For the Piazza San Marco, the Alilaguna Blue Line would be your best bet.

Usually it smells okay. Sometimes the canals can smell a bit tangy in the summer, but the salt in the water helps to keep bacteria under control.

Re Mestre train station to Venice by bus: Just take the train. Trains run between Venezia Mestre station and Venezia Santa Lucia Station every few minutes. Buy a ticket from a machine, hop on the next train, and you'll be in Venice within 10 or 12 minutes. If you insist on taking the bus, you can find timetables on the transit agency's site: http://actv.avmspa.it/en/content/urban-lines-0

Mr. Bullard: From the Venezia Mestre railroad station, it's easiest to simply catch a train. (Trains run almost constantly between Venezia Mestre and Venezia Santa Lucia in central Venice. You can buy a ticket from a machine. The last time I checked, the fare was 1,25 euro, which is even cheaper than the municipal buses.)

A water taxi to San Giovanni Girostomo (or the nearest drop-off point) should be 110 to 120 euros. That's the cost to most points in central Venice.

Your best bet is to check with the source: e-mail [email protected].

You should be fine. A few places might be closed, but the city has a long history of coping with tidal flooding.

Burano is pretty close to the airport as the seagull flies, but getting there isn't easy by public transporation (especially at such an early hour). I suspect that your best bet would be to either hire a water taxi or see if your landlord/landlady knows someone locally who can get you to VCE by boat. See our "Venice Water Taxis" article at: https://europeforvisitors.com/venice/articles/water-taxis.htm

For sizing information, you'll need to contact Goldon. See the link in the article or go to: http://www.goldon.it/EN/index.html

Just buy four ACTV bus tickets from any ACTV ticket booth, ACTV ticket machine, or tobacco shop (look for small shops with "T" signs.) ACTV bus tickets are interchangeable with dedicated People Mover tickets, as we indicate in our post. Many newsstands and souvenir shops also sell ACTV tickets. Make sure you're buying the cheap bus tickets and not the more expensive vaporetto or waterbus tickets.

Ms. McGuinness, see our "10 hotels closest to Venice cruise ships" article at Veniceforvisitors.com: https://europeforvisitors.com/venice/articles/10-hotels-near-cruise-ships.htm Your best bet would be a hotel with an elevator, such as the Hotel Santa Chiara or the AC Hotel Venezia (links in article above). Both are near the People Mover tram to the Marittima cruise port, which has elevators and escalators at both stations.

Re the Hilton Garden Inn: Its location is convenient if you have a car, and not so convenient if you don't. A land taxi should be able to get you there.

The Ca' dell' Arte Suite is a long, long way from the railroad station. You can walk there in half an hour or so (if you don't get lost), but the walk will require crossing many footbridges with steps and contending with crowds. The alternatives to walking would include the vaporetto (public water bus), which is expensive and often crowded, or a water taxi (which could easily set you back 100 euros or so, depending on the time of day). Unless you have a non-cancellable reservation or are staying long enough to justify the hassle of getting to and from a distant hotel, I'd strongly urge you to cancel your reservation and rebook at a hotel closer to the station. This page on our main Venice for Visitors travel-planning site may be helpful. The links on the page will take you to "Venice Hotel Directions" pages that with step-by-step walking directions, maps, and links to Booking.com pages where you can check rates and (if you wish) make a reservation: https://europeforvisitors.com/venice/directions/index-railroad-station.htm Also, once you're on any featured hotel's Booking.com page, you can switch to map view and see all hotels, B&Bs, apartments, etc. within the surrounding area. This way, you'll have plenty of options even if you can't get a room at one of the hotels that we've featured in our Venice Hotel Directions. BTW, Venice is one of the few cities in Europe where hotel location is critically important, just because it's a city where (in the words of Robert Benchley) the "streets are filled with water" and even a horrendously expensive water taxi won't get you to every hotel. As we state on our "No. 1 Venice Hotel Warning" page, don't pick a hotel that's inconvenient or expensive to reach--and don't be afraid to cancel if you've had second thoughts about a hotel's location. (Why suffer if you don't need to?) https://europeforvisitors.com/venice/venice-warning.htm

Silvia Jorrin, see: https://europeforvisitors.com/venice/articles/10-hotels-near-cruise-ships.htm

Cyndee: Your best bet is to contact Gondolas4all, since they're the people who operate the gondola service. See the link above or e-mail [email protected].

Ms. Harris: A shared water taxi will drop you off at a designated point, not at the hotel of your choice. Why not simply take the Alilaguna Linea Arancio (Orange Line) airport boat? It's cheaper and will drop you off at Rialto.

Adam: Yes, they're separate companies, but they should be fine.

The Fish Market is open Tuesday through Saturday from 7 a.m. until 2 p.m. (Morning is the best time to see the action.)

Ms. Jakubiz: Water taxis run 24/7. Book ahead on the official water-taxi Web site, and you should be fine. https://www.motoscafivenezia.it/eng/

Ms. Judge: The water taxis carry up to 10 passengers and suitcases, and yes, the Carlton on the Grand Canal is accessible by water taxi. For more information, please see the water taxi operators' cooperative Web site: https://www.motoscafivenezia.it/eng/