My wife and I are cruising neophytes. We have been on one Caribbean cruise for our honeymoon back in the 90's on a smaller older ship in a popular cruise line. It was an entertaining experience, but we found the stateroom to be cramped, and there was a fair amount of pressure on upselling things like excursions. We caved into the pressure and packed our schedule with excursions. The result was a non-stop hectic exhausting itinerary. While it was a fun trip, I think we needed a vacation from the vacation when we got home.

We decided to try a Viking Mediterranean cruise on the recommendation of a relative. We booked our own travel arrangements prior to embarkation to do some independent sight seeing prior to boarding. In the back of my brain was that first hectic cruise experience and I wanted to be sure we got some actual relaxation time in.

The biggest hitch in our trip was the first step of getting from our independent travels to the ship itself in Venice. Viking now docks at a port in Chioggia, about an hour bus ride from central Venice. Unfortunately there is little information about exactly how to get to that dock if you are coming from central Venice. We rode a Venetian city bus, as did another couple bound for the Viking Jupiter. The bus dropped us off in an empty parking lot in Chioggia with NO other traffic there. No taxis, no shuttles, no busses, no information desk, no people (other than us). Literally just an empty parking lot. Read more