Arriving at the Cruise Terminal
The Marittima Basin in Venice has two terminal buildings and enough wharf area for several large cruise ships at a time. Although the port is on the outskirts of the historic centre of the city, it is easy to get in to Venice quickly. You need to get to Piazzale Roma which is the main arrival spot in Venice for everyone, tourists and locals alike and then you can either walk or catch a waterbus (vaporetto) to wherever you want to go.
An MSC cruise ship makes her way through Venice. From your ship you can either walk to Piazzale Roma or you can catch the wheelchair and luggage friendly People Mover which is a tram that runs from tronchetto (the carpark) to the port and on to Piazzale Roma in just a couple of minutes. The walk to the People Mover station, which is at the port entrance, only takes a few minutes. There is a ticket vending machine near the station and you then scan and validate your ticket as you enter the building. The trams come every few minutes.
Once you are at Piazzale Roma you can either walk or catch a vaporetto to Piazza San Marco or wherever you would like to go.
There is a deposito bagagli where you can store your bags at Piazzale Roma, it's near the Pullman Bar, on the same side as the Council Car Park and is open from 6.00am to 9.00pm costing €5.00 per bag per day.
It takes about 40 minutes to walk to Piazza San Marco, but there is so much to see on the way that you may never get there! As I have said lots of times in previous blogs, the number 1 Vaporetto from Piazzale Roma to Piazza San Marco is just the best for your first view of the city.
If you are heading straight to the airport after your cruise you can either catch an Alilaguna waterbus (Blu Line) from the Cruise Terminal to Marco Polo International Airport which takes two hours, or an ATVO express bus from Piazzale Roma to either Marco Polo or Treviso Airport.
Bus Tickets are available as follows:
1) at ATVO ticket office in Piazzale Roma, near the Caranibieri station
2) at automatic ATVO ticket machine outside the ticket office
3) at 'Chiosco di Pluff' newsagent in the center of the square 5 metres from the depature point for the buses to Treviso Airport
4) at Botazzo Tobaconist's in Piazzale Roma
5) at the Novo Tour Agency in Piazzale Roma
