Uniworld Italy May 2017

Since I have time on the bus between Milan and Venice, I thought I'd try a post. Our flight from JFK to Milan was cancelled due to mechanical issues causing a 36 hour delay in our arrival. Unfortunately that meant we missed all the organized touring in Milan. We arrived at the hotel just after 1 pm Saturday, too late to catch up with the group at the Last Supper. There were 3 different touring times -- which I'll update after I get a chance to review the daily planner.

We did make the most of our 1/2 day in Milan. We bought tickets to the Duomo roof and museum combo ticket, I think 2 euros more than buying them at the regular box office. At that point we just wanted to really start the vacation. The day was sunny and warm and you could see the Alps from the cathedral roof. We didn't have time to go the museum, but it was convenient after our travel nightmare. There was a special celebration at the Duomo all day for the Virgin of Lourdes. The Uniworld group actually had their official tour on Friday afternoon because Saturday they w weren't allowing group tours due to the special events. There was also a big musical production on the life of Christ in the plaza that evening. It was very special to be there that day, even though we only saw the very end of the production.

The hotel was very nice and I wish we could have enjoyed it more than the 18 or so hours we were there.

The wake up call for Verona was 6 am, leaving the hotel at 7:30. We had 2 fairly full buses, about 35 people in each bus, which needed up being 35 people in each group for our Verona tour. I thought it moved a little slow, but we wandered a bit from the guide.

The lunch at the wine estate was very nice.. and now everyone is napping on the bus. I don't know how often I'll come back to post, but if you have any questions let me know.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Great start! What is uniworld? I'm assuming a tour group?

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Uniworld is a river cruising company. Since Italy doesn't have as many navigable rivers they start in Milan before moving to the ship in Venice

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Beeskate,

Please post all you can about this trip as I am considering it and want to learn all I can about it. So sorry you had a delayed start, but at least you are there now.

Thank you for posting! Sorry the start got so delayed but I'm glad you're there and making up for lost time. Have a great trip.

Sorry to hear of your delay but thank you for posting. I bought my tickets for the Duomo rooftop yesterday for June 23rd. I look forward to any thoughts or insights you may have either during or after your trip. Hope you have a wonderful trip!!

What a bummer! Which airline left you hanging like that? Glad that you have kept a positive attitude -- enjoy the rest of your trip!

American was the airlines and points are not going to cut it on this one. Arrived In Venice. Although we'd been tracking the Countess on MarineTraffic we won't be able to dock at the closer in docking space this week due to the art show. Apparently private yachts have taken all those spaces this week. But it's still all very walkable even from San Basilio. We just need the get our bearings in day light. The St. Mark's after-hour visit is tomorrow, so an early dinner. I think they're just not mentioning a "welcome dinner". Only 63 people came from Milan, but a British couple we met before dinner mentioned they arrived today directly in Venice. It makes me wonder if they may market differently to the GB market. They were told the cruise was pretty fully booked.. but with my math, unless a lot of people arrived directly in Venice we're only about 2/3 full.

For those curious minds, although they announced they request no shorts in the dining room, we did see one of the suite guests (male) dining in shorts.

Tomorrow we do a walking tour, then an afternoon cruise around the lagoon.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Interesting the British couple flew in today instead of the land portion. I would not be happy with American. At all. 36 hours? Really? Nope, not OK in the least.

Hopefully the man was only wearing shorts because his clothes were lost by the airline and he has nothing else.

What started out as a dreary morning turned into a beautiful afternoon. We toured the Doge Palace, crossed the Bridge of Sighs, toured the prison then back across the Bridge of Sighs. We did get in before it was too crowded. We found our way back from St. Marks, easily following the signs that said l'accademia. Map my walk had it at 2.5 miles, but we may not have taken the most direct route, stopping in shops, churches etc.

This afternoon we cruised the islands. There was a great guide narrating the islands, she was also one of the Doge Palace guides, Susan is her name.

The weather was almost perfect, there were a few sprinkles between the sun, a cool breeze in places, warm sunshine most of the afternoon. The servers were attentive, one was passing blue prosecco, the other was taking orders and had water too. Prosecco and Belinis were the perfect accompaniment to the cruising.

We are having the "welcome reception" and gala dinner on Tuesday night. Several days into the trip.

I missed the "secrets of tiramisu" this afternoon since I was still up too enjoying the scenery and weather.

The upper deck has the same chairs as the Catherine. The regular chairs are fine, but the lounge chairs are awkward and uncomfortable. The back doesn't go up high enough so you need to slouch to get any head support.. or maybe I just don't know how to sit in them.

We have been rafter next to a CroisiTours, Michaelangelo ship. So the people on the port (left) side of the ship have no view. Not that ours is spectacular since we're docked in the same place, but we have seen several large cruise ships pass by.

We have an early dinner tonight due to the St. Mark visit.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

And our delay was "only" 30 hours... typo above

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Thanks for the post. I'm so sorry to hear that your trip was delayed -- shame on your airline!! I appreciate the info about this trip so much since I'm taking the same cruise in a little over a month. It's my first time cruising and my first time in Italy. I still can't quite believe I'm going on this cruise!

Since I have time on the bus between Milan and Venice, I thought I'd try a post. Our flight from JFK to Milan was cancelled due to mechanical issues causing a 36 hour delay in our arrival. Unfortunately that meant we missed all the organized touring in Milan. We arrived at the hotel just after 1 pm Saturday, too late to catch up with the group at the Last Supper. There were 3 different touring times -- which I'll update after I get a chance to review the daily planner.

We did make the most of our 1/2 day in Milan. We bought tickets to the Duomo roof and museum combo ticket, I think 2 euros more than buying them at the regular box office. At that point we just wanted to really start the vacation. The day was sunny and warm and you could see the Alps from the cathedral roof. We didn't have time to go the museum, but it was convenient after our travel nightmare. There was a special celebration at the Duomo all day for the Virgin of Lourdes. The Uniworld group actually had their official tour on Friday afternoon because Saturday they w weren't allowing group tours due to the special events. There was also a big musical production on the life of Christ in the plaza that evening. It was very special to be there that day, even though we only saw the very end of the production.

The hotel was very nice and I wish we could have enjoyed it more than the 18 or so hours we were there.

The wake up call for Verona was 6 am, leaving the hotel at 7:30. We had 2 fairly full buses, about 35 people in each bus, which needed up being 35 people in each group for our Verona tour. I thought it moved a little slow, but we wandered a bit from the guide.

The lunch at the wine estate was very nice.. and now everyone is napping on the bus. I don't know how often I'll come back to post, but if you have any questions let me know.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

We did this tour/cruise last May and even though there isn't much cruising,we loved it! Susan is the best! Loved her tours and she also rescued us when a group of us when we got lost in Venice one night...so many laughs! we also took the post cruise tour to Rome. Enjoy!

American was the airlines and points are not going to cut it on this one. Arrived In Venice. Although we'd been tracking the Countess on MarineTraffic we won't be able to dock at the closer in docking space this week due to the art show. Apparently private yachts have taken all those spaces this week. But it's still all very walkable even from San Basilio. We just need the get our bearings in day light. The St. Mark's after-hour visit is tomorrow, so an early dinner. I think they're just not mentioning a "welcome dinner". Only 63 people came from Milan, but a British couple we met before dinner mentioned they arrived today directly in Venice. It makes me wonder if they may market differently to the GB market. They were told the cruise was pretty fully booked.. but with my math, unless a lot of people arrived directly in Venice we're only about 2/3 full.

For those curious minds, although they announced they request no shorts in the dining room, we did see one of the suite guests (male) dining in shorts.

Tomorrow we do a walking tour, then an afternoon cruise around the lagoon.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Just a tip for this year's Italy cruisers who may be interested in the contemporary art world:

The art show referred to in this post is the Venice Biennale, one of the major art exhibitions in the world. It runs until 26 November. Don't know if you will have enough time to spare for it on a cruise, but if you do check it out:

http://www.labiennale.org/en/art/

It's actually "something completely different" after all the Great Masters you encounter in Italy, displaying contemporary art that is often wild and weird in a lovely park-like setting as well as in some of the city's public buildings, including churches. We were fortunate to be studying Italian for four weeks in Venice in 2005 and caught the Biennale during our last couple days in town.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm really looking forward to this trip!!

We did this tour/cruise last May and even though there isn't much cruising,we loved it! Susan is the best! Loved her tours and she also rescued us when a group of us when we got lost in Venice one night...so many laughs! we also took the post cruise tour to Rome. Enjoy!

The St Marks evening experience is really amazing. They allowed the cruise director to video it (generally no cameras allowed) search for Uniworld Ricardo on Facebook. Susan is narrating. Today is Padua was rather warm. We did the extended tour of St Anthony's which I would recommend unless you wanted more time to explore Padua on your own. After Venice it is more of a city (with cars!). If you have the opportunity to walk back from any excursion in Venice go for it. It's always better to get lost in Venice than to take the direct boat back to the ship

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Thank you for taking the time to keep us informed on your trip. We will be doing this exact cruise in October so we find this very informative. Question: What hotel did they put the group in while in Milan? What were the rooms like and were meals on your own or did they handle them?

The Milan hotel was the Star Rosa which is located a block behind the Duomo. It is very convenient. Uniworld staff set up a table before reception that is manned during certain hours of the day. The local hosts also have bottles of water available if you want them &a they hand them out on excursions.

The hotel's breakfast buffet is included. You are on your own for lunch and dinner (& gelato). The local hosts and hotel concierge can recommend restaurants and the concierge can make reservations if needed.

The rooms were nice, not terribly spacious but not European-style tiny either. There was at least 1 USB charger but no US style plugs if you have a lot of devices to charge. There was decent storage for limited clothes, a tub-shower combo, although our room had a pretty high step-in if that's an issue for you. There was a bidet and toilet. The room did have air conditioning that you could control.

Although we didn't have an opportunity to take advantage of the bar, we did walk by and see they had a nice selection of fairly substantial snacks to have with your wine or drink.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Today was the Ferrara or Bologna day. Although we had planned to go to Bologna, as did 2/3 of the ship, I woke up feeling bad and wasn't going anywhere. My husband switched to Ferrara, and I slept.

When I finally made it up and around I saw 6 or so others that stayed on the ship. When the Ferrara group came back, I found out that if I had to miss a tour, this was a good one to miss. Apparently the vox box amplifier wasn't working. So the one guide for 30-ish guests had to shout, or when in the Duomo had to whisper and no one could hear. My husband did say the guide was very good and looked out the guests more than the cruise director. I was waiting to see if our impression of the CD changed and it hasn't. He just seems to do the bare minimum. I don't know who's responsible for making sure the Vox boxes work, but it seems like he could have double checked.

Although the ship had a shuttle going back to Ferrara for 1.5 hours, only two couples went back. We were one of them so I could see the city. Most of the smaller shops were closed for their mid-day break, opening between 2:30-4:00. Of course the shop selling ceramics that was listed on the daily schedule was closed until 4, the time the bus was leaving back for the ship. Kind of a disappointing excursion day. I'll be curious to hear how the Bologna tour went. That excursion did include a 1.5 hour commute each way.

I will say wi-go has been horrible. They did put extra wireless hotspots in the lounge and other common areas. However the whole system has been out, including tv, phones etc. Although it's a strong signal now, I've been relying more on my t-mobile 3G connection which has worked great.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Sorry you were feeling sick. Hope you get to go on all the rest of the tours!

I talked to several people who went to Bologna and thoroughly enjoyed the excursion. The pasta making was more of a demonstration than a class, but very interesting. The bus ride from Polesella was a little more than an hour. The bus ride to Ferrara was 30 minutes. I wouldn't let the bus ride turn you off about Bologna unless there was some reason they couldn't sale to Polesella.

They brought an excellent 3-piece combo on board last night. We sailed from Polesella to Porto Viro. The shipped docked outside a propane distributor. Nothing very scenic about it. For this cruise, I'd say avoid port cabins and go with starboard. We're in 304 and it's very convenient to the lounge and exit/entrance.

I will say this is not a cruise for people with limited mobility. It would be very hard to tour Venice if you couldn't climb stairs to cross the bridges. In Chioggia today the bus drops you off at one end the market and we spend 3 hours in the market etc. before walking to where the ship is docked at 12:30 for a 1:30 departure. We left a little late because one couple misunderstood and got back late, needing to take a taxi.

Chioggia is really charming and the market has everything you'd ever need. My husband bought a nice 5€ hat that was probably made in China. It was very hot and sunny, but when you caught a breeze it was quite pleasant.

The mid-cruise evaluations were due yesterday and there's been slight changes is level of service. Friends commented that they didn't know there were breakfast specials, the hotel manager told us corporate had told them to discontinue posting them. However this morning the servers presented everyone with a printed menu listing the specials. We had crepes, friend had the Belgium waffles.

The cruise manager has also been much more available. He's quite helpful and personable, he was just hard to track down before.

We've had sunny warm days... a bit warmer than what I packed for. But the Chioggia market had a huge selection of women's (and men's and children's) clothing. Chioggia also has several nice churches.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Glad you are feeling better! Keep on enjoying.

Visited with a few more people who went to Bologna and they said the bus ride was about one hour, fifteen minutes. I think complaints of a long bus ride may come when the ship is unable to cross the Adriatic Sea and excursions are bussed from Chioggia.

Yesterday was touring the different islands. It was an all-day trip, leaving at 8:15 am and returning around 4:30. You do have the option to stay on the ship and see Venice on your own.

The tour on Torchello was mainly for the cathedral which was abandoned, but what may be a precursor to the St Marks mosaics. We also climbed the 84 steps + ramps of the bell tower

Next to Mazzorbo where we tasted one wine and we're able to walk the vineyards. They apparently had other wines too, but the one we tasted was a rare grape, the bottle of Murano glass and "simple" gold leaf for a label. At $140 a bottle we passed, but there were other options we just didn't see or taste

The Burano lace making demonstration was more like walk through this shop where one lady sits making lace and here are our prices. The town was very scenic and we took so many pictures. You are on your own for lunch, but we just stopped at a casual bar for a beer and pizza, calamari and a tuna bruschetta.

We slowly cruised back. For those concerned about long bus rides, the long boat rides were worse. We were in a water-bus with hard plastic seats. There was a "tiny toilet" and you could be outside in the rear of the boat. There are other larger boats where the passengers could walk around, but our boats were rows of 3 seats on each side of a center aisle.

After we arrived back from the island tour, had a quick Prosecco, my husband and I walked to the Rialto Bridge. It was about a 25-30 minute walk from the Countess.

After dinner we had opera in the lounge. There was a piano accompaniment and a male and female singer. It was really nice, but I think a lot of people didn't go up because they didn't like opera.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Well, I must ask about the food onboard your ship. Is Uniworld serving lots of Italian food and Italian wines?

Both Italian food and wine. Today we visited the Rialto market with the chef and for lunch we had the octopus in a salad and as calamari. Both delicious. The wine have also been from the Tyrol area, so a few gewertraminers for whites. The reds have been varied. The bartender is acting as sommelier (as well as tech support for the routers in the bar). There's generally a pasta option at lunch, Italian charcuterie at lunch. So much seafood after Chioggia.

We had ossobuco for a dinner option last night. When my husband doesn't care for the seafood or salad starter the waiter had brought him prosciutto with melon. There's also pizza available on the sun deck osteria during meal times. Lemoncello is also available in the bar.

Also, unless you really want to buy expensive handcrafted glass, I'd recommend spending that time getting lost in Venice instead of the excursion. You do not go to Murano but across the lagoon to Giudecca island. It's a nice presentation and a beautiful shop, but we kind of felt captive. We left and walked along the lagoon until it was time for the water bus to leave.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums