Cruise ships in Venice

What time of day do you arrive? If its early morning, then yes, by the time you get to Venice it will be teeming with cruisers. A van or a bus will only get you as far as Piazzale Roma. The train only gets you to the train station. From there you would have to take either a vaporetto (likely full of cruisers), or a private water taxi (pricey) to the S. Zaccaria stop.

Or you could take the Allilaguna boat or a water taxi (private or shared) all the way from the airport to S. Zaccaria.

When you arrive at train station just walk outside and catch the vaporetto #1
-you should have no problem.

Commandeer one of the ship life boats and drive yourself?...... it may not seem such a crazy idea when you get there. :-)

good luck and have a spritz for me.

Vaporetto is the best bet in my opinion. Walk out of the train station buy your pass and go. Be sure to remove you backpack before boarding!! The locals will yell at you if you don't, plus it is just more considerate of others in a PACKED boat!!!

From Piazzale Roma (or Ferrovia), you take the No 2, or the No 4.1, or the No 5.1 vaporettos to San Zaccaria. These don't go down the Grand Canal but make an end around to the south on the Giudecca Canal. They will actually get you there faster than the No 1 boat and should be less crowded and you will get an eye full of those 5 cruise ships in port. Just make sure get on the one going the right direction. The No 2 will say destination "San Zaccaria" on it. The 4.1 and 5.1 will always go that direction

Where did you find the cruise ship schedule? We'll be there in October.

I think this link should work for the port in Venice.

http://crew-center.com/venice-italy-cruise-port-schedule-august-december-2018

Thanks for the cruise port link. Hooray! No cruise ships will be in Venice on the dates I will be there.

Whoa, some of those dates on the cruise ship Venice schedule have 8 ships docked on the same date! I can’t imagine how awful this would be for everyone, especially the residents!

There are usually many cruise ships in Venice. We had that many on our last cruise there and still loved the city.

Did you consider rebooking at a hotel away from the most congested area of Venice? The area around St. Marks Sq where you will need to navigate to get to your hotel could be overwhelmed with people depending on the time of day you arrive. From 10 am on it will be a zoo until maybe 5 pm. When we were there this April, we toured St. Marks Square late morning until early afternoon and it was so crowded to be unpleasant. They even installed barriers to control the crowds! I booked us into the Hotel al Ponte Mocenigo just steps away from the San Stae vaporetto stop on the Grand Canal. It was quiet and lovely. Whenever we wanted to retreat from the crowds, we'd walk the back streets and canals enjoying the lovely Campos and cafes in the area around our hotel. If you arrive by plane or train, the San Stae stop is closer to the train station and on the Alilaguna boat line stop from the airport. What you read about Venice and the cruise ship crowds are true. If you replan, you can save yourself the worry of battling people to get to your hotel, and both ways---arrival and departure!