Help With Reservations !!!

[Monterey Girl]

Has anyone reserved tickets to Doges' Palace Secret Itinerary and St. Marco Basilica LATELY ?? Every internet site I have tried comes back as no longer in service. :eek: :eek: I can't even get an email to go thru. :(

Please advise what I should do !!

Thanks, MG

[dbh62ark]

Monterey Girl, I booked directly with the Doge's Palace museum through the http://www.teleart.org/itinerarisegreti/month.php?cal=english2006&getdate=20070501 web site. I looked in your post history and think I understand why you are having issues. The tickets are only available for booking through June 30th. Are you trying to book a date after that time? One of the reasons that I used the museum's site is that I saw a note on other web sites that if they could not get tickets for the time you booked, the site would book you into another time, and I wanted to book a certain time for my tour. Also, by book directly through the museum, you save the 3.50 Euro service fee per person that is charged by most of the sites.

 

Have a great trip,

Donna

[calberry]

Is it necessary to get advance tickets (for either venue), or can one just wait until one arrives? We will be there 3 days pre-cruise, so we will have lots of flexibility.

 

Thanks,

 

Steve

[dbh62ark]

Steve, if you look at http://www.teleart.org/itinerarisegreti/month.php?cal=english2006&getdate=20070401, you can see that a lot of tour in April are already sold out. There are 3 tours in English every day, and the groups are limited to 25 members. It's a popular tour and does sell out a lot, but having some flexibility does help. If you have only two in your group, obviously that makes it easier too. But if you want to know for sure that you can go on the tour during your stay, I would advise purchasing in advance.

 

Have a great trip,

Donna

[Monterey Girl]

Hi Donna,

Thanks for your info about the Doges' Palace. I think I am just too early for those tickets. BUT, what about the Basilica?? When I try to even send an email thru their site it comes back saying the web site is no longer in service, or words to that effect. I just wondered if anyone else has been having probs trying to get Basilica tickets for say, a tour in May?? How is ANYONE getting thru ?? I know October is a long way off but I still don't want to stand in a long line if I can help it !! At least for now I am too chicken :( to CALL !! I am thinking about emailing my hotel, however, and see if they can help.

Isn't anybody else on this board planing on touring the Basilica while they are in Venice ????? MG

[penorment]

Thank you for the website. I am having trouble getting my credit card info to go through. I get all the way to the end and it won't accept my card. I must be doing something wrong because I know my card is good. It gets plenty of use. Did you have any trouble with this?

[trinigal]

Hi, I was able to book the Doge's Secret Itiinerary Tour over the phone, very easy to do. I called about 2 weeks ago for end of May tour. The number is:

011-39-041-520-9070 They ask what name, time, day, # of people. In turn, they gave a reservation # which they ask for on day of tour. They ask that you show up 20 minutes before tour begins. Tour lasts 1 hour 15 minutes. I did not need to give credit card. There is no service charge for this. Cost of tour 16 euros per person, which includes visiting the rest of Doge's Palace. Hope this info helps someone.

[dbh62ark]

Thank you for the website. I am having trouble getting my credit card info to go through. I get all the way to the end and it won't accept my card. I must be doing something wrong because I know my card is good. It gets plenty of use. Did you have any trouble with this?

I didn't have any problems with my card and am sorry it's not working well for you. I made my reservation approximately two weeks ago and didn't have any issues, but the site may not be working correctly now.

 

Donna

[dbh62ark]

Hi Donna,

Thanks for your info about the Doges' Palace. I think I am just too early for those tickets. BUT, what about the Basilica?? When I try to even send an email thru their site it comes back saying the web site is no longer in service, or words to that effect. I just wondered if anyone else has been having probs trying to get Basilica tickets for say, a tour in May?? How is ANYONE getting thru ?? I know October is a long way off but I still don't want to stand in a long line if I can help it !! At least for now I am too chicken :( to CALL !! I am thinking about emailing my hotel, however, and see if they can help.

Isn't anybody else on this board planing on touring the Basilica while they are in Venice ????? MG

We are going to make a timed reservation for the Basilica to avoid the lines. I was advised that the web site for the Basilica is down until April 1st. If you've been on that site, you'll see blank pages for the Basilica reservations. It sounds like you have great plans, so best wishes to you.

 

Donna

[AM Cruiser]

There are 2 prices listed when you go to book one Int for 16 E and the other Rid for 10 E - does anyone know what the second one is for?

[pcur]

The 10 Euro reduced price is for:

 

Reduced euro 10

children E.U. aged 6 to 14; escorts (max. 2) for groups of children; students* E.U. aged 15 to 29; escorts (max. 2) for groups of children or students; E.U. citizens over 65; staff* of the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali; holders of the "Rolling Venice Card"; Venetian residents; I.C.O.M. members*; For those buying the combined ticket to the Museums of St. Mark’s Square; holders of the Museum Pass issued by the Musei Civici Veneziani

* I.D. required

 

I used this web site:

 

http://www.museiciviciveneziani.it/frame.asp?pid=595&z=2&tit=biglietti

 

I got all the way through to the credit card page before I cancelled the booking, so this site looks like it's working. 16 Euros, also, per person.

[AG Cruisers]

Peggy,

 

The site does work well until you press the button to accept the credit card and then gives a format error. I emailed them as it said to do and still haven't heard from them. (perhaps they are inundated with failed attempts). It actually takes you to the same site as the teleart address. But thanks for trying!

[melissa76]

Don't worry! Lots of people have had problems with the credit card part. It's not just you. It didn't accept mine either. I emailed them asking what to do but never got a response.

 

I'm just going to call the phone number (even though I much prefer to do things on line). Oh Well!

 

Melissa :)

[pcur]

I also heard this when I made our ressies on this site, so I tried doing them very late at night CA time, so I knew with the time difference it would be during a work day in Venice. That's when I was able to get my credit card transaction to go through.

 

You might want to try that, also.

[dkent2230]

I got my yesterday for April @ www.weekendafirenze.com

[dbh62ark]

I used this web site:

 

http://www.museiciviciveneziani.it/frame.asp?pid=595&z=2&tit=biglietti

 

I got all the way through to the credit card page before I cancelled the booking, so this site looks like it's working. 16 Euros, also, per person.

Just for clarification, that's the same site that I listed earlier in the thread. I just saved the board members a click or two and some confusion by linking straight to the page that posts calendars for visits so that you can see how many slots are available in the time slot of your choice.

 

Donna

[dbh62ark]

Here is an e-mail address for the ticket office at the Doge's Palace Museum for the tours: webcontactcenter@teleart.org.

 

Donna

[Andym]

A little tip,

 

If you are only there for the day and miss out getting tickets in advance. Turn up for one of the tours, get there about a half hour before and go to the desk and ask. Because they occasionally get no shows and there are only 3 English tours per day, you can go on the wait list. The only thing is that you may not get in if everyone else turns up, but IMHO it's a must see for Venice.

 

Andy

[Nanatravel]

I ended up calling on a Saturday morning about 5 AM. I was on hold for a while, but I did finally get through and orderd the tickets.

 

Bon Voyage

[pcur]

Getting these tickets has been an issue for years. I remember when I was buying mine in mid-2005, the web site was glitchy, too. The problem with weekendafirenze.com is I think they are one of the vendors that add on their own fee, so the ticket ends up costing the equivalent of an extra $5 per person.

 

Even though the http://www.museiciviciveneziani.it/f...&tit=biglietti

web site (yes, it takes you through multiple screens) that Donna and I used is iffy, at least it doesn't add on to the price. I think having an alternate email, or making the call instead, is a good back-up.

 

However, when I was researching this in 2005, one woman had a terrible time at the ticket office because they couldn't find her ressie, and she didn't have her printout with her. So, that's why I decided to do it the painful way with the web site. I wanted a piece of confirming paper in my hand.

 

I do think the web site is either closed down at night, their time, or something. I had to try more than once to get the credit card to go through, and like I said, it finally did late at night (my time).

 

Now, if you're going to go on the day of your tour and try to get tickets, DON'T stand in the line to the side of the main door. Go up to the guard and tell him you need to go into the ticket office. The line is for people that already have tickets. Once in the office, if you get your ticket, I would ask if you can just go ahead into the Palace and look around before your tour. That way you avoid the line outside.

[sunandsnow]

I got tickets to St. Mark's yesterday 3/29 at www.alata.it. You can get up to 5 tickets at different times throughout the day. I got tickets for 5/11. The tickets are free. You take the booking confirmation to the group line and walk to the front of the line at your scheduled time. At the same web site there was a site for tickets to the Doge's Palace also. Didn't book any tickets have been there before and don't have time for another visit.

[dbh62ark]

Oh sunandsnow, thanks so much for letting us know. I just made a reservation for May 26th. I was advised that the site would be back up April 1st, so they are early, and that's great.

 

Have a wonderful trip to Venice.

 

Donna

[eqj60]

Hi all,

 

Am not sure what to do.--

We understand that during Culture Week ALL state museums are free. We will be in Venice 5/15-18 and when I just used the site above, they are charging 16euros/ticket.

 

Should we pay or take achance at getting in for free????

 

Many thanks for any guidance as we have never been to Venice.

Dick & El

[dbh62ark]

Dick & El, in your situation, I would send an e-mail to webcontactcenter@teleart.org. I'm not sure whether or not Doge's Palace would be free on those dates, but the Secret Itineraries tour fee is separate from Doge's Palace entrance fee anyway although it does include entrance to the palace if that makes sense.

 

Donna

[eqj60]

Donna - Many thanks for your prompt reply- have sent email.

El