August Cruise/Trip to Italy

I'd call that a fast-paced trip, especially if you won't be spending much time in Venice before the cruise. Just one partial and one full day in Rome isn't much. The train between them takes four hours (wave hello to Florence on the way). I know RS and many others like the Cinque Terre, but if this were my trip I'd split that time between Venice and Rome. Are all five villages must-sees for you?

Maybe you've researched homebound flight options, but if not you might consider "open jaw" (multi-city) routing into Venice and homeward from Rome or Milan, or a smaller airport closer to CT. That could save time.

That's about my pace, if not faster, and many on this forum would say that's a pretty good clip. Can you not fly out of Rome? When I went to Italy, Rome had the least expensive airline tickets for where I live, by far.

Venice requires three nights not two. This is a lagoon that you want to get lost on. You also want to take a water taxi from the train station to or beyond San Marcos square (or vice vs.) at twilight. The more time you have the more you’ll enjoy your time there. Seeing the Grand Canal illuminated as dusk sweeps in is not only romantic but will take you back in time which is a very unique experience while your mental walls float away.
I suggest deciding between seeing Rome or the Cinque Terre. I vote for the Cinque Terre because it’s closer to Venice and see Rome another time when you can also include Florence and Siena (Tuscany).
Instead of flying home from Venice, what about flying home from Milan? There’s a direct flight to New York.

I hope you are flying into Venice a day or 2 (or 3) before boarding your cruise. You don't say where you are coming from, but assuming North America, it would be a shame to start your cruise jet lagged. Or God forbid your flight is delayed and you miss the boat. Or your luggage goes astray and you only have your carry ons.

You are giving extremely short shrift to both Venice and Rome. And I wonder how well you tolerate heat. Because that's what you'll have (plus big crowds) in the CT. With only a week, I'd leave the CT for another trip and concentrate on just Venice and Rome. And please look into a multicity ticket into Venice and out of Rome (or a city closer to the CT if you go there), instead of a RT Venice. You can save an entire day's travelling; time you could spend sightseeing.

Thx for the suggestions. CT is not a must for us so we would have no problem sticking to Venice and Rome, then flying home from Rome. We are from Florida so we can handle the heat, Any way to get a rough guess on the cost of a week in Italy.

Hi tjfellure and welcome to the forum!

i'm going to agree with most of the others that 3 locations in 6 days is not at all "slow paced." Understand that the transfer process always eats more time than first-timers think it will, as does getting acclimated to new location. My bare minimum recommendation for new travelers to Rome is 4 nights/3.5 days JUST to scratch the surface. Don't want to feel pressured? That extra time becomes especially important, and even MORE important if dealing with the brutal summer heat. There are also many other wonderful thing to see in Rome beside the two most-visited and most crowded of them (Colosseum and Vatican Museums/St Peter's). Same for Venice.

So, I'll strongly agree with the suggestion to concentrate on Venice and Rome this time, and to fly out of Rome instead of backtracking to Venice. :O)

Editing to add: Oops, you were posting as I was typing, tjfellure, so looks like you're willing to scrap the CT this time around. About the heat? It's more than just heat itself, it's that + the dense crowds that can really wear you down!

OP, replying to your second posts- it's impossible to know what your costs might be without knowing the type of accommodation you prefer or the style of dining you like. Or what you want to see and do- ticket prices, local transportation, etc.

However, you can go to the trenitalia English website for estimates on train costs. Remember that you need to use the Italian place names; eg: Roma and Venezia.

Booking.com is a good place to start for hotels. There are multiple filters to help narrow down your choices. As for food, DH and I ballpark costs by taking what we would spend on a similar North American trip and change it from dollars to Euros.

Attraction entrance fees can be found online, as can taxi/Uber estimates. In Venice, you'll be using the vaporettos. Get the day or multi-day pass, especially if you want to visit any of the other islands.

Sounds wonderful! Congrats! We have our 45th anniversary in Sept and doing a similar 10 day cruise (E. Med) mid Oct roundtrip Venice. Hoping to do a wk prior touring In Tuscany with Siena as base. Not booked that yet.
Your trip will be awesome but you truly are packing in a lot for a wk after cruise! Your days in Rome will be very tiring and hot! I agree with previous posts...maybe more time needed in Venice and Rome?....You will likely need some time to rest and recover! I too find cruising somewhat more relaxing and choose to do it “after” all our land sightseeing. I loved Cinque Terre ...but could you add on a couple days to the larger cities? Also we do plan to fly open jaw. Doing this lessen your travel in going to Venice? If you hoped to go slow paced and without pressure as you say, I would reconsider. Love your enthusiasm and hope not to discourage you!