Padua

[SOShrink]

I have a question for the few people who have gone on a Venice/Po River cruise that includes Padua. On my upcoming Uniworld trip, I understand that the ship arrives in the small port of Chioggia after lunch and there is a half day excursion to Padua that includes a walking tour and the Basilica di Sant Antonio but not the equally famous Scrovegni Chapel which houses the 40 frescoes by Giotto. Is there enough time to see the Scrovegni? Also, is it true that no one is allowed on board when the ship transfers to the next port of Polesella? So am I to assume that everyone must participate in the Padua excursion lest they be stranded in Chioggia? I would never dream of not going to Padua, but was just wondering what someone would do if they didn't want to go for whatever reason. Just an interesting thought.

[papa B me]

I just booked the Venice trip with Uniworld for Sept 2016. Really hard to find many that have sailed. Found a great review at europeforvisitors.com. From this review and a few others I've found with google searches you are correct that everyone must get off the ship when it relocates from the Venice Lagoon to the Po due to Italian regulations. The review also says that they were told that in 2016 Uniworld is going to add additional stops in the Venice Lagoon and just stop attempting to sailing the Po due to the difficulty and the fact it isn't scenic anyway. They say they are planning on a stop in Burano where they are building new mooring pontoons. I'm anxious for the 2016 brochures to come out to see what changes are being made.

[Riverroad]

I have a question for the few people who have gone on a Venice/Po River cruise that includes Padua. On my upcoming Uniworld trip, I understand that the ship arrives in the small port of Chioggia after lunch and there is a half day excursion to Padua that includes a walking tour and the Basilica di Sant Antonio but not the equally famous Scrovegni Chapel which houses the 40 frescoes by Giotto. Is there enough time to see the Scrovegni? Also, is it true that no one is allowed on board when the ship transfers to the next port of Polesella? So am I to assume that everyone must participate in the Padua excursion lest they be stranded in Chioggia? I would never dream of not going to Padua, but was just wondering what someone would do if they didn't want to go for whatever reason. Just an interesting thought.

 

If I were you, I would see if you can skip the walking tour and go to the Scrovegni Chapel instead. The frescoes are incredible. You must have tickets and they are for timed entry. You can buy the tickets online. You can find out where to meet the group for your transportation back to the ship. We were in Padua last June and it's not that big. Rick Steves has an excellent walking tour.

[roaming_kiwi58]

We did this trip with Uniworld in August 2014.

 

The day we went to Padua we sailed from Venice at 9am, across the lagoon. We arrived in Chioggia at 11.30am, when we had an early lunch on board.

At 1pm we departed on buses for Padua. The drive took about an hour, and we were dropped at the bus park, where we were met by local guides.

They first took us to the Saint Antonio Basilica, then for a walk around the centre of town. Then we had about an hour to ourselves.

Scrovegni Chapel was not included in the tour.

At 5pm we rejoined the buses in a different place, for the drive back to the boat, which took about 90 minutes, as it was moored in a different position at Porto Viro, rather than where we left it in Chioggia.

 

While we were in Padua the boat had to venture out into the Adriatic Sea, then into the River Po, and to Porto Viro where we rejoined it. No passengers were allowed to stay on board for this route, for safety reasons. The River Countess (and other river cruisers of course) is a river boat and not designed to sail on the sea. Because of that it is against maritime regulations to have passengers on board. They did say if anyone did not want to go to Padua, they would make other arrangements for them. I believe there were some people who did not go to Padua, but I don't know what the "other arrangements" were.

 

Agree that the bit of River Po sailing you do between Porto Viro and Polesella, is not very scenic.

 

Hope this helps answer your questions. If there is anything else I can try to help with, please ask!

[Kathie859]

We took the Padua tour with Uniworld and found the amount of time spent at both the Basilica and the Scrovegni(which was included in our walking tour) to be quite adequate. Other than that difference, our experience mirrored roaming_kiwi58's and the explanation of why passengers weren't allowed onboard while on the Adriatic was consistent. Our cruise did not cruise the Po due to low water issues but the captain improvised and we took an unscheduled sailing up to Murano and Burano and back. We took the extended tour with Uniworld post cruise thru Tuscany to Rome and it was an extremely satisfying trip in spite of it not being your typical "river" cruise.

[papa B me]

Kathie,

I just booked this for Sept 2016 with the Florence/Rome extension. How did you find the motels that were provided by Uniworld? Did you do any additional touring on your own or did you feel that the provided excursions from Uniworld in Florence and Rome were adequate?

 

Thanks

[acwmom]

I traveled in August 2013, and like Kathie, didn't sail the Po because of low water levels. Our itinerary was a little different than yours, in that we traveled to Padua from Venice, so it was only about a 40 minute ride. Scrovengi was included when we went, but we skipped the Basilica, opting for a walking tour instead. FWIW, we found Chioggia to be delightful. We ended up not going to Bologna (too many buses, too many days in a row), and spent the day in Chioggia. Many on our cruise opted to take the bikes out to tour, we enjoyed the market, and beach.

[Kathie859]

Kathie,

I just booked this for Sept 2016 with the Florence/Rome extension. How did you find the motels that were provided by Uniworld? Did you do any additional touring on your own or did you feel that the provided excursions from Uniworld in Florence and Rome were adequate?

 

Thanks

 

The hotels were listed in our final travel documents--the hotel in Florence was ok--as I sit here I cannot remember the hotel names to save my soul!--but the hotel in Rome was glorious!! Very, very nice!

 

I hope you enjoy this trip as much as we did. There was a lot of good food, free flowing wine and interesting travel companions to make this one of our favorite trips ever! As far as venturing out on our own, we had a free afternoon and evening in Florence where we took to the streets and explored a few churches and shops and in Rome, we had a similar day--a morning city tour, then we had the entire late morning and the rest of the day to do what we wanted. Again, we roamed the streets, found the Spanish Steps, ate at a cafe on a busy square and people watched and had a delightful time on our own. Uniworld seems to do a good job making sure you see the highlights and making suggestions if you want to go off on your own. I just found it time efficient to go with the Uniworld flow.

[papa B me]

Thanks Kathie,

We found with our last Uniwold cruise that we didn't need to do anything other then what they provided. They really did a great job. Its good to hear that they do as well on the land portion of the trip.

[Kathie859]

I traveled in August 2013, and like Kathie, didn't sail the Po because of low water levels. Our itinerary was a little different than yours, in that we traveled to Padua from Venice, so it was only about a 40 minute ride. Scrovengi was included when we went, but we skipped the Basilica, opting for a walking tour instead. FWIW, we found Chioggia to be delightful. We ended up not going to Bologna (too many buses, too many days in a row), and spent the day in Chioggia. Many on our cruise opted to take the bikes out to tour, we enjoyed the market, and beach.

 

Hi ACWMOM--we have our next Uniworld adventure planned for April and can't wait. This will be our 4th. Each of the 3 previous were enjoyable but the Italy trip had the best food and drink. I'm interested in being on a ship with the new "all-inclusive" announcement. The last Uniworld trip was December, 2013, and tipping was still in place.

[SOShrink]

Thank you all for such exciting replies! Roaming Kiwis, thank you again for detailing your experience on this cruise. Papa B, thank you for the info on their future itinerary that includes Burano. Riverroad, I like that you think outside the box about the possibility of doing Padua on our own in order to see the Scrovegni. Will definitely order on line ahead of time (Rick Steves couldn't have said it better!) I have ordered tickets to museums, operas, concerts, etc. online before and have never had a problem. But there is some risk involved when you are on a cruise due to late arrival, itinerary change and the like. Kathie, thanks for getting us excited about the food on the Italy trip and to acwmom for the feedback about Chioggia. I hear it's a neat seaside village at the southern entrance to the Lagoon with a nearby beach. I hope we get a chance to walk around on one of the days we are docked there.

[acwmom]

Hi ACWMOM--we have our next Uniworld adventure planned for April and can't wait. This will be our 4th. Each of the 3 previous were enjoyable but the Italy trip had the best food and drink. I'm interested in being on a ship with the new "all-inclusive" announcement. The last Uniworld trip was December, 2013, and tipping was still in place.

 

Hi Kathie!

 

Hope you're staying warm. As you can see from my "signature", I have an upcoming cruise as well……in seven weeks:) I took advantage of Uniworld's past guest 2 for 1 special and am doing the Paris/Normandy cruise on the River Baroness. I'm looking forward to the French food. I think the all-inclusive will be great. (And I'm looking forward to the free bag on laundry for past guests)

 

Robin

Edited January 30, 2015 by acwmom
forgot to add name

[papa B me]

We really did enjoy the all inclusive even though I do understand that some have problems calling it all inclusive since they may offer a couple of optional tours. But you can easily get off the boat with a $0 balance.

 

We were blessed on the first cruise with a suite where our laundry was included even though it was our first cruise. We were really hesitant on having our laundry done since the laundry room was free anyway and they provide the detergent. As a matter of fact we were coming out of our room with 2 bags to go down and put them on and then sit in the sun on the deck while it washed. But the butler saw us and grabbed them from us and didn't let it go.

 

Needless to say it came back that evening folded, pressed, and hung up. My wife and I both said we should have given them another load-ha.

 

So I now have two more booked- Christmas cruise in December and the Italy in Sept 2016. First thing my wife asked was whether we had laundry service-ha. No going back now and doing ourselves LOL.

 

Hope you enjoy your upcoming trips.

[SOShrink]

Yes, we have had the suite before. The butler was nice but not necessary as we didn't need to have our excursions booked and didn't need the little afternoon hors d'oeuvres because we were too full! The thing we loved the most was having our laundry done and brought back folded as often as we wanted along with the complimentary shoe shine! Robin, I have been on the River Baroness for that Paris trip. There have other threads about this trip but if you have any questions about the destinations or Paris, ask away! You will love it.....

[SOShrink]

So, getting back to the Padua question, is 5 PM the last shuttle back to the ship? I believe we are docked in Polesella until 11 PM that night before taking off for Venice. So you would think they could let you stay in Padua a little later. I'm actually trying to determine the best time to reserve the Scrovegni Chapel and be able to get back to the ship on time.

[roaming_kiwi58]

When we did this trip there was only one shuttle from Padua back to the ship - at 5pm. I cannot remember what time we sailed after the return to the ship, and am presently overseas, having just got back into Singapore today after a 10 night cruise. I will check my trip diary when I get home in a few days. Maybe you could get back later to the ship if you arranged your own transport back.

 

Please be patient for a bit, and I will get back to you!

[roaming_kiwi58]

SOShrink - have dug out the trip diary and these were our timings for the day we visited Padua:

9am Sailed from Venice, across the lagoon

11.30am Arrived Chioggia, had early lunch aboard

1pm Left Chioggia in buses

About 2pm arrived Padua.

Drop off point was at the bus stop a block or two south of Prato della Valle. The local guides met us there and walked us first to the Saint Antonio Basilica, then into the centre of town.

About 4pm we were given an hour to ourselves. The meeting place at the end of that time was somewhere on the northern side of the pedestrianized part of the central city. I didn't note exactly where, but if this is important to you, I could work it out from doing some cruising on Google Street View.

At 5pm the buses stopped on the side of the street not far from the meeting point to pick us up.

While we were in Padua the boat had sailed from Chioggia to Porto Viro.

Our bus reached Porto Viro at 6.30pm and the boat sailed from Porto Viro at 7pm.

We were due to reach Polesella at 11pm.

 

I hope this helps. If I can try to answer any other questions let me know!

[SOShrink]

That was very helpful , Roaming Kiwis. I'm thinking seriously of skipping Padua and just lounging around Chioggia and the ship for the day as the rest of the trip will involve some serious sightseeing (unless I get motivated and arrange ahead of time to see the Scrovegni Chapel (just seems too rushed). By the way, we just saw a whacky film from NZ called What We Do In The Shadows, a mockumentary vampire movie (takes place in Wellington but you don't get to see much of the city). I think I'll just stick to the spectacular scenery of Lord Of The Rings!

[roaming_kiwi58]

We thought Padua the least interesting of the places we visited in the Venice area, but that of course was just our opinion. There were others who loved it! I can't comment on Chioggia, as we didn't spend any time there, but there were others on our trip who enjoyed the place.

Whatever you decide to do, enjoy! I am sure you will - it is such an interesting part of the world.