1st timer question. Embarking from Venice

[CambsCruiser82]

Hello everyone,

 

We're off on our first ever cruise in July on board the QV from Venice to Athens for 14 days. We will be celebrating my Husbands 40th birthday whilst on board and have booked a Princess Grills suite to make it extra special.

 

I'm absolutely brimming with questions which I'm sure I'll come to ask later but one immediate thought is in relation to getting there in the first place :).

 

We have a lot of air miles to use up this year so we've gone for the cruise only option. My decision now is day to fly out. The cruise starts on the 8th and whilst we both like the idea of seeing Venice we're not entirely enamoured with the prices of hotels that time of year - we're already spending plenty. My concern is if the plane is delayed and we miss the boat. We were thinking of taking the Heathrow BA morning flight which gets us to Venice airport just shy of 12; does that leave enough time to get to the ship? Does anyone know roughly what time the embarkation begins/ends in Venice?

 

Following in from that, if we get on board, bags dropped etc, are we then able to head back into Venice for a while?

 

Sorry if these questions have already been asked.

 

Many thanks

[Host Hattie]

What a great way to celebrate a birthday. I can't help with the first question but departure from Venice is sometimes later than from other ports. Your TA or Cunard should be able to confirm. We have flown the same day with cruise line organised flights but when I book my own I always arrange an extra night at least. You could always stay at Mestre if you wanted to keep costs down.

You can leave the ship but you will need to be back on board for muster drill and in Venice you need your passport to get back through security.

[CambsCruiser82]

Thank you.

 

I hadn't thought of the mainland so I'll go and have look at that now. Thank you :).

 

I'm an 'arrive 4 hours early at the airport' kind of person so I'd much rather know I'm in Venice than be worried we would miss it.

[Scottygirl1]

We booked a hotel for the night before - we found a lovely budget priced hotel nearer the port and walked. Lots of people were doing the same so we didn't feel odd pulling our bags along.

[Liverpoolgirl175]

Do travel to Venice the day before your cruise departs. The risks of the ship sailing without you if there are problems with your flight are too high.

I would travel the day before and enjoy an evening in Venice and breakfast at leisure before joining the ship.

[Mbett1]

We did this cruise the other way round from Athens to Venice in PG last year and had an amazing time. We also used Avios to book the flights - we also used them for a hotel in Venice. If you have plenty - this could be a solution. As far as embarkation goes - we always fly in the day before - if you are on a Cunard charter flight the ship will wait for you - if you are on your own - it won't! One never knows when the French air traffic controllers or similar are going to strike.

Mestre has far more reasonable hotels than Venice and is a taxi ride away. Be prepared that you might have to carry your luggage some distance as the cruiseport is large and spread out.

Enjoy your cruise on the beautiful QV!