Help! first time cruising

[Dragon2109]

Travelling on P&O cruises from July 20th for 7 nights. I am ignorant when it comes to cruising and what to expect. Flying into Venice early flight(be there for 10 am). For experience cruisers would we have time see Venice at all before we need to be on the cruise or can we settle first and then do an excursion. Is it worth it?

 

Also we are leaving from Genoa, flight is at 4:00pm, will it be possible to see at least some of Genoa and what will happen with our bags. Do we go with it or is there someplace we can keep it while we visit for a couple of hours. Appreciate any feedback.

 

PS Planning on booking a walking and food tour with Walk inside Rome is it worth it? Also a Walking in Corfu which offers a walk and food tour? Any advice?

[b_cruise]

Venice is very easy to do on your own. Even getting from the port (via people mover) is very easy. You will see the area when in port and it is very easy. It has often been said as one of the easiest ports to do on your own.

 

For the other ports, find your ROLL CALL. The roll call you will see on the main page, and just go there for your specific cruise. There are probably tours already started that you can join. You can just join or set up your own. I use italytoursharing.com who have been awesome and my whole June Roll call is basically using them. I have used them the last three times, so I just am used to them as they have always given great service. I have used others as well that are okay also. IF you are going to use any tour companies, i do advise using the ones that are recommended on cruise critic as that is how I found italytoursharing and the people on cruise critic are pretty great advisors in my experience as well!!

 

My passion is travelling Europe so I am sure you are going to have the best time of your life!! I leave in less then a month. Will write a full report when i return!!

[mapleleaves]

as for your time in Venice, what time does your ship depart? You might need to be back on board by 3 or 4pm. If your flite lands at Marco Polo at 10am you probably won't get to the pier until noon and then you'll need to check in with a few thousand others . So your free time may be limited to 2 or 3 hours.

 

As PP suggested, you could walk to the People Mover and take a 3 minute ride to Piazzale Roma for under 2E. From there you can walk 2 blocks to the Grand Canal. If you have a few hours you could ride along the Canal to St Marks and back. If you run out of time, hire a private water taxi back to the pier (vaporetto aren't speedy!). If the time factor makes you nervous (I would be) skip the vaporetto and just wander along the Grand Canal for a bit when you get to P Roma.

 

http://europeforvisitors.com/venice/articles/vi-transport.htm

Edited April 28, 2016 by mapleleaves

[mapleleaves]

I also wanted to suggest that you buy or borrow from your library, Rick Steves' book , Mediterranean Cruise Ports. It's a great way to learn about the various ports you will visit and will give you some ideas for excursions or DIY options.