Cruising from Venice?

[Travelbugs2.2]

Hi

we’re looking at cruising on the Brilliance from Venice to Greece in September.

The stops are at;

Kotor, Corfu, Athens, Mykonos and Argostil.

 

Would any of you any experience of this size ship at these ports?   I’d like to know if the ships dock far out from the towns / areas of interest at the stops.    
ive been on bigger ships in the med, and they seem to dock very far out (eg Rome, La Spezia )

Any help / advise / tips appreciated!

 

thank you!

[gumshoe958]

For starters, you won’t be cruising from Venice but from Ravenna which is about 90 miles/2 hours away. 

[D4]

The city of Athens is a long way from the port.

 

Mykonos is the only port we’ve ever been to where we’d rather tender than dock.  The tenders drop you off right in the heart of Mykonos.  But if your ship docks, the dock is quite a way from the heart of Mykonos.  Our ship provided free bus service to transport you, but filling up buses was a slow process.

[Travelbugs2.2]

2 hours ago, gumshoe958 said:

For starters, you won’t be cruising from Venice but from Ravenna which is about 90 miles/2 hours away. 

Thank you!  I didn’t realise it wasn’t from the main port in Venice!   When I looked at royal Caribbean site to see what the port details was for cruises ex Venice - it gave the details for the terminal 10 miles from VCE airport!!  - but you’re right … I now see this cruise is actually from Ravenna! 🙄
& unfortunately … there doesn’t appear to be many intl airports close to it! 😡
 

[cloud_nine]

Corfu Old Town is only about a 5 minute taxi drive away from the port. There are also buses, or you can walk it. Argostoli - the town is close, but some of the beaches are a fair way away and you're better off getting a taxi.

[Tin can]

8 hours ago, Travelbugs2.2 said:

Thank you!  I didn’t realise it wasn’t from the main port in Venice!   When I looked at royal Caribbean site to see what the port details was for cruises ex Venice - it gave the details for the terminal 10 miles from VCE airport!!  - but you’re right … I now see this cruise is actually from Ravenna! 🙄
& unfortunately … there doesn’t appear to be many intl airports close to it! 😡
 

We are doing the same itinerary next year on Voyager.

 

Its not too bad getting to Ravenna by train. There is an express train from Venice to Bologna (which looks interesting with its old town) and then its a local train to Ravenna which also looks nice and is famous for its mosaics.

 

Our plan is to fly into Marco Polo airport and then train it into Venice for a couple of days and stay in a hotel near the station. Take the train then to Bologna, maybe leave the cases in left luggage for a couple of hours for a look around, and then the train to Ravenna for the night.

 

Again we will pick a hotel near the station in Ravenna as there is a shuttle provided direct to the port nearby. If planned correctly it would be possible to take the train from Venice on the morning of your cruise if you didnt want to stop in Ravenna but it looks a nice town so we are going to stay a night.

 

It would have been better ideally cruising from Venice itself but we are quite looking forwarding to seeing a bit more of Italy and the train cost looks reasonable and the service modern.

[gumshoe958]

Bologna, which is the closest airport to Ravenna, has direct flights to several major European hubs eg Amsterdam Schiphol, London Heathrow, Paris CDG, Frankfurt and Madrid. 
 

From Bologna there’s a train to Ravenna every hour, taking just over an hour.

 

Edited March 5, 2022 by gumshoe958

[Tin can]

2 hours ago, gumshoe958 said:

Bologna, which is the closest airport to Ravenna, has direct flights to several major European hubs eg Amsterdam Schiphol, London Heathrow, Paris CDG, Frankfurt and Madrid. 
 

From Bologna there’s a train to Ravenna every hour, taking just over an hour.

 

 

Yes we are going to fly into Venice and fly home from Bologna via Amsterdam.

 

Perhaps I'm wrong and I've never been to either, but Bologna doesn't appeal to me as much as a couple of days staying in Venice .

[little britain]

23 minutes ago, Tin can said:

 

Yes we are going to fly into Venice and fly home from Bologna via Amsterdam.

 

Perhaps I'm wrong and I've never been to either, but Bologna doesn't appeal to me as much as a couple of days staying in Venice .

Bologna is beautiful- oldest university and foodie heaven! Well worth staying in…recommend that you can take a day trip with “Bologna Food Experience” to see how ricotta and proper balsamic is made . 

[little britain]

14 hours ago, D4 said:

The city of Athens is a long way from the port.

 

Mykonos is the only port we’ve ever been to where we’d rather tender than dock.  The tenders drop you off right in the heart of Mykonos.  But if your ship docks, the dock is quite a way from the heart of Mykonos.  Our ship provided free bus service to transport you, but filling up buses was a slow process.

Athens is a 30 min cab ride which costs €15 in an Uber last October.

 

If you dock in Mykonos then there is the local ferry opposite the ship which takes you across to the town - about €8 return. Tenders arrive at the same pier as the ferry. 

[Tin can]

9 minutes ago, little britain said:

Bologna is beautiful- oldest university and foodie heaven! Well worth staying in…recommend that you can take a day trip with “Bologna Food Experience” to see how ricotta and proper balsamic is made . 

 

Interesting, thanks for that LB. I will look into that and may well review our plans and stay a night.

[CaroleC]

12 hours ago, Travelbugs2.2 said:

Thank you!  I didn’t realise it wasn’t from the main port in Venice!   When I looked at royal Caribbean site to see what the port details was for cruises ex Venice - it gave the details for the terminal 10 miles from VCE airport!!  - but you’re right … I now see this cruise is actually from Ravenna! 🙄
& unfortunately … there doesn’t appear to be many intl airports close to it! 😡
 

This is what puts us off cruising from “Venice”. Appears to be inconvenient to get from the UK to Ravenna.

[zap99]

3 minutes ago, CaroleC said:

This is what puts us off cruising from “Venice”. Appears to be inconvenient to get from the UK to Ravenna.

In the past, we have stayed a few days in Venice, pre cruise. Probably will now pick a cruise from Athens instead. If we feel the urge to visit Venice again we will not add on a cruise. Perhaps flying to Bologna and an overnight in Ravenna. But not any urgency. 

[CaroleC]

12 minutes ago, zap99 said:

Perhaps flying to Bologna and an overnight in Ravenna.

I believe Bologna is about 90km from Ravenna so there’s still the problem of getting there. I know there’s a train service but we don’t relish the idea of attempting it loaded up with baggage and I imagine the cost of a taxi would be quite expensive.

 

 

Edited March 5, 2022 by CaroleC

[zap99]

5 minutes ago, CaroleC said:

I believe Bologna is about 90km from Ravenna so there’s still the problem of getting there. I know there’s a train service but we don’t relish the idea of attempting it loaded up with baggage and I imagine the cost of a taxi would be quite expensive.

 

 

I tend to agree. On the trip from Piraeus to Athens city centre there was a quite nice resort area. A cruise from Athens with an overnight in Piraeus is looking more attractive than Ravenna.

[CaroleC]

10 minutes ago, zap99 said:

I tend to agree. On the trip from Piraeus to Athens city centre there was a quite nice resort area. A cruise from Athens with an overnight in Piraeus is looking more attractive than Ravenna.

There are some nice itineraries from Piraeus which makes cruising from there really attractive.

[Saab4444]

13 hours ago, Tin can said:

We are doing the same itinerary next year on Voyager.

 

Its not too bad getting to Ravenna by train. There is an express train from Venice to Bologna (which looks interesting with its old town) and then its a local train to Ravenna which also looks nice and is famous for its mosaics.

 

Our plan is to fly into Marco Polo airport and then train it into Venice for a couple of days and stay in a hotel near the station. Take the train then to Bologna, maybe leave the cases in left luggage for a couple of hours for a look around, and then the train to Ravenna for the night.

 

Again we will pick a hotel near the station in Ravenna as there is a shuttle provided direct to the port nearby. If planned correctly it would be possible to take the train from Venice on the morning of your cruise if you didnt want to stop in Ravenna but it looks a nice town so we are going to stay a night.

 

It would have been better ideally cruising from Venice itself but we are quite looking forwarding to seeing a bit more of Italy and the train cost looks reasonable and the service modern.

You will be on Explorer not Voyager.

[Norwich Cruiser]

9 hours ago, CaroleC said:

This is what puts us off cruising from “Venice”. Appears to be inconvenient to get from the UK to Ravenna.

 

9 hours ago, zap99 said:

In the past, we have stayed a few days in Venice, pre cruise. Probably will now pick a cruise from Athens instead. If we feel the urge to visit Venice again we will not add on a cruise. Perhaps flying to Bologna and an overnight in Ravenna. But not any urgency. 

Exactly one and done with the journey and luggage from Venice to Ravenna definitely not worth the effort for us to do again.

 

Luckily enough to have sailed from Venice many times and enjoyed the fabulous sail away.

 

There are still quite a few cruise good companies who sail from the real Venice.

[Norwich Cruiser]

9 hours ago, CaroleC said:

I believe Bologna is about 90km from Ravenna so there’s still the problem of getting there. I know there’s a train service but we don’t relish the idea of attempting it loaded up with baggage and I imagine the cost of a taxi would be quite expensive.

 

 

That’s correct to far and problematic with luggage for us to consider.

[Tin can]

11 hours ago, Saab4444 said:

You will be on Explorer not Voyager.

 

Your right, I have planned 18 months out how to get from Venice to Ravenna and then mix up which ship I'm actually on 😀😀

Edited March 6, 2022 by Tin can

[CaroleC]

16 hours ago, Norwich Cruiser said:

to far and problematic with luggage for us to consider.

Exactly my feelings! 😕