Italy: Viva Italia Meets Thread

Is the Hilton you stayed at the one on Guidecca? I was afraid that since it is so far from the main sites in Venice, it wouldn't have the same ambiance as staying in a place where you could walk everywhere. What did you think of it?
The Hilton Molino Stucky is a little isolated on Guidecca, but it is an AWESOME hotel!
And by the end of our ABD trip, we were ready for a hotel that feels a little more "American." Great breakfast, a unique pool on the roof with a view of the city, and a few decent dining options within walking distance.

The hotel has it's own water shuttle that takes you to St Mark's Square, so still easy access.
I strongly recommend going over to the San Marco for your free night. More options, and it's a different city when the cruise ship & day-tripper traffic is gone.

We visited Venice on our own recently and stayed just off the square. More convenient, but late-night noise, and older, smaller rooms had us missing the Molino Stucky.

I'll repeat the advice I always give: When you have time on your own, go off on your own!
The ABD guides will often arrange dinner reservations or other things for free time, but it's a different experience to do it by yourselves. Meals/activities take much less time, you'll get a better table (groups are mostly put in the back room), and it's good to get away from the group once in while for your own sanity. Venice is a great city to get "lost" in for a while!
 
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The Hilton Molino Stucky is a little isolated on Guidecca, but it is an AWESOME hotel!
And by the end of our ABD trip, we were ready for a hotel that feels a little more "American." Great breakfast, a unique pool on the roof with a view of the city, and a few decent dining options within walking distance.

The hotel has it's own water shuttle that takes you to St Mark's Square, so still easy access.
I strongly recommend going over to the San Marco for your free night. More options, and it's a different city when the cruise ship & day-tripper traffic is gone.

We visited Venice on our own recently and stayed just off the square. More convenient, but late-night noise, and older, smaller rooms had us missing the Molino Stucky.

I'll repeat the advice I always give: When you have time on your own, go off on your own!
The ABD guides will often arrange dinner reservations or other things for free time, but it's a different experience to do it by yourselves. Meals/activities take much less time, you'll get a better table (groups are mostly put in the back room), and it's good to get away from the group once in while for your own sanity. Venice is a great city to get "lost" in for a while!

This.

Our free night in Venice was one of our favorites! We actually spent the evening with a group of people, which we thought was a blast! We had a lovely dinner, wandered to various bars, and danced in St. Mark's Square to the musicians. The group we spent time with on down time was a good group though. We just all got along really well and had a great time together.

Venice is so unique. It's a great experience no matter what you do!
 
TO: ANYONE who did the ABD Italy 2017. My husband and I did Viva Italia in 2008, and will be doing this adventure again in 2018 with children and grandchildren. Would those of you who traveled this past summer with children or teens on the ABD Italy please post the choice of beverages the teens and children were given for meals. As adults, we usually had wine and water. Our g-children will be 18, 16, and 10 yrs. Thanks in advance!
 


TO: ANYONE who did the ABD Italy 2017. My husband and I did Viva Italia in 2008, and will be doing this adventure again in 2018 with children and grandchildren. Would those of you who traveled this past summer with children or teens on the ABD Italy please post the choice of beverages the teens and children were given for meals. As adults, we usually had wine and water. Our g-children will be 18, 16, and 10 yrs. Thanks in advance!

We went August 2017. My kids had your standard drinks, lots of water, milk, chocolate milk (they told me it was better than mine) fruit juices (apple, orange, and crazy red blood orange), Italian sodas, American sodas, and Pellegrino. Italians cater very well to American children!
 
TO: ANYONE who did the ABD Italy 2017. My husband and I did Viva Italia in 2008, and will be doing this adventure again in 2018 with children and grandchildren. Would those of you who traveled this past summer with children or teens on the ABD Italy please post the choice of beverages the teens and children were given for meals. As adults, we usually had wine and water. Our g-children will be 18, 16, and 10 yrs. Thanks in advance!

We did this trip in 2014, so not super recently. DD was 17 at the time and was routinely given wine. We were fine with that, but if your family is against it, you will have to tell waiters not to serve the teens.
 
We did this trip in 2014, so not super recently. DD was 17 at the time and was routinely given wine. We were fine with that, but if your family is against it, you will have to tell waiters not to serve the teens.

Not against wine, but our two teen g-daughters are curious about the beverage choices. That is the purpose of the question. I did not pay that much attention to the children and teens on our previous trip.
 


We will be on this with our 10 year old daughter. We are arriving on the 20th though and making a day trip to Pompeii on the 21st.

June 2018 will be the 2nd Viva Italia for my DH and I; but, the 1st for us with our children and grandchildren! June 22-29, 2018 with pre and post nights!
 
We are going on the trip that begins on June 12th. I called today to see how many were booked. They told me 43 and it isn't waitlisted yet. Yikes!
 
43????????????? Good luck with THAT!. I can see it now people running 30 minutes early just to sit together on the bus. More and more the small group companies are more appealing.
 
Viva Italia would be our first ABD. After traveling on our own, doing all the planning, we decided we would like a trip where someone else handles everything. If we do a pre-trip day, don't we miss out on the ABD transportation from the airport to the hotel? How much did that cost those who didn't use the ABD transportation?
 
Viva Italia would be our first ABD. After traveling on our own, doing all the planning, we decided we would like a trip where someone else handles everything. If we do a pre-trip day, don't we miss out on the ABD transportation from the airport to the hotel? How much did that cost those who didn't use the ABD transportation?
We arrived a few days early and used RomeCabs. Cost 45 euro (4 people) to have a driver waiting with a sign at the airport, take care of our bags, drop most of our luggage for storage at our ABD hotel, then drop us at the train station, where we left for Sorrento (did Pompeii/Amalfi Coast prior to starting Viva Italia).

Worth it, and I'd do it the same way again.
 
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Viva Italia would be our first ABD. After traveling on our own, doing all the planning, we decided we would like a trip where someone else handles everything. If we do a pre-trip day, don't we miss out on the ABD transportation from the airport to the hotel? How much did that cost those who didn't use the ABD transportation?

NYLibrarian, if you book your pre OR post day with ABD, they also provide the airport transfers. If you book the pre day on your own, you will need to find your own transportation. We booked last May and this was the policy at that time. Our transfers are provided by ABD for BOTh pre and post days.
 
Viva Italia would be our first ABD. After traveling on our own, doing all the planning, we decided we would like a trip where someone else handles everything. If we do a pre-trip day, don't we miss out on the ABD transportation from the airport to the hotel? How much did that cost those who didn't use the ABD transportation?
If you use the same hotel as the ABD for your pre-day, then I'm pretty sure the transportation is still included. If you book the pre-day through ABD, it's definitely included. I'd call ABD and see what the current policy is, as it's constantly changing.

Sayhello
 

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