Switzerland before a cruise out of Venice

We did a similar itinerary except we flew into Basel instead of Zurich. Consider this:
Day 1: land in Zurich
Day 2: drive or train to Bern (best city in Switzerland)
Day 3: drive or train to Bernese Oberland (Murren, Wengen or Lauterbrunnen)
Day 4: Bernese Oberland
Day 5: drive or train to Chur
Day 6: Bernina Express train to Tirano; regional train to Milan; fast train to Venice.

For me, two nights is too much in Zurich. For the above itinerary, if I could add a day, I would add it to the Bernese Oberland. Those are the real Swiss Alps you've seen and heard so much about.

If your purpose is to see Switzerland then spending any time at all in Zurich is not the answer (points or no points). People usually come to Switzerland to see the alps and there's no better place to do that than the Berner Oberland. When you land in Zurich just hop on the train directly in the airport and head towards Interlaken Ost, change trains and to Lauterbrunnen and in 20 minutes alps will open up in front of you with that eye-popping scenery. You can stay in Lauterbrunnen which is a valley or you can travel up into the alpine villages on either side. Murren or Wengen are the places to be.

Sure, stop in Bern on your if you want and spend a night. But the majority of your time should be spent in the BO.

Thanks for the information, not really into big cities so will skip zurich, what kind of time frame would you say on the train going to the oberland area since it was be a long flight for us from the states ? And do you have another suggestion for another stop closer to venice for a couple of nights that is nice

If you take the Bernina route suggested above ( Chur to Tirano) then Varenna on Lake Como is a wonderful spot to stop for a night or two. We did this two years ago to get to Venice. I purposely booked our flight into Zurich some could take the Bernina Pass route.

If that is your plan then I would suggest 2-3 nights Innthe Berner Oberland, and 1-2 In the town town of Luzern. You can connect to the Bernina route from Luzern.

I will check the train travel time from Luzern to Varenna and come back.

Luzern to Varenna would be about an 8-hour journey. But you could break it up with a night in Pontresina or Samedan, which is about halfway.

Get off the plane, get your luggage, walk to the airport train station and tell them to put you on the next trains connecting to Muerren or Wengen. You'll be there in about 3 hours. Stay 4 days, and move on to Milan and use your points there. Park Hyatt Milano, next to the Vittorio Emanuele mall. Maybe go see the Last Supper, other sights in Milan, then take the train to Venice for your cruise.

That would be my rec. Go somewhere beautiful right from the get go.

Thanks for the help, just nervous, never been to any place in Europe. Don't even know if Switzerland and a cruise combo is a good first trip lol. How long on the train to Milan and then to venice?

Wengen (as an example) can be done in 4 1/2 hours with minimum 10 minute train change time. Change trains at Lauterbrunnen, Interlaken Ost, Spiez, and then direct EC train to Milan. There is a way to do it in 4 hours, but if you have never been to Europe, I think the 6 minute change time at Interlaken Ost would send you over the edge.

Milan to Venice is 2 hours 25 minutes on direct train. Trains are every half hour between 8:15 and 9:45. Before and after that, every hour.