Venice in October 2018

Good morning, I started researching the Italy ports forum and have gotten some very useful information. I would like people to critique my posible travel plans. We already got our inbound flight to Venice coming in on a Thursday before our Sunday cruise on NCL Star. I am looking at Hotel Lisbona or Hotel Anastasia because of location and the great reviews. I think we can take the Blue line water or the orange line right to the San Marco stop and then walk to the hotel we choose. (both seem to be somewhat close to each other) From there we can walk to the sites and get lost and discover whatever we didn't plan on seeing. We have trained ourselves to travel with only carryon bags, so lugging around bags is not a problem. The morning of our cruise we would have our breakfast and take the orange or blue line to the cruise port. After the cruise what should we take to the airport and how early should we plan our flight ? Is fog a big issue in late October? I was looking at an 11:55 flight on Iberia to Barcelona to visit for a couple of days and then fly back to ORD. Any suggestions are appreciated flip

Your plans look "on the mark" so far.

After the cruise what should we take to the airport and how early should we plan our flight ? Is fog a big issue in late October? I was looking at an 11:55 flight on Iberia to Barcelona to visit for a couple of days and then fly back to ORD. Any suggestions are appreciated flip

It's easiest to take a taxi to the airport. Taxi availability varies, so you might consider pre-reserving a car. Alternatively it would be: ship to People Mover, People Mover to Piazzale Roma to catch express bus to airport.

Marco Polo airport can be a zoo, but if you have carry-on only (and are familiar with the more stringent carry-on requirements of the budget airlines in Europe), you can print out a boarding pass in advance and bypass at least one long line...

If your ship arrives no later than 7:00 am, I think an 11:55 flight is fine.

Fog is a periodic problem in Venice. Fog so severe that it impacts ship arrivals/departures is pretty uncommon though, even in the fall months when it does occur. I put it in the category of things that "could" happen but are unlikely.

We had heavy fog this past October! Our cruise was in the middle of the month and the ground crew in the terminal told us it is common to have fog in Venice in October and November. We were suppose to leave on Oct. 14 at 5PM. We ended up leaving on the 15th at 10:45 AM--all because of fog! The ship could not come in until the fog cleared. Then there was a regatta in the canal, so it was delayed even longer. Finally arrived at 5PM. People on the ship all missed their flights home if they had scheduled for that day. It was a zoo for embarkation because now 2,000 people all wanted to get on at once. Took 2.5 hours snaking through a long zoo-like line. Once on board (after 9PM), the fog rolled back in and the port was closed again, so we spent the night in port, but on the ship. Consequence to the delays--two of our 3 Greek Islands were dropped from the itinerary--the two we most wanted to see. I will never cruise with that particular line again, nor will I willingly choose Venice as my gateway. This was not an experience I would even want to come close to repeating.

We had heavy fog this past October! Our cruise was in the middle of the month and the ground crew in the terminal told us it is common to have fog in Venice in October and November. We were suppose to leave on Oct. 14 at 5PM. We ended up leaving on the 15th at 10:45 AM--all because of fog! The ship could not come in until the fog cleared. Then there was a regatta in the canal, so it was delayed even longer. Finally arrived at 5PM. People on the ship all missed their flights home if they had scheduled for that day. It was a zoo for embarkation because now 2,000 people all wanted to get on at once. Took 2.5 hours snaking through a long zoo-like line. Once on board (after 9PM), the fog rolled back in and the port was closed again, so we spent the night in port, but on the ship. Consequence to the delays--two of our 3 Greek Islands were dropped from the itinerary--the two we most wanted to see. I will never cruise with that particular line again, nor will I willingly choose Venice as my gateway. This was not an experience I would even want to come close to repeating.

While fog is periodic in October, as you say (and as I said), it is not common for it to be as severe as you experienced.

I was on a ship one time in November when winds were so bad that the port of Civitavecchia was closed and we missed our call to Rome.

Are winds typically stronger in November than in the summer? Yes. Are they so common that the port of Rome closes? No, not at all. Our captain said it generally happens only a couple of times each year, at MOST.

Same idea. Sorry for your experience.