We will be arriving by train and sailing from Venice on cruise ship so what area of Venice would you stay for a few days if you had a lot of luggage and needed transportation to get from train to hotel and to cruiseship.
I understand there are 2 cruiseship terminals depending of size of ship-ours is big one.
Also any recommendations of hotel and restaurants would be appreciated.

If you have a lot of luggage you need a hotel that has it's own dock, otherwise you will have to haul the luggage from wherever you land (by vaporetto, alliguna OR water taxi) to the hotel - possibly dragging it up and over several bridges. Your other choice is to determine exactly where your ship docks and get a hotel right there - meaning you only have to haul the luggage around once.

(I've come into Venice several times with a lot of luggage - for work and needing both work and vacation wardrobes - and hopping into a water taxi at the airport that goes directly to the hotel's dock - where the bellman deals with it - is by far the simplest way.)

Do you need ALL your luggage, or is it stuff that can actually be stored at the station until the last day? As for hotels, I've had some good experiences with a reliable site (relatives turned me onto it) that I keep recommending, just because of the quality of service and selection. It's always worth a look: http://www.italiancollection.com/en/venice/hotels.html

take the above advice and take a water taxi to a nice hotel.
Your hotel can advise you as to whether or not they have their own water entrance; many do. I'd get the heck away from the cruise area.
What do you want to spend on a hotel room for two per night?
and how many nights will you be in Venice?

My husband & I did this last year. We each had one large suitcase and one that fit in the overhead bin of planes. We stayed at the Hotel Al Ponte Mocenigo. It is very close to the San Stae vaparetto stop (right behind the church). There is even a back entrance so you do not have to go up and down stairs. We LOVED the hotel. It is a 2 star but in a wonderful location. It turned out that three other couples from our ship stayed there also. Sandro (one of the owners) suggested great restaurants and arranged for a water taxi to take us from the hotel (they have a water entrance)to the pier. So easy and best $30US we ever spent. Once we arrived at the pier, our luggage was wisked away to the ship and we were taken by minibus to the ship. Our lugguage was actually at our cabin door by the time we could get into our cabin.

Venice was a treat and I can't wait to go back.

We will probably stay at least 2 nights but our biggest concern is our luggage.Looking at something easy to get to .
The next easy walking distance ot St Marks.
We will be travelling with another couple so even a apt/vacation rental would work for us.

Been to Florence, anyone? We're doing a trans-Atlantic cruise April 2010. One day in Florence. We found a number of excursions listed but would like a recommendation. We'll spend considerable time in a tour bus, so we'd like a scenic ride as well as a walking tour of the city which we could do on our own.

May I suggest that you start a thread of your own travel4now as your situation is quite different than this thread. You will no doubt get some better responses with a new thread. I can't answer your question or I would as I have never taken a cruise to Italy and than had one day in Florence. Florence is a very walkable city however, that I can assure you. Perhaps you might even want to post your thread on the Cruise Forum here on Fodor's, that might bring you some good suggestions also. Best regards.

I'm new here. Good idea, thanks.

We've gone both ways in Venice...hauled the luggage and took a water taxi. Taxi is expensive... but worth it. We've stayed several times at the Hotel Metropole. They have a wonderful water entrance right into their lobby,,, I felt like an arriving Princess! The Metropole is on the Riva Schiavoni.. main drag along the grand canal that leads to San Marco, etc. There are several other hotels along the way. Recently we had planned to stay at the Metropole in Sept (but had to cancel the trip) and they were offering many specials. Don't know when you'll be traveling but it can't hurt to check it out.

Thanks for all the advice and suggestions.
We always like to come to this site before we make our decisions as there is always helpful people who have been there and done that before us.

Check out Al Ponte Antico -- they have a private wharf (they are right smack next to the Rialto bridge). It is run by the same folks who run the wildly successful Locanda Orseolo.

I second the suggestion about the Al Ponte Mocenigo!