Venice: Train and ship connections inside the city
 

After an overnight flight, my wife and I will arrive at VENICE Marco Polo Airport about 11 AM Venice time and will be staying at the Hotel Antiche Figure (S. Croce, 686 - Fond. S. Simeone, Santa Croce, Venice, 30135).

My thought was to take the ATVO coach bus from Marco Polo to Piazzale Roma. Weather and fatigue permitting, we would walk for 10 minutes with our wheeled luggage over two bridges the ~1/3 of a mile to the Hotel.

(1) My worry is that weather or fatigue might make walking a problem. What alternatives for such a short journey? We are about 70 years of age and far from feeble, but forethought is always good.

(2) After a few days elsewhere, we will be coming back to the VENICE S. Lucia station in the early afternoon and need to board a ship at to Stazione Marittima #107 around 2 PM. Again it's not very far. Is walking with wheeled luggage best?

Be aware that the bridge has steps, therefore you cannot roll your bag. I was not aware of this. We did walk to the cruise ship terminal with our bags via the bridge again. Not sure if it will be the same terminal, but it is not a bad walk. We were staying near the train station.

No - having someone haul your luggage for you is best.

Sorry - can;t help with specifics in term of possible vaporetto use. We always get a hotel with a private dock and then get a water taxi from the airport or Piazzale Roma. So the boatman and the hotel bellman deal with the luggage. (And we in our 50s - but I gave up being pack mule woman a long time ago.) don;t get me wrong - we walk all over Venice - just not hauling luggage.

I would look at a map with for the vaporetto and figure out exactly where your boat will be berthed (Venice has several different places where cruise boats dock)>

I assume you've looked at the directions on the hotel website? http://www.hotelantichefigure.it/en/.../location.html.

Personally I prefer to use the Alilaguna boat from the airport instead of the land bus, but since you are staying near Piazzale Roma that doesn't make sense for you. As the hotel website says, the walk isn't that long and only involves 2 bridges (and it's all flat!). However, since you will have had an overnight flight and are not young (forgive me - but neither am I!), you may think it worthwhile to fork out for a watertaxi if it is within your budget. It's cheaper if you book it in advance via http://www.venicelink.com/index.php?...hk=1&Itemid=43. You don't say when you are travelling but you'll see that the advance booking rate is E95, but that is likely to drop a bit as we head into winter (it was certainly down to E85 early this year). *But* if you are considering doing this, first check with the hotel where you'd get dropped off - if they have their own private water entrance/jetty which water taxis will use, or if not where is the nearest point a water taxi will drop you off (they won't & can't stop just anywhere by a canal).

Side note - the land buses go from directly outside the airport terminal whereas the Alilaguna boats and the water taxis are a 10 minute walk away; but it is a level, covered walkway & there are trolleys (for each of which you need a E1 coin).

Re getting from the railway station to the cruise terminal. There are various different official entrances to the restricted port area (and as with any port, as I'm sure you know, you can't just make your own way direct to the ship). Piazzale Roma is certainly the closest of the various options to the station - has your cruise company advised you there'll be a shuttle from Piazzale Roma? Assuming it is Piazzale Roma you are supposed to use, the question is, will you feel like hauling your bags over the fairly high Calatrava bridge between the station and PR? If not you may prefer to fork our E7 each for a tourist single for the one stop on the vaporetto between Ferrovia and PR (line 1 or - better as nearer PR - 2).

Here's the official Venice cruise port map, in case it adds anything to what you already know - http://www.vtp.it/terminal/crociere.jsp. But since entry to the port area is restricted, your particular berth doesn't matter much - and you may find, as my PILs did when they visited, that it changes (their ship was supposed to use 20 but used 123 instead).

P.S. If you do walk and might be tempted by anyone offering to carry your bags, be aware that a) official porters are almost non-existent and their rates are extortionate, and b) there are frequent reports in the local paper of abusive unlicensed porters - beware!

(2) After a few days elsewhere, we will be coming back to the VENICE S. Lucia station in the early afternoon and need to board a ship at to Stazione Marittima #107 around 2 PM. Again it's not very far. Is walking with wheeled luggage best?

It's one vaporetto stop from St. Lucia to P.le Roma - are you going with Norwegian? If yes, they run free shuttles from P.le Roma to the cruise ship. If another cruise line, ask if they run free shuttles. If not, I'd take a land taxi to the ship.

Are you coming back to Venice after the cruise? The best photos are taken when coming back.

Re "The best photos are taken when coming back". Sorry, Dayenu, it makes no difference as the cruise ship route is exactly the same in & out. The only thing that would make a difference is which side of the ship you are on: the views of San Marco etc are from the starboard side coming in & port side going out, so I surmise you were on the starboard side both ways.

Caroline, our ship had different routes. Leaving, we just went out to sea. Coming back, we moved in through one of the canals... no, not the Grand Canal :D

Your cruise ship, if small enough, probably went down the Giudecca canal.

The other possible difference in going and coming is the time of day. We departed in the late afternoon and returned in the early morning so the light was very different.

If you are leaving out of the train station area to your cruises ship terminal, you can check your bags right there in the train station. then they transport them to the ship. There will be areas set up for this. You can't miss it. I didn't even know about the check-ins, but I saw them the day we were leaving for the ship.

Dayenu, normally, all cruise ships use the Giudecca Canal both in & out. (One suggestion which has been made to mitigate the damage caused is to operate a one-way system, but I think any change will be a long way off.) The only thing I can think of is that maybe you left during the Redentore weekend when the Giudecca Canal was closed?