Dis / Dreams Viking Sea Cruise around Italy 3/24 - 3/31/2018

[TheMaxRebo]

Happy New Year everyone!

Excited to be able to say we are going on this trip to Italy *this* year!

 

[corky441]

It’s felt like an eternity waiting for this trip...

Now it feels like I have so much to do and not enough time

 

[Joe Loiacano]

i did go to the website to book the Friday afternoon Twilight trastevere food tour,
and I see the 4:15, 5:00, 5:45 are not available on the website. Let me know if there is anyway I can get in with the existing group, any of the above times would be great.
thanks Joe

 

[apurplebrat]

i did go to the website to book the Friday afternoon Twilight trastevere food tour,
and I see the 4:15, 5:00, 5:45 are not available on the website. Let me know if there is anyway I can get in with the existing group, any of the above times would be great.
thanks Joe

Joe
Don’t book the 6:30. We have the private tour that is why you cant book directly

I sent you a message. Please email me for details

 

[Joe Loiacano]

Thanks Joe

 

[Joe Loiacano]

Thanks Joe

Joe
Don’t book the 6:30. We have the private tour that is why you cant book directly

I sent you a message. Please email me for details

 

[TheMaxRebo]

So looking at our Cruise on the Viking website, it looks like we are 15 days away from being able to book excursions.

We are going to want to leverage the included ones where we can but wondering what other ones people are thinking of that might get to some "must see/do" things, or just neat sounding things, that the included tours don't cover?

Two that caught our eye were the Winery one in Crotone and the Island & the Abbey in Venice

 

[travelinjenn]

Greetings Fellow Travelers,
First cruise for my husband Joe and I and we are super excited! ITALY!! It took me two days to read through the 60+ pages of these discussions but oh my gosh I got so much information. Thanks to you all from this newbie, lots of good stuff on here. We look forward to meeting many of you, breaking bread and downing some great Italian vino.
We're just starting our planning but so far:
Leaving Chicago and arriving for an overnight in Dublin on 3/22. We had a layover so decided to make it a stay over at a hotel above a pub. Seriously, what could be better??
My husband, myself and our hangovers will arrive in Rome at 10:30 am 3/23. We made reservations at Bernini Bristol for the night after reading many of you are staying there.
Haven't though much about Rome's activities, excursions, or transfers from the airport to hotel or hotel to port but that will all be done next. Again, excellent information people, keep it coming.
Last but not least. Happy New Year!
Here's to an incredible 2018 filled with adventure, good wine, and new friends.
Jenn

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Greetings Fellow Travelers,
First cruise for my husband Joe and I and we are super excited! ITALY!! It took me two days to read through the 60+ pages of these discussions but oh my gosh I got so much information. Thanks to you all from this newbie, lots of good stuff on here. We look forward to meeting many of you, breaking bread and downing some great Italian vino.
We're just starting our planning but so far:
Leaving Chicago and arriving for an overnight in Dublin on 3/22. We had a layover so decided to make it a stay over at a hotel above a pub. Seriously, what could be better??
My husband, myself and our hangovers will arrive in Rome at 10:30 am 3/23. We made reservations at Bernini Bristol for the night after reading many of you are staying there.
Haven't though much about Rome's activities, excursions, or transfers from the airport to hotel or hotel to port but that will all be done next. Again, excellent information people, keep it coming.
Last but not least. Happy New Year!
Here's to an incredible 2018 filled with adventure, good wine, and new friends.
Jenn

Which airline are you on? We also get into to Rome at 10:30 on the 23rd coming from dublin (we are on Aerlingus)

And welcome!

 

[khertz]

So looking at our Cruise on the Viking website, it looks like we are 15 days away from being able to book excursions.

We are going to want to leverage the included ones where we can but wondering what other ones people are thinking of that might get to some "must see/do" things, or just neat sounding things, that the included tours don't cover?

Two that caught our eye were the Winery one in Crotone and the Island & the Abbey in Venice

We went through the other night and just added a bunch that sounded interesting to our Wishlist, but we haven't looked to see how scheduling any of them would work out. The one thing I'm really interested in doing in Venice is the islands of Murano and Burano, but I think instead of doing the pricey excursion we may look into doing that on our own with another tour company and stick with the included one in Venice. I've been trying to do some research also on how difficult it would be to go to Easter morning mass at St. Mark's because I think that would be a truly amazing experience!

In Naples I am really hoping to do the Pompeii excursion. I'm thinking that may end up working out since the Mt. Vesuvius one DH wanted to do doesn't look like it's available with the short amount of time we have in port that day.

Another one at the top of our list was the Milazzo & its Castle excursion when we are in Messina. We also liked the La Castella one in Crotone.

 

[Cousin Orville]

We went through the other night and just added a bunch that sounded interesting to our Wishlist, but we haven't looked to see how scheduling any of them would work out. The one thing I'm really interested in doing in Venice is the islands of Murano and Burano, but I think instead of doing the pricey excursion we may look into doing that on our own with another tour company and stick with the included one in Venice. I've been trying to do some research also on how difficult it would be to go to Easter morning mass at St. Mark's because I think that would be a truly amazing experience!

In Naples I am really hoping to do the Pompeii excursion. I'm thinking that may end up working out since the Mt. Vesuvius one DH wanted to do doesn't look like it's available with the short amount of time we have in port that day.

Another one at the top of our list was the Milazzo & its Castle excursion when we are in Messina. We also liked the La Castella one in Crotone.

You can catch a vaporetto to Murano and Burano and do these islands OYO. We did that a couple of years ago before a cruise. We walked over to Alilguna Fermata Fundament Nuove kind on the northeast end of Venice closest to Murano. Did Murano... did Burano... then sailed back to St Mark's Sq. If you have any questions, let me know.

We're starting to look through the excursions now...

 

[OKW Lover]

The one thing I'm really interested in doing in Venice is the islands of Murano and Burano,

Kristi, on our Viva Italia tour we went to a glass blowing factory & showroom that was one of the last ones remaining on the main island of Venice. Is there more to see on Murano and Burano than more glass blowing?

For the benefit of others who are interested, the factory that ABD took us to was very close to St. Marks Square at:
Castello 4392/A
30122 Venezia
Italy

 

[khertz]

Kristi, on our Viva Italia tour we went to a glass blowing factory & showroom that was one of the last ones remaining on the main island of Venice. Is there more to see on Murano and Burano than more glass blowing?

For the benefit of others who are interested, the factory that ABD took us to was very close to St. Marks Square at:
Castello 4392/A
30122 Venezia
Italy

I wasn’t sure if we would be able to do a tour at that place again or not (though I’d love to!) but one of the islands also has lacemaking. And from pictures I’ve seen, it’s really interesting and beautiful to walk around. Lots of bright colored homes and buildings, etc.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

We went through the other night and just added a bunch that sounded interesting to our Wishlist, but we haven't looked to see how scheduling any of them would work out. The one thing I'm really interested in doing in Venice is the islands of Murano and Burano, but I think instead of doing the pricey excursion we may look into doing that on our own with another tour company and stick with the included one in Venice. I've been trying to do some research also on how difficult it would be to go to Easter morning mass at St. Mark's because I think that would be a truly amazing experience!

In Naples I am really hoping to do the Pompeii excursion. I'm thinking that may end up working out since the Mt. Vesuvius one DH wanted to do doesn't look like it's available with the short amount of time we have in port that day.

Another one at the top of our list was the Milazzo & its Castle excursion when we are in Messina. We also liked the La Castella one in Crotone.

We haven't looked into (or really thought about) doing anything with another tour company but probably something we should consider.

One thing I think we would like to do, especially if we do in fact do the Island and Abbey tour in Venice (which overlaps the included tour) would be to spend some time on our own in St Marks Square in the afternoon. I assume it wouldn't be an issue to get from the ship to there but really have no idea where the port is compared to down town/how one would do that on their own, etc. (we've never done any sort of cruise at all so all of that aspect is new to us)

 

[Cousin Orville]

Kristi, on our Viva Italia tour we went to a glass blowing factory & showroom that was one of the last ones remaining on the main island of Venice. Is there more to see on Murano and Burano than more glass blowing?

For the benefit of others who are interested, the factory that ABD took us to was very close to St. Marks Square at:
Castello 4392/A
30122 Venezia
Italy

I wouldn't rank Murano or Burano high on a must do list in Venice, but we did enjoy them. We went during a 2nd trip to Venice. Both are smaller, slower paced, and less crowded than Venice itself. Murano has several glass factories, but the demonstrations are about the same and probably similar to what you already saw on the ABD. We found the glass and jewelry options for buying Murano glass better on Murano than on San Marco. Not sure how it compares to the factory ABD uses.

Burano is famous for it's brightly colored homes and is more picturesque than Murano. While we did like the shopping and buy jewelry/glass in Murano, I wasn't impressed with the shopping (or lace) on Burano.

They're lovely islands if you've seen Venice and are looking for something new. The biggest downside IMO is it takes a while to travel there. Murano isn't bad, but Burano is far. If you're doing both islands, it's a full day.

We haven't looked into (or really thought about) doing anything with another tour company but probably something we should consider.

One thing I think we would like to do, especially if we do in fact do the Island and Abbey tour in Venice (which overlaps the included tour) would be to spend some time on our own in St Marks Square in the afternoon. I assume it wouldn't be an issue to get from the ship to there but really have no idea where the port is compared to down town/how one would do that on their own, etc. (we've never done any sort of cruise at all so all of that aspect is new to us)

I'm curious about the transportation to and from the ship too. I've only been there once to board the Magic, and we had to take a water taxi with luggage and kids. It's very far to walk. There may be a vaporetto stop.

 

[Capwkidd]

I am probably most interested in food and architecture for this trip, any suggestions on the best places, that can be done on this trip? Thanks and Happy New Year!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I'm curious about the transportation to and from the ship too. I've only been there once to board the Magic, and we had to take a water taxi with luggage and kids. It's very far to walk. There may be a vaporetto stop.

Looking at the different excursions in Venice they all seem to mention something like "Transfer by boat to St. Mark’s Square ..." so I assume you need to take some sort of water taxi. Just not sure how easy it would be to arrange a transfer outside of an excursion

We were also thinking about the evening gondola ride which says it includes free time in St Mark's Square as well so might do that

 

[Cousin Orville]

Looking at the different excursions in Venice they all seem to mention something like "Transfer by boat to St. Mark’s Square ..." so I assume you need to take some sort of water taxi. Just not sure how easy it would be to arrange a transfer outside of an excursion

We were also thinking about the evening gondola ride which says it includes free time in St Mark's Square as well so might do that

Right. We paid 85 Euros for a water taxi to get to the port. Looks like a vaporetto can be caught near the cruise terminal at Piazzale Roma on the Grand Canal. Not the fastest way to get to St Mark's Sq, but a lot cheaper.

As far as the gondola ride excursions, the evening tour is $109pp for up to 6 ppl per gondola. OYO, it's 100 Euros (http://www.gondolavenezia.it/history_tariffe.asp?Pag=43) in the evening for up to 6 people. So, if you're in a group it's cheaper OYO. For just 2 people, whether it's cheaper or more expensive would depend on whether you water taxi or vaporetto over there. You can catch gondolas many places. We arranged ours at St Marks Sq outside the Doge's Palace. That's a great place, because it takes you under the bridge of sighs and is very classic Venice.

 

[met19]

Looking up excursions and referencing ports and things to do in my Italy lonely planet. Still trying to find out info on coliseum tours. Also need to plan post cruise in Venice. I’m staying till the 2nd. Riding a gondola is on my to do list. I also might plan to do Easter in St. Marks.

 

[DisneyKevin]

I'm curious about the transportation to and from the ship too. I've only been there once to board the Magic, and we had to take a water taxi with luggage and kids. It's very far to walk. There may be a vaporetto stop.

When we did the RCCL Greece cruise, there was a vapretto station right near the cruise dock.

It was quite easy to use. It's also easy on and off.

There is a stop right at St Marks Square.

If you are using the vaporetto when you disembark the ship, you will need to handle your own luggage.

There are no porters eyc.