Today began with an exact repeat of the start of our last cruise in as much as we got up early to drive to Heathrow to catch the same flight to Venice from Terminal 5. The only difference being this time there was only the two of us. Our journey along the M4 took only 1 hour and 45 minutes and we were in the bus and on the way to the terminal before we knew it. The good thing about an early flight is all the baggage drops are queue free as was security.
The flight took just under 2 hours and we arrived in a humid Venice shortly before 11:00am local time. From there we decided to get to the cruise terminal a different way to what we have done previously and used the Alilaguna water buses. We bought a return ticket on line for €25 and saved ourselves €2 each. The trip takes a little longer but you do go a different route and see some different sights.
We arrived at the cruise terminal to find the ship berthed at terminal 108 which has been the one we have used on four occasions in the past. Fairly large queues waiting to get on but we played our trump card as Pearl members of the Costa Club and exercised our priority boarding privileges. On in just 15 minutes which must be a record for us and Costa.
Once on we immediately found the ship to be very airy and bright. It also has a different layout to the other five Costa ships we have been on. It might take a while to get out bearings.
Our cabin is spacious and a typical Costa cabin, by that I mean colours, layout, etc. There isn’t a great deal of difference in any of the cabins we have had on Costa.
Muster was at 4:15 and on the prom deck in life jackets. Four languages today, Italian, English, French and Spanish. Sailaway from Venice was again spectacular.
Costa seemed to have messed up our dining options but to be honest tonight we are both tired and it worked in our favour to be on the early sitting. We are on a table of 6 but there are only 5 of us and tonight we got on famously with the other 3 so I think it so be a regular thing on this cruise.
I am going to keep it short tonight as we are well in need of some sleep. Time to test the WiFi……
Fantastic. A cruise blog to follow just as I’m about to come home from my own cruise!
Looking forward to it 🙂
Thanks Duncan, Mrs W and myself have enjoyed your Vlog immensely and knowing what is involved with a normal blog with just a few photos are mightily impressed with your latest set of posts. You are a tough act to follow.