Airport choice

[checkitallout]

we have a cruise from Venice to Athens in July. In reality it is from Trieste. If I use NCL air, what airport are they going to fly me into. I want to go 2 days early and go to Venice. Will they schedule that?

[complawyer]

1st you need to understand (if you dont know already) that venice is an hour and a half from trieste.

 

any way, i worry about the flights booked thru ncl, and i prefer to book myself. we were on the b2b venice (trieste) , trieste to rome oct thru nov, i booked delta comfort, los angeles to jfk, jfk to venice.

 

we stayed at a very nice marriott for 2 days, (try and take the murano glass factory tour) we took a gondola ride ( on my bucket list), had lunch in st marks square,( by the way, if youve never been there, venice is amazing). prior to leaving home, we made arrangements to have a shuttle pick us up at the hotel and drive us to a hotel in trieste, where we spent another night. they had an arrangement with ncl to have a bus pick us up and take us to the port. i strongly suggest you take an extra day if possible, as trieste is also very nice.

 

any way, i believe that ncl can get you to venice when you want, and from athens to the airport when you get there, but i suggest you spend a few days in venice also.

 

but, i  think you'd be much better off making your own arrangements. by the way, it's very easy to get a cab at venice airport. 

 

last bit if advice, get loads of euros, as italy doesnt like to take  US currency

[phillygwm]

10 minutes ago, complawyer said:

last bit if advice, get loads of euros, as italy doesnt like to take  US currency

Good advice.  My 2019 cruise was out of Venice so I consider myself fortunate but I found Venice to be overrun with tourists.  Like 5 deep on the Rialto.  And the Greek Isles were also mobbed because several ships were in at once.  But I digress....

 

I usually bring nothing with me.  There are ATMs in the airport; I'll get maybe €100 out unless I need more to pay a tour guide or something.  Everything else goes on my card.  I have a couple cards with zero foreign exchange transaction fees and, again, you'll get a better rate.

 

A couple tips around ATM and credit cards:

• When you use an ATM in some countries, it will ask whether you want them to do the currency exchange or leave it to your bank.  Always leave it to your bank.  You'll get a better rate.
• If you have a card that is "Chip and Pin" bring it.  Most US cards are Chip and Signature.  That's OK for an assisted transaction (where you're dealing with a person) but if you're buying a train ticket at a kiosk, for instance, you'll need that PIN.  Or you can use your ATM card for that if needed.

[zqvol]

Don't forget to leave a couple of days to explore Athens.

[destar]

Im with complawyer, I like booking my own flights. It cost more but at least you know that you won't be taking 3 flights or 38 hrs to get to your destination. 

Venice is a nice city to visit, If you stay there a couple of days do your research on hotels, lot of stairs from island to island, it can be a pain going up and down stairs with luggage. We stood walking distance to main train station and in front of the station there was a bus that took us strait to the airport (VCE). Also the gondola ride on the grand canal is a must, just get your bubbly ahead of time, Enjoy!

[checkitallout]

We’ve been to Venice several times so not concerned for myself. We are going 2 days before and staying 2 days after- so not that concerned with flight time. At this point I’d rather save the money as we have traveled several times this year and will forego the convenience of booking my own flights to save about $1500. I’d go straight to triest but my kids and grandkids are going- they booked their own flights- so we’d like to do at least a little of Venice with them. 

[complawyer]

again, to each  his own!