Earl Rosebery

Hermitage has extensive staircases to the second level. Catherine’s palace has stairs at the entrance and to the second level. Peterhof is on one level inside but the gardens are a stairway away and a lot of walking.

Tour guides and drivers are probably dependent on tips. Go with10% for the guide and 5% for the driver unless they are terrible. (based on full price) All reviews of all the private tours rave about the guides. Ours should have had a PhD in Russian history and art history. Dollars are welcome. You don’t need roubles anywhere.

We are a group of 10 that are planning to reserve a water taxi to take us from the house we are renting fairly close to St. Mark's to the cruise terminal. I have done a mock online booking and it comes to about 152 Euros for the 10 us us, which I think is fairly reasonable. My question is where we will be let off at/near the terminal and how we get to the ship. Are we close to the people mover? Any help from those that have taken a water taxi to the terminal would be appreciated. Thanks!

I would be very sceptical that a water taxi will take 10 with luggage. You should plan on having 2 taxis. Well worth it.

If you want to see precisely where the taxis dock, plug these coordinates into the search bar of google maps, google earth, or even just google.

Two numbers separated by a comma.... 45.438244,12.312363

The people mover station is 200 yards north east of that point.

It’s the border, not the traffic, that’s the problem.

Thanks for the tips. I have been trying to find out which terminal the Oosterdam will be departing this Friday but have not found an answer. Perhaps we won’t know until it arrives Thursday. We are flying to Venice tomorrow morning.

Oosterdam will be at the large U shaped cruise terminal. The water taxi dock is at the inside top of the U. That’s where you will drop your luggage. You cannot get any closer by land taxi.

If your ship is at the far end, they may run a shuttle within the port.

According to the U.S. State Dept. Passport cards are only good for re-entering the U.S. by land or sea from Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean and Bermuda. Not valid for international air travel. Not sure how it would work for walking around ID in Europe.

I’m not sure what the fuss is about. In 40 years of travel to Europe the only time we ever had to produce a passport was to cash travelers cheques back in the ancient past when they were still used.

Once at an internet cafe in Taormina the owner said he couldn’t , by law, let us use his computer without showing our passport. He settled for our cruise line card.

Carry a photocopy if you feel you must.

i’m sorry but what is a 25 % premium? Is it related to the exchange rate? New at this!

5us$ = 6.25c$

We intend to use cc for as much as we can. Our only concern is when tipping tour guides ( only using cruisecship excursions as we received credits in every port) and wondering if we should use USD or CAD?

$C preferred but tour guides certainly used to $US. Besides they have a 25% premium

Isn't it just easier (and cheaper) to use an ATM card. Especially as my bank does not charge me an ATM fee and I get the official exchange rate.

YMMV

I agree and that’s what I do ( uese a debit ((ATM)) card).

I was responding to Kate-AHF who said she would never use a bank card for fear it could give a thief access to her bank account.

This is an excellent resource. Read it and you will see that the easiest way from a train to the port is to leave the train at the Mestre station on the mainland. From there, regular taxis are available to take you to the cruise terminal. https://europeforvisitors.com/venice/articles/arriving_in_venice.htm

Which card - I just might want it. And is it 2% per month for purchases or cash advances - a matter treated very differently by most CCs.

Purchases are not accruing interest unless the card is not paid in full at due date; cash advances are charged interest from the day of advance (and at a higher rate than the interest rate for purchases).

I just checked RBC which is typical

20% on purchases from the due date, 23% on cash advances starting from day 1

Close enough to 2% per month and not a big deal if paid within a few weeks.

Better still, pay into the card account in advvance. As long as the balance is positive, there should be no interest chafge.

I am wondering which cc charges 2% interest for cash advances?

Most of them charge 20% or higher for cash advances and they do it on a daily basis starting from the date of the withdrawal.

2% per month!

Using a credit card rather than a debit card to get cash from a foreign ATM is usually very expensive. Cash using a credit card is a cah advance with interest at 20% from day one.

Victoria appears tobe behind the times. No vending machines, no credit cards. A Day pass is 5$C and sold only on the bus. Trade a US 5 for 2 toonies and a loonie.

Donna Leon’s first Commisario Brunetti book was ‘ Death at La Fenice’

Your friend must have divided by the exchange rate instead of multiplying.

~375 USD, always easier to pay by cc.

You cannot drive to the Mt. Royal Lookout. It’s about a 15 min walk from the parking lot . You can drive to the Westmount look out. You don’t need 3 hrs.at the airport. 90 mins should be plenty. Jean Talon market is out of the way.

There isn’t room for taxis to wait more than a few minutes at the dock. You go to the desk in the arrivals area and they call one in for you and give you a voucher with the taxi’s number on it. You pay the operator.

It would be almost impossible to see much of these in one day. The hermitage alone takes several hours. pick Catherine’s palace or Peterhof but not both. They are both outside the city centre

It means you have 75 minutes to complete your frip. Tickets are always validated entering and leaving a bus.

The rete unica rates are discounted rates for travel throughout the system but only for card holders which I believe costs an extra 50€. i.e. you need to stay a few weeks.

The ordinary 75 minute ticket appears to allow travel in Mestre up to but not beyond P. Roma and not to the airport.

Best bet is a 1,2 or 3 day vaporetto pass. Available at most major Vaporetto stops. This pass does not cover the private Alilagunna system.

You probably won’t use the people mover more than once or twice.

For example say you wanted to get from San Marco back to the port as expeditiously as possibe. You would buy a single ticket on the private Alilaguna blue line directly to the port or take the no 1 vaporetto to. P.Roma and the people mover.

It can be intimidating. However most signs are also in English and do not be afraid to ask. If all else fails you can walk or take an (expensive) water taxi.

I agree that there is little point in going to Catherines palace as well as Peterhof. We much preferred Peterhof (inside as well as the gardens) with lunch on site and a hydrofoil ride back to the city.

They will both be busy. The only interesting aspect of Catherine’s palace for me was the history during and after WW11.

I would also skip the fortress/church. We were there in ‘73 and saw the dungeons. Last year we only saw the church.

After you leave your luggage you could check in and after that walk into the town ( or take the water bus). San Basilio is an easy walk to San marco- about 1/2 hr.

Thanks everyone!

Suggestions about luggage???[/quote

So how much rubles do you recommend getting? We usually don't shop but may get a souvenir or two. I like drinking beer so how much does a beer cost typically? Most of the time in other ports I usually bring around $50 to $100 or so. Is that amount converted to rubles typically enough? Are things crazy expensive there?

You don’t need any

Smaller is better. Take a look at Oceania Marina and Nautica. From your post it wasn’t clear if you had children or not. Oceania has few if any children.