VENICE — This can be one intimidating city to find yourself in either before or after a cruise. It's a real shock if it follows the amazing arrival that comes with a cruise ship carefully negotiating its path through the islands that make up what is known as Venezia.
The first jolt comes when somebody on the ship — in our case the Oceania Riviera — mentions that in getting from the port to a hotel anywhere near the center of the city, which means St. Mark's Square…or Piazza San Marco, you could spend well over a hundred euros.
Ouch.
However, the key word in what you hear is "could." Last week, we were determined to find a less expensive trip from the Riviera to the Hotel Danieli, just a block from the famous piazza. A member of the crew said not to take the public water taxi because while you would eventually get there, your luggage might not. A local tourist official said to plan on spending at least 75 or 80 euros ($100-$110) to get door to door.
We decided to check out the public transportation, which was endorsed by Allesandro, Riviera's highly efficient luggage man.
The price…16 euros for us plus three euros for each bag. Total: 28 euros.
The Alilaguna water taxi we boarded took just over half an hour. It made four stops along the way. The most difficult thing is baggage, at both ends. The Alilaguna guys are pretty 
good at giving you a hand but can you imagine doing that for hundreds of passengers a day?
Bottom line: You must be able to handle your luggage. When you think about it, that's true no matter what form of public transport you take, in any big city. In Venice, by the way, expect to pay $10 a head every time you set foot in a public water "bus."
Leaving Venice presented the same dilemma. Plus, the baggage usually "grows."
Private water taxi to Marco Polo Airport — 110 euros, or $147.
Hello, Alilaguna.
The fare is 15 euros per person, bags included. Once you've struggled to get four of them on board, you're determined to keep sight of your luggage. Then you realize…everybody's in the same boat. The bags are stacked everywhere, which leads to chaos when you get off at Marco Polo. That's followed by a 7-minute walk to the terminal.
So it's not a piece of cake…but it is worthwhile.
We "could" have spent more than $290.
We spent about $78.
Tomorrow: What we did about euros.
Carnival Splendor
7 nights
July 1, 2012
Los Angeles (return): Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta
Inside: $699
Cost per day: $100
www.carnival.com