Venice Chioggia

[dahackermd]

I just wanted to put in a placeholder for those that don't know.  The Chioggia port is TERRIBLE and is a two hour boat ride to Venice to go on any excursion.  I was just there on Viking Saturn and pretty much all of the excursions were a two hour boat ride on the front and back of the excursion and then maybe four hours in Venice.  If you do start or end your cruise at this port, just extend your visit at the beginning or end of your cruise two or more days so that you can actually stay in Venice directly.  Honestly, I wouldn't even bother going to Venice if you dock at this port.  Just go into the Chioggia town, and do Venice on a different trip or as I stated as an extension.

 

Also, the ride to the airport from Chioggia is one hour by bus.

 

This is basically the problem with any cruise ships going near "Venice", but I wanted to put the details on Chioggia here.

[HDS]

Thank you dahackermd, for the update.  We had an emailed notice from Viking last week that our March cruise will dock at the new ocean cruise terminal at Fusina.  There is helpful information on accessing the terminal from Venice on the Viking Ocean thread.    

[dahackermd]

Yeah, that Fusina port is much closer to Venice, so that is better.  When we were there last week, there was already another Viking Ocean ship there.  So I don't think all Viking Ocean Chioggia bound itineraries will be switched to Fusina.  Yours of course will since they notified you.  Fusinia is in a severely industrial area where you probably wouldn't want to be outside on the ship in that location.  Pretty toxic air and soot.

 

When I booked my cruise, Viking planned to dock directly in Venice and changed that after booking.  Honestly, I would cancel any Chioggia bound trips.

 

Also, honestly, one day in Venice is pretty pointless for a cruise.  It is a city that requires many more days than that.  Kind of like Barcelona or Rome ports.  Pretty pointless to do those cities in an afternoon.

[crewsgirl]

Yikes! We are going to be docked overnight on Azamara Onward in Chioggia. It is billed as "Little Venice" and now I am really wondering what we will do there. We have been to Venice, so that was not really my interest anyway, I was hoping for a quaint, smaller walkable local experience but....a fish market is just not very exciting for me, not gonna lie. 

 

And, I wanted to see Murano, but I am pretty certain that is too far....

 

Any other suggestions what to do in Chioggia? 

[FredZiffle]

On 10/16/2024 at 9:54 AM, dahackermd said:

Yeah, that Fusina port is much closer to Venice, so that is better.  When we were there last week, there was already another Viking Ocean ship there.  So I don't think all Viking Ocean Chioggia bound itineraries will be switched to Fusina.  Yours of course will since they notified you.  Fusinia is in a severely industrial area where you probably wouldn't want to be outside on the ship in that location.  Pretty toxic air and soot.

 

When I booked my cruise, Viking planned to dock directly in Venice and changed that after booking.  Honestly, I would cancel any Chioggia bound trips.

 

Also, honestly, one day in Venice is pretty pointless for a cruise.  It is a city that requires many more days than that.  Kind of like Barcelona or Rome ports.  Pretty pointless to do those cities in an afternoon.

Our Azamara cruise later this week has changed the embarkation to Fusina.  How was your experience there?  Are buses and taxis able to drive right up to the terminal now?  There was a report in September that taxi drivers were discharging passengers at the gate to the port which is a long way from the terminal and leaving people to fend for themselves.

[princeton123211]

5 hours ago, crewsgirl said:

It is billed as "Little Venice" and now I am really wondering what we will do there.

Calling it little Venice is being very generous. It's not a bad place but it's certainly not even close to Venice. The fact that there are cars everywhere sort of spoils any sort of illusion. 

 

5 hours ago, crewsgirl said:

And, I wanted to see Murano, but I am pretty certain that is too far....

If you want to see Murano you should just go to Venice proper and take the vaporetto or water taxi from there. 

[9265359]

It is 25km (16 miles) by water or 50km (32 miles) by road between Chioggia and Venice, so it isn't ever going to be quick getting between the two.

 

Fusina is 5km (3.5 miles) by water so although won't be that quick, it will be an awful lot quicker than Chioggia.

[Fairgarth]

So this is off the wall but....we were staying in Padova for three weeks and took a bus ride to Chioggia for the day.  It's a one hour ride, if I remember correctly.  So you can do it the other way.  The bus station in Padova is right beside the train station and is a 15 minute walk to the historic centre.  Lots to see and do there so do your own research.

[HDS]

3 hours ago, 9265359 said:

It is 25km (16 miles) by water or 50km (32 miles) by road between Chioggia and Venice, so it isn't ever going to be quick getting between the two.

 

Fusina is 5km (3.5 miles) by water so although won't be that quick, it will be an awful lot quicker than Chioggia.

Check the Viking Ocean thread.  Passengers docked at Fusina this week report a 1.7km (30-40 minute) walk through industrial area from cruise ship terminal to public ferry wharf for the public ferry to Venice. The only taxi seen at the cruise ship terminal refused the trip to the public ferry terminal. 

 

Public bus routes are slightly closer to the cruise ship terminal, but service is infrequent, and none runs direct to Venice or to Mestre station.  The bus trip to Venice takes as long or longer than that from Chioggia, which at least is a frequent, direct service.

 

Thanks Fairgarth, for the heads-up on bus from Chioggia to Padua.  I know the docking location can change right up till the boat reaches the wharf, so I am researching as many locations as I can. 

Edited Thursday at 09:43 PM by HDS
typo

[9265359]

10 hours ago, HDS said:

Check the Viking Ocean thread.  Passengers docked at Fusina this week report a 1.7km (30-40 minute) walk through industrial area from cruise ship terminal to public ferry wharf for the public ferry to Venice.

 

From reading that thread, those were the passengers who chose not to take the direct water shuttle the ship was offering, but wanted something cheaper.

 

And realistically a 1.7km / 1 mile walk should take way less than 30-40 minutes.

[HDS]

I haven't seen any indication of cost of public ferry vs shuttle.  Can you tell me what Viking is charging for the shuttle?

I understood the passengers wanted to be in Venice earlier than the Viking shuttle departing at 11.30am allowed.  Second day, the earliest shuttle departed at noon. The final return shuttle was scheduled for 6pm, earlier if full.

" On day 1 we used the No. 16 ferry to access Venice as the Viking shuttle wasn't leaving till 11:30 and we were visiting a gallery opening at 10.  It’s a 1.7 km flat walk, takes 30 - 40 minutes."  

Finding one's way and dodging traffic in a busy industrial port, the timing is not unrealistic.  

[conman]

Chioggia is not a bad place to spend the night before getting on your ship.  From Marco Polo airport to Chioggia it was approximately $250 for four adults with four good sized bags.  We had a van.  We stayed at the Grand Italia Hotel in Chioggia which was nice.  Right on the water and a pedestrian street with lots of shops, outdoor cafe’s, etc.  Food and drink were probably half the price of what you would pay in Venice.  Our last day arrival was to be Chioggia as well but a port change to Fusina due to weather.  This is cargo and ferry terminal.  Really nothing to do there but get on and off the ship.

[HDS]

3 minutes ago, conman said:

 Our last day arrival was to be Chioggia as well but a port change to Fusina due to weather.  This is cargo and ferry terminal.  Really nothing to do there but get on and off the ship.

Conman, were there taxis at the Fusina port?  Did any passengers talk about access to Venice from Fusina?

[conman]

If you are disembarking in Chioggia or Fusina, I recommend that you prearrange your transportation.  Fusina appeared to be primarily an industrial port with some ferry service.  You can see the Marco Polo airport from the Fusina port area.  I believe we were looking at the city of Venice as well from the ship.  The few people that were going into Venice had rides already set up.  Just my opinion but the ground transportation seems expensive to me. Now when I rescheduled our ride from Chioggia to Fusina to the Marco Polo airport, the transportation company refunded me nearly $200.

[HDS]

Thanks for the update, Conman. We are booked on back-to-back cruises. The ship schedules three nights and three days in Venice, rather the Venice cruise port.  We want to access Venice independently from the cruise port, probably overnighting in the city.  Chioggia was a long bus ride but frequent service and worthwhile, in one day and back the next, leaving our ship's departure day for exploring Chioggia.