Hi,

In August (on the 24th) we have tickets booked for a room on the 8pm ferry from Split to Ancona. When we arrive in Ancona at 7am the next day, we're getting the train to Venice at probably 8.30am. This is enough time for customs and disembarking the ferry, or should we book a later train? Are the ferries usually on time or do they take a long time for people to disembark?

Thanks,
Sian

we found the ferry to be quick and easy. ours was on time... but have no idea of their performance on the whole. i'm sure there are very frequent trains to venice... just don't pay for a reservation ahead of time. you could take a train at noon and still get to venice in time to check in and enjoy the evening. we found the ferry to be surprisingly comfortable! lots of people slept sitting in chairs... but we were super happy to have a comfy room of our own.

There are tons of train connections on August 25th:

Ancona dp 7.43 - Bologna ar 10.21
Ancona dp 8.25 - Bologna ar 11.21
Ancona dp 8.36 - Bologna ar 11.00
Ancona dp 9.26 - Bologna ar 11.14

Bologna dp 10.55 - Venice ar 12.20
Bologna dp 11.10 - Venice ar 12.35
Bologna dp 11.56 - Venice ar 13.20

minimal transfer time at Bologna 15 min

I wouldn't book the trains in advance. Besides the fast trains with reserved seats and advance purchase discounts, there are frequent regional trains, which are very cheap and don't take a lot longer. These don't have reserved seats; just buy your ticket, stamp it in the machine near the track, and board the train. If there's a fast train leaving sooner, and the price is affordable, take that instead.

You'll almost always have to change trains, usually in Bologna.

"there are frequent regional trains, which are very cheap and don't take a lot longer"
For me, they take really longer:
Ancona dp 10.40 - Venezia SL ar 16.18 (Fare 27 EUR)
instead of
Ancona dp 9.26 - Venezia SL ar 13.20 (Fare 62 EUR)

Do you really want to loose the whole afternoon for only 356 EUR/pax?

35 EUR/pax, of course; sorry!

ONLY €35 per person?

How many persons?

Thank you all for the help and advice. I'll pass the info along to my family, as they're the ones sorting out travel details, but I'll let them know about reservations etc.

Thanks again!