Venice port to St Mark Square

Hey

Wondering if anyone had any experience of Venice port in May as according to NCL website we dock at 8am and we are trying to pick a shore excursion that starts near St. Marks Square at 9am.

We are not sure if that's enough time to get the water bus from the port if there are large queues. Does anyone have any tips or experience of getting from the cruise terminal to St Marks square?

We were on Princess and they ran their own shuttle. The trip took something like 20 minutes. We also used the People Mover Vaporetta route. The real question here is what time you will be able to get off the boat. If they are even 15 minutes late in docking, you will have difficulty in making 9am.

It will be tight. You have a few options and could try to adjust to the situation at the time. Your ship will probably run a shuttle boat to St Marks Square (often for a fixed price for the duration of your stay) but that could be very crowded with a long queue. So if you would manage to get to near the front of the crowd this is one way. The Alilaguna Blu line (which does depart from the Port) will not fit your schedule.

So the other option is to quickly walk over to the People Mover, take that over to Piazale Roma, and jump on a Vaporetto (Line #2 is faster to S. Marco but Line #1 runs more often).

And another option is to simply walk from the People Mover to S. Marco. I am a fast walker and can do that in about 30 min but it is a hike.

Hank

Hi

Thanks for the feedback.

Definitely sounds like a 9am tour is probably going to be too tight for time so think I need to look for a tour that starts a little later, the suggestions have been all very helpful

Hi

 

Thanks for the feedback.

 

Definitely sounds like a 9am tour is probably going to be too tight for time so think I need to look for a tour that starts a little later, the suggestions have been all very helpful

Are you sure you really need a tour? Venice is a place that is very easy to explore yourself with a good guide book by vaporetto and on foot.

That was going to be my question? What kind of tour? Venice is one place where you really don't need an organized tour. . .

Was thinking a city tour that included skip the line at st Marc's and dodge's palace would be good and then that would leave a couple of hours to wonder about the city

Was thinking a city tour that included skip the line at st Marc's and dodge's palace would be good and then that would leave a couple of hours to wonder about the city

Are you aware there's a site where you can pre-purchase San Marco tickets to avoid the lines? That might help save time & be less stressful, assuming you're willing to pay 2 euros for the ticket and time slot and can commit to a time (maybe 9:30?). See http://www.venetoinside.com/en/attractions/saint-marks-basilica/search-availability/

It doesn't include the Doge's Palace, however. Also, if you're there on a Sunday, I think you'll have to wait for the afternoon to visit San Marco basilica, as they close for church services.

I would prebook tickets for the Doge's palace and then there will be no issues. You can prebook St. Marks as well. I'd bet that would be cheaper then an actual tour.