Hi
Not been around for a bit, lots happening in my life, made redundant, retraining and got a new puppy, that then got very sick! Not sure which of those has been most stressful, but getting back to reality now!
For those at the Novotel, we stayed here twice before on
DCL cruises, it is out of the main city, but only a very short - probably no more than 5 mins. Walk To the Metro, which is a few stops into Placa Catalyuna. At the top of Las Ramblas.
There is a shopping centre with a good supermarket over the road. Location is in the business part of the city and is safe, but I wouldn't do the metro late at night, say after 10pm, as it goes quiet. The hotel is large and modern, but the second time we stayed the rooms were a little tired. The rooftop pool area is nice, with a bar, but the pool was freezing. It closed at 6, which was no use to us, coming back from a day in town. However, it is a perfectly good hotel for the money.
Taxi from the airport was around 35 euros for three of us, but I will check that, we also got together with others on the meet thread who were staying there, to book a minibus to the ship.
Last time we stayed at AC diplomat, now the Marriott, which was really convenient to town, but their prices have doubled, so not sure what we are doing now, keeping looking!
Venice, is walkable, you can walk from the ship, which is an interesting walk, all flat! Usually there is a shuttle bus laid on for a few euros, don't feel pressured to doing an excursion, because Venice is one of the easiest places to get around. The vaporetti, are easy and cheap to use, just walking is an experience. Not easy with a pushchair, as we found out, going up and down Ll the little bridges, but doable.
We have done all the stops before, on various cruises in the past, so if you want to know anything, please ask. We nearly always DIY!
Thanks for doing the FE, I have done them in the past and appreciate the work involved. I will Pm you with details, but it would be useful to have it posted on the boards, to help with keeping track of numbers and ages.
Back soon.