Getting There · Venice
Marco Polo is the airport, and the ride is short. It’s about 9.0 road miles (14.5 km) to the Marittima check-in by our routing, with a fixed €45 taxi fare to the cruise terminal — if your cruise leaves from Venice at all. Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, Holland America, Norwegian and Princess sail “from Venice” out of Ravenna or Trieste, two hours or more away.
Put in your landing and the ship’s departure. We’ll hold them against our own margins — no line publishes a cut-off here.
Fly into Marco Polo — it’s the closer of the two. Our routing puts it about 9.0 miles (14.5 km) and 18 minutes from the Marittima check-in with no traffic, and the airport’s fixed taxi fare to the cruise ship terminal is €45 (about US$50) — it doesn’t say which terminal, so name yours.
MSC calls it about 20 minutes — traffic depending, not a promise. Treviso is the second airport — about 18.7 miles out by our routing, with ATVO’s bus from €14 (about US$16).
Without a taxi, Aerobus line 5 or ATVO runs to Piazzale Roma and the People Mover does the last stop to Marittima for €1.50 (about US$2). Alilaguna’s boat is €18 (about US$20) — though it stops at Tronchetto, not Marittima.
Before any of that, check the port on your booking — five big lines sail “from Venice” out of Ravenna or Trieste.
Booking.com lists airport taxis you can book ahead. Check the pickup point, the price and the cancellation terms before you book.
Booking.com links are affiliate links: Seabound Journeys may earn a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you. It doesn’t change what we recommend. Affiliate disclosure.
Big ships can’t sail past San Marco any more, so “Venice” on a booking now means one of five places. The lines’ own pages, read October 4, 2026, put them here, and the drive is our routing from Marco Polo, with no traffic.
| Line | Where it starts | From Marco Polo | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSC Cruises | Venezia Marittima check-in, then a ferry to Marghera | about 9.0 mi (14.5 km), 18 min | msccruises.ca |
| Viking | “Venice (Chioggia)”; one 2027 itinerary from “Venice (Fusina)” | about 37.3 mi (60.1 km), 1 hr 2 min | vikingcruises.com |
| Regent Seven Seas, Seabourn | “Venice (Fusina)”; one Regent voyage in August 2027 starts in Trieste | about 13.1 mi (21.1 km), 29 min | rssc.com, seabourn.com |
| Oceania | “Venice”; the voyage page doesn’t name the berth | depends on the berth; ask Oceania | oceaniacruises.com |
| Royal Caribbean, Celebrity | Ravenna; Celebrity names Porto Corsini | about 88.3 mi (142.1 km), 2 hr 32 min; Celebrity says about 2 hr 30 min from Venice | Royal Caribbean Group, celebritycruises.com |
| Holland America, Norwegian, Princess | Trieste; Holland America gives Molo dei Bersaglieri 3 | about 92.9 mi (149.5 km), 1 hr 46 min; Holland America says about 94 mi and 2 hr | hollandamerica.com, ncl.com, princess.com |
The lagoon berths are temporary, per the government commissioner — Lombardia and Liguria at Marghera, Fusina (opened in August 2024) and Isola Saloni at Chioggia. A permanent terminal at Marghera’s Canale Nord is planned — a plan, not a date you can book around.
From Piazzale Roma our routing gives about 99.2 miles to Trieste and 83.8 to Ravenna. For those sailings, our twenty Venice hotels are the wrong side of two hours — stay near the ship, not in Venice. Viator lists private transfers between Venice and both Ravenna and Trieste, as search snippets.
We found no current source for Carnival here, so we don’t guess. Your boarding documents are the final word — this table is a starting point.
Marco Polo sits on the lagoon’s north shore. The road to Venice crosses the lagoon on a causeway and stops at Piazzale Roma — Marittima is the next stop on the People Mover. Fusina is across the water on the mainland, and Treviso is inland to the north.
Fares and dates are on Booking.com. Land the day before, not the morning you sail.
Booking.com links are affiliate links: Seabound Journeys may earn a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you. It doesn’t change what we recommend. Affiliate disclosure.
The taxi row is per car, not per person — the others are per person. The bus and the People Mover add up: from Marco Polo it’s the Aerobus to Piazzale Roma, then one stop to Marittima.
| Taxi, airport fixed fare to the cruise ship terminal | — |
| Aerobus line 5 to Piazzale Roma, from | — |
| People Mover, Piazzale Roma to Marittima | — |
| Alilaguna boat into Venice (no Marittima stop) | — |
| ATVO bus to Venice or Mestre, from | — |
| People Mover, Piazzale Roma to Marittima | — |
One way, in euros, as each operator printed it on October 3, 2026. Aerobus and ATVO’s Treviso bus are “from” prices on Venezia Unica; Alilaguna includes one heavy bag and one hand bag, €4 (about US$4) an extra bag. A People Mover ticket is good for 75 minutes on buses and trams too, and a carnet of ten is €14.
Viator lists Venice port transfers from about US$45 as displayed to a US visitor, and private cars from Marco Polo from about US$92 a group. The airport lists five water-taxi operators with prices on request.
No line we read publishes a landing cut-off for Venice — every row here is our own margin, not a rule. Put in your scheduled landing and the sailing time from your cruise documents.
What counts is the check-in time in your boarding documents. MSC takes your bags at Marittima, then ferries you to the ship at Marghera, so allow for the ferry too.
We ranked twenty hotels for a Venice cruise, four of them around Piazzale Roma, a walk or one People Mover stop from Marittima. Send your sail date and flight, and we’ll match the night to your landing.
MSC doesn't publish a disembarkation time on the page we read — and neither does the port. The People Mover runs from 7:10 AM, and the airport's €45 fixed taxi fare covers the trip between the cruise terminal and the airport in either direction. Put in your flight and when you expect to be off, and this lays out the ride and the wait.
Partner links (transfers, rental cars, luggage storage) may earn Seabound Journeys a commission at no extra cost to you. They don't change the plan, which is built only from what each company publishes.
The People Mover is the link most cruisers miss — one €1.50 stop, not a taxi ride. It runs Tronchetto, Marittima and Piazzale Roma about every 10 minutes, daily 7:10 AM to 10:50 PM from April to October; from November to March it keeps those hours on weekdays and runs 8:40 AM to 8:50 PM on holidays, per AVM.
From Santa Lucia station, MSC says to walk about 600 m to Piazzale Roma, ride the People Mover to the Marittima entrance, then take an internal shuttle to the terminal. From Mestre station, about 10 km away, MSC arranges a transfer on request.
Venice’s access fee for day visitors ran only on set days from April 3 to July 26, 2026, 8:30 am to 4 pm, at €5 (about US$6) paid ahead or €10 late. It isn’t charged now — a summer rule, not a year-round one. Hotel guests in the Venice municipality are exempt but need the QR-code voucher, and the 2027 rules aren’t out.
Your hotel collects a separate tourist tax, €1 to €5 (about US$1–6) a person a night for the first five nights, with under-10s exempt and ages 10 to 16 at half, per the city.
MSC takes your bags at the Marittima check-in — before then, Bounce lists storage at Piazzale Roma from €1.95 (about US$2) a day, per its listing.
For the terminals and the lines, see our Venice cruise guide.
A hotel night buys back sail morning. After a transatlantic flight you’ll want the ship a People Mover stop away, not a taxi queue.
Three of our twenty run Marco Polo shuttles, all for a fee: the Antony Hotel at €8 (about US$9) a trip, and Hilton Garden Inn San Giuliano and Antony Palace without a printed price. Hotel Plaza in Mestre arranges airport transfers from €45 and a ride to the port from €40.
Our top six, with the drive from Marco Polo to each, by our routing. All twenty are on the hotels page.
What each of our twenty says about getting from Marco Polo or Treviso to its door. If the night before is the celebration, our eight splurge picks run from the Gritti to a lagoon-island resort.
All twenty, with what each says about both airports, are in the ride table on the hotels page.
Venice Marco Polo (VCE). Our routing puts it about 9.0 miles (14.5 km) and 18 minutes from Venezia Marittima with no traffic, and MSC says about 20 minutes. Treviso (TSF) is farther, about 18.7 miles by our routing.
The airport publishes fixed fares: €45 to the cruise ship terminal, €40 to Piazzale Roma and €35 to central Mestre. It doesn't say which cruise terminal the €45 covers, so name yours. Radiotaxi Venezia answers on +39 041 5964 around the clock and takes cards.
Check the port name on your booking. MSC checks you in at Venezia Marittima, Viking sails mostly from Chioggia, and Regent and Seabourn list Fusina — all inside the lagoon. Celebrity and Royal Caribbean sail from Ravenna, and Holland America, Norwegian and Princess from Trieste. Even one Regent voyage in August 2027 starts in Trieste, so read the voyage, not the line.
Holland America says about 94 miles (150 km) and about 2 hours from Marco Polo to its Trieste terminal at Molo dei Bersaglieri 3. Our routing gives 92.9 miles and 1 hr 46 min with no traffic. Holland America runs no transfers from Treviso.
Celebrity says its Ravenna terminal, at Porto Corsini, is about 2 hours 30 minutes south of Venice. Our routing from Marco Polo gives about 88.3 miles (142.1 km) and 2 hr 32 min, to the Porto Corsini area rather than a terminal gate.
Yes, in two steps. ACTV's Aerobus line 5 or ATVO's express runs to Piazzale Roma (Aerobus from €10, ATVO in about 20 minutes), and the People Mover runs on to Marittima for €1.50, 7:10 AM to 10:50 PM daily from April to October.
No. Alilaguna's Linea Blu stops at Tronchetto and the Ferrovia, not Marittima. It's €18 one way with one heavy bag and one hand bag included, €4 an extra bag; it suits a hotel in the centre better than the ship.
The 2026 fee only applied 8:30 am to 4 pm on set days from April 3 to July 26, so not in October. The city's FAQ doesn't address cruise passengers. Overnight guests in Venice-municipality hotels are exempt but need the QR-code voucher. 2027 rules aren't published.
Yes. MSC sells a transfer through its call centre or your agent and keeps a booth in the arrivals hall; Fly&Cruise packages include it. MSC doesn't print a price.
We couldn't confirm it. Uber's Marco Polo page says only that some products "might not be available". Plan on the fixed-fare taxi, the bus or a booked transfer.
Send us your home airport, line and sail date. An advisor confirms your real port, then puts the flight, the hotel night and the ride together. No obligation.
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