Our Greek Isles/Mediterranean
Crown Princess Cruise May 2009
Venice Italy
Thursday, May 28, 2009
We
are at sea today. We have been since we left Corfu yesterday about 5pm.
We are scheduled to arrive in Venice at 10pm but it sounds like we may be
there earlier than that. The pilot is to board the ship about 7:40pm from
one of the announcements we heard while eating lunch.
We have spent the day relaxing and taking care of all the last minute details. We have to pack our bags and prepare to leave them outside our cabin door by 7pm this evening.
We can get off the ship when we arrive tonight to walk around but then we are to get back on the ship to spend the night and then we will disembark tomorrow morning. We are scheduled to meet at 9am in the Michelangelo Dining Room since we are independent travelers. From there we will get some kind of water transportation and make our way to our bed and breakfast. We have the directions about getting there. We will be pulling our luggage through the streets to the B & B. Jerry has sent email to see if we can drop our bags there and then go sightseeing since we cannot check in until 3pm. He hasn't heard back so I guess we will find out in the morning.
There are no pictures to post today. I will post tomorrow evening after we get settled in at the B & B.
Signing off from somewhere in the Adriatic Sea.
Coming into port
Jerry
and I had dinner and by the time we got back to our cabin we had taken on
the pilot. It took us probably about an hour and a half from the time we
took on the pilot until we were docked. What a beautiful site coming through
Venice to the port. RCL's The Brilliance of the Seas was in port when we
arrived.
Jerry and I watched the first few shuttle boats taking the passengers to San Marcos Square before we turned in for the night.
Here's some pictures from our arrival.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Jerry and I were up about 6am to shower and eat before we have to finish packing what is left and head to the Michelangelo Dining Room for disembarkation. We are due there at 9am.
We showed up at the Michelangelo Dining Room about 8:45am. We were white 4, they called our color and number about 9am. We made our way down to the fourth deck and then on out to the shuttle that took us to the terminal where our luggage was. We retrieved our bags pretty quickly and were soon on our way out the door.
We found the ticket booth for the Alilaguna. Jerry showed the girl there
where we were supposed to be going and she told us what to do. The cost
per person one way was 6.50 euros. There was a charge for the luggage but
only the big bags, those were 3 euro per bag. We were one 
of
the first ones on. We dropped our bags up front and then had a seat. The
boat went straight to San Marcos Square and there we grabbed our bags and
got off and walked to our B & B. It was a lot easier than I had envisioned.
I was sure it would be a big hassle. The only time I felt uneasy was getting
off with my bags because there was no ramp. The guys had to help me get
my bag up and then I was on my way. There are no rails walking up the pier
so I kept focus on the wood beams so I wouldn't notice how close I was to
falling in the water. :o)
It wasn't too hard to find. The guy gave excellent directions. We dropped
our
bags and Ron and Brenda's bags then took off to wander the streets. We stopped
and had lunch, Ron's treat, on the waterfront of the Grand Canal. What an
experience. We watched all the action on the water while we waited for our
lunch and relaxed.
We walked back toward San Marcos Square and walked around looking at the shops before coming back to the B & B. Ron and Brenda retrieved their bags and were soon on their way for another adventure. They were making their way to one of the stops to take them to the airport where their hotel is that they are staying at tonight. They fly back home tomorrow morning.
Here's some pictures of today.
Jerry and I went out for dinner and found a little place not far from our B&B. We walked around afterward and ended up doing our gondola ride. The guy said it was much better now because all the water taxis weren't zipping around. It was very nice. I thought it might be cool but it turned out to be perfect weather. Not too hot and not too cold.
Here's our pictures from the ride.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Jerry and I got up about 7:30am this morning and had breakfast and visited with some of the people who are staying here that also came from the ship. We also discussed with Fabio about how we will get to the airport for our 7:45am flight. We got it all figured out and will get up about 3:45am on Sunday morning to get showered and then to the water stop at 4:54am. It should get us to the airport about 6:10am and then we will make our way to the airport and get checked in.
After
we figured all of that out we headed out for the Doge Palace. We spent two
hours there going through the big palace and the prisons. What an interesting
place. It has the largest room in all of Europe. No photos are allowed inside
the rooms of the palace.
We wandered the streets some more and then stopped for lunch. We enjoyed a pizza and wine before heading back to our room.
Here's some pictures of our day.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Jerry and I were up before our alarm was set for, 3:45am and got showered and packed the last of our things then got all our bags out of the B&B and down the stairs and through the gate. That took a few mintues getting the bags and us out of the gate. We were finally on our way to the Alilaguna water bus stop by this time it was about 4:30am.
We walked to the stop with our bags up and over one of the bridges. This bridge didn't have a ramp so we were dragging everything up the steps and down the other side. Luckily, we had bought our tickets the day before because there was no one there at the ticket booth that early in the morning. We saw later on the boat they would have taken our money so it would have been just fine.
It didn't take us long to get to the water bus stop so we waited there for about 20 minutes or so before the boat came. Others started coming and waiting for the boat with us. They were all going to the airport too. We got all our bags onboard and soon we were off.
The water bus ride took us a little more than an hour to get to the airport. Once we were at the airport stop we had to get our bags off the boat and then it was a seven minute walk to get to the terminal. In the terminal we had to find our airline ticket counter. We were flying Iberia but none of the signs had Iberia listed. We walked down to the airport information booth and asked where Iberia ticket counters were. Of course they were on the opposite end of where we were so we made our way down there and got in line. By this time it was about 6:20am, we were sweating it a little bit not knowing if we would still be able to get checked in. If this was back in the states we wouldn't have been able to get through since it was an international flight and you're supposed to be there at least two hours prior to your flight. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 7:45am.
We had a little time once we made it through security to wait for boarding. We met another couple from Florida who was headed home from a cruise on one of the Costa ships.
We
boarded and took off from Venice and flew into Madrid, Spain. Our flight
was 2 hours and 45 minutes. And we were flying over some pretty terrain.
Once we disembarked the plane in Madrid we had to go through passport control
and got our passports stamped. Then, it took us 30 minutes to get to our
gate. We had to take escalators two flights down then get on a train to
take us to the satellite terminal. 
Once
there we walked a long way to our gate. On the way we stopped and grabbed
a sandwich and water. We weren't sure what our meals would be on the next
flight.
We boarded the Iberia plane to Miami. This flight was to be 9 hours and 30 minutes. We had a good flight. They fed us a good meal and snack plus anything we wanted to drink. On our American Airlines flight from Chicago to Rome they made us pay for our drinks.
Once in Miami we had to go through customs and claim our luggage then check it back through so it would come with us to DFW. It was a long walk to go back through security and then on to the gate. It was raining as we made our way to our gate. It was changed once we got settled so we moved on to the correct gate. I went and found us something for dinner while we waited. Our flight was delayed because the flight crew was coming from Boston. They finally got there and we were soon on our way to DFW. We were so glad to be on the plane. This leg of the flight was 3 hours and 30 minutes.
We were a few minutes late but all was well. We claimed our luggage at DFW and then went to find our ride. I had scheduled a pick up from Executive Taxi before we left which was nice to not have to get the shuttle and then drive ourselves home.
By the time we got home and walked in the side door we had been up for 26 hours and it was now 10:20pm and we were falling into bed. We were glad to be home but we truly enjoyed our trip!!