrive and you have an early tender ,the cable car queue might be ok. But if a ship with 3500 pax arrived 2hrs before you and you forgot to get a tender ticket, you might be waiting 3 hrs for the cable car. Where are you planning to meet your tour ?

Wouldn't be in my comfort zone. We enjoyed the views from the ship ! It was wonderful to look up and watch the lights slowly coming on across the island then watch the sun set on the horizon. Then when it was totally dark we enjoyed the lights on the donkey path as it criss crossed up the cliff, the lights of the cable cars, and the towns totally lit up. Actually those were some of my favorite views of Santorini.

this link might be helpful.

you might want to ask on tripadvisor. A local would have the answer. Or ask your hotel.

it's about a 20 minute walk. Look on google map, using the Savoia Excelsior Hotel as your destination as the pier is in front of the hotel.

It's a 20 minute drive to Mestre. The ATVO airport express is 10E pp. Its drop point is the Mestre train station. A cab is 45E.

Pull the mattress away from the wall by 5-6 inches, fill the gap with blankets, then put your pillows on top. The end of the mattress will be kind of floppy since it has no support but it's only for your feet, so it should be reasonably comfortable.

yep, that was my experience too. The Spanish speaking version was still available but I said no, even tho we were going to leave the tour in Oia and tell the leader that we would make our own way back to Fira. As it got closer to our travel date and I kept seeing all the negative stories, I called to see if the Spanish tour was still open, but nope it was sold out. My advice would be to get a cab or bus as soon as you get off the cable car in order to maximize your time. You can check out Fira later. OR, if the cable car is really long, take the boat that leaves from the harbor. It might not leave for an hour but at least it gets you close to Oia. I think it was 25 E pp.

Personal preference. Do you want to spend quality time in 2 cities to see them in depth, OR, visit 9 cities to check them out with the idea you may return to explore further? Or in my case, I wanted to see several ports that I wouldnt make time for on a land tour but the cruise gave me the opportunity to say 'been there, done that". p.s. the itinerary can be exhausting. We weren't able to take advantage of all the entertainment options.