Venice and "Gems..." aboard River Countess

[acwmom]

SOShrink,

 

I am loving this review. It brings back memories of our River Countess cruise in 2013. It's nice to see that they have tweaked the itinerary and added more offerings. It's also great to see you were consistently docked in the "better" locations in Venice.

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review!

 

Robin

[Got2Cruise]

Very enjoyable travel blog. I wish there were pictures. Have any to share?

[SOShrink]

The next day also involved a choice: full day to Ravenna (city of mosaics) or a more laid-back half-day to Chioggia with seafood lunch (don't worry....plenty of options for those that don't eat seafood! I actually ran into a woman that wasn't going to Chiggia because she doesn't eat seafood. Did you really think Uniworld wouldn't know that a few individuals don't eat seafood? And did you really think you couldn't grab pizza or something on your own if you had to? Passengers going to Ravenna left Polesella at 9 AM and would meet the ship at the end of the day in Chioggia. Ravenna is a lovely town with a nice square (Piazza del Popolo) and great ice cream (the things I remember!). But the main reason for going is to see the magnificent mosaics at the Basilica of San Vitale and the Basislica of Sant' Apollinare Nuovo as well as Dante's tomb (Sepolchro die Dante).

The Chioggia passengers stayed on until 11:30 and got off the ship at Taglio di Po for the quick trip to Chioggia. This is another instance where all passengers had to disembark due to the Maritime law during the Adriatic Sea Passage. Chioggia is a typical fishing village and has a wholesale outdoor market along the main thoroughfare every Thursday (which is when we were there) and a daily fish market along the canal. You can also take a 20 min walk to Sottomarina, a beach area that some of the crew members like to hang out when they have free time there. There is a Vaporetto stop here (coming from Lido) and you can see why this place make a great weekend getaway for Venetians.

So my overall conclusion is that if you had to sacrifice one of the cities in order to enjoy Chioggia, you could probably miss Ravenna since you can see mosaics elsewhere although not as dramatic. As mentioned before, many chose the shorter day in Chioggia after the long previous day in Bologna or Ferrara, but it all depends on your personal choice.....

[SOShrink]

So once again we find ourselves docked in Venice and today everyone goes to Verona (one group left earlier since they were going to Verona in the morning and the Valpolicella Wine tasting excursion in the afternoon and the rest were spending the entire day in Verona. Verona is a magnificent city and shouldn't be missed. From where the bus drops you off, you walk across the bridge over the Adige River which intersects the city. You will pass Juliet's balcony and the guide gives you 15 min to pop in for pictures and rub the bronze breast of Juliet's statue so you too can find love! (It's sick, but you know you'll do it!). But the main draw of Verona is the famous square (Piazza Bra) where the famous Arena is located. The guide takes you in and gives the history (wouldn't it be amazing to see Aida here with the outdoor Triumphant March and locals singing along). There was a Friday Market going in the square the day we were there and you could taste samples of cheese, salami, prosciutto and olives all afternoon! It was one of the highlights of the trip.

[jpalbny]

So once again we find ourselves docked in Venice and today everyone goes to Verona ...There was a Friday Market going in the square the day we were there and you could taste samples of cheese, salami, prosciutto and olives all afternoon! It was one of the highlights of the trip.

 

Oh my. That sounds amazing! Where can I sign up?

[SOShrink]

So here is the last day (Sat.) of the cruise which will be spent completely in Venice docked in the more convenient Setti Martiri location until 11 pm when the ship will make its final sad short trip along the San Marco and Giudecca Canals to dock at Marittima where we will disembark the next morning.

At 8:30 we onced again hopped onto motor boats and went up the Grand Canal for the included excursion "Do as the locals do": Venice Rialto market tour. Just taking those boats up the Grand Canal enjoying the view and snapping pictures was worth it alone. We were accompanied by one of the chefs from the ship who shopped along with many locals buying that night's dinner. It was fun to watch our chef holding up a live octopus and haggling the price in Italian with the vendor. I think the poor creature ended up in our ceviche that night! This fish and produce market had the freshest most colorful vegetables and spices we have ever seen including humongous white asparagus. After an hour or so at the market, we went to a trattoria near the Rialto Bridge and were given glasses of Prosecco with little salt cod, prosciutto and olive snacks.

After the tour, some of us took a gondola ride arranged ahead of time by the cruise director which is charged to your room (convenient). I wasn't as thrilled with the gondola ride as I felt it was too touristy with one boat following the other (I felt like I was at Disney!). You're better off trying to do this on your own in a more remote area at night. But if you're in a time constraint then what we did was fine since it was our last day. We were then able to enjoy our final motor boat ride back to the River Countess for lunch.

I also want to mention that they offered the optional Venetian Painters in the Accademia tour the same morning as the Rialto Market tour. I'm not sure why they couldn't have the Accademia Tour in the afternoon so folks could do the market and the museum but then again they could have gone to the museum on their own in the afternoon.

I will post again on the final afternoon and evening...

[Host Jazzbeau]

After the tour, some of us took a gondola ride arranged ahead of time by the cruise director which is charged to your room (convenient). I wasn't as thrilled with the gondola ride as I felt it was too touristy with one boat following the other (I felt like I was at Disney!). You're better off trying to do this on your own in a more remote area at night.

 

Did the gondoliers sing "It's a Small World After All"??? :eek:

[SOShrink]

Very funny, Jazz (especially since I live 10 miles from Disney!). Seriously, before I finish my day-by-day post, can someone tell me how to add photos here? My pictures are on my iPad. Thanks

[SOShrink]

So, for the final afternoon, you have three choices: spend the afternoon packing😱, go up on deck for the 1:30 to 4:30 Lagoon tour, or stay in Venice to buy more shoes! (Seriously, one of our traveling group bought 9 pairs of shoes on this trip). Many folks were already off the ship from the morning Market adventure. The River Countess set sail at 1:30 to explore the rest of the Lagoon (towards Torcello and Burano). The ship's sommelier (Tamara) gave commentary from the bridge. It was nice to have the option of using the Vox ear doohickey up on deck or in the lounge so you could hear her above wind or people talking. The Countess returned to the same dock (Riva Setti Martiri) around 4:30pm and would stay there until 11pm so all the day-trippers could be back on board before she moved to the less convenient port area. We decided to go to a final Vivaldi concert at 9pm by the Interpreti Veneziani performing at the beautiful San Vidal Church located near the Accademia Bridge (we were able to take the vaporetto there and back and we made it back by 11). By the way, you can get vaporetto tickets on board at the front desk which is convenient. It was a nice way to end the trip.

The next morning most people of course, went to the airport and some took advantage of Uniworld's Rome and Florence extension. But there were also quite a few who were going on to Rome on their own. Venice's Railway Station (Stazione Venezia Santa Lucia) is not very far from the dock. I hope this has been helpful. It certainly has been fun recapturing the memories. If anyone has questions or anything to add from your trip, please do so!

[jpalbny]

Seriously, before I finish my day-by-day post, can someone tell me how to add photos here? My pictures are on my iPad. Thanks

 

Love your review and would enjoy some pictures, if you want to go to the trouble of posting some.

 

The general idea is that you have to upload the pictures to an online hosting site (I use Picasa, others use other sites). Then as you write your text, you can insert pictures by copying the URL of the picture from the remote server, hitting the picture icon (looks like a yellow square with a mountain), and pasting the URL into cruise critic.

 

The process is persnickety, so use the preview post option to see if it works before posting. There are a couple of settings you have to tweak in Picasa to make it work, for example. I use browser tabs and switch back and forth between Picasa and Cruise Critic to make it easier. There are a few threads devoted to this topic with more detail so I won't clutter your review.

[Oceans&Rivers]

I have to say we had a top notch cruise director, a dynamic Italian young woman named Gyongyi (pronounced JohnG). I hope you guys get her on your upcoming cruises.

 

Hi. She's Hungarian, married to an Italian man who is also with Uniworld. :)

[Host Jazzbeau]

Love your review and would enjoy some pictures, if you want to go to the trouble of posting some.

 

The general idea is that you have to upload the pictures to an online hosting site (I use Picasa, others use other sites). Then as you write your text, you can insert pictures by copying the URL of the picture from the remote server, hitting the picture icon (looks like a yellow square with a mountain), and pasting the URL into cruise critic.

 

The process is persnickety, so use the preview post option to see if it works before posting. There are a couple of settings you have to tweak in Picasa to make it work, for example. I use browser tabs and switch back and forth between Picasa and Cruise Critic to make it easier. There are a few threads devoted to this topic with more detail so I won't clutter your review.

 

Or you can just upload your photos to a free website (I use Shutterfly) and post the public link here.

[awatt]

SOS,

 

We are booked on this cruise for October. Loved reading your review, so helpful, thank you.

 

Seems first and last days in Venice there is adequate time on your own. is there much free time in the other cities? We like some time to walk,shop eat and wander on our own.

[SOShrink]

Oceans&Rivers, I was just trying to see if you were paying attention! Good call. You're absolutely right. I remember asking her if she was Italian and she said "no, I'm Hungarian", and we had this long conversation about Budapest and I still got it wrong! Sorry😉...

Awatt, so here's the way the free time breaks down to the best of my recollection. Obviously you have free time the whole first day you arrive in Venice as well as the afternoon after the walking tour on the second day until that night's Basilica Tour. The next few days are spent in the Po Delta region involving Padua, Bologna, and Ferrara and you are given some free time after each walking tour in each town. I liked the fact that you could spend the whole afternoon free in Ferrara and had your choice of which shuttle to return on. On the Ravenna day, if you didn't take that full day excursion, there was more free time for those that chose the half day Chioggia option. But you are right. We were docked in Venice the last three nights with plenty of leisure time Friday evening after the Verona tour and the next afternoon completely free after the "do as the locals do" Rialto Morning market tour.

[awatt]

Thank you so much SOS, that's just what I was looking for!