Venice taxis?

There are always official water taxis docked in front of the train station waiting for fares. Don't recall whether they are directly in front of the stairs or just off to the side, but you'll quickly spot them. Trip to Campo Santa Maria Formosa isn't particularly long, so you may be able to negotiate something better than 65 euro.

Any idea of a fair price from the airport to Hilton Molino Stucky on Guidecca?

Stewart, try close to 125Euro ($168) to ride the water taxi. The fare is good for up to 6-7 people. The only people I have seen "hawking" taxis are people wanting to take you to see the glassblowing in Murano. You are indeed some distance from a vaporetto stop. Walks are level but you can expect going over several canal bridges.

Tim, my wife and I had the pleasure of staying at the Hilton Molino Stucky on their opening day June 1, 2007. The hotel has two free shuttles that run in alternate directions from their private dock and a small dock just beyond the San Zaccaria stop at San Marco. From San Zaccaria, you walk towards Lido until you see the small Hilton sign out front.

Or, you can take the #41 vaporetto from the train station (Ferrovia stop) or the Piazzale Roma to the Palanca stop. CLICK HERE to see the vaporetto route. The Palanca stop is about 900 feet from the hotel. As I recall, you have to cross two canal bridges. Don't get off at the Sant'Eufemia stop. It appears closer but there is no easy way to get to the hotel from the stop. We found that out the hard way.

One of my patients told me that when he was in Venice a few months ago, they took a taxi from the train station to near San Marco. It cost them $150 one way! He said the "captain" (or whatever) took their luggage up to the hotel door for them, but I think the hotel was fairly close to the stop. I don't know if they would porter for you if it were a distance from the stop. Maybe others here know.
I threw my back out on our first day there and it was out the entire trip. We took the vaporetti everywhere; and while it was crowded and stopped a lot, it saved us a lot of money. We bought a 24 hour pass that was very affordable.
I think it comes down to what's more important: spending a lot of money for the convenience, or toughing it out and spending that money in tangible goods, like gelato! ;)

Thanks for the replys. That's some difference in prices! Is Rick's expected cost in the book (65E) that much different than reality, or do some of the taxis just overcharge? I doubt there's a meter on the boat :)

Given a bad back, how much lifting is necessary to get a suitcase on and off the vaporetti?

RS probably hasn't taken a water taxi lately. As for getting on and off the vaporetto, the larger #1 and #2 boats on the Grand Canal are level with the boarding barge. No steps. You most likely will have to lift your roller luggage bags over the small gap between the boat and the boarding barge but that's it. Expect the vaporettos on the Grand Canal to be crowded. There are seating areas but in the center area, its standing room only. It looks like your closest vaporetto stop might be Rialto or San Zaccaria. You won't have trouble getting on or off the boat.

Yeah, the vaporetti "captains" get the boat right up next to the dock, and another employee ties the boat to a piling on the dock and keeps it pretty much right up next to the dock.
They DO get crowded. The standing room only portion is, unfortunately, what you walk onto the boat into; to get to the seating area, you have to work your way through the crowd. The boat doesn't stay at any given stop for very long, so if you do sit down, make sure you know when your stop is and start working your way toward the exit doors. Also note on which side of the boat the stop will be, because there are doorways on either side of the boat. It's kind of a bummer to be right next to the door on the port side, only to find the actual stop is on the starboard side. :)

Stewart my experience is with Vaporetti. We had a family of five with one carry on each. It was fine but crowded (in second half of October). We found a place to stand and put our bags between our legs. As we approached our stop we edged our way as close to the ramp as possible then worked our way off the boat. We had to cross one bridge and walk a short block from there to our hotel.

It was fine but be prepared for a crowded Vaporetti.

We were offered taxi rides but those were outside our budget.