Viking Venice

[eddieg07410]

We have a Fall cruise set up for the Mediterran in October. One of the key features of thiS cruise is that we will spend multiple days in Venice. But recently I read a horrible review of their Viking experience in Venice and wanted to get more opinions before making a final decision. We have only two weeks to decide if we want to cancel this cruise.

[jc522]

We were concerned about the Venice-Chioggia part of the itinerary, too. So far it has been the highlight of our cruise. The boat will dock in Chioggia. Spend a day in Venice via a 1:20min water taxi ride. Then spend a day and especially an evening in Chioggia. You'll probably want to go back to Chioggia for another half day before the ship departs. You won't be disappointed.

Edited March 20, 2023 by jc522

[CCWineLover]

You should check out the thread that jc522 started.   There is a lot of good information on the Venice situation.  I am finding it very valuable as we will also be doing 3 days in Venice next February.

 

[photopro2]

I think it's fair to say that it is no longer ideal to visit Venice as part of a cruise, if it ever was?

 

The local authorities have imposed restrictions, which apply to all cruise lines, forcing them to berth a considerable distance from the city.

 

The solution Viking have adopted so far is to dock at the small town of Chioggia which, though some distance away, is still within the Venetian lagoon. This allows them the option of running excursions using tour boats rather than buses to transport groups into the city.

 

IMO this is a more pleasant form of transport and we thoroughly enjoyed our journey from the ship into the city, with the benefit of seeing the villages and day-to-day life of the lagoon along the way. That said we only had a few hours in Venice itself and considered it just a taster for a future visit.

 

The small town of Chioggia looked to be pleasant and interesting in its own right although, in our case with only a day and a half in the area, we did not have chance to explore it even though it was just a short walk from the ship.

Edited March 20, 2023 by photopro2
Removed a statement of the obvious :)

[longterm]

5 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

You should check out the thread that jc522 started.   There is a lot of good information on the Venice situation.  I am finding it very valuable as we will also be doing 3 days in Venice next February.

 

Despite some who seem to look for negatives everywhere in a cruise, I’d recommend you go for it and expect a great time. We were there exactly a year ago, docked at Marghera (an ugly chemical plant), and had a wonderful time—but that’s because we accepted the docking situation and rolled with it. Sure, it would have been nice if we didn’t have the commute back and forth, but it didn’t diminish our enjoyment of the legendary city. 
 

Our bus into the city was only an hour, but even had it been farther we would have enjoyed our time there. 
 

We’re already considering doing the Adriatic, Italy and Greece cruise again, in fact. 

[longterm]

13 minutes ago, photopro2 said:

I think it's fair to say that it is no longer ideal to visit Venice as part of a cruise, if it ever was?

 

The local authorities have imposed restrictions, which apply to all cruise lines, forcing them to berth a considerable distance from the city.

 

The solution Viking have adopted so far is to dock at the small town of Chioggia which, though some distance away, is still within the Venetian lagoon. This allows them the option of running excursions using tour boats rather than buses to transport groups into the city.

 

IMO this is a more pleasant form of transport and we thoroughly enjoyed our journey from the ship into the city, with the benefit of seeing the villages and day-to-day life of the lagoon along the way. That said we only had a few hours in Venice itself and considered it just a taster for a future visit.

 

The small town of Chioggia looked to be pleasant and interesting in its own right although, in our case with only a day and a half in the area, we did not have chance to explore it even though it was just a short walk from the ship.

 

Only you can decide if Vikings arrangements are acceptable for you.

Our sentiments exactly. Our plan is to take a train trip, which will include Venice, and stay in the city in a hotel for a few days. 
 

We love Viking cruises and have 3 booked right now, but with short times in many cities, you really only get an intro to the destination, rather than an immersive experience. If we really love a city, like Rome, Paris, London, Athens, or Venice, we return for longer stays. A day and a half in Venice is just a tease, but it worked—we plan to return and stay a while. 

[PasadenaDave]

I would echo longterm.  We also docked at Maghera last May at the end of our cruise.  We also did a few days post cruise in Venice.

 

I have concluded that Venice is a place to be properly visited by staying on one of the islands and not part of a cruise.  This is not to say that you should not take a cruise which concludes in Venice, we did and we would again and this time spend even more time in Venice.

 

Now I will point out that if the water taxi takes 1 hour 20 minutes to St Marks from Chioggia then that really isn't that much different when considering an entire day than transit to St Marks from the Venice Cruise Terminal.  Given the time spent ship to water bus, wait to depart and travel to destination the shorter trip would probably be 45 minutes.  Yes a ship in Venice allows for one to return to the ship during the day and then back out for the evening but given the requirements facing cruises, Chioggia is probably the best option of any other cruise lines except for very small ships which are still allowed in Venice

[Vagabond51]

We will be docked in Venice for two and a half days in mid May as part of our Istanbul Barcelona cruise. We have been to Rome and Florence, but not Venice. Folks we have known over the years have been pretty consistent in their beliefs Venice was extremely overcrowded and extremely expensive, BUT, a must do if you have not been there. Just two much history, culture and especially art to not take it in, IF those items are important to you. We were a bit "annoyed' that we did not have a guaranteed firm excursion for the second day, what is known I guess as a b2b day in cruise lingo. We have, and still are, following all the Venice threads related to the new docking situation there. What we have decided to do is overnight in a hotel the second night. We bought the Venice on your own excursion on day 3, which means we need to be at the depart dock at about 2pm day 3. It was very attractive option to stay in Venice after everyone leaves night 2, have a nice stroll, dinner and yet to be decided gondola ride. Most important to us, we get to see art that is not offered directly by Viking. We contracted with a transport company to get us into the train station by car at 7:30 am day 2. Its about a 75 minute drive and almost twice the cost as a public taxi. There may be a Venice on your own excursion provided by Viking that morning, but my money says you wont touch the dock near St Marks before 11am. We can see alot in two hours, even if its just the Grand Canal from the train station to St. Marks. It looks like you have plenty of time, and I'm sure there will be many more Venice cruise reports before you depart. I hope our thinking helps. It's Venice. There is only one. Probably one of the top 6 significant cities that comprises Western civilization. I'm told by people whose opinions I hold dear the art of Florence is better, but that debate has been going on for 500 years. Hope this helps your plans.

Edited March 20, 2023 by Vagabond51

[lackcreativity]

9 minutes ago, Vagabond51 said:

 It's Venice. There is only one. Probably one of the top 6 significant cities that comprises Western civilization. I'm told by people whose opinions I hold dear the art of Florence is better, but that debate has been going on for 500 years. Hope this helps your plans.

We are untrained but appreciative of art in its many forms. After three visits to Venice by land, I would say that the city itself is a work of art. I believe that I could spend an entire day there without setting foot in a building (oops, bathroom breaks don't count) and say I had a wonderful day!

[Jim Avery]

Agree that Venice is a must see.  You are smart to stay in a hotel there as Venice transforms in the evening after all the bus, train, and yes us cruiser day trippers leave.  And take the overpriced gondola ride.  You won't regret it and no matter how many times you return to Venice you probably will only take the gondola once.🍸

[CCWineLover]

28 minutes ago, Vagabond51 said:

We will be docked in Venice for two and a half days in mid May as part of our Istanbul Barcelona cruise. We have been to Rome and Florence, but not Venice. Folks we have known over the years have been pretty consistent in their beliefs Venice was extremely overcrowded and extremely expensive, BUT, a must do if you have not been there. Just two much history, culture and especially art to not take it in, IF those items are important to you. We were a bit "annoyed' that we did not have a guaranteed firm excursion for the second day, what is known I guess as a b2b day in cruise lingo. We have, and still are, following all the Venice threads related to the new docking situation there. What we have decided to do is overnight in a hotel the second night. We bought the Venice on your own excursion on day 3, which means we need to be at the depart dock at about 2pm day 3. It was very attractive option to stay in Venice after everyone leaves night 2, have a nice stroll, dinner and yet to be decided gondola ride. Most important to us, we get to see art that is not offered directly by Viking. We contracted with a transport company to get us into the train station by car at 7:30 am day 2. Its about a 75 minute drive and almost twice the cost as a public taxi. There may be a Venice on your own excursion provided by Viking that morning, but my money says you wont touch the dock near St Marks before 11am. We can see alot in two hours, even if its just the Grand Canal from the train station to St. Marks. It looks like you have plenty of time, and I'm sure there will be many more Venice cruise reports before you depart. I hope our thinking helps. It's Venice. There is only one. Probably one of the top 6 significant cities that comprises Western civilization. I'm told by people whose opinions I hold dear the art of Florence is better, but that debate has been going on for 500 years. Hope this helps your plans.

Fantastic plans!  We are doing this same 3 day B2B stayover in Venice next February, so please keep us updated on our your plans work out!  What hotel, gondola, museums, restaurants, and more.  Sounds like it would be well worth it.

[PasadenaDave]

21 minutes ago, Jim Avery said:

Agree that Venice is a must see.  You are smart to stay in a hotel there as Venice transforms in the evening after all the bus, train, and yes us cruiser day trippers leave.  And take the overpriced gondola ride.  You won't regret it and no matter how many times you return to Venice you probably will only take the gondola once.🍸

I equate the overpriced gondola ride to sitting next to the stage at Moulin Rouge....AMAZING.  I have to add that we had the bonus to to on the musicians gondola so it was just the two of us.  I think we were in many videos posted on Instagram based on the number of cameras aimed at our boat

[DrKoob]

We did 21 nights on Sky last September/October. This is probably what you are considering. When we docked in Chioggia we took the shuttle boat into the city with a single carry-on type bag and spend the next two nights at a small B&B. Then we took a taxi back from the train station in Venice to Chioggia. I blogged the entire thing with all our arrangements here: https://jktravelredmond.com/2022/09/13/venice-day-1-we-get-there/ 

if you decide to do this and have any other questions, feel free to ask.Yes, it was more expensive, yes it was a bit of a pain but YES, we would do it again. We love Venice and the photography I got at the blue and golden hour our two days in Venice was astounding (you will see it in my blog).