Venice question

[cruzduo]

We will be sailing on Celebrity Summit and have an overnight in Venice. Is it better to stay an extra day pre-cruise before boarding the ship?

Not sure that we will be able to see much of Venice if we don't as the ship departs at 3:00 pm the nest day.:confused:

[hylasgirl]

We will be sailing on Celebrity Summit and have an overnight in Venice. Is it better to stay an extra day pre-cruise before boarding the ship?

Not sure that we will be able to see much of Venice if we don't as the ship departs at 3:00 pm the nest day.:confused:

 

 

Well, to come all that way... I sure would. I always try to stay at least a day pre-cruise and post-cruise if possible. It's VERY much worth not having the worry of missing the ship. Also, Venice has so many wonderful sites.

[ab0si]

There are all sorts of reasons to arrive a day (or six) early. Here's a few.

 

1) Less worry. If you or your luggage do not arrive, you have extra time to untangle the mess.

 

2) You will more rested and on your way to recovering from jet lag when you board the ship.

 

3) there is much to see and do in Venice. Also, many wonderful day trip opportunities (by train to almost all of them, so it is easy).

[mes531]

There are all sorts of reasons to arrive a day (or six) early. Here's a few.

 

1) Less worry. If you or your luggage do not arrive, you have extra time to untangle the mess.

 

2) You will more rested and on your way to recovering from jet lag when you board the ship.

 

3) there is much to see and do in Venice. Also, many wonderful day trip opportunities (by train to almost all of them, so it is easy).

 

Definitely need time in Venice. You will board the ship, unpack and be busy on the ship. You sail early in the morning. You will not have time to see anything unless you have a day or 2 pre cruise in Venice. I wish we had one more day there as there is so much to see, especially after you are going all that way. We had one evening and one day...still needed at least one more day. Wow - Venice - enjoy!!

[Cruise Arizona]

Venice is one of the most amzaing cities in the world. If you can afford to do an extra day or two in the city you won't regret it. I visited for firs time 20 years ago and the town has left a lasting impression on me.

 

I was a 21 year old college student a the time, on a trip with my choir. But I went for 5 days with nearly no money to spend and had the time of my life. I just loved walking around the city and taking in all the sights.

[meow!]

If at all possilbe, you should at least stay another couple of days on land in Venice other than the overnight on the ship. It cost money (expensive water taxi) or trouble (getting the water bus) to go from ship or land and back. Instead, if you stay in a land hotel for a couple of days, you can walk everywhere (there are no cars in the tourist district). San Marco square is very nice. Close to it, there is this Piccolo restaurant which serves very good spaghetti with seafood at a reasonable price. Take a gondola ride if you are so inclined. It is a lovely and romantic place and you will savour the atmosphere.

[Don Haynes]

When my father was stationed in Vicenza, Italy, we went to Venice many times. Vicenza is about 30 miles away. I highly recommend visiting Vicenza on July 4th. Its the one Italian city that actually celebrates July 4th as if it were an American city, parades and the whole lot. I am planning and saving for a trip next year. Go Cougars!

[j!m]

absolutely!!

 

if you have never seen venice arrive a s early as you can, itsa wonderful place to visit, a great city to wander in and just take in the sights and sounds and feelings of the place

 

itsa not to be missed

 

hava great cruise

 

but do try to see all you can of venice

[genmasjoy]

I agree with the other posters. It is nice to give yourself an extra day to recover from jet lag and to explore Venice. We stayed at the Sofitel which was not far from the train station, and near a stop where you could pick up the #1 vaporetto (the Venetian equivalent of a bus, only it's a boat) and take it to St. Marks Square. The hotel was very nice and since it was somewhat off the beaten path, there were nice neighborhood restaurants which had reasonable prices.

[hajekfam]

We did a Med cruise from Venice with an overnight in Venice that first night of the cruise. We also did a precruise stay of 2 nights in Venice. We were so glad that we did. That first cruise day was a transfer day and we lost the daytime with getting to the ship, boarding, unpacking, etc. The next day we had the morning to tour - but a half day isn't really much time to see Venice. We went to Murano and Burano that day.

If you are sailing at 3pm, you will want to be back onboard by 2pm so there really isn't a lot of time. We also stayed at the Sofitel (booked a precruise package through Celebrity since it was our first time in the city and wasn't sure what was where).

We think that a 2 night precruise stay is the minimum necessary as your arrival day is getting over the sudden time change and the day you board the ship is also a wasted day so the middle day is a good touring day.

[callyuk]

I agree with other posters. Apart from the issues that ab0si mentioned, it would be great shame to come all that way, go to Venice and not spend time seeing it. It's one of my favourite European cities; interesting sights, art galleries, museums, nice atmosphere. We first went there 36 years ago and it certainly bears repeat visits.

[snowglobe]

Venice is worth extra days for sure! The first time we went, we spent a week, with a side trip to Verona. Last Fall, we spent another 4 days introducing this wonderful city to friends.

 

Arriving one day early will allow you enough time to see the main highlights: San Marco square, the Doge's Palace and the area around Ponte Vecchio, along with a stop in Harry's Bar for an outrageously expensive Bellini. ;)

 

Another day would allow you to visit the next-door islands of Murano (glass) and Burano (lace). And a 3rd day would allow you to wander along various canals, over little bridges, running into dead ends, finding the gondola repair shop, seeing the fish market, and stopping often for gelato, a glass of ombra (wine) and an afternoon-long wandering "meal" of cicchetti snacks! Now wou've made me wanna go back already!! :D

 

Besides which, it is quite obvious that a 3pm sail is WAYYY too early to comfortably (even reasonably) consider arriving the same day to board. You would have absolutely no wiggle room at all to deal with the almost inevitable schedule changes or delays. :eek:

 

For those of you spending extra time in Venice, I can't recommend highly enough the "walking seminars" offered by Context Travel (dot com). The last time, we were lucky to get Andrea for our guide - he took us wandering into lovely areas we hadn't discovered yet. The groups run from 1 person to a maximum of 6. Apart from the various walks scheduled throughout the week, they also do private tours. They also run an excellent wine tour. Both in Venice and in Rome, we booked scheduled tours as well as private tours with them (three of them custom private tours - 1 in Venice, 2 in Rome). Both of these kinds of tours need to be booked in advance, since the availability of the docents is limited. Enjoy! :)

[eandj]

We tend to be over tired and I start getting cranky after 8 plus hours flying. Can't sleep on a plane. So for us to have just the day of arrival in Venice would be a total miss. We want to enjoy the sightseeing and leisurely walks around a "new" city knowing we have a comfy bed at the hotel on the day of arrival.

[meow!]

It seems that all the dozen replies favour staying pre-cruise. We have been to Venice three times, first time just passing through on a land group tour decades ago. The second time was two days post-cruise Barcelona to Venice aboard the Regatta in 2004, and the last time just last October three days pre-cruise to Venice to Athens aboard the Nautica. We booked our own hotels and roamed around on our own.

 

Snowglobe: your kitten looks cute .. meow!

[Aussie One]

We will be sailing on Celebrity Summit and have an overnight in Venice. Is it better to stay an extra day pre-cruise before boarding the ship?

Not sure that we will be able to see much of Venice if we don't as the ship departs at 3:00 pm the nest day.:confused:

 

You do not say what time of the year that you will be in Venice ?

Venice floods plus it is not the best place in winter. you should be onboard by 1pm there are shutle boats to take you to the square these run very late at night. you could go ashore again early the next day this would give you plenty of time to see the Venice area.

as one of the previose post said if you spend extra days stay on the main land transport in venice is very time consuming and exspensive.

you will enjoy the summit and venice good luck grumphy