Venice: poke holes in my plan, please

[VideoTech]

We're cruising round trip from Venice this coming June. I've done a lot of research here - Thanks to all my fellow CC'ers who have shared such good information, as always. FWIW, we are experienced travelers, early 60's but active.

 

Inbound to the cruise, we are flying into VCE (Marco Polo) one day early, and currently planning to take the airport shuttle bus to the PIazzale Roma, and stay in a hotel in that area. We know we'll be jet-lagged and so we aren't planning major tourist activity that day..we'll see what we feel up to doing, but not push it.

 

After the cruise, we are staying over two days in Venice. We plan to get off the ship, and store our large suitcase at the luggage storage in the Piazzale Roma, then proceed to a more central hotel in Venice (using either one rolling carry on suitcase or two larger backpacks), and do our Venice stay and sightseeing.

 

On the outbound day, we would head back to Piazzale Roma, retrieve our large suitcase, and head back to VCE, likely via airport bus again.

 

How does that sound to those that have experience in Venice? Reasonable plan? A couple of questions:

 

Best transport to and from the left luggage in Piazzale Roma and our St. Mark's area hotel? Is the Blue line stop at the pier convenient for that or would it be better just to take a Vaporetto or a water taxi? I'm aware of the price & time differences, not as concerned about those, more concerned as to which is the most convenient.

 

We know we can buy a multi-day pass for the Vaporetto, and we likely will, but if we didn't, is payment only in cash, or are credit cards accepted?

 

And, most importantly for DW: best place and method for getting a classic gondola ride? Again, cash only? Or are other payment methods available.

 

Thanks in advance...most of the time I'm the one handing out advice and answering questions...now I'm the one asking the questions!

[dkata]

Your plan seems reasonable. Once you've stored your bags. buy a 2 day Vaparetto pass at the ticket booth at the P. Roma vaparetto stop. It's a major stop, so they do have people staffing the ticket windows. At the windows, they take CC.

 

One other suggestion, is to stay at a hotel near P. Roma, like the Hotel Olimpia. then you wouldn't have to store your bags at the luggage place. Your bags would be at your hotel. And then you could walk each day to the P. Roma Vaporetto stop and ride down the grand canal to the sites you want to see. On one of our days there, we just walked from the hotel, down the side alleys, stopping at all the shops, until we got to the Rialto Bridge, then walked down the alleyways to San Marco. The walk doesn't take long, unless you stop at every glass shop along the way like we did.

 

For us, the views from the front seats of the vaporetto were incredible.

 

Gondola rides are cash. When we were there in October, 2016, the price was 80 euros for a half hour.

I would get a gondola ride on the side canals. The waves bounced around too much for a gondola ride right at san marcos square.

 

One last suggestion, we did a free guided walking tour that took us to the Venice neighborhoods and we enjoyed that.

[Baseball fan]

Hotel Arlecchino (next to hotel Olimpia) is a good place near P Roma. Our first day we too were exhausted. We headed toward the ghetto and found a place to eat, did a little shopping and headed back to the hotel.

 

I agree with the above. Staying near P Roma isn’t a long walk to St Marks. We walked from our hotel, to the Rialto bridge, back to St Marks and eventually caught a vaparetto back to P Roma. It is so fun wandering the alleys of Venice.

 

I’ve also stayed at Hotel Violino d’Oro near St Marks, which is a great location. We took a water taxi from the airport to the hotel and then from the hotel to the cruise ship. That trip was a different budget[emoji3]

 

 

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[Got2Cruise]

Have you chosen your Central Venice hotel yet? Many have docks and the water taxi brings you door to door. Not all of them are very expensive. For me personally the waste of time bringing your luggage to storage and then going back to retrieve them is worth the extra expense. A water taxi is part of Venice experience.

 

 

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[euro cruiser]

I've stayed at/near St. Marks a couple of times but most recently stayed at a relatively new hotel near Rialto and found I liked that location much more. We were still in the middle of things with lots of restaurants to choose from within walking distance and plenty of activity, yet absent the crushing crowds of San Marco.

 

Your plan makes a lot of sense to me. I would just encourage you to spend as much time as possible outdoors on your arrival day, even just wandering around. Being in fresh air and, hopefully, sunshine helps your body adjust to the time change.

 

I've used private water taxis when I've been part of a group large enough to make the expense a more reasonable amount per person, but on my own or as part of a couple I just can't justify it, I'd rather eat or drink that money!

 

I also find after multiple trips to Venice that a vaporetto pass makes no sense for me. It's a walking city and the vaporettos are so overcrowded that I find I only use them in extreme circumstances. For me the pass winds up not paying for itself.

[VideoTech]

Thanks Everyone! I knew I could count on my fellow CC followers for good advice.

 

I haven't booked any hotels yet, but plan to do so today. Still trying to decide about the suitcases after the cruise - I don't want to waste a lot of time dealing with storing and retrieving them, but also don't want to deal with transporting them. Ideally, I'd get my DW to do the cruise out of a carry-on, but I don't think that's going to happen! :D

[CCJack]

Your plan sounds reasonable and I agree with all posters. My only input is that we faced a really long line at the luggage storage place (more than a block long line). Keep that in mind and allow time, or try to beat the crowd in the am.

 

My only other thought is that I staying at a hotel near St. Mark's is very unappealing to me. St. Mark's is very pleasant early in the am, before the crowds, and perhaps in the evening after the crowds. During the afternoon we avoided that area at all costs. Much more pleasant areas to spend your time in.

 

As others have said, walking is the way to go. Venice is not that big. Our hotel was in a quiet area but close to a vaporetto stop. We mostly walked but sometimes after a long day was nice to hop on the un-crowded (in evening) vaporetto to return to hotel.