On April 22 my 21-year old college student son sent me a text asking “would you possibly want to go on a cruise next month”. I was really busy with work so I told him to come up with an itinerary, including air travel to/from and then let me look at it and I’d see if I could get away.
Long story short, I decided I could get away. Maybe it was more I decided I NEEDED to get away, but whatever – tickets were booked and plans were made. The next few weeks will be filled with information about this trip. First of all, this was our FIRST cruise ever. I pretty much had decided I was NOT a cruise kinda person – but then I also remembered once upon a time I “was not a rollercoaster person” until I actually rode one and realized I loved it.
I’ve decided to take my love of writing and my rekindled love of traveling and combine those to make this blog a good informational spot with my no-nonsense opinion on places, excursions, etc. In doing so, I’ll also be participating in the Amazon affiliate program (more information can be found HERE) so you will see me linking to products – BUT, I do not want this blog to become one big advertisement, so I will only be linking up to products that I have personally used and found helpful. I may receive a commission if you purchase from the link(s) that I provide, but this isn’t my life’s work! I promise I will only link to something I personally use.
Now, back to the cruise. We booked a 7 night Greek Isles cruise leaving out of Venice (Ravenna) with Royal Caribbean. Our ship was the Explorer of the Seas. Once we booked it, I decided I should read up on what to know about cruising a bit.
But first – one thing I ALWAYS take when I travel is a anti-theft crossbody bag that I purchased AGES ago. This thing has been with me for YEARS. This bag was perfect for this trip, because Venice has a LOT of pickpockets, sadly. You’ll read about this in a future post, but I actually caught one IN THE ACT because I got complacent and didn’t zip my bag’s zipper while waiting for gelato. (Really good ice cream will make you lose your mind, clearly). Now, my bag is Travelon brand. Maybe they all have this, but the zippers on mine clip to a little ring, so someone cannot unzip your bag as easily because the zipper is clipped. Had I known how handy this bag was, I’d have probably bought one a bit larger, but mine does the trick for now. I can keep everything safe and secure, and the bag is small enough that I can wear it under a jacket. You can find the line of Travelon bags HERE.
I joined several Facebook groups for Royal Caribbean cruisers, read a bunch of articles online, and watched You Tube videos when I couldn’t sleep. One night about 11 pm I read a post from someone who had realized that their Greek Isles cruise from Venice didn’t actually leave from Venice, but from Ravenna, which was 2-3 hours away.
WHAT??? Oh no. What did our itinerary say? It said “Venice” and then a name in parentheses, but that SURELY was the port name or something, right? It definitely was NOT the name of a city a few hours away from Venice….right? WRONG! Our cruise was leaving from Ravenna, 2-3 hours south of Venice, and I had realized this in the middle of the night. Guess who was not getting good sleep that night? As I read the posts, it became clear that the plan was to call RC the next morning and book transportation from Venice to Ravenna and back. OK – I could breathe again, and it would be ok. Back to reading about the Top Ten Things To NEVER Do When Cruising (number one was ALWAYS “book last minute” which is exactly what we did, so IMO, those lists SUCK – because spoiler alert – we had a GREAT TIME!!!
TIP – If you are cruising from Venice and your itinerary or anything you see says “Venice (Ravenna)” you are NOT cruising out of Venice. Do not panic (been there, done that, it didn’t help). Call Royal Caribbean, explain the situation, and IF you are flying in before cruising day, they’re going to offer to book you on a shuttle bus that goes from Tronchetto (the transportation hub in Venice) to Ravenna. Here’s what you need to know about THAT! (See map below) You can take a water bus (vaparetto) to Piazalle Roma. Get off there and then walk to the People Mover (follow the signs). Take the People Mover to Tronchetto. (the people mover runs between Piazzale Roma, Stazione Maritima, and Tronchetto). Your gut instinct may be to get off at Stazione Maritima, especially when you see all the signs for “Cruise Ship” and such – BUT if your transfer from RC says “Tronchetto”, go to Tronchetto!!! Once you come out of the People Mover you will cross the street to the building where you should see people in vests with “Trumpy Tours” on them. Check in with them and they will line you up.
You’ll get on a bus, they drive you to the port at Ravenna, and you don’t have to worry about a thing. If the bus gets a flat and is running late – they’re not going to leave you. BUT, if you rent a car and it gets a flat and you’re running late, they MIGHT leave you, so why risk it?
People were “salty” that the line at the port in Ravenna was long. We were on the bus for a while – yes. But we were in a line of busses and nobody was moving until one bus unloaded and everyone got off. It was raining, so instead of making passengers stand in the rain, we sat on the bus until we could get to the tent, disembark, get our luggage, and move through the boarding process (mostly) out of the rain.
Now, what is my other “OMG, why would you NOT book transportation through Royal Caribbean” rant? Well, while we were cruising, the beautiful port town of Ravenna was hit with a crazy amount of rain. I believe I read they got an entire year’s worth of rain in 2-3 days, so the port and town were flooded – BADLY. So badly, they could not use the port. Instead of disembarking at Ravenna, we were rerouted to Trieste. This change did not impact us at all, because instead of getting off the boat and boarding a bus to Venice from Ravenna, we just got off the boat and boarded a bus to Venice from Trieste. We were given a schedule, which due to the logistics I figured our 0715 disembarkation time would be delayed, and it was. We were ready to go at 0715, but did not have our “group number” called until about 0800, and we were on the bus at 0820. The biggest issue here, IMO, was people not following instructions. You were to remain on board until your group number was called – and ONLY THEN were you to proceed to the disembarkation deck. We saw a lot of people who were headed down and then staff had to send them back up. This tied up staff, elevators, and time. Relax, follow instructions, and relax. Once on the bus at 0820, we headed for Venice and arrived at Tronchetto at 1035.
We were staying a few extra days in Venice near the Rialto bridge. From Tronchetto we took the People Mover to Piazzale Roma, then got on the #1 to the San Silvestro stop, where we had arranged to meet Marco, our Air BnB host.
Because we were staying a few days, we bought a 3-day ACTV pass (water bus). This enabled us to hop on/hop off and get around the city and other islands quite easily. Just make sure you look at the sign to know where you are and which direction you want to go. Worst case scenario if you get on the wrong one, you have a nice long ride around the Grand Canal if you’re going the long way around! Below is a map for the #2 line. I’ve circled the Piazzale Roma and Tronchetto locations in red. You can take the Vaporetto to P.Roma and then the People Mover is a short walk – with signs marking the way.
In hindsight, I would’ve purchased our ACTV tickets online ahead of time. We stayed one night in Venice before the cruise and then 3 nights after. I didn’t realize it before the cruise, but you can buy a combo ticket for the Vaporetto AND People Mover, which is handy, as the line at the People Mover ticket kiosk was long both times we were there. In the future I’d buy those tickets and have them on my phone to avoid the lines. Also, another tip at the People Mover – the escalators are motion sensitive, so it may look like it’s stopped and you need to haul your luggage up/down the stairs, but they are NOT off! They just need some motion to activate them and off you go!
So – that’s a LOT for the first post about the cruise, but as I said, I am going to be detailed in hopes of helping someone else. Tune in next time for more details once we got ON the ship – but here’s a spoiler – loved it so much we booked an Alaskan cruise for next year after the kids graduate (one college and one high school)!!! The countdown is ON!
If you have specific questions, feel free to leave a comment!
Until next time, live adventurously….
The Neverending Lori 