Just off NCL Star - Venice. Review following

[TheTides]

Hey guys!  

 

Hope all is well and a pleasure meeting some of you onboard this week.  We just got off of a 9 night Greek isles cruise out of Venice.  While I will post a general review, if anyone has any questions shoot and I would be happy to answer.

 

Cheers!

[beverly631]

Hi, we will be doing a 7 night Greek isles cruise out of Venice In September.  I was wondering about getting to airport from the cruise ship -the Star.  Did you get a transfer or make your own arrangements?  Our flight is at 3:30pm so I feel I won't have to rush.

 

Also did you go on any NCL tours?  They gave me the $50 for each port but I don't think I want to do any.  We booked a private on Santorini but not sure of the other ports.  My husband thinks we can use the $50 on a transfer.

 

Thanks

[martje]

Take the short train ride from the cruise port. At the end on the square is the bus stop for the transfer bus to the airport, very easy

[TheTides]

10 hours ago, beverly631 said:

Hi, we will be doing a 7 night Greek isles cruise out of Venice In September.  I was wondering about getting to airport from the cruise ship -the Star.  Did you get a transfer or make your own arrangements?  Our flight is at 3:30pm so I feel I won't have to rush.

 

Also did you go on any NCL tours?  They gave me the $50 for each port but I don't think I want to do any.  We booked a private on Santorini but not sure of the other ports.  My husband thinks we can use the $50 on a transfer.

 

Thanks

 

So we had an 11 o’clock flight out of Venice, so we booked our transfer through NCL.  20 Bucks per person.  We walked off the ship at 7:45, were pulling out of port around 8, and was at our gate though security around 845.  Could not have been easier.  Now with that being said you guys have a later flight, so there were 2 tours offered that maybe of interest if you do not want to wait in the airport the entire day.  Regardless, the transfer from the ship to the airport couldn’t have been easier.  

[TheTides]

Also, it is expensive, but if you can take a water taxi from the airport to your place of lodging in Venice, it is SO worth the money.  This gives you a perfect overview of the city from the canals, allows you to see all the highlights from the water before you even step foot on land.  Really was a great way to start our trip.

[Say811]

Taking the 7 night Greek isles out of Venice in a few weeks...so excited for your trip report!  We did book several NCL excursions so I’m very interested in what excursions you did and thoughts on the ports in general.  

[BaWBarmy]

1 hour ago, TheTides said:

Also, it is expensive, but if you can take a water taxi from the airport to your place of lodging in Venice, it is SO worth the money.  This gives you a perfect overview of the city from the canals, allows you to see all the highlights from the water before you even step foot on land.  Really was a great way to start our trip.

 

Nice to hear. Our hotel is only 200 m from a Vaporetto stop. Not going until November but I'm as excited about our two days in Venice as I am about the cruise.

[snirpville]

1 hour ago, BaWBarmy said:

 

Nice to hear. Our hotel is only 200 m from a Vaporetto stop. Not going until November but I'm as excited about our two days in Venice as I am about the cruise.

 

Two days in Venice is perfect. Did the same thing last September and loved it. 

[pe4all]

On 6/4/2019 at 7:08 AM, TheTides said:

Also, it is expensive, but if you can take a water taxi from the airport to your place of lodging in Venice, it is SO worth the money.  This gives you a perfect overview of the city from the canals, allows you to see all the highlights from the water before you even step foot on land.  Really was a great way to start our trip.

Looking forward to your review.  We sail on the 7 day out of Venice on 8/4.  Our hotel arranged for a private water taxi to pick us up from the airport and bring us to the hotel's private pier.  Can't wait!

[TheTides]

Will begin posting this afternoon!  Been a wild week adjusting to time zones/getting life back in order after our adventure!

[sun_lovin!1]

My family and I have a Greek Isles NCL cruise booked for 7 nights from Venice in May of 2021.  We also picked the $50 per port as one of our perks.  We are staying in Venice 2 full days pre-cruise as well. I'm looking forward to your review and suggestions as to what to do at each port and what to see in Venice!

[Beardface]

Do you feel like you got to spend enough time in all of the locations?

 

My wife and I went to Italy (Rome, Florence, Cinque Terre, Venice) on our honeymoon about 5 years ago and it was great.  Got to spend multiple days in each location and got to really take in everything.  I'm wondering what the experience is like on a cruise where you only get 10-12 hours in each location and if there is the feeling you're somehow missing out on something.

 

Oh and, how was flying into/out of Venice?  We got to the airport right as the Celebrity Silhouette dumped its passengers there, and... checking in for our flight was a nightmare.

[old nutter]

Venice airport is an absolute zoo during the day, especially when a lot of boats are changing over.  We travelled in late on the day before cruising and arrived at about 11:30 pm and sailed through. The advantage of sailing out of Venice is that the airport, port and city are all close, albeit either expensive or inconvenient to get between them.

[Sauer-kraut]

3 hours ago, sun_lovin!1 said:

My family and I have a Greek Isles NCL cruise booked for 7 nights from Venice in May of 2021.  We also picked the $50 per port as one of our perks.  We are staying in Venice 2 full days pre-cruise as well. I'm looking forward to your review and suggestions as to what to do at each port and what to see in Venice!

 

For a European cruise it might be better to price out what independent tours will cost you compared to what the cruise line is charging, even with your $50 offer.  You will have a better tour, fewer people to deal with, better chance of beating the crowds and much more personalized.  To find out what to do in Venice pre-cruise have a look at the PORTS OF CALL board for Europe, there will be a sub-section just for Italy. 

Edited June 7, 2019 by Sauer-kraut

[Gopherpharm]

On 6/7/2019 at 8:58 AM, sun_lovin!1 said:

My family and I have a Greek Isles NCL cruise booked for 7 nights from Venice in May of 2021.  We also picked the $50 per port as one of our perks.  We are staying in Venice 2 full days pre-cruise as well. I'm looking forward to your review and suggestions as to what to do at each port and what to see in Venice!

We did the ciccheti bar tour with Alessandro (along with some of our fellow cruisers) a couple nights before the cruise. It was so much fun, highly recommend, especially if it’s your first time in Venice. 

[Jenjohncourt]

I'm looking forward to your review too.  We are going on this cruise in August. How was the entertainment? 

[ppcox]

Thanks for taking the time to answer questions. We are sailing this cruise on the 1st September. I wondered how was tendering and the chairlifts at Santorini as I have read that it takes hours. Did you have to line up really early to get tender tickets and then line up again to actual get off? We have a tour booked ( not with NCL) so I’m a little anxious about getting off on time. I understand if your tour is with NCl you don’t need tender tickets and you get off first . 

We are Gold Latitude members and in theory we should get priority tender tickets do you know if that’s the case? 

 

 

[blondelinda]

@Berverly.

We are doing a 7 night cruise out of Venice on the Star in September, from the 22-29, and I wondered are you on the same one?

 

Also, in regards to the $50 port credit, we where offered the same, but elected to take another option (they can be changed in your online account or ringing NCL) as the agent told us, its $50 per port you do an excursion in. So if you have 6 ports and do 6 ship excursions, all great. But if you only do one ship excursion, you only get the credit for that port, being $50. We chose the specialty dining package instead, giving us 3 specialty restuarants

[beverly631]

Linda, yes we are on the September 22 cruise.  There are 6 of us.  We are getting really excited.  I am looking into getting a private water taxi from the airport vs the Alliguna.

 

Does anyone have any recommendations?