What to do in Venice before heading to airport?

[Bincent]

Hi everyone,

We're going to be sailing on the Celebrity Summit and arriving in Venice on August 1-2, 2009. This is the last stop in the Itinerary and the ship is docked overnight. I've got a few questions:

 

- If our flight doesn't leave until 2:45pm, is there enough time to do anything before heading to the airport? If so, what do you recommend? Even if it is just to grab lunch in Venice and then head to the airport, that would be better than just hanging out at the airport waiting for our flight.

- Does anyone know if a ship is docked overnight whether or not you can board and leave the ship anytime during the day/night/late night/etc.?

- Is there anywhere to store luggage before heading over to the airport? If so, where and how much does it cost?

- How early do I need to arrive at the airport if the flight is international? I know in North America, the standard is at least 2hrs. I'm just wondering if it is the same in Europe/Venice.

 

Thanks ahead of time for all the help! :)

[chipmaster]

Hi everyone,

We're going to be sailing on the Celebrity Summit and arriving in Venice on August 1-2, 2009. This is the last stop in the Itinerary and the ship is docked overnight. I've got a few questions:

 

- If our flight doesn't leave until 2:45pm, is there enough time to do anything before heading to the airport? If so, what do you recommend? Even if it is just to grab lunch in Venice and then head to the airport, that would be better than just hanging out at the airport waiting for our flight.

- Does anyone know if a ship is docked overnight whether or not you can board and leave the ship anytime during the day/night/late night/etc.?

- Is there anywhere to store luggage before heading over to the airport? If so, where and how much does it cost?

- How early do I need to arrive at the airport if the flight is international? I know in North America, the standard is at least 2hrs. I'm just wondering if it is the same in Europe/Venice.

 

Thanks ahead of time for all the help! :)

 

I didn't sail celebrity but was on Emerald Princess going the other way, that had overnight in Venice ending in Barcelona.

 

1) The ship you are sailing receives the next group on Aug 2nd for a reverse sailing. I suspect you'll be asked to disembark in the morning. We had similar experience disembarkation from our Cruise in Barcelona. We were last off around 11:30 and saw the next group already checking-in. One thought would be try and leave as late as you can, enjoy one last late sit down breakfast then plan to arrive at airport around 12:00. Thus get off the ship around 10am, leave little time for sightseeing. Another possibility is that the dock is close to the train terminal and I suspect there could be luggage storage there. Might want to google search or ask others here. Last I was there in 93, they did have lockers, but that was decades before 9-11. You can get off the ship as early as you can, store your luggage at the trainstation and have a couple hours in the morning in Venice. Still need to figure to allow 45' train to airport.

 

2) I would suggest that its a standard rule of thumb to give 2 hours before departure for international flights.

 

3) If Celebrity works like Princess I would expect the ship to be open for repeated disembarkation/embarkation while in port 7x24. Princess offerered roundtrip water tickets for us. Added it to our cabin tab too. I think it was 15/person roundtrip.

 

As to things to do, Venice is all about walking around, taking a gondolla or a vaprorette. You should have more then enough time to experience the highlights in a half - day and evening.

 

Enjoy!

[Bincent]

I didn't sail celebrity but was on Emerald Princess going the other way, that had overnight in Venice ending in Barcelona.

 

1) The ship you are sailing receives the next group on Aug 2nd for a reverse sailing. I suspect you'll be asked to disembark in the morning. We had similar experience disembarkation from our Cruise in Barcelona. We were last off around 11:30 and saw the next group already checking-in. One thought would be try and leave as late as you can, enjoy one last late sit down breakfast then plan to arrive at airport around 12:00. Thus get off the ship around 10am, leave little time for sightseeing. Another possibility is that the dock is close to the train terminal and I suspect there could be luggage storage there. Might want to google search or ask others here. Last I was there in 93, they did have lockers, but that was decades before 9-11. You can get off the ship as early as you can, store your luggage at the trainstation and have a couple hours in the morning in Venice. Still need to figure to allow 45' train to airport.

 

2) I would suggest that its a standard rule of thumb to give 2 hours before departure for international flights.

 

3) If Celebrity works like Princess I would expect the ship to be open for repeated disembarkation/embarkation while in port 7x24. Princess offerered roundtrip water tickets for us. Added it to our cabin tab too. I think it was 15/person roundtrip.

 

As to things to do, Venice is all about walking around, taking a gondolla or a vaprorette. You should have more then enough time to experience the highlights in a half - day and evening.

 

Enjoy!

 

Thanks for the advice. I suppose we could try and stay on the ship as long as possible but from what I've heard, they also try and get you off as early as possible to prep for the next passengers. I'd also like to spend a little more time in Venice on land vs. in the cruise ship.

[janchor]

There is a left luggage at Piazzale Roma--near the ticket office. (google it).This is the place you will go to from the ship to get the bus to the airport. So you could get off the ship early and take a taxi to PR and store your luggage for a few hours and then take the bus from there to the airport.

In addition, you can leave you luggage at the Santa Lucia Train station. (Google it). The station is a fairly short walk from the Piazzale Roma assuming you do not have a TON of luggage but you do have to walk over one bridge so need to be able haul you luggage up and down!!. The Piazzale Roma would be your best bet.

[Bincent]

There is a left luggage at Piazzale Roma--near the ticket office. (google it).This is the place you will go to from the ship to get the bus to the airport. So you could get off the ship early and take a taxi to PR and store your luggage for a few hours and then take the bus from there to the airport.

In addition, you can leave you luggage at the Santa Lucia Train station. (Google it). The station is a fairly short walk from the Piazzale Roma assuming you do not have a TON of luggage but you do have to walk over one bridge so need to be able haul you luggage up and down!!. The Piazzale Roma would be your best bet.

 

Thanks Janchor!

That's exactly what I was looking for.

 

As for getting to the Piazzale Roma, I've been reading many varying experiences:

- some people have gotten free shuttles to Piazzale Roma

- some are charged for taking a shuttle from the ship to Piazzale Roma (some are charged $24 depending on the cruise line)

- some just walk it (15-20 minutes)... apparently there is a hill??

- some exit the port area and take a cab from the exit to Piazzale Roma (how far is it to Piazzale Roma from the exit? Is it even worth it to grab a cab? From my understanding it's only 1/2 mile from the exit so if you've already walked to the exit, you might as well just walk the rest of the way).

 

Now obviously, the free shuttle is the best option, but how do we find out if there is going to be a free shuttle or not? Is this provided only by the specific cruise line? Is it something that is provided by the port depending on how many ships are in dock? I know that the Wind Surf MSC and Musica are also docked on the same day as disembarkment and the port load for that day will be 5275 passengers. We can probably increase that more since there will be passengers disembarking and embarking from our cruise.

[janchor]

You can walk but I don't think it would be much fun especailly with luggage--it is further than you think!!!

Here is some info on the shuttle bus:(from Venice cruise ship terminal website)

 

P.le Roma is the only part of the city of Venice that can be reached by car. Here information point for public bus and vaporetti, as well as taxi station and guarded parking areas are available.

The cruise and ferry terminals can be reached by:

- Taxi cab (about 2 minutes trip).

- Bus n. 6/ stopping just outside the entrance to the passenger port. On Mondays, Saturdays and Sundays, when ships are performing homeport operations, a free of charge shuttle bus to/from Piazzale Roma- Cruise Terminal is available every 15/20 minutes for cruise passengers.

 

The shuttle busses are run by the port authority and are not cruise line specific. J

[janchor]

Not sure why there is a sad face in my last posting????? We took the shuttle bus and it was just great.:D

[tartanexile81]

Hi everyone,

We're going to be sailing on the Celebrity Summit and arriving in Venice on August 1-2, 2009. This is the last stop in the Itinerary and the ship is docked overnight. I've got a few questions:

 

- If our flight doesn't leave until 2:45pm, is there enough time to do anything before heading to the airport? If so, what do you recommend? Even if it is just to grab lunch in Venice and then head to the airport, that would be better than just hanging out at the airport waiting for our flight.

- Does anyone know if a ship is docked overnight whether or not you can board and leave the ship anytime during the day/night/late night/etc.?

- Is there anywhere to store luggage before heading over to the airport? If so, where and how much does it cost?

- How early do I need to arrive at the airport if the flight is international? I know in North America, the standard is at least 2hrs. I'm just wondering if it is the same in Europe/Venice.

 

Thanks ahead of time for all the help! :)

 

You will so love this cruise which we did last Summer. Yes, after you arrive you can leave the ship and embark again at any time. There were ship's excursions on the last night but we wanted to spend our last night on board with friends we had made. On the finald ay, you can get off as soon as the ship docks if you're prepared to handle your own luggage. This would give you more time to enjoy Venice. When you sail into Venie, I think it's about midday before you actualy dock so by the time you get into the centre it will be early afternoon so you'll probably want to spend more time in Venice the following day before your flight. Celebrity provided a shuttle water bus that day (at a cost) and we bought a 2-day vaporetta pass as soon as we got off the shuttle. We used it well and it was very good value for money. On the last morning we didn't know how we were going to get into Venice with our luggage so we were pleased to find the shuttles to Piazzala Roma from where it's only one stop to the main station where you could leave your luggage then go for a wander. The Jewish Ghetto isn't far from the station and we just walked through it to to St Mark's following streets parallel to the canal, and saw lots of the famous sights and enjoyed interesting back streets and pretty squares packed full of character.

[JADE75]

We did this great cruise last year and when we got to Venice we took the free shuttle bus to Piazzale Roma where we were able to get a vaperatto down the Grand Canal to St. Mark's passing under the Rialto bridge on the way. We returned the same way after walking from St. Mark's to the Rialto Bridge and returning back down the canal to St. Mark's again to look again at the building

For information and a tour guide of the buildings down the canal try www.wikipedia.org/wiki/GrandCanalofVenice.

Celebrity charged $20 for the waterbus shuttle.

[WineDown17]

Just back last Friday from this trip- And the one piece of info i wish i knew was about the Venice Airport!!

 

We got there approx 3.5 hours ahead of time, as we have a large family, many bags, and no seats assigned. We thought we would get there, check in, and grab a bite while waiting.

 

You can not check into your flight any earlier than 2 hours in advance!! And there is no where to sit while waiting!! We paid 50 Euro to have a man bring our 10 bags from the curb 15 yards inside.. then tell us he couldnt bring them any further becuase our flight was not yet checking in. He then proceded to dump them in the airport. ARGH!!!

 

Once checked in, the inside is lovely with some very nice shops and air conditioning..

 

Just FYI. Hopefully this will help someone!!

[Bincent]

Just back last Friday from this trip- And the one piece of info i wish i knew was about the Venice Airport!!

 

We got there approx 3.5 hours ahead of time, as we have a large family, many bags, and no seats assigned. We thought we would get there, check in, and grab a bite while waiting.

 

You can not check into your flight any earlier than 2 hours in advance!! And there is no where to sit while waiting!! We paid 50 Euro to have a man bring our 10 bags from the curb 15 yards inside.. then tell us he couldnt bring them any further becuase our flight was not yet checking in. He then proceded to dump them in the airport. ARGH!!!

 

Once checked in, the inside is lovely with some very nice shops and air conditioning..

 

Just FYI. Hopefully this will help someone!!

 

 

Thanks! This definitely helps me because I was planning on getting to the airport around noon for my 2:45pm flight.. if we can't check in until 2hrs before, then I'll have a little more time on my hands to walk around Venice.

 

Does anyone know if the Venice Airport is busy?

[CathyCruises]

It's actually a fairly small airport and my GUESS would be that at that hour will not be too busy. When we got there, there was a pretty long line for check in and no one was using the self-service kiosks. I used them and had it all done in under 5 minutes--it directed me to a counter (no line) where I could drop my bags (and changed seat assignments) and we were on our way. We had a very early morning flight and the line for coffee was longer than the check in line!