How soon after arrival in Venice will I be ready to tour?

[rachelfran]

My cruise (odyssey) arrives in Venice on July 25th (a saturday).

If I want to book a visit to Doge's Palace -- how early do you think I can I get there -- stopping first at my hotel in Dorsoduro very close to the CA’ REZZONICO vaporetto stop? The ship arrives at 7am and we will self disembark taking our luggage on our own.

 

Thanks!

[secoma4]

You should be off by 8:00 pr 8:30 at the latest.

[bucknut traveler]

I also will be on this cruise and curious if it is difficult to find a water taxi once we disembark the ship? I am staying at the hilton which is across from the where the ship will arrive ( I believe) I was going to arrange via the Hilton but this option is quite expensive so hoping there will be options nearby... Any guidance appreciated?

[ab21au]

We were off by 8:30 also. There is some info here on a previous post regarding water taxi.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2194805

[frantic36]

I also will be on this cruise and curious if it is difficult to find a water taxi once we disembark the ship? I am staying at the hilton which is across from the where the ship will arrive ( I believe) I was going to arrange via the Hilton but this option is quite expensive so hoping there will be options nearby... Any guidance appreciated?

 

 

If your port is San Basilio this may be of use.

 

In 2013 we stayed in the apartments within the Molino Stuckey building the Hilton is in. We are fairly fit mid 50's and we each had a carry on + 50lb suitcase. The Hilton supplied a shuttle for their guests, which we also could use, this docked across at Dorsodura vaporetto stop which is walking distance to San Basilio port........just under 500metres. This includes a very small bridge to cross. We went about midday and met other people staying at the hotel on the cruise that that did they same thing.

 

So if you are able to handle your baggage just check with the hotel re their shuttle and this may be an option?

 

Julie

 

I just realised this will be at the end of your cruise but hopefully since you are staying there you could get email permission to use their shuttle to get to the hotel.

 

http://molinostuckyhilton.com/travel/shuttle-boat-service.html

Edited June 18, 2015 by frantic36

[wdpmd]

I was just there.

 

If you dock at San Basilio simply walk east along the water for a few minutes and get on the Hilton shuttle. It's a bright yellow boat that looks like a vaporetto. They don't check anything to make sure that you are a registered guest.

 

If you dock in the main terminal you can take the Alilaguna BLUE line straight to the Hilton dock. The boat crew helped with luggage at each end.

 

The blue line is also a good and relatively cheap way to get to airport when you fly out.

[secoma4]

The dock where you will most likely birth has, at its end, a "station" from where all the water taxis pick up fares and depart. There are a number of boarding points. There is a booth where you buy tickets. There may be queues, but we found they moved pretty well.

[photosg]

Bear in mind once you get off the ship you are competing with all the other people on all the other cruise ships. On the day we arrived in venice there were 5 other cruise ships, including two huge MSCs. There was a bit of a wait for our water taxi. If you are going the people mover route bear in mind it is quite small and if there are multiple cruise ships in port you might be in for a wait there too.

 

we were off the ship by about 8:35. Then we had to take the shuttle to the water taxi stand. We were on our water taxi by about 9:15. We had some issues with our hotel rooms so checking in took longer than usual. But once that was sorted we bought our vaporetto tickets by 10:30am.

Edited June 30, 2015 by photosg