Arriving Early, Can we drop luggage

[jeanrtco]

We are landing at 9am at Venice airport, but documents indicate that ship embarkment is 2 to 4 pm.  Would they let you checkin the luggage at the pier that early, so we can go sight seeing in venice?  I did not take the transportation from the airport option?

 

Thanks, Jean

[Randyk47]

18 minutes ago, jeanrtco said:

We are landing at 9am at Venice airport, but documents indicate that ship embarkment is 2 to 4 pm.  Would they let you checkin the luggage at the pier that early, so we can go sight seeing in venice?  I did not take the transportation from the airport option?

 

Thanks, Jean

 

By the time you get your luggage, clear the airport, and get over to the cruise terminal it’s going to be close to 11 AM.  There’s a good chance that by 11:30 AM or so you should be able turn in your luggage to Silversea.  I can’t remember the exact time but Silversea picked us up at our hotel and took us over to the Wind in Venice.  I’m pretty sure we were on the ship by about 12:30 PM.  In eight cruises on Silversea we’ve never had to wait to board until the published 2:00-4:00 PM time. 

[jeanrtco]

Thanks so much for the info.  I was surprised it was so late as I was hoping to eat lunch on board.  When we took Regents last year we were on board by noon and eating lunch by 12:30.

 

Jean

[spinnaker2]

The embarkation pier in Venice can be difficult. Recently we all had to stand in a long queue and  show both our ticket and passport and go through a metal detector. Our luggage was elsewhere, but we did take the Silversea transfer.

It was hot and the terminal building was not air conditioned. 

Once through the queue we all just made our way to the vessel.

 

There is a very large cruise port in Venice, but in our exepriences, we have never docked there while traveling with Silversea.

 

Did you book thru a travel agent, if so i would suggest you check with them to verify your options.

[brimary]

In our experience on SS since 1999 Venice is the worst port in the World to start or finish a cruise...never again!

[Stumblefoot]

2 hours ago, brimary said:

In our experience on SS since 1999 Venice is the worst port in the World to start or finish a cruise...never again!

 

That’s interesting Brimary.  We loved, loved, loved, our overnight in Venice with departure the next day.  Very smooth disembarkation and transfer to train station.  

[Randyk47]

2 hours ago, Stumblefoot said:

 

That’s interesting Brimary.  We loved, loved, loved, our overnight in Venice with departure the next day.  Very smooth disembarkation and transfer to train station.  

 

Have to agree.  We’ve both started and ended cruises in Venice and it’s one of our favorites.

[Wellseasoned]

4 hours ago, Randyk47 said:

 

Have to agree.  We’ve both started and ended cruises in Venice and it’s one of our favorites.

Same with us.  We have started and finished with no problems.  We are starting in Venice again on the Spirit in October, hope it goes as well as before!

[RachelG]

I have started and ended several cruises in Venice without any problems.  I would see what time it is by the time get to the ship to drop off your luggage and then assess the options.  Even if the ship isn’t ready to board (it usually is at around noon), they will take the luggage.

[Randyk47]

16 minutes ago, RachelG said:

I have started and ended several cruises in Venice without any problems.  I would see what time it is by the time get to the ship to drop off your luggage and then assess the options.  Even if the ship isn’t ready to board (it usually is at around noon), they will take the luggage.

 

My only caveat is that if you drop your luggage off make sure you’re turning it over to Silversea and not just somebody who looks like a porter.  That’s true at any port.  

[Randyk47]

Seeing a number of news outlets announcing that Italy is banning cruise ships from Venice.  Devil is in the details and some articles make it sound like it’s all cruise ships while others are reporting it applies to ships over 55,000 tons.  Most of the luxury line ships like Silversea’s are well below that tonnage.   Time will tell what the real and long term impact will be.

[JohnGinPBG]

11 hours ago, Wellseasoned said:

Same with us.  We have started and finished with no problems.  We are starting in Venice again on the Spirit in October, hope it goes as well as before!

 

Looks like we're on the same cruise. We have two nights in Venice prior and plan to take a vaporetto to the pier.

[shipsmail]

Our experience from this Tuesday: we arrived by watertaxi at about 11 a.m. and they accepted our luggage without problems. There were other passengers earlier than us. We had to wait for embarkation til noon and then had lunch on board. It was quite a long way from the terminal to the ship in hot weather. Terminal was San Basileo, not the large cruise terminal. This seems to be all the time for Silversea.

[Randyk47]

22 hours ago, Randyk47 said:

Seeing a number of news outlets announcing that Italy is banning cruise ships from Venice.  Devil is in the details and some articles make it sound like it’s all cruise ships while others are reporting it applies to ships over 55,000 tons.  Most of the luxury line ships like Silversea’s are well below that tonnage.   Time will tell what the real and long term impact will be.

 

Now it seems the supposed decision banning large cruise ships is more a suggestion under study than a fait accompli.   While it all sounds good and indeed may happen the major issue is there are no passenger/cruise terminals on the mainland near Venice.   Those will take time and money to build.  

[les37b]

In the words of Bob the builder "yes we can".

 

There will people disembarking up to 10am and so there is a very good chance they take your check in from you... Almost certain in fact... I've never had a problem when I've arrived at 11am (and usually do).

 

Another plus for Venice... Got one coming up in 6 weeks and think it's a great sail away. Not going to available for bigger ships for much longer, though suspect SS will be unaffected.