Originally Posted by
slawecki
been at least 5 years since E&R boat. it ran at set times(hourly?). did not start til about 8-9am, and terminated at around 6pm. does not run off season(most of the time). charge was pp and put on your hotel bill. was about €30-35 then. the VCE concierge works very limited hours. in probably 20 or more trips thru vce, we saw him once. he does not do baggage. porters are seriously expensive in venice. some €6-8 per bag, and everything counts as a bag.
the trip from the baggage claim to the water taxi station is a paved walkway with NO steps. just use a rollaboard. i have always found a number of taxis waiting, and full assistance both into and out of the boat. i have never been charged for extra people or extra luggage.
if your MIL cannot make it to the boat, i would seriously reconsider venice. the place is stair steps everywhere.
there was(i do not know if it is still there) a booth in the terminal that sold a taxi ticket. std price, but paying at the dock works.
http://www.veniceairport.it/
map of terminal
Thanks. That explains why the concierge still hasn't gotten back to me! The E&R taxi service was just that, a "Meet and Greet" with portage to the taxi with taxi fare included. Shame I can't find the webpage today - I saw it when I emailed the concierge just a few days ago. No matter, seems easy to do it ourselves anyway. MIL can handle it all just fine - lives in VT, walks everywhere, all the time even in the dead of Vermont winter because she loves to be outside and moving. A good strong yankee woman who is likely in better shape than hubby and I. She has traveled the world to various sites, always in coach, always in cheap hotels, and we want to finally show her the other side.. Just want to spoil her rotten on this trip after losing my FIL last year, hence the baggage cart, so she will have to carry nothing but her purse
. I have neck and arm nerve problems, so the less I have to carry myself, the better - I can do it, but would rather not deal with the resulting pain.
slawecki, since you have spent time at the E&R (and maybe the Gritti Palace??) would you know about ease of walking (re: obstacles) to either the Giglio or S. Marco vaporetto stops from the E&R or Gritti? We are doing a cruise out of VCE and are staying pre-cruise at the E&R and post at the Gritti, and then later leaving by train from S. Lucia, and are debating whether to splurge on water taxis or just try to take the vaporetto for the transfers to/from P. Roma and S. Lucia. We are trying to pack very light, but have to drag along several items to deliver to my daughter in Brussels later in the trip (might see if we can leave these at the Gritti while on the cruise and eliminate one bag). I expect us to each have a small 22" rollaboard and a larger 26" roller for our three week trip. We planned to figure it out once we get there, but if you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them!
Robin