Help with Itinerary please!!

Virtopia,

Sunday, I'll arrive in Rome early in the morning. Then, on Wednesday,
I'll take train from Rome to Venice, with a tour stop in Florence. On
Friday, I embark on my cruise in Venice for 10 nights. On Monday, I'll
disembark cruise and take the train to Milan, where then on Wednesday,
I'll fly back home.

I'm a bit confused by your statement above.

As I understand it, you will be spending 1-2 nights in Venice before your cruise, correct?

I'd spend one more night in Venice (after your cruise), or you could take train to Padua or Verona for an overnight before heading to Milan (only if you are flying home from Milan)

Will you be flying home from Milan or Venice? I'd suggest you spend the last night before your flight in the city you will be flying out of.

IMO, Milan is too far (2.5 hours each way, via direct fast train) for a day trip.

Enjoy your trip!

When I fly home from Milan, I spend my last night there. I would be uncomfortable staying elsewhere and having a long trip to the airport. It will take you about an hour from central Milan to get to the airport by bus or train. Milan has some worthy sights - the Duomo (especially wandering on the roof), La Scala, Sforza Castle and museums, and of course the Last Supper, if you can get a ticket. As Priscilla said, it's too far for a day trip.

Most cruises disembark early in the morning. That gives you most of Monday and all day Tuesday in Milan. The train route from Venice goes through Verona. If you don't want to spend that much time in Milan, you could take the train to Verona, store your luggage in the train station, spend the day sightseeing (Verona has a lot of interesting sights), then get to Milan on Monday evening.

Your itinerary doesn't sound too overtaxing.

Spend 2 nights in Florence on your way from Rome to Venice to join the ship.
Stay on in Venice for 2 nights after the cruise, before flying home.

Day 1 - Sunday - Arrive Rome - 3nts
Day 4 - Wednesday - Train to Florence - 2nts
Day 6 - Friday - Train to Venice to board ship. Cruise from Venice for 10 nights
Day 16 - Monday - Disembark in Venice - 2nts
Day 18 - Wednesday - Fly home from Venice

So, I'll be spending 3 nights in Rome. Florence would just be a day stop, so I'd be leaving Rome early, storing my luggage at the train station in Florence and then taking an evening train to Venice Wednesday night. Venice would be all day Thursday and then Friday morning before embarking for the cruise.

With my current itinerary, I'm flying home from Milan. I haven't booked the flight yet because I keep going back and forth about what to do, but I want to have the flight booked by the end of the month as pieces are creeping up. I'm glad it can be done as I don't really want to cut out Milan but want to make sure I'm not doing too much at once.

Do you have to fly out of Milan? You can fly out of Venice, although most flights leave very early AM, it depends where you are going. You could get an afternoon flight out.

I would spend the rest of my time in Venice, less traveling to a different city and hotel, and Venice has so much to see! You can always day trip to the islands, too.

The reason why I want to fly out of Milan is because the flight leaves in the afternoon, and my two night hotel stay was heavily covered by points, so I only paid $100 for 2 nights. I'm in Toronto, so all the Venice flights I've seen are early in the morning. At least in Milan, I wouldn't have to rush in the morning.

It looks like you don't need help then, just reassurance.

Getting on the train in Venice and travelling to Milan is perhaps easier than getting to the airport in Venice, so you have no reason to be apprehensive. The only thing that could make things a little easier would be the locations of your hotels, but it looks like you are sorted with you hotel choices.

If there's luggage storage at the Venice train station (hopefully someone here will know), then you have the option of spending Monday in Venice or Verona and arriving in Milan in the evening, with a full day to see the sights there and maybe Wednesday morning too. Added to that, there are the pluses of [1] having an easy trip to the airport and [2] not paying big bucks for a room in Venice for 2 nights and [3] not getting up in the middle of the night for a pricey trip to the Venice airport.

You can even decide at the last minute if you want to spend Monday in Venice or Verona.

I booked my flight yesterday!! So, it works out to only 2 full days in Rome, 2 days in Venice and then 2 days in Milan. I would like to do a day trip on disembarkation day and then just spent one full day in Milan. If someone can also let me know if there are options for luggage storage at the Venice train station. This would be perfect for my plans.

Based on this website there is a Left Luggage area in Santa Lucia train station in Venice.

http://www.veneziasantalucia.it/en/service/detail/left-luggage