All you seasoned travelers, I have a question about transportation from the port in Venice to the airport. I found a company, limo service, that beats the cruise line cost by a bunch, $50 total instead of $68/pp. The only difference I can see is we would have to struggle with luggage to the limo as opposed to the cruise line taking care of it.

My question is if we have a 11:30 a.m. flight and have to allow 2 hours at the airport, what time should I tell the limo service to be at the port? This would be on a Thursday so it borders on rush hour traffic. The limo service says it takes 25-30 minutes depending on traffic. Just wondering what other's experience has been.

Thanks in advance for your comments.

KarenM

If you take the cruise transport, don't you still have to find your bags and take them to the bus being used by the cruise? How is this different from if you go by taxi instead?

I'm not a fan of cruise provided transport. You have to wait until the bus is full before they leave.Then when you get to the airport, you have to wait until they unload all the bags from the bus, find yours and go check in.

I have never done the transport in Venice but as long as the taxi company is reliable I can't see why there would be any advantage to taking the cruise transportation.

The Venice Airport is VERY busy. They don't have the same check in setup either. You have to get in line and they inspect your bags and tag them while you are in line. If they weigh your bags and they are over, it's a $25. fee and most people are busy trying to repack in line. It's somewhat chaotic. Then you will need to clear security and x-ray. Also, you might need to return your VAT Refund tickets. That took us about 45 minutes. There is a booth by the door nad no one was there. They finally came. Once near the gate, we had to wait again in line at the cash exchange to get cash for our VAT, I bought a piece of jewelery in Florence that cuased that fiasco). Oh - the airport had some very cool duty free shops.

Two years ago our final port was Venice. I put my elderly parents on the cruise transfer because they had a mid-day flight back to London. Our flight was later in the day, but we still disembarked early as that is how RSSC works. We beat them to the airport taking a private taxi and the fare was very cheap. This is not the water taxi, but a taxicab.
Cheers, Pam

Thanks everyone. Then I think we will go with the private company. I made a mistake though, it's 50 Euros, not dollars, even so, it's still 1/2 the price of Crystal unless the dollar keeps tanking and it's not looking so good right now. I still don't know how much time to allow before we get to the airport. If we have a flight at 11:30, 2 hours for that, allow an hour to get to the airport? That would mean leaving the ship at 9:30. How does that sound?

Appreciate all your insight. Haven't done this before.

KarenM

Hi Karen,

Do you mean that you should disembark by 8:30? I guess it depends on what time the ship docks. Do you get there the night before or that morning?

Maria: Thank goodness we have sharp women like you on the board - I read that post and the 9:30 departure flew over MY head -

Joanna,

LOL!!!! I had first written "Oh, you'll have no problem with disembarking by 9:30" and then it hit me. Sometimes my brain actually functions ;) !

[QUOTE]Originally posted by cruiseluv:
[QB] Joanna,

LOL!!!! I had first written "Oh, you'll have no problem with disembarking by 9:30" and then it hit me. Sometimes my brain actually functions ;)

Your brain is VERY good Maria

Hi, just came back from Venice last Saturday. We were staying in a hotel in town with a flight departing at 11:30 (This is the Delta flight.) we were picked up by water taxi at 8:30 taken to the car park, then by car to the airport, had our bags checked and were on our way to the Gate by 10:00! Of course this was a Saturday so traffic may be different then a week day but it really was a breeze. All my VAT stuff was by credit card so only dropped the envelopes off in the box on the counter and no need to wait. The line did look to be moving awfully slow though. There's only one terminal and it really was much easier then say LAX or JFK. Of course becasue we were so early, the flight was delayed another 45 minutes, ain't that always the way?

Hi Ms Understood,

Was the car park the Piazzale Roma? Had you reserved the car that took you to the airport or was it just a regular taxi? I'm meeting my parents in Venice this summer and they are arriving by plane so they have all these questions about how to get to the hotel from the airport.

Were you in a cruise?

Thanks!

If your flight is at 11:30 then you should be at the airport around 9ish..meaning to leave the ship at 8 something ( at the Venice port you will have to retrieve your bags from inside the luggage area..that can also be a mess with everyone leaving and the limo/private transfer cars are usually parked right outside that area, so your guy can assist you.
I don't know who you booked with but highly recommend
Http://www.venice-limousine.com

for transfers in Venice.

Maria, I am sorry but I really don't know where it was except that it was near the train station. We took the train to Venice from Florence and got a water taxi outside the station to take us to our hotel. I assume that if we had exited the train station the other way we would have found regular taxis that could have taken us to the airport. we had arranged our transportation before we left home so a water taxi picked us up at our hotel and the car driver met us at the car park and drove us the rest of the way. It was all quite painless. Probably could have been arranged by the hotel if necessary. I am sure you can arrange ahead of time to put your parents at ease but they should not have any problem in any case. Venice was wonderful, most people spoke at least some English and everyone was quite helpful.

Ms Understood,

Thank you. I'm sure we'll figure it out :) !

Claudia, that's the company I'm talking about, Venice Limo. I must have bookmarked it awhile ago from someone's referral in LTC, might have been you. BTW, we arrive at the Venice port the afternoon before disembarking, so no problem there I don't think, just the luggage bit before we leave the ship.

The email I got from http://www.venice-limousine.com/ said 25-30 minutes to the airport depending on traffic.

Regarding the VAT tax, we had an experience in Scotland with that issue. We filled out the forms and did all the things needed. Six months later we got a check from the Royal Bank of Scotland in GBP and none of the local banks would cash it. So based on that, I think that routine is a waste of time. Maybe others were lucky, we sure weren't.

KarenM