Do we book venice pre cruise hotel with celebrity or book it ourselves?

[Babybump09]

Hi, Can anyone advise us whether we book hotel with celebrity or book it ourselves for 1 night pre cruise in venice.

Celebrity have quoted £600 for hotel Metropole and transfers (airport to hotel,hotel to port & port to airport) for 1 night for the 2 of us OR do we book it independently and use public transport.

As we have never been to Venice we are a little cautious as to how easy getting around is, and also getting to the port in time the following day.

We would like to stay fairly central but how easy it would be with suitcases, we are unsure.

How much do you think we would spend booking it independently? Would it be worth making the savings? Or do we go for the easier option and let Celebrity sort it all?

 

Any advice would be great!! (This is our honeymoon too) :D

 

Thanks Vicky

[TMLAalum]

Please check out the Ports-of-Call board, Italy section, for advice from other cruisers as to how to get from the airport and into Venice. We used a private van transfer for 6, but other methods are by taxi or bus to Piazzale Roma, the Alilaguna waterbus and private water taxi (expensive but not as much as you'll be paying for the Celebrity package!) Rick Steves' Guide to Med Cruiseports gives the down-low on how to get to port from airport.

 

Find a canalfront hotel in the San Croce district, which includes the Piazzale Roma. From there you can take the 1 euro People Mover to the ship.

 

There may be steps over bridges to your hotel so if you aren't fit, you might want to book a porter. DH & I are senior citizens and we managed to schlep our bags from the rail station to the Best Western Olimpia and from there to the ship.

 

You will save lots of money by investing time into researching options that will make memorable honeymoon even more special because you planned it yourselves.

[flamomo]

You can certainly do it on your own for less. If that's what you choose to do, I'd suggest you find a hotel that is close to the Piazzale Roma ..... the transportation hub in Venice, where one finds the buses from and to the airport. The People Mover to the port is also at the Piazzale.

 

On a personal note .... in October 2012, I stayed at the Hotel Olimpia, which is a Best Western facility. Small and charming, in a quiet neighborhood about 3 blocks (and 2 moderate size canal bridges) from the Piazzale. My single room was on the 3rd floor at the front of the hotel, and when I opened the window shutters, I was delighted to see that I was looking down on a canal. The bathroom was nicely sized and very modern.They had a very nice breakfast buffet that was included in the cost of the room. The price for one night was about $325, which I didn't feel that was out of line based on researching hotels in Venice. My thought was that my precruise time in Venice might be my only opportunity to be there, so it was worth the price to be able to stay right IN Venice.

Edited February 22, 2014 by flamomo

[Hlitner]

The OP might want to consider that using the cruise line package is convenient, but also quite expensive. If you simply look at the typical cost of a room at the Metropole is is about 250 pounds sterling. So you want to pay Celebrity an additional 350 pounds for transport? This kind of package makes me very happy to be a RCI stockholder. Even if you decided to use a private water taxi for your transportation (the most expensive form of transport in Venice) your cost would be less that 400 pounds (and that is using a private water taxi from airport to hotel and hotel to port). But the reality of Venice is that there are less expensive modes of transport so your savings can easily be more then 200 pounds. And consider that there are plenty of hotels that are less costly then the Metropole.

 

Hank