Ashore in Venice

[sunseeker]

Can anyone advise me please? I have read several bits on various forums about the difficulties in going ashore in Venice whilst on a flycruise. I guess I just need some clarification please on the process of getting ashore. Do I gather we have to buy tender tickets on board? How much? Where do the tenders take you to? Has anyone here been, and so can tell me what the queues are like ( awful I suppose!)? Any advice? Don't really want to do a P&O trip as none really appeal and we would rather 'do our own thing'. Sorry for all the questions, but I am sure someone out there can help! Thanks

[jay-ell71]

Walk to the People Mover. €1.30 will buy a ticket. It takes one minute on the PM train. It stops at the Piazzale Roma. All the vaporetta leave from there. Enjoy your day in Venice.

[Boris+]

Hi,

We were in Venice last year - we saw queues for the tenders, and were more than happy to walk. We didn't use the people mover, and had a glorious walk through the city - using a map which we got in the shop onboard the ship.

We most definitely saw things which people on tours wouldn't have seen, but also saw the Rialto, Bridge of Sighs, St Marc's Square, St Marc's itself, the Doges Palace and numerous small squares and a wide variety of different shops and street vendors.

At the end of our walk we got the tender back to the ship, which we boarded at Monumento (a little way past the viewing point for the Bridge of Sighs). Going up and down all the little bridges was not taxing at all, and was a lovely way to round off our day. From the tender disembarkation point to the ship was a short walk. Our total walk was about 5 miles (tracked and recorded on Sportstracker.com on our mobile phones). The Sportstracker app is great because usually you can go back into your account online and see the streetview of where you have been.

I don't think we will go back to Venice, but if we did we would like to go out to one of the islands - but our walk was lovely.

Em

[sunseeker]

Many thanks guys.
Did you have to buy the return tender ticket on board before you went, or did you buy it at the tender?

[david63]

One point - don't forget your passport when going ashore in Venice as you will need it to get back through security. It isn't always made clear on board and yes we all know that we are in the EU.

[Boris+]

When we decided to take the tender to return to the ship we simply headed in the direction of the 'pick up point' saw it and would have joined a queue but there wasn't one. The crew just made a note of our stateroom etc and inspected our cruise cards, we 'signed' on the sheet and boarded the tender - it was a Cunard ship, but possibly P&O do much the same thing. We were advised of where the pick-up point was before we left the ship that morning, and just marked it clearly on our map.

Last year we were told (again this is Cunard and not P&O) that we had to take our cruise cards ashore with us as usual, and then either a passport or a UK driving licence/card. Knowing how full these crowded tourist destinations can be and have potential pick-pocketing gangs, we opted to leave our passports in the safe and use the DVLA cards. They worked fine both on and off the ship - and for us the security bit was quite strict because of the rioting protestors who later on blockaded the port. Even so, the combination of cruise cards and DVLA cards worked absolutely fine.

Please don't forget to try and find an old fashioned ice cream shop in a quiet side street - you'll be amazed at the variety available and good value for money - enjoy!!

Em

[sunseeker]

I'm liking the idea of ice cream!

[Boris+]

We were on foot heading for the tender back to the ship, and en route from St Marcs Square to Monumento (for the tender) we went over the bridge which is a viewing point for the Bridge of Sighs. Then we spotted a little side street to the left, and followed it and enjoyed looking in the little shops. After a short while on our right hand side there was a little old fashioned ice cream shop, and ordered what we wanted (in Italian), and the chap who served us was kind and helpful and gave us double scoops for half price! I think one of us had peach and the other one had banana and vanilla - and boy was it delicious! The establishment was very clean and the attention to cleanliness and hygiene was very good too - if we went back to Venice I would most definitely return to that little shop.

Em

[Dancing Queen]

Italian ice cream is to die for

We found a lovely ice cream shop on the walk down the avenue to the lido, for anyone who doesn't know the lido is the beach area ( as you would expect ) probably not high on anyone's list to visit when in Venice but we had 2 days there so spent the first day hopping on/off the vaporetto and seeing as much as we possibly could, the second day we concentrated on all the usual tourist spots.

[Manoverboard]

We purchased our return ticket for the P&O shuttle boat on board the ship, in reception, Adonia in our case ...

I have added a link to the people mover to assist finding it etc ... the first four pics in my Gallery;

http://www.cruise-community.me.uk/galle ... lbum_id=39

View them in reverse order.

[sunseeker]

Thank you very much one and all...all helpful. I have noted down the ice cream place as a 'must do'!!

[wolfie]

"We were in Venice last year - we saw queues for the tenders, and were more than happy to walk."

................on water? I'm impressed, Boris!

[Boris+]

Ha Ha Wolfie -

Very funny. I like your sense of humour. No, we did a trek which took us from the ship past the station for the people mover and then just kept heading towards our first place of interest - which was the Rialto Bridge via the University Bridge. It was most certainly a walk full of twist and turns, ups and downs over loads of little bridges, and a huge number of photo opportunities away from the tourist crowds.

Looking back, it wasn't too bad for our knees - we had thought that maybe we would regret the walk because of all the bridges - but it was so enjoyable. We recorded the walk (as we usually do when we go walk about) using a Sports Tracker app on my mobile phone, so that we can see exactly where we have been, how long it took and the distance covered. Usually I can log in on the ST website and enjoy the streetview facility for a walk, but I believe that central Venice wasn't covered by streetview when we were there. Nevermind, we still have the record of where we walked.

Em

[wolfie]

So, you tendered and then walked, all is now as clear as mud. Oh well!

[Boris+]

Sorry Wolfie,

If I have misled you I'm sorry - we left the ship and walked through Venice on our route which included the University Bridge, Rialto, St M's Square, Bridge of Sighs to Monumento and then afterwards took the tender back to the ship.

We liked what we did - it's not everyone's cup of tea - but we were content with what we did, and after the walk we had the lovely if bumpy ride in the little boat back to the ship. The boat in question most certainly wasn't a ship's tender though - it might have been a sort of charter waterbus (not doing a daily schedule per se). From the quayside we had to walk up a ramp and then down steps into the little boat, in which the walkway between the seats was quite a bit lower than the seats. The little boat took us back to a point inbetween the quayside buildings and the people mover station.

Have a good weekend.

Em

[wolfie]

You should have been a politician Boris, they never answer a direct question; oops, maybe you are
To tender or not to tender, that IS the question

[Boris+]

Hi Wolfie,

Surely, given the title of this thread surely a quote relating to Senior Antonio would have been more appropriate, as is 'Snr Antonio, many a time and often on the Rialto ......' .

Anyway - you queried whether we had tendered in and walked back or vice versa, and I clearly stated (and not for the first time) that we walked past where the little boats were going from and decided to carry on walking, and we didn't use the people mover either. We walked in (and hither and thither on our way), and got the little boat back to the ship from Monumento. That is nothing to do with a politician answering a question - it is a statement of what we actually did, and we have a record of what we did and where we went by virtue of Sports Tracker.

What I didn't mention was the immense and bustling crowd, the virtual rugby scrum situation on the Rialto, and when we got down to the little bridge where there is a good view point of the Bridge of Sighs - well the walking excursion groups from the huge MSC ship which was also in town that day were pushy and very inconsiderate.

The ice cream however was still yummy.

Em

[wolfie]

Hi Wolfie,

Surely, given the title of this thread surely a quote relating to Senior Antonio would have been more appropriate, as is 'Snr Antonio, many a time and often on the Rialto ......' .


Em

"............still have I borne it with a patient shrug", Boris. (Shylock, M of V) Hope it's not a personal comparison.

[BrianI]

I have not seen ships tenders being used in Venice. What happens is that the the cruise line (P&O) charters a number of water buses (vaporettos) to operate a shuttle from the ship to near St Marks. The cost is around £16 maybe more now. They do not go down the Grand Canal. A better option is to purchase a 12hour ticket for travel anywhere in Venice on the public vaporettos which costs €18.

Toms Port Guides has an incredibly detailed guide on Venice (and other ports)
http://www.tomsportguides.com/portguides.html
Brian

[Boris+]

Wolfie - in a word - 'superbamundo'.

Em