Lisaten

We used Welcome Pickups to get to Chioggia from Marco Polo airport. The driver met us at the airport exit with our names on a placard. We traveled in a Mercedes SUV. The cost was $126E. This was early May. We went a day early and stayed at Hotel Grande Italia. It is on corner of the lagoon and the main street that had many outdoor cafes to choose from, and agree about El Gato. The hotel had a very nice restaurant also.

We arrive there this Friday. I know there are taxis because our hotel offered to send one for us at the airport. I also saw a picture-post of a taxi waiting for people at the bus stop. But, see the post below by a recent cruiser. I think with the season upon them, there will be more and more taxis available because Az will be in Chioggia two weekends in a row and 4 days of those 2 weekends. they'll come from far and wide to get the big bucks for the 5 min drive. I don't think you need to worry about doing this in advance. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2930697-tell-me-about-chioggia-italy/?do=findComment&comment=65230435

And thank you for the follow up. I didn't want to call the numbers and busy already busy people. We're too far gone to turn back now. Wherever we end up, I'll get to that stinkin boat. And deal with Azamara after my welcoming cocktail. Cheers everyone.

On their website, under port information (mine is Chioggia), there is complete information about the port but also under Trip Interruption is the number 305-539-4107. I have not tried it. Another port form for Athen lists 954-687-1074. Here is a link to this port info site: Port Information (azamara.com) It was not easy to find. We leave on Thursday.

We're in the same/similar situation. Our outbound tickets were booked (and paid for) but the return was not paid for - until Friday! I could see by the invoice on the carrier's site that ChoiceAir had to pay 2x as much for the ticket by then, so at least they're eating it, not me. Now I'm worried there will be no one on the other end of the phone if we have flight interruption issues! We leave in a week. It's better than staying home, but not by much.

I agree, most people should just find something better to do. But I am on the May 6 cruise out of Chioggia; the port change alone was a shock. There is no evidence AT ALL of Onward being in any port we will visit. So, we take a leap of faith and leave Florida to travel all the way to Venice in HOPES of actually going on a cruise. At least I was wise enough to go a day early and Chioggia looks like a nice place to be stranded in. Azamara should give priority to the cruises now, not the ones 8 months from now. Yet they haven't. We're too old to deal with the stress. It's why we don't use the cheap cruiselines, and there are so very many near my home. Just sayin'.

Thanks for that great info fruitmachine. I don't know where you get this fabulous info but it's been very helpful. We are real chicken about getting lost and abandoned. Indirect and 70 minutes is still best for us on our own trying to get to St. Marks, but I don't like the bus options. Maybe we'll skip it until the cruise tour the day we get back. Bummer BTW, everyone, regarding transportation, before we lost the website, they didn't offer transfers at all to Chioggia online and Azamara suggested we use Aloschi Brothers on our own. Just another option.

We're staying a Grande Italia in Chioggia for the May 6 Croatia intensive. I emailed the hotel about transportation (we're going a day early) and they wanted 125,00 for 2 people. I appreciate the info on Welcome Pickups. The water taxi from Chioggia that goes directly to St. Mark's Square is directly outside the door of the hotel, so we plan to take advantage of that on our own. The ship will be docked, as the crow flies, directly left of us and a few blocks over. However, there are several canals between us and no bridge nearby to get to it, so we will have to get a taxi to the ship. A pretty short ride though. Someone on the April 15 Journey cruise posted pictures if you want to check that roll call.

Thanks for responding, but I meant by car as we cross the causeway to Chioggia we can get an idea of where the ship is docked and distance from hotel. I'm still going to try to get transportation using Choice Air. They didn't tell me I couldn't get a transfer if we arrived a day early. Yet they certainly took our money for the airfare. I'll let everyone know next week if I have any success

We are also staying at the Grande Italia May 5, but I haven't looked into transportation to the ship yet the following day. I assume the hotel will help us. I don't think I'd feel comfortable walking up to the ship with luggage. The airport to hotel is still undecided for us as well. I'm not into taking a city bus. I don't know why choice air won't provide transfers the day before. Onward actually arrives at 1pm on May 5 we'll have an opportunity to check out its location as we approach the island. Also, it looks like there is a water taxi outside the door of the hotel, so maybe we can water it over to the ship. Anybody know about that?