Disembark Venice - Close Cuts to Airport... Help!

[woodofpine]

We're doing an eastern Med cruise disembarking Venice the first Saturday in April. The ship's posted arrival is 9:30 AM (from Dubrovnik 4PM day prior). We have a flight to Paris leaving Marco Polo 12:15 PM. We're USA citizens. In making the flight reservations, I'd anticipated a bit earlier ship arrival...

 

I understand the cab or bus from Piazzale Roma is about 20 minutes... But one must get there... Naturally, I'd like to be at the airport by 10:30 so it is a close call (but not abysmally close, I hope). Are there cabs at the Maritime Terminal itself?

 

Any suggestions?

[teejayess]

we just docked last weekend in Venice. Our ship arrived about 8.00 am (was scheduled for 7 though). We went for breakfast then disembarked about 9.00. There were taxi marshalls there, with I think Mestre Taxi Services on their backs. I didn't take much notice of what they were doing as we went straight into Venice. Why not email the Port Authorities and see if they do have a taxi service?

[Scotswoman]

We arrived back in Venice on a Sunday morning, and were among the first off the ship. I only saw one taxi, and the shuttle bus to Piazzale Roma took around 45 minutes to appear. If I were in your position, I think I´d feel better if I had arranged beforehand to have a taxi pick me up at the port - or at least have a telephone number you can phone to order a taxi. You should also explain on board that you have to be among the first off the ship. Perhaps MSC will offer a suitable airport transport - that would obviously be the easiest way.

Hope you have a wonderful cruise!

Scotswoman

[Signor John]

Can you arrange transfers with MSC? That would be your safest bet.

 

One problem for U.S. citizens is that, in Venice, passengers from outside the Schengen Zone (such as Americans, Canadians, British, Australians) must surrender their passports at reception the night before so the Italian immigration authorities can check them on the morning of arrival. On our October 10th arrival in Venice, the staff weren't able to hand the passports back until about an hour after arrival, and there was a long line to reclaim passports. (The earlier you get in line, the less time you'll have to wait.)

 

Also, Marco Polo Airport's check-in facilities are woefully inadequate on weekends, during high season, and at other busy times. It took us about an hour to check in for our flight on October 10th--and that was just a KLM 737 flight to Amsterdam. Marco Polo is like too many other airports these days: It feels like an upscale shopping mall once you get past security, but the departures lobbycan be as crowded as a third-world bus terminal.

 

You do have one thing going for you, and that's the fact that you're checking in for a flight to Paris, not to the U.S., so the check-in deadline shouldn't be as early as it would be on a Delta flight to New York or a US Airways flight to Philadelphia.

[sea-explorer]

We had a similar problem (11.15 flight to Gatwick) and taxis are not freely available at the port.

 

We pre-booked a transfer using Venice shuttle.

 

http://venice.airports-shuttle.com/

 

Very efficient, they were waiting for us as we exited the port building and whisked us off to the airport..a journey of about 20 minutes. Their rate was also the most reasonable we could find at the time too.

 

(Don't be put off by the water taxi section on their website, it you input your 2 land based points, the port & the airport, you will receive a quote & a booking for a land taxi.)

 

Being UK citizens, we didn't have to surrender our passports, so didn't have that delay. We did however buy a little internet time in order to check in for our flight the day before in order to give ourselves a little more time at the airport.

 

In the event, we had plenty of time. Also, Marco Polo is a fairly small airport, so no long walks to departure gates etc.

 

Good luck. :)

 

Edit: Just to add, have a copy of your flight booking and take it to reception to ensure you have the luggage labels for the earliest disembarkation times.

It is possible to book MSC transfers to the airport once on board, but this has it's drawbacks. Firstly, it will be dependent on whether there is room on the coach. Secondly, you may find their earliest transfer doesn't get you to the airport on time..and thirdly, to me at least, they are very overpriced.

[woodofpine]

For all the suggestions - especially transfer contacts...

 

I have some (but not a lot of) familiarity with the city but it can a tricky transfers place. Making air departure reservations I took it for granted the ship would be in during by 7-8 AM and I'd forgotten our 'outsider' status of being in the EU rather than Caribbean. Circumstances at airports everywhere can be so unpredictable... Thanks again for tips on getting out of 'the starting blocks' quickly! Keep'em comin'!

[Christhine]

Hi

I suggest lowcostaxi i used two time this company, they were on time, I spent 50 euros for 2 people and 5 luggage, the van was clean and the driver friendly, 20 minutes from Summit to Venice Airport