Which vaporetto pass?

[Adventures ahead]

We'll be arriving in Venice on the morning of June 8 (three flights to get there). We board and overnight on the Ruby Princess on June 9 and it sails at 1pm on June 10.

 

Our hotel is Chiara in Piazzale Roma.

 

I read somewhere that Princess sells a vaporetto pass once on board but, since we'll be in a hotel one night prior, which pass should we buy (most economical)?

[agabbymama]

The ACTV office is right in Piazzale Roma, pretty close to your hotel. They sell 24 hr passes. We got the 72 hour pass because we were three days post-cruise. Just be sure to validate your pass each time you board the vapporetto. We thought you only had to validate the first time, but they do check somehow, and we were told it had to be validated each time you used it.

 

It really is a convenient way to travel around Venice, rather than the 6 EURO for each individual ride on the vaporetto.

 

This is a great website for visiting Venice or Europe for that matter. If you browse around it, there is a photo of the ACTV office at Piazzale Roma.

 

http://europeforvisitors.com/venice/articles/acqua-alta.htm

[CathyCruises]

You can also get the pass in varying hours amounts--18-24-36 I believe--that's close, anyway. So just calculate what you need before you buy, and don't buy from Princess! They probably add a surcharge!! Super easy to buy at any vaporetto stop.

 

Cathy

[sea-explorer]

We bought our passes at the airport and then used them straight away on the bus to Piazzale Roma (ACTV bus is also included).

 

It will depend on what you have planned for the morning of 10th whether it is better for you to buy the two or three day pass.

 

If you are buying the 3 day pass, you might also want to see if the 3 day Venice card suits your purposes better.

 

http://www.veniceconnected.com/

[Longtime Cruiser]

We'll be arriving in Venice on the morning of June 8 (three flights to get there). We board and overnight on the Ruby Princess on June 9 and it sails at 1pm on June 10.

 

Our hotel is Chiara in Piazzale Roma.

 

I read somewhere that Princess sells a vaporetto pass once on board but, since we'll be in a hotel one night prior, which pass should we buy (most economical)?

 

We are on the same ship at the same hotel. We arrive on Sunday, June 7th for 2 nights.

 

Have a safe trip and see you in Venice

 

Steven & Rose Marie

[Adventures ahead]

Thanks, everyone, for the info. Veniceconnected has a great website and the pass will definitely be a saving vs 6Euros a ride since we'll be there a couple of nights. They even have toilet passes, LOL!:rolleyes: I'll do some more research to see how the Venice card compares.

 

Steven and Rose Marie,

I'm sure we'll bump into you. You are seasoned cruisers and this will be our 9th.

 

Cheers,

Jean

[Cruise Junky]

Thanks, everyone, for the info. Veniceconnected has a great website and the pass will definitely be a saving vs 6Euros a ride since we'll be there a couple of nights. They even have toilet passes, LOL!:rolleyes: I'll do some more research to see how the Venice card compares.

 

Steven and Rose Marie,

I'm sure we'll bump into you. You are seasoned cruisers and this will be our 9th.

 

Cheers,

Jean

 

We had the Venice Card the first time and just the Vaporetto pass the second time, I'd go with the latter, we got no use out of the Venice Card over and above the Vaporetto's.

[iancal]

We always try to sit in the very front of the vaporetto, especially in the early evening. A great way to tour the city-especially when you are tired and your feet are sore.

[FinelyRetired]

We always try to sit in the very front of the vaporetto, especially in the early evening. A great way to tour the city-especially when you are tired and your feet are sore.

 

I'll do that! Thanks for mentioning.

Martha

[Adventures ahead]

Cruise Junky,

 

Did you buy your vaporetto pass in advance or when you arrived?

[Cruise Junky]

Cruise Junky,

 

Did you buy your vaporetto pass in advance or when you arrived?

 

Vaporetto pass we bought when we arrived. Venice Card we bought beforehand online and picked it up at Piazza Roma.

[chubbypiggy]

We bought our passes at the airport and then used them straight away on the bus to Piazzale Roma (ACTV bus is also included).

 

It will depend on what you have planned for the morning of 10th whether it is better for you to buy the two or three day pass.

 

If you are buying the 3 day pass, you might also want to see if the 3 day Venice card suits your purposes better.

 

http://www.veniceconnected.com/

 

I went to the www.europeforvisitors.com/venice site recommended by Agabbymama, and it shows a list of different options for the passes. Under "Multi-day boat travel cards", you have the option of 12/24/36/48/72 hours passes, which does not mention the buses. Then it has the VeniceCard Blu (for waterbuses and autobuses, Alilaguna airport boat, public toilet, and other benefits); on the right, it says "See Venice Card article), I guess that mean it is a Venice card.

 

Which pass did you buy that will allow you to take the ACTV bus to Piazzale Roma, and also allow you to use the water bus? I will stay at Best Western Olimpia, in the Piazzale Roma area. I plan to walk around the Piazzale Roma area the next morning, then walk to the cruise terminal around 11:30 a.m. to check-in. After having lunch on the boat, I will leave the boat again to visit San Marco.... Our boat will stay overnight at Venice, and will leave at 12 noon the next day.

 

My plan is to 1) take the ACTV bus from the airport to my hotel the first night, 2) use the water buses to tour Venice on day 2 (lets say from noon to 9 p.m., and 3) just stay on the boat for day 3 (no point to get off the boat for just a couple of hours, then need to return to the boat by noon before the boat leaves).

 

Any suggestion of which type of pass should I buy for my purpose (ACTV bus ride from airport to hotel on day 1, and water bus rides on day 2)?

 

Thank you.:)

[sea-explorer]

We just bought the ordinary transport passes. We bought the 48 hour ones but all will cover the buses too.

 

There is a tourist information desk in the arrivals hall...very close to where you come out, you will see it. You can buy the passes there. If in doubt, just double check that the one you buy covers the bus although I think all the passes do. (We actually bought a 3 day Venice card for our teenage son as it worked out cheaper than the 48 hour pass, but we are EU citizens, I don't think this option is available to all. He also used this card on the bus.)

 

You also have to note there are 2 airport buses. A special one straight to Piazzale Roma with luggage storage underneath and the local number 5 ACTV bus. It is the local ACTV number 5 bus that the vaporetto pass covers. You have to take your luggage onto the bus with you & it wil stop along the way. However, we found it only stopped..quickly....a couple of times.

 

To find the bus, follow the sign in the arrival hall to buses. As you exit through the sliding doors you walk out into a bus station area. Walk staright ahead and the stop for the number 5 is directly on your left, either 2 or 3 platforms ahead..can't quite remember, but it was very easy to spot.

 

When you get on the bus, you will see a yellow ticket machine near the doors. You need to pop your ticket in here to validate your journey. The same applies each time you use the vaporetto, but the validation machines will be at the vaporetto stops rather than on the water bus itself.

 

Hope you can understand this.. if not ask again & I'll try to clarify. :)

[Adventures ahead]

Although it would be nice to save the extra 6Euros on the #5 bus if buying the pass, how tricky is it to carry your own luggage with you on that bus? We'll each have one large suitcase and one carry-on. Typically, would there really be room?

[sea-explorer]

Although it would be nice to save the extra 6Euros on the #5 bus if buying the pass, how tricky is it to carry your own luggage with you on that bus? We'll each have one large suitcase and one carry-on. Typically, would there really be room?

 

Obviously I can't say for sure. I can only tell you we caught the bus about 4pm on a Thursday afternoon in August. There were only about 2 other people on the bus.There were 4 of us. We each had one large suitcase & a couple of over the shoulder carry ons between us. We headed towards the back of the bus, near the exit doors, & took a seat each to accomodate our luggage.

 

It was also fairly straightforward on the vaporetto, although you are better leaving your luggage in the section where you step on, with perhaps one person standing with it.

 

I agree though, the hassle if the bus is full is not worth the saving in euros. If the bus had been full, I would simply have turned around and used the airport bus.

[agabbymama]

I'll do that! Thanks for mentioning.

Martha

 

Be prepared for it to be cold and windy up front, we tried that but only lasted a couple of minutes. But it might be as bad in June as it was in October.

[Cruise Junky]

Be prepared for it to be cold and windy up front, we tried that but only lasted a couple of minutes. But it might be as bad in June as it was in October.

 

I think you sadly got hit with some really crappy weather. We've been in late October and it was lovely (in daylight) I wouldn't have done it at night without a jacket.

[chubbypiggy]

Thank you for the information.

[hylasgirl]

I am very confused about the vaporetto cards. The old venicecard site now redirects you to Veniceconnect... and those cards are different than the "blue venice cards" I have read about previously. It was that a "blue" card would also pay for public toilets all day as well. That is not what the site lists now. Not that I really care about the public toilet bit but I am confused on the card to buy. It appears now that they are priced as to what day of the week of a certain month that you will begin using the card...making them a different price based on when you start using it??

 

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks!:)

[nparmelee]

Hi Hylasgirl, that new site is a little confusing. They offer discounts based on demand for certain days so the discounts for lower season days are higher than the discounts for higher season days even though the base price of the items remains the same. Even though the three days we'll be there are all Top Season, we will still get a discount on the passes that we are looking at. It looks like HelloVenezia is a partner which is why they redirect you to the veniceconnect site now. I think in some ways it may be better since you can now pick and choose what pieces you want. You can now get the Vaporetto pass for just the number of hours you want, a restroom ticket if you want it, and then you can choose which museum card based on what you will be going to. None of the musem passes they list include the Frari Church though, and that used to be on the Venice Card.

 

For the museum passes, I think the best thing to do is click the i below the listing, look at the list of museums included and see if any of those are on the list of museums you want to go to and then compare the individual ticket prices to the museum card price. Remember that if you are already doing the Doge's Secret Itinerary tour, you don't need to pay extra to see the rest of the Doge's Palace, it includes your entrance to the areas not covered by the tour.

 

I'm going to see if I can find out if you have to validate the vaporetto tickets or if they do it when you pick up the tickets. If you don't pick up your tickets until late in the afternoon it would stick if they had validated them and started the time from early in the day.

[sea-explorer]

If you don't pick up your tickets until late in the afternoon it would stick if they had validated them and started the time from early in the day.

 

Of course, now they have a new system it may have changed & I cannot guarantee it, but last Summer we picked up our 2 day passes latish on the Thursday afternoon and were still able to use them on the Saturday afternoon before boarding the ship.

[Eileen G]

We were precruise in Venice for 2 nights in a hotel and one on the ship. We only bought a 12 hour pass on the day we planned to go to Murano. If you are staying near Pl. Roma it is only a 15-20 minute walk to St. Marks Square. One of the joys of Venice is walking around. You can walk to St. Marks on one side of the canal one time and the other side the next. The way is clearly marked. Of course you must take the vaporitto through the Grand Canal at least once.