Italy, Adriatic and Greece

[jc522]

We are docking in Chioggia, and we need help with Venice, again. The "Venice On Your Own" excursion is scheduled from 8:45am to 4:45pm. With 3 hours of travel time, that does not give us much time in Venice unless Viking's water taxis run later than 4:45pm. Do they? Viking's phone agents can't answer that, and we need the information from someone who has been there before we can purchase advance tickets to museums, etc. Thanks.

Edited March 4, 2023 by jc522

[miami mama]

Listed excursion hours are from when you leave the ship to when you return. 

[jc522]

7 minutes ago, miami mama said:

Listed excursion hours are from when you leave the ship to when you return. 

"...unless Viking's water taxis run later than 4:45pm. Do they?"

[springtravel]

Does Viking even offer water taxis to and from Venice from Chioggia?  

[LindaS272]

28 minutes ago, springtravel said:

Does Viking even offer water taxis to and from Venice from Chioggia?  

I don’t think so. If they did on the turnaround days, we, who are embarking in Chioggia would be able to just find the Viking “shuttle” in Venice and get to the ship. I believe in a previous thread a poster told us there are no shuttles on a turn around day. If not a turnaround day for the OP, then this is moot.

[springtravel]

3 minutes ago, LindaS272 said:

I believe in a previous thread a poster told us there are no shuttles on a turn around day

How would one find out if we are embarking on a turn around day?  I would love to be able to find a Viking shuttle to the ship.

[Vagabond51]

jc522, we are also seeking clarification from Viking on what, if any, transportation options will be available from Chioggia during our Venice 3 day port. We are traveling through, not starting or ending our cruise in Venice. Similar to your experience, agents at Viking will not provide information for the ships embark/disembark day, which is day 2 for us. All Viking reps have stated some form of transport will be available to us, they just have no details to offer. No excursions are offered on that day. There are numerous threads discussing this issue. I'm doubtful anyone can offer past experience as it appears the Chioggia dock is new this year. Maybe over the next.month or two someone will share their experience. It appears transport options will differ for those traveling through and those embarking or disembarking. We have chosen to overnight in Venice on night 2. We bought "Venice on your Own" for day 3 which should get us back aboard late day 3. Getting into Venice day 2 remains unclear as to what part Viking will play. I find it difficult to believe those of us passing through Venice will be limited to Chioggia only choices. I may this week send off an email to tell us and see if I can get more firm details. I'm hoping for no surprises. Good luck with your pursuit also. I have had many misinformation dialogs with various Viking agents over the phone trying to get an answer. If Chioggia all to be offered, fine... just let us know. If we have confirmed transport into Venice day 2 morning, give us a firm answer. How is that difficult? Rant over.

[LindaS272]

27 minutes ago, springtravel said:

How would one find out if we are embarking on a turn around day?  I would love to be able to find a Viking shuttle to the ship.

If it’s the beginning of your cruise, it’s a turnaround day for the previous cruise. The OP said they were docking at Chioggia but did not say if it was embarkation or just a stop on their cruise, or a segment of a B2B.

 

If you’re embarking, you will only get a Viking transfer from Venice to Chioggia if you’re flying in that day, or on a Viking pre-extension. Other threads are dealing with this.

[jc522]

1 hour ago, springtravel said:

Does Viking even offer water taxis to and from Venice from Chioggia?  

This is not a turnaround day for us. We start in Rome on March 10. I was hoping someone who has done "Italy, Adriatic and Greece" could enlighten us.

 

Viking transports passengers to and from Venice via water taxis or their own boats. That's all I have been able to get out of their phone agents, and I have zero confidence. In addition, Venice is experiencing their seasonal period of low water levels. At low tide the canals are bone dry. I'd guess it's possible that they could put us on a bus. No one knows. Why do they always sound like they are pulling an answer out of.....thin air?

 

The agents seem to agree that we can come back to the ship from our excursion whenever we want, but they don't know what time the boats stop shuttling passengers back to Chioggia. Makes it difficult to buy tickets to all the museums if I don't know when my transport back to the ship shuts down, and I don't want to pay the price of a vaporetto or bus back to the ship.

 

They also don't know if we can get off the boat to explore Chioggia on turnover day.

Edited March 4, 2023 by jc522

[LindaS272]

Thank you for the clarification. I think @Vagabond51is correct in that it’s a new dock for Viking’s Venice itinerary and others have yet to experience it.

[jc522]

48 minutes ago, Vagabond51 said:

jSimilar to your experience, agents at Viking will not provide information for the ships embark/disembark day, which is day 2 for us. All Viking reps have stated some form of transport will be available to us, they just have no details to offer. It appears transport options will differ for those traveling through and those embarking or disembarking. We bought "Venice on your Own" for day 3 which should get us back aboard late day 3. Getting into Venice day 2 remains unclear as to what part Viking will play. I find it difficult to believe those of us passing through Venice will be limited to Chioggia only choices. I may this week send off an email to tell us and see if I can get more firm details. Good luck with your pursuit also. I have had many misinformation dialogs with various Viking agents over the phone trying to get an answer. If Chioggia all to be offered, fine... just let us know. If we have confirmed transport into Venice day 2 morning, give us a firm answer. How is that difficult? Rant over.

Day Three:

"Venice On Your Own" is not offered on our day three, only on day one. The ship departs at 2pm on day three, so I guess there isn't enough time to offer "On Your Own", or for us to do much more than wander around St Marks square for an little while if we don't mind another 3 hour round trip. That is why we are trying to schedule everything we can on day one, but without a transportation schedule we can't get far trying to make plans and purchase tickets for that day.

 

A similar problem turned up with our stop in Naples. The ship gets there late (12:30pm), leaving only 6.5 hours in port. They cancelled the Amalfi coast excursion due to a lack of time, and we had to hire a private driver to take an abbreviated trip to Amalfi and Ravello.

Edited March 4, 2023 by jc522

[Peregrina651]

If you aren't getting the answers you need from the call center or chat, try taking it up a level.  Email tellus@vikingcruises.com  and pose your questions.  Include your booking number and your phone number.  

 

[jc522]

13 minutes ago, Peregrina651 said:

If you aren't getting the answers you need from the call center or chat, try taking it up a level.  Email tellus@vikingcruises.com  and pose your questions.  Include your booking number and your phone number.  

 

Thanks. I will try that.

[zalusky]

45 minutes ago, jc522 said:

Thanks. I will try that.

And please share here what you find out!

[JerryInIL]

If I wanted to see Venice on my own, I’d probably want to stay beyond 4:00 and have dinner in Venice.   Do the Viking water taxi’s run later than what is scheduled for the excursion?

[Hazel52]

13 hours ago, jc522 said:

Thanks. I will try that.

We’re in the same situation for late April, would love to hear what you find out and more importantly, what your experience actually is. Thank you for sharing!

[jc522]

8 hours ago, JerryInIL said:

If I wanted to see Venice on my own, I’d probably want to stay beyond 4:00 and have dinner in Venice.   Do the Viking water taxi’s run later than what is scheduled for the excursion?

I agree and included that question. I'll post the reply ASAP.

[jc522]

18 minutes ago, Hazel52 said:

We’re in the same situation for late April, would love to hear what you find out and more importantly, what your experience actually is. Thank you for sharing!

I expected more responses from people who have done the Italy, Adriatic and Greece cruise. Apparently we are on the first, or maybe the first that docks at Chioggia instead of Venice.

[jc522]

Questions sent to tellus@viking...

 

On the 11th we are in Naples. 

We were very much looking forward to taking the Amalfi Coast excursion, but Viking removed that excursion and others from the list.

Will Viking again offer the Amalfi Coast excursion on this cruise, or do I need to hire a private driver?

 

On the 16th - 18th we are in Chioggia (Venice).

Is transportation to and from Venice via water or land, or a combination?

How long does it take to get from Chioggia to Venice?

 

On the 16th:

We booked the "Venice On Your Own" excursion, 8:45am to 4:45pm.

Do we have to return at 4:45pm?

Will Viking provide transportation back to the ship after 4:45pm?

If so, how often and how late?

 

On the 17th:

There are no excursions.

Will we be able to leave the ship to visit Chioggia and/or Venice?

If so, what time can we leave the ship?

Is it safe to walk to Chioggia or do we need transportation?

Will Viking provide transportation to and from Chioggia (details)?

Will Viking provide transportation to and from Venice (details)?

 

On the 18th:

We booked the "At a Glance: St. Mark’s Square" excursion, 7:15am to 12:30pm.

If we use Viking's transportation to Venice, instead of visiting St. Marks can we visit some other sites on our own and return with the 12:30 transport?

 

Edited March 5, 2023 by jc522

[longterm]

4 hours ago, jc522 said:

I expected more responses from people who have done the Italy, Adriatic and Greece cruise. Apparently we are on the first, or maybe the first that docks at Chioggia instead of Venice.

We did that cruise a year ago, when Italy was still not allowing cruise passengers to wander around cities without a guide (independent travelers could though). I didn't respond earlier because rules were different then; even if we'd been able to get to the cruise terminal, we weren't allowed to go independently into the city (not sure who would've stopped us, but that's what we were told). 

 

We were docked at Marghera, the fabulous chemical plant, 45 minutes away from the cruise terminal; no water taxis were allowed in the chemical plant docks, so you had to go to the cruise terminal by bus, then disperse from there. 

 

While I understand the reason to prevent cruise ships in the lagoon anymore, it's regrettable that better arrangements weren't set up before they did it. We were the very first ship to dock in Venice after the change, and nobody seemed to have a clue what to do. It took 10 minutes to go thru the guard gates entering and leaving the chemical plant; to make matters worse, we were all given warning notices that if an alarm sounded while we were docked in the port, we were to prepare to evacuate because that meant there was a chemical emergency (yikes!).

 

So now, cruisers have to take hours-long treks to and from Venice; I certainly hope a solution for this is worked out soon.

[OneSixtyToOne]

6 hours ago, jc522 said:

Apparently we are on the first, or maybe the first that docks at Chioggia instead of Venice.

You are not the first. Viking ships have been docking since last August.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/29/travel/venice-chioggia-italy-cruise-ships.html

 

I believe there is a thread about docking there from last September.

 

 

EDIT: Here it is...

 

Edited March 5, 2023 by OneSixtyToOne

[miami mama]

jc522, I have some of the same questions as you and have written to the ship to inquire about transportation and how long does it take. Also will there be other options from which to choose, as the options for the day after we embark is pretty sparse. I wrote Friday and again today. So far, just crickets. If they respond with any information, I will post.

[Selion]

We did "Florence on Your Own" in November.  Viking provides transportation to and from Florence.  The "On Your Own" applies to the free time in the destination city.  In our case, the free time was about 5 hours.  The guide would tell you the meeting location and time for the afternoon ride back to the ship before he/she lets everyone to free roam.

 

We wanted extra time in Florence, and we had to inform our guide that we were not returning with the group (so he didn't need to include us on the return's head count) and had to arrange our own transportation back to the ship.  I'd think it would be the same for Venice.

[jc522]

On 3/5/2023 at 9:12 AM, jc522 said:

Questions sent to tellus@viking...

 

On the 11th we are in Naples. 

We were very much looking forward to taking the Amalfi Coast excursion, but Viking removed that excursion and others from the list.

Will Viking again offer the Amalfi Coast excursion on this cruise, or do I need to hire a private driver?

 

On the 16th - 18th we are in Chioggia (Venice).

Is transportation to and from Venice via water or land, or a combination?

How long does it take to get from Chioggia to Venice?

 

On the 16th:

We booked the "Venice On Your Own" excursion, 8:45am to 4:45pm.

Do we have to return at 4:45pm?

Will Viking provide transportation back to the ship after 4:45pm?

If so, how often and how late?

 

On the 17th:

There are no excursions.

Will we be able to leave the ship to visit Chioggia and/or Venice?

If so, what time can we leave the ship?

Is it safe to walk to Chioggia or do we need transportation?

Will Viking provide transportation to and from Chioggia (details)?

Will Viking provide transportation to and from Venice (details)?

 

On the 18th:

We booked the "At a Glance: St. Mark’s Square" excursion, 7:15am to 12:30pm.

If we use Viking's transportation to Venice, instead of visiting St. Marks can we visit some other sites on our own and return with the 12:30 transport?

 

Viking Customer Service called me. The caveat that came with most of her answers was "ask onboard".

 

Regarding Naples/Amalfi:

No information.

 

For the first day in Chioggia (16th):

We probably have to come back as scheduled rather than on one of the tenders or taxis that are transporting a later excursion. They won't be running a tender service all evening as they do when anchored-off at a port.  We should purchase an All City museum pass and do whatever we can fit in.

 

For the second day:

They might announce some excursions once we are onboard.

We can leave the ship any time to visit to Chioggia or pay for transportation to Venice.

 

For the third day:

Ask onboard whether we can split from the group and go to a museum. Check with the tour guide, too.

Edited March 6, 2023 by jc522

[miami mama]

You could write to the ship (email on first page of final e-documents). So far has not worked for me but perhaps you will be more successful.