Boarding time in Venice

[VAtravelers100]

We'll be on the Oosterdam, sailing from Venice in June. The listed time is 5 pm. I have two questions:

 

1. What time is ideal to board for those of us who have been in a hotel in Venice the night before? We like the idea of being able to explore Venice a bit more that day before boarding. We plan to travel from our hotel by St. Marks Square by water taxi. Any suggestions about timing or logistics of that?

 

2. My crazy husband is flying in that day at 11 am. Not a lot of room for error. He is hoping he can have a nice lunch in Venice before boarding. Any thoughts on the logistics and timing of that? Some of our group may go straight to the ship, but some may meet up with him. The other 10 people in our group will be down near our hotel near St. Mark's Square. Should he come to us and then we all go to the ship together, or some other plan?

 

Would love any advice! Thanks, Jody

[bennybear]

Seriously, your husband should rethink his flights. The margin for error is just too large. Where is he coming from? We have had trouble even with domestic Italian flights. He could spend awhile, like an hour or more, clearing customs if he is coming from outside the EU.

 

The water taxi works great. Most hotels will store your luggage. Perhaps head to the ship around 1 or 2 pm, depending if you eat in Venice or onboard.

[RMLincoln]

I"m not sure you're going to love any of this advice... but here goes:

If the ship's departure is at 5pm I think you need to be at the check-in by 3pm the latest, two pm is safer but see what HAL requires. You ask about ideal time: most would say 11:30 or noon.

 

Allow a half hour for the water taxi from St Mark's side of the island to get to the terminal, although it should be less a bit less. Get it pre-arranged, maybe through your hotel, and that's where your luggage will be held anyway after you check-out. How far is your hotel from the water taxi? How many bridges will you have to cross, if any... the Venice tourist website has a way to find out how many bridges from hotels to transportation; the bridges have stairs and rolling luggage is not possible, it has to be carried, so everybody pack light.

 

For an 11am landing time I would want to allow 1 1/2 -2 hrs to get to the ship or St Mark's, maybe a tad less if he has no checked luggage. So there might not be enough time to have lunch in Venice between getting from the airport and meeting up with you all before you all get on the water taxi to go to the ship check-in. And safer for him to plan to go straight to the ship! If he really wants to enjoy time in venice he needs to get there sooner.

And June is a busy time of year in Venice, so losing a half hour at any interface is not unlikely.

 

 

Frankly, I think this type of plan is horribly risky, and you must have contingency plans for what if he doesn't make it to where you are at St Mark's, would you wait for him there or go to the ship? Would you stay with your group or wait alone? I wouldn't want a group of 10 held up waiting for him.

If he misses the ship, where and how will he meet up with the ship at the next port, where would he stay that night, either in Venice or in the next city/country? His luggage could be delayed, in which case he'd have to spend time filing out forms... lots of luggage expected to arrive in Venice has not shown up... depends a lot on where he is flying in from.

 

Look at maps of Venice and read on the ports forum of CC about Venice transportation, and about the airport and the cruise terminal. Make sure he has euros to work with for his transportation, and possible transportation alternatives. There is a bus from the airport to Piazzale Rome, was 8 euros. From P. Roma he can take the People Mover directly to the cruise terminal for E1.5, coin, paper or credit card. Or a taxi directly would be faster if he can get one. But water taxi is the way to get to St Mark's side.

Remember though, it's Italy!! So don't expect interfaces to go smoothly. Have a back-up plan and know the ins and outs of how you each would implement it and how to communicate with each other and HAL's emergency assistance. Know how to track his flight because he's not going to be able to call you, and you are the one who might be calling HAL for a late arrival deviation for him to board in another port... looks like Split Croatia is your next port, the next day, then Dubrovnik the day after. Is there a flight from venice to possibly get him there? Could he get a last minute seat? or take a ferry? Overnight?

This is not the way most people would want to start a vacation. It's a shame too becasue Venice is such a wonderful place to visit, once you get there. m--

Edited January 25, 2018 by RMLincoln

[moorerf]

I concur with the above concerning flying in day of cruise to Venice. There are so many variables and in Italy those happen more than you wish. If all goes well, arriving at 11, it will probably be around 12 leaving airport, I would go straight to ship as it can take an hour or more to get to pier. I wish him luck that flights are on time, luggage arrives and there are no Italian issues like 2 hour unplanned strike etc...we are flying in two days early for our april 30 cruise from Venice....

[*Miss G*]

A "nice lunch"anywhere in Italy is a leisurely affair; let alone in a high season-high tourist area. I'm stressed just reading this! If your husband sticks with this plan, I would have a backup plan in place and make peace with the possibility (probability) that I will see him at the next port. Make sure he gets written approval from HAL for a deviation first though.

[VAtravelers100]

LOL thank you so much for your replies. Your reaction to his plan is much like mine. However, it's really the only option in order for him to make the cruise at all. I wasn't willing to do it like that, which is why my daughter and I will already be in Venice with our friends when he arrives.

 

I'm thinking I will let HAL know and ask about what needs to be done on their end if he misses departure. He already knows he would have to catch up with us at the next port, so he is looking into those contingencies. Thankfully he does carry on bags only, so hopefully all will go smoothly. His flight is Boston to Portugal to Venice. We both have Project Fi cell phone service, so our phones should be operating smoothly in order to communicate that day.

 

I think what we may do is set a certain time, like if he makes it to the water taxi by noon, he could come meet us at St. Marks, but otherwise he has to go straight to the boat. Something like that...

 

Our hotel has its own private pier, so the water taxi pickup from there will be as efficient as can be. I'm going to reread your advice telling me what time the group should plan to leave the hotel via water taxi, but I'm thinking we may want to have lunch and prearrange a water taxi from hotel to pier at 1:30.

Edited January 25, 2018 by VAtravelers100

[RMLincoln]

Is the Portugal to Venice flight on a European airline? You mentioned that he does carry-on bags only.... realize that European carry-on requirements are quite variable and rather limiting, so make sure you know the connecting airline's requirements.

 

Can he buy his flights through the HAL air program? That way, if he doesn't get to the ship in time, they will take care of getting him to the ship, and they will arrange the transfers. It that's more expensive, balance the extra expense against the costs of missing the ship in Venice. I assume you have trip interruption insurance already maybe through your credit card.

 

As for the water taxi to the ship, ask the hotel what they recommend as to timing. Ask a day ahead of time, not that morning.

Plan for a lovely lunch on board and a happy reunion. Best of luck to you all. Let us know how this evolves so others can learn too. m--

[bennybear]

I agree, if he must travel that late book with HAL. That way he will have some help if things go wrong. With a connection, he could easily miss it if his transatlantic is delayed. And so true re strikes in Italy. We waited a long time for a water bus that did not come with luggage, Prior to a scheduled strike that started early! Try then to get a water taxi! Argh! Or when a fire at the Rome Airport cancelled all flights.... but still we love Italy!

 

Keep us posted.

[*Miss G*]

Sounds like a plan VAtravellers! I normally find that if I put a lot of effort into backup plans... that I don't need them. And vice versa. Hopefully your husband won't need them either. Have a great trip!

[aa7yy]

Change to the cruise on October 15th. Departure time is 9 pm. :cool:

[VAtravelers100]

haha

 

Thank you, everyone!

[hbrote]

On our first trip to Venice to pick up a cruise we arrived at the airport at 9:30AM. We took the Blue line to the port and that ride was an hour and half. We arrived at check in at noon and it was a complete zoo as there were four ships boarding. We managed to board at 03.30PM. I have not boarded a ship in Venice since (2015), perhaps the check in procedures are better now.

[drowelf]

We both have Project Fi cell phone service, so our phones should be operating smoothly in order to communicate that day.

 

Totally OT, but what is Project Fi Cell Phones? I use T-Mobile which give me free Data/Text world wide and only $0.20 minute to calls. Since when we are overseas calls are very rare. This works out great for us.

[VAtravelers100]

Totally OT, but what is Project Fi Cell Phones? I use T-Mobile which give me free Data/Text world wide and only $0.20 minute to calls. Since when we are overseas calls are very rare. This works out great for us.

 

It's Google Project Fi. T-Mobile is also a good plan. Project Fi is probably the ideal plan, but only if you have a google phone (like the Pixel). Your phone operates the same out of the country as within the country, under your same plan. If you go over your data amount, they charge only $10 per GB (charged by the MB, not as a flat rate). Their speeds are not throttled. Can also get data-only SIM cards for free to add to your plan. Didn't read it carefully, but here is one person's description, https://www.applause.com/blog/project-fi-international-data-performance/