Like you, Penny, we are spending a few days in Venice prior to cruising, although we are not going until October.

We have not been to Venice before so I spent quite a bit of time figuring out how we would handle the "luggage thing" as we'll likely take more luggage with us than usual (ours is an 18 day transatlantic).

I've been reading the Europe forum on www.cruisecritic.com which is a board recommended by Ziner Diane from Texas and have decided to follow a suggestion of taking the AVTO land bus from the Airport to the Piazzale Roma, putting most of our luggage in storage at the Piazzale and taking just a carry-on by Vaporetta to our Pensione. This allows us not to worry too much about how far we'll have to walk from the water taxi or the Vaporetta. It also means we won't be paying the approx. 80Euros it costs to take a water taxi from the airport to the hotel!

We checked lots of places to stay from personal recommendations, guide books, the Travelzine and Trip Advisor and came up with about 10 possibilities in our price range. Both the previously mentioned Acadamei and the Hotel Ala were included and looked very good but we settled on La Calcina in Dorsudoro because it was a little less expensive, has good reviews. and we could get a room overlooking the Guidecca canal. According to the website it's a couple of minutes walk from the Vaporetta stop but who knows! It also has a water taxi stop.

Hope this helps a little.

Best regards Judy Abbotsford BC