Venice--Ship to Airport--Did I do the wrong thing?

[cleophus12]

We are booked on the Costa Mediterranea from 6/18-25. Our airline departs at 11:30, but the ship doesn't dock until 9 supposedly. Has anyone done this succcessfully? How far from ship to airport? Most ships dock much earlier...why so late? Any advice would be appreciated.

[Frandick]

The trip to the airport is about 25 minutes. I just booked a driver today. I asked for a 8 am pickup for a 11:30 flight but don't really think I need that much time.

[Bruin Steve]

Okay, let's assume you are off the ship by 9:30 and to the terminal and have your luggage and a taxi waiting no later than 10...You will be to the airport over an hour in advance of that 11:30 flight...

 

assuming disembarkation is similar to what we had on the Oceania Nautica, they will bring your luggage to the terminal building and shuttle you there...

There are roads from this point to the airport, no need for boats or vaporetti...

 

We had an additional shuttle to Piazzale Roma from there, but you can skip that step...

(The trip by PUBLIC BUS from Piazzale Roma to the airport took only one-half hour--and that is a slightly longer distance and made several stops along the way)...You should be fine--not a lot of margin for error, but fine nonetheless...

 

The only real mistake you made is not booking a few extra nights in Venice!!!

[mountainmare]

You may want to consider carrying off all your luggage if Costa gives you that option and ask to be in the first group off the ship. Grab a cab or arrange for a driver and the airport is less than 30 min away. The only thing that may be stressful will be the lines in the airport if there are several ships in port that day. Not alot of wiggle room but we found not alot of options for flights out. We had also had an 11:30 flight, got picked up at the port around 9 and had plenty of time to make the flight.

[Joyce and Tim]

If I were you, I'd start thinking worst-case scenarios and preparing for them. (In your case, worst-case can be best case, as in having to stay in Venice another day...just kidding (sort of.)) There can be unforeseen delays. When we arrived back in Venice on Costa Victoria in April, the port was closed due to fog and we docked about 10am instead of 7. There were some nervous passengers with 11am flights...not sure if they made it but I did see their driver waiting for them.

Obviously with heavy fog, planes probably weren't flying either, so they probably made their delayed flight.

It was fun to see a group of teens broke out in spontaneous, happy song and dance when the annoucement (in 5 languages) came in: "the port is closed."

As for us, we had a 2pm train to Rome, and the delay eliminated some extra shopping time for us. Best wishes!

[JLC@SD]

We are booked on the Costa Mediterranea from 6/18-25. Our airline departs at 11:30, but the ship doesn't dock until 9 supposedly. Has anyone done this succcessfully? How far from ship to airport? Most ships dock much earlier...why so late? Any advice would be appreciated.

 

It may be scheduled for a later arival due to tidal conditions.