Our DIY Venice Report - Debarkation and Airport Transfer

I’ve posted a number of DIY reports from our recent trip including Rome (pre-cruise), Livorno (Tuscany/Pisa), Naples (Capri) and a number of Greek Island stops.

This one, of course is based on our stop in Venice which is where we also disembarked. This was our second overnight stop in Venice, having been there last year on a Carnival Magic cruise. This year we were ending a fantastic voyage on the Crown Princess in this amazing port.

Besides posting some of my pictures, I think the best information I can offer, is a bit of information on disembarking and the process of getting to the airport and checked in for your flight. Hence I’ll start with that.

Disembarking in Venice and getting to the airport

As most ships overnight in Venice, you can book a flight for pretty much any time during the last day of your cruise… if you want to catch a flight at 7AM and disembark at 4AM… no problem. Myself and my GF had flights at 10:20AM and around Noon respectively (I was flying on my company’s dime while she was flying on a reward ticket).

Disembarkation process varies from ship to ship, but based on my experience, you can opt to self-disembark and carry all your luggage off yourself, or adopt one of the ship’s disembarkation times that meets your flight needs in which case you tag your bags with the appropriate tags and put them out the night prior and then claim them the following morning in the terminal when you disembark.

Based on our flights, I opted for the 7:30 disembarkation so my bags would be ready by 8AM when we planned to get off the ship.

Options for Transportation to Airport

There are a couple of economical solutions for getting to the airport from the port. The most convenient is to arrange for a driver and have them take you directly from the cruise terminal to the airport. The other option is to shlep your bags to Piazza Roma and take the ATVO airport bus. This is fast and affordable, but has the disadvantage that you need to haul your luggage the length of the port and onto the people mover (which can be busy on a morning with lots of ships disembarking). However, if you have lots of time, it may be a great solution. Here’s a some info on the bus service…

http://www.atvo.it/images_doc/linee/Linea_35_(dal_25.03_al_27.10.2012.pdf

We opted to book a car with Click Airport Transfer…

Problems with Click Airport Transfer

Working backwards from 10:20, I figured I should be at the airport about 2hrs prior, which is the about the maximum I would recommend. If you arrive any earlier than that, there probably won’t even be gate agents available for most flights yet. That meant an arrival at the airport at around 8:20.

Given it takes 15-20 minutes to drive to the airport from the port in Venice, I arranged a car with Click Airport Transfer for 8AM a few weeks before the cruise. Unfortunately, I would NOT personally recommend them. While they are recommended by others here, if you use them, expect them to be late, as that’s exactly what happened in our situation.

Even though I corresponded with them via email the day before our scheduled pickup using Wifi in Venice, they were still late. When we arrived outside the terminal at 8AM we saw lots of drivers holding signs with passenger names, but not ours. I called the dispatch for Click and the guy told me that he would call the driver and find out where he was and call me back. I got a call about 10 minutes later that the driver was running late and would be at the terminal soon. Mean time, another driver who’s party hadn’t showed up approached us asking if we wanted to use him instead (I guess he over heard my frustrated conversation with Click). He wanted 50-Euro, whereas Click had priced the ride at 40-Euro. I was honest with him and showed him I only had 45-Euro in my pocket and if he could do it for that, he could take us instead. He agreed. At this point, Click was 15 minutes late and didn’t deserver our business. I called them and told them not to bother that we had a ride. While the Click dispatcher pleaded with me to wait, I told them we were already on our way and to forget about it. 15 minutes later we were curbside at the airport.

Airport Check-in

Based on some threads I saw here, I expected the check-in and security clearance at Marco Polo to be a lengthy and frustrating process, but I found it very different. The check-in process was painless (although the strict Lufthansa carry-on baggage requirements and their diligent agents leave a bit to be desired) and although the security line was long it moved quickly. As I said above, showing up more than 2 hours prior to your flight is probably a waste of time. My GF’s flight agents for SAS didn’t even open check-in counters until 90 minutes prior to departure.

VAT Refund

If you buy anything over about 155-Euro in Italy from one merchant, you’re entitled to a VAT refund on that purchase which is about 22%. Now people have written entire sites dedicated to this subject, but here’s the basics, if you’re interested…

• You have to purchase 155-Euro or more at a single point of purchase to qualify.
  
• You need the store merchant to provide the VAT refund paperwork.
  
• There are two major companies that stores will work with… Global Blue, or Premier Tax Free.
  
• Both of these companies have agents near the Rialto Bridge (as indicated on their paperwork) that will provide a cash refund to you in person if you present your paperwork and passport. They keep a few percent as a fee, but you get the rest back in cash right then and there. The alternative, which is less desirable, is to wait until you get to the Airport to get your refund. The key problem with that is you will get a handful of Euro’s just as you’re leaving the EU. That’s why we prefer to get the refund from one of the agents in Venice so we can spend the refund before we leave! :D
  
• Then, when you get to the airport you have to seek out the customs agent that will check your airline itinerary to see you’re leaving the EU, stamp your paperwork indicating that, and then you drop it in the mail using the envelope provided. This last step just proves you left the EU so they won’t charge back the VAT to you. At Marco Polo, the customs agent is at the far left end as you enter the main terminal. There were only a couple of people in line when we were there.
  

We’ve used this process a couple of times now and it’s really very easy.

Getting Around Venice

There’s been books and countless threads written on this subject. The only thing I can add to this, is to forget about the ship’s shuttle to San Marco square... forget about the Vaporetto, water taxi, etc... Just get out and walk! The best way to see Venice is to just walk around and explore… Literally, get lost! :)

What to see?

Again, there have been books written on this. So I won’t even try to compete. I think wandering around and doing your own thing is what this city is all about. I made a priority of going up St. Mark’s Campanile this time around, and the views were stunning. Pictures below.

Where to eat

This can be a more challenging endeavor as there are so many choices, some of which are unabashed tourist traps, others which are perhaps authentic, except for the Chinese proprieters, and many, many more options.

I’ll share the two places we’ve visited for dinner on our two nights in Venice over the last two cruises…

Osteria Ae Sconte

Our first evening in Venice (in Oct. 2011) we dropped in on this is a small Osteria (deli) without reservations and had no trouble getting a table. They serve a really good Italian meal. The beef carparccio, caprese salad and pasta dishes are amazing and the prices are very reasonable. I’d highly recommend this place.

Vini Da Gigio

This year we opted for one of Trip Advisor’s top rated restaurants… Vini Da Gigio. As I said in my Trip Advisor review… If you're looking for a dining option in Venice that's tourist friendly, good value (eg. not a rip-off) then this is a good choice. The servers speak English, and there is an English version of the menu available. There's no service or cover charge, and the staff is honest and friendly.

The wine list is enormous, the appetizer selection is great (the caprese salad and beef carpaccio are both excellent), but the choice of pasta dishes are modest and they are rather simple. For example, spaghetti with clams is just that... pretty basic - no sauce besides a splash of olive oil. Nothing particularly inventive, zesty or tasty. In fact, both the clam and crab pasta dishes we tried tasted heavily of fish. Perhaps not surprising but I've had seafood pastas before that tasted creamy and delightful or zesty... not the case here.

So while it’s appealing for it’s family-run, tourist friendly atmosphere, and exceptional value, the food wasn’t particularly outstanding.

Vini Da Gigio is the doorway on the far left…

With that out of the way, here are some pictures…

Sailing into Venice as sunrise…

In this image you can see another large cruise ship following us through Venice in the background…

Some shots in and around Venice…

Off the beaten path (residential district in North Venice)…

From the top of the St. Mark's Campanile…

Magnificent pictures, VirtualRain. Thanks for sharing.

Amazing photography!

Another great report!

Interesting observation about Trip Advisor and restaurant recommendations. I do look at them to see what is trending, but have not found TA restaurant reviews/recos helpful. Just because crowds of (primarily) Americans claim to be going to a particular restaurant, I have not found a correlation between that and quality of food or experience.

Your pictures are wonderful, as always, and I particularly like the lighting and color in this series.

Beautiful photos...:)

I'm pretty sure I mentioned on one of your other reviews, but your photos are to die for!!!

I have a lowly Nikon 5100. Do you have any suggestions on how to get some shots as good as yours?

Interesting observation about Trip Advisor and restaurant recommendations. I do look at them to see what is trending, but have not found TA restaurant reviews/recos helpful. Just because crowds of (primarily) Americans claim to be going to a particular restaurant, I have not found a correlation between that and quality of food or experience.

 

Your pictures are wonderful, as always, and I particularly like the lighting and color in this series.

Thanks.

Yeah, after using Trip Advisor ratings to pick a couple of restaurants on this trip (one in Rome and this one above), I've come to the same conclusion. I think a top rated restaurant on TA can be an indication of something that's a low-risk visit for a tourist. In other words, you're likely going to get English speaking staff, attentive service, possibly a menu in English or a server that's willing and able to translate it, affordable prices, and "acceptable" food. I can see why this is appealing to many... since it seems like there are a number of places (in Italy and Venice in particular) which it can be difficult to communicate with the server resulting in unwanted dishes or charges, unscrupulous establishments that add extra service charges, and plain-old poor service.

I'm pretty sure I mentioned on one of your other reviews, but your photos are to die for!!!

 

I have a lowly Nikon 5100. Do you have any suggestions on how to get some shots as good as yours?

Thanks! I wrote somewhat of an essay on this in one of my other threads...

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=35864556&postcount=12

:)

Great information and wonderful photos, thanks for sharing. What was going on in St Mark's Square? It looks like there was seating for a speech or a concert or something.

Ron

Great information and wonderful photos, thanks for sharing. What was going on in St Mark's Square? It looks like there was seating for a speech or a concert or something.

 

Ron

Good question, it was some kind of event involving St. Mark's Basilica but I couldn't tell you what exactly. Later in the afternoon a procession came out of St. Mark's and proceeded towards the stage. We didn't stick around. And you're right, a good chunk of the square was roped off with seating for the event.

Great info, great pictures and I second your advice about getting lost...its the best way to see Venice. I am looking forward to Venice next spring with my DDP and wonder if you can give any advice on how to find Osteria Ae Sconte?

Mille Grazie!

Thanks for the helpful info and love the pics!

Great info, great pictures and I second your advice about getting lost...its the best way to see Venice. I am looking forward to Venice next spring with my DDP and wonder if you can give any advice on how to find Osteria Ae Sconte?

 

Mille Grazie!

Yeah, it's easy to get lost looking for that restaurant! :) I use an app on my iPhone to mark points of interest and my location to guide me. I'm not sure what would work best for you as everyone's way of finding their way around can be a bit different. Perhaps printing a Google Map of the location?

What car service did you use to get to the airport?

What car service did you use to get to the airport?

After our Click Airport Driver failed to show, we went with some independent guy. I can't recommend Click or anyone else... I would search for other recommendations. Sorry :(

Outstanding report and beautiful pictures! Thanks for the write up. My wife and I will be celebrating our 25th anniversary and will be spending the night in Venice. Your tips are a great help.

Great pics VR. When people tell me they like my pictures I always tell them to go to CC and search for your DIY reports.

I just wanted to say a big Thank Ypu for taking the trouble to share your advice and gorgeous photos. It really helps build the anticipation for my next cruise where we will be following in your footsteps and sailing from Venice. Advice like yours helps make trip planning so much easier - and FUN.

Thank you for posting such helpful, detailed information and drop dead gorgeous pictures!

Your posts have really provided great guidance…especially since we are a DIY family! :)

Just wanted to say Thankyou, VR for your post on disembarking in Venice, you have put my mind at ease….I was fretting about our 10.30 a.m. flight from Marco Polo and what time we could get off the ship,etc.,etc……We will be booking a taxi, but I doubt we will use Click.

Those photos were WOW!

Excellent, thorough write up! This is helping me for my upcoming trip in 2015!