Any updates on how turnaround itineraries are working in Venice?

[Vineyard View]

I/we continue to look at a 15 day itinerary with Venice as a turn around port. I am wondering, now that there are a few months of experience with the new arrangements, how this is all working?  How difficult and time consuming is it to transfer from the ship to the city?  I realize that time spent in Venice is better by actually staying pre or post, but I thought I would ask for any updated experiences. Thank you. 

[Peregrina651]

I'm also curious and hope that someone who has been in Venice recently can bring us up to date.

[Mrs Miggins]

It depends of course where you will be docked. Marghera or Chioggia ?

[bassethounddog]

I was on the Viking Sea July 18-27. The ship was docked in Fusina, which is a commercial port on the mainland from Venice. You cannot enter this port independently.  Viking was running a shuttle from the ship to the Venice Cruise Terminal at Stazione Marittima. Here are the instructions from the Viking Daily. 

[Peregrina651]

If the first shuttle was noon, what time did you dock at Fusina?

[bassethounddog]

6 minutes ago, Peregrina651 said:

If the first shuttle was noon, what time did you dock at Fusina?

I am guessing the ship arrived by 7 am. It was the turnaround time… prior cruise  passengers off and new ones on. I arrived two days early to enjoy Venice and then boarded the ship on the 18th. It was approx 20 minute bus ride from cruise terminal (check in) to the ship. I did not use the shuttle to return to Venice in the afternoon. Not much going on at the cruise terminal these days, so it may be difficult to get a water taxi from there to San Marco. Piazzale Roma is close by. You can get the #1 Vaperetto from there. 

[Squawkman]

1 hour ago, Peregrina651 said:

If the first shuttle was noon, what time did you dock at Fusina?

We’ll be there in early October. According to our booking document, we dock in Fusina at noon,

[Vineyard View]

Well, not ideal but thank you for sharing. While i can understand that on a turn around, there will be passengers leaving, I think that docking early AM and then being kept on the ship for 5 hours is the most concerning. The itinerary I have been attracted to is Italy, The Adriatic, and Greece which is actually a B2B.  The first segment will  arrive in Venice,  but will then have an overnight. The following morning the passengers would depart, followed by new passengers arriving that afternoon, again with an overnight. So maybe that first day will be different, but that middle day might be chaotic. Third day would have no new pax and an early evening departure.  I wonder how that all truly rolls. I will have to think about this for a bit. Being unable to get onto shuttles, in either direction, for the full day at your discretion might be a bit frustrating. I have tried to locate roll calls for this itinerary but they are not recent. I appreciate the feedback. 

[Peregrina651]

32 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

So maybe that first day will be different, but that middle day might be chaotic.

 

While not in Venice, I've been on board twice now on turn-around days, once as a continuing passenger and once as an arriving passenger. To be honest, chaotic is the last word I would use to describe the day.

 

We were in Civittavecchia both times. As a continuing passengers, there were shorex available for us (but not for the embarking passengers). It was like any other day with folks heading out for the day, the only difference was that some of us were boarding buses for tours and others were boarding buses for the airport. I don't remember it being any more hectic than any other port day -- just a constant stream of disembarking passengers heading to buses and private cars.

 

As arriving passengers, we had to wait for the steady flow of disembarking pax to cease before we were able to check in and  board. That was around 10 am.

[Vineyard View]

Thank you Peregrina. I appreciate this information. We have sailed on Viking B2B (not turn around) and experienced similar to what you are sharing. I wasn’t clear that what I meant by that statement that if on that middle day, we were not allowed to take shuttles to Venice (and you cannot simply walk off the ship and explore)  until noon, that it could get chaotic (there is likely a much better adjective) waiting for that to occur and then getting on the shuttles without long wait times. Later that day, once in Venice, returning in the mix with new passengers, depending on your return time, or getting to the last shuttle by 8:30) could get quite busy waiting for shuttles. I think I am just trying to visualize with the uniqueness of Venice, what that whole experience would look and be like on a turn around in that port. How much quality time you would actually have in Venice with all this, and if the last shuttle is at 8:30. I know from experience that Viking is a class act, and works hard for their passengers, but the Venice rules are out of their hands and just being worked through. Yes, there would be way more quality time than if they docked in Vienna or Trieste as others do, but what does that look like?