We are on the May 27th Navigator sailing from Venice to Monte Carlo..We arrive into Venice at 8:20 in the morning and have a day hotel, however we would like to take a tour (?) of Venice and possibly a gondola ride. Does anyone have any suggestions or good tour guide recommendations? thanks...

Denise, where are you?

:app: :app: :app:

Yes Denise I miss you Venice or no Venice -

Hi Cruisinclare,

We used Walks Inside Venice

www.walksinsidevenice.com

Request Roberta. She was a wonderful tour guide with a real love for Venice.

Enjoy your visit to a truly beautiful city!

For the gondola ride, you will see them in various parts of the city by the hotels. In some areas (like the Bridge of Sighs) they will be lined up. Very magical. Oh, it's extra to have music (Accordian!)or singing. Our Tauck tour included a gondola ride and they took us out to the middle of the canal about 6 people per gondola, lined us up side by side, full moon and we were all singing. Fun!

Our favorite day was wandering the streets and our dinner on the rooftop of the Hotel Daneli.

Editing to add, we get on the Voyager as you debark. See you on the Gangplank!!

As always thanks for the great info! Tour booked...

You're very welcome! Great to hear that your tour is booked. I do hope you were able to request Roberta. Please let me know how your touring went with Walks Inside Venice. You will fall in love with this city! Have a great time!

Crusinclare, I hope you don't mind that I use your thread to ask this question:

Kathy and Denise( and any others that have been to Venice recently),

In what hotel did you stay?

Hi Maria,

We stayed at Violino D'Oro

www.violinodoro.com

I found this through Karen Brown Guide

http://www.karenbrown.com/property.asp?propid=4644&region=\'b39f23ae-fa00-0000-0080-8abe2a75e61e\'

Very nice B&B type property, ideally located and reasonably priced.

We stayed at the Westin Regina and Europa - magnificent hotel but very pricey ($900 per day in November) I'd stay there again with either my SPG points or with a tour (we were on a Tauck Tour)

Denise and Kathy,

Thank you! One of the "silver linings" of going in August is that it is considered "low or mid" season in Venice and Rome, so hotels tend to be less expensive.

Violino is definetly not of the caliber of the Westin or other 5-star properties.

We were on our own "Euro" and wanted something nice, clean and well-located, as well as moderately priced. Violino suited us perfectly. We put the money we saved on our room rate to good use, touring and dining in some really nice restaurants. Of course, if you are using points or on a tour, it's a whole other story.

Maria-we stayed at SRS Hotel Saturnia International. It's not really a luxe place, but it was relatively reasonable in price and just a short walk from St. Mark's square. The concierge there was very helpful and gave us lots of information about available tours, etc. I'd say the hotel is equivalent to a Radisson in the US, but obviously the building is older than most hotels here. Our room rate of around 220 Euros included breakfast and free internet. Venice is very, very, very expensive!!! I nearly croaked when I had to pay over $10 for a coke.

Hi Peggy,

Nothing in Venice is cheap, for sure. But, the beauty, experiences and memories of Venice are worth the price of admission!

Oh yes Peggy I know about those Coke prices. That's why I stick to house wine :D !

Thanks for the hotel name.

Ah, Maria...A low-maintenance kinda gal! You can cruise with us anytime! Bring on that house wine!

We were smart - we took water with us from the tour company supply! Oh, and the quick pizza and salad lunch was about 40 Euro

I agree, Venice is worth it if you've never been there. This was our second trip, so I was a little less awestruck (also the exchange rate was much more favorable on our first trip). I also agree on the house wine. I ordered the coke because I was determined to dry out after just getting off our cruise on the Diamond last spring. I quickly decided at that point to dry out when I got home and it was house wine from then on :D

Peggy,

It's impossible to dry out (or diet) in Italy! The wine is FANTASTIC!

We were really surprised when we ordered house wine in Italy. The server brought us big pitchers of wine. We paid only for what we drank.

Peggy,

LOL!!!I'm glad you reconsidered! Eventhough I love Coca Cola Light in Europe in the little glass bottles. It's yummy. So, once in a while I'll buy one but not on a sit down caffé!

Yes, isn't that nice? Although, if I'm by myself I feel self-conscious if the bottle is over half empty by the time I'm done :D !

Yes, isn't that nice? Although, if I'm by myself I feel self-conscious if the bottle is over half empty by the time I'm done !

Maria we are going to work on that problem - getting you over the problem

Oh yes, I need all the help I can get. I'll drink to that !

I think we'll all drink to that!

Solution to the over half empty pitcher - DRINK UP UNTIL IT'S TOTALLY EMPTY! Problem solved (and potential potable problem started - try saying that 10 times fast after finishing a whole pitcher)!

We agree with Denise that Roberta is wonderful. We experienced her with Denise. However, there is someone else in this company who is not as pleasant and we cannot recommend. Make sure you get Roberta.