Help with cruise from Venice - 3 days away!

Hello! I am a first time poster and am desperate for any help you can provide!! We are leaving on NCL cruise from Venice - my husband, 'shelf and one year old son. We arrive for Marco Polo at 9pm the night before embarkation - 8' assuming we will be exhausted as we are coming from Chicago. Do you have any recommendations for hotels for us to stay at that night? We will likely have luggage and lots of stuff because of the baby :-/ we also will be staying one day after the cruise and would love for advice for places to stay that's convenient for aightseeing and also getting to the airport the next day. Any advice would be much appreciated as I'm pretty lost!! Thank you!!

You are 3 days from departure and don't know hotel or transport plans?????

I would do a quick Google search for Venice Airport hotels, and book whatever is available and seems reasonable? Then cab the next day to the port.

Venice is not the best city to visit with lots of stuff in tow.

I agree with previous poster that you should look up hotels close to the airport and just settle there for the evening. With lots of stuff to load/unload, your best bet is to stick with a taxi as your mode of transportation; this limits your possible hotel areas. I don't know what's near the airport. Mestre (on the mainland) has hotels and is another option.

As far as Venice proper, Piazzale Roma is one of the more accessible areas. You can reach it by land taxi, and you can get a taxi from there to your ship. I don't know if it's worth it to you to try to get there on your arrival evening as it will be too late to enjoy anything in Venice by the time you get there, and the hotels are going to be cheaper in Mestre/near the airport.

HOWEVER, Piazzale Rome is definitely the area I'd recommend for your night in Venice upon your return -- again, because it is easy to get to by land taxi from the ship (although you probably should make a prior arrangement) AND easy to get from there to the airport by taxi as well.

Here's a link to a good list of hotels located on or near Piazzale Roma. Pay close attention to the comments. Some require crossing a bridge with all your luggage in tow. The first two are probably the simplest to reach. But be warned, popular hotels in Venice can often sell out.

http://europeforvisitors.com/venice/articles/venice-cruise-terminal-hotels-piazzale-roma.htm

One final note: pack as light as you can manage. Taxis in Europe are fairly small, although larger vans are occasionally available.

3 Days......WOW! We assume you did a last minute booking...which is why you have nothing planned/booked. While we would normally suggest booking a hotel near the Piazale Roma (this is in Venice near the cruise port), in your situation with an evening arrival (and baby) we think a better strategy would be to stay closer to the airport in the town of Mestre! You can go online and easily find a Mestre hotel (some of them may even have free airport transportation). On the morning of your cruise, given the baby and all the baby stuff, we would suggest just having your hotel get you a regular land taxi...that can then take you directly to the port (this will cost you about 40€.

For the record, we generally recommend folks stay in Venice (not Mestre) because you can then walk outside your hotel and enjoy Venice. But in your situation it is unlikely you will have any time (or the energy) to enjoy Venice on the evening of your arrival. And the following morning (your cruise embarkation day) it just makes sense to have breakfast, get yourself (and your baby) all ready..and go directly to the port. Once you are onboard your ship, you may want to venture out to see some of Venice before your cruise departs.

Hank

3 Days......WOW! We assume you did a last minute booking...which is why you have nothing planned/booked. While we would normally suggest booking a hotel near the Piazale Roma (this is in Venice near the cruise port), in your situation with an evening arrival (and baby) we think a better strategy would be to stay closer to the airport in the town of Mestre! You can go online and easily find a Mestre hotel (some of them may even have free airport transportation). On the morning of your cruise, given the baby and all the baby stuff, we would suggest just having your hotel get you a regular land taxi...that can then take you directly to the port (this will cost you about 40€.

 

For the record, we generally recommend folks stay in Venice (not Mestre) because you can then walk outside your hotel and enjoy Venice. But in your situation it is unlikely you will have any time (or the energy) to enjoy Venice on the evening of your arrival. And the following morning (your cruise embarkation day) it just makes sense to have breakfast, get yourself (and your baby) all ready..and go directly to the port. Once you are onboard your ship, you may want to venture out to see some of Venice before your cruise departs.

 

Hank

Going to agree here with staying out at the airport the arrival night and then in Venice proper near Piazale Roma post-stay, given that you apparently have lots to travel with. I don't envy you coming in late at night with a baby - I'd pick the closest hotel to the airport and just plop down my stuff and go to sleep!!

Can recommend Hotel Venezia (piazza 27 ottobre) in Mestre - not far from airport by taxi and then next day taxi to the port to pick up the ship. There is also a Hilton Garden Inn and a Novotel if you prefer a chain hotel. Hotel Venezia is pleasant and reasonably priced, the restaurant there is very good.

Thank you so much for all of your responses! Yes we are a last minute booking, we just finalized our plans over the weekend. We got some good news and saw a good deal so we couldn't pass it up :) everyone has been so helpful, I definitely came to the right place!! do you have recommendations for excursions in Olympia, Corfu, santorini and Mykonos?? I'm hesitant to commit to anything but don't want to miss out on any must see spots. Thank you so much!!! :)

I can recommend staying at any of the below hotels (in order of my personal preference):

(1) Hotel Moresco

(2) Hotel Antiche Figure

(3) Hotel George Papadapoli

All are pretty close to Piazzale Roma so they are easy to get to.

Thank you so much for all of your responses! Yes we are a last minute booking, we just finalized our plans over the weekend. We got some good news and saw a good deal so we couldn't pass it up :) everyone has been so helpful, I definitely came to the right place!! do you have recommendations for excursions in Olympia, Corfu, santorini and Mykonos?? I'm hesitant to commit to anything but don't want to miss out on any must see spots. Thank you so much!!! :)

Best Western Olympia next to piazza Roma is nice and generally reasonably priced. One small bridge to cross. There were porters next to the taxi stand in piazza Roma that can help with luggage to or from the hotel.

Mykonos is very easy to do on your own. If you tender you are dropped right at the center of town. If docked take the shuttle bus to town and it's a moderate walk into town from the drop off. Very nice shops and restaurants.

For Santorini you might want to think about a ship tour to Oia and back to the main town of Fira. Another option would be taking the lift to Fira and finding a cab or taking the bus to Oia. We usually rent a car from Tony's car rental and go on our own. At this time I don't know if you could find one available.

We did what I thought was a last minute cruise this spring and had 3 weeks to get ready. I can't imagine 3 days. Best thing is enjoy whatever you are able to do each day. It's better than being home.

Thank you for all of your suggestions! We booked at the Novotel and the Hotel Arlecchino (which is next to the best western olympia) as those were the only hotels available!! Hopefully everything will fall into place from here as we leave tomorrow :) Thank you again!!

We stayed at the Best Western Airvenice when we were there last month. It was $80eu a night with a free shuttle to and from the airport. Cab fare was quoted at $47-$50eu. They offered a transfer to the cruise port for only $10eu per person and they dropped you off at the terminal. It was a 12 minute walk to the train station in a quiet neighbourhood. It cost $3.50eu for the train to Venice.