Museum tour in Venice

[SOShrink]

On our upcoming Venice/Gems Cruise, there are two optional art history excursions one involving Scuola Grande di San Rocco/Frari Basilica and on another day the Venetian Painters at the Gallerie dell'Accademia with art historian. I have been on museum excursions before some of which are quite compelling and others being downright boring. To me, it is more memorable and efficient to be shown around by an educated guide rather than using a guide book or audio guide. However, I would like to hear from folks who have been there to help decide if it is worth the additional expense (as an additional side comment, it would be nice if the "all-inclusive" would include all the excursions, not just alcohol!)....

[Ozjohnno]

I wish I could help because like you I enjoy some guided tours of art galleries or museums but some can be very boring. BTW by my reckoning if there are optional tours to be purchased then the cruise is not all-inclusive. Who are you cruising with as it seems to me the advertising for this cruise was misleading?

[Host Jazzbeau]

The only tour we took in Venice was St. Mark's Basilica at night -- you have to take a tour in order to get into the church when it's closed. No matter had bad the guide might be (and ours was wonderful), this is worth doing because walking into the dark empty church and then seeing the lights come on one by one is just magical!

 

Everywhere else in Venice we used the Rick Steves guidebook and followed his walking tours and interior tours. This worked out very well for us and we were able to accomplish a tremendous amount in two days.

 

I left my favorite baseball cap in the Frari Church. It was solid navy with "CUNY" embroidered in white on the front. If you see it, please bring it back! :D:D:D

[SOShrink]

Jazz, I will organize a thorough search for your City Univ of NY hat! By the way, did I get that wrong about the OPTIONAL excursions not costing extra with the all-inclusive? Steve

[Host Jazzbeau]

"All-inclusive" almost always has some limits. I think there is a really expensive operator somewhere that sends a limo to your house and you never spend a dime after that -- but the cynic in me suspects you are expected to tip somebody, at least the limo driver! My AMA Rhine cruise wasn't billed as all-inclusive, but we didn't spend a dime on board [OK, I bought a book about the Rhine castles.] All excursion choices were included. Uniworld is considered a step above AMA, but I have heard about optional excursions at extra cost [and I think I've read about some AMA cruises that have extra-cost options]. Tauck is probably the most "all-inclusive" river line. But there are many threads on the ocean forums in which posters make a convincing (to me) case that all-inclusive isn't the same thing as luxury. Four Seasons hotels are not all-inclusive, but nobody would deny that they are luxury. And all-inclusive is certainly not synonymous with Value -- because you are paying for more things that you may not use. I look for top quality in the areas I care about, even if some of those items are priced a la carte. That's why I chose AMA -- reputation for the best food -- and would be willing to pay optionally for some things that a line with less-good food might include. So the bottom line is that if you like Uniworld, nobody should tell you you're wrong!

 

And thanks for looking for my hat!

Edited January 17, 2015 by Host Jazzbeau

[Kathie859]

On our upcoming Venice/Gems Cruise, there are two optional art history excursions one involving Scuola Grande di San Rocco/Frari Basilica and on another day the Venetian Painters at the Gallerie dell'Accademia with art historian. I have been on museum excursions before some of which are quite compelling and others being downright boring. To me, it is more memorable and efficient to be shown around by an educated guide rather than using a guide book or audio guide. However, I would like to hear from folks who have been there to help decide if it is worth the additional expense (as an additional side comment, it would be nice if the "all-inclusive" would include all the excursions, not just alcohol!)....

 

We elected to do the optional tour of the Accedemia with an art historian guide and found it worthwhile. The museum was short walk from the ship (at least where we were docked at the time) and the tour was an effective use of a few hours time. The tour guide was an English lady who moved to Italy when she married. She was quite cheerful, easy to understand, and full of interesting tidbits.

[papa B me]

Thought I would share my view of Uniworld being all inclusive. We took our first Uniworld cruise last July down the Rhine. We have our second scheduled for a Christmas Cruise on the Danube this December and will book the Venice that SOS is on for Sept 2016 as soon as the itineraries are released in a week or two.

 

I felt Uniworld was both all inclusive and luxury. As far as optional excursions. There were 3 offered in lieu of the included excursion. So you were not without an excursion if you didn't choose the optional. IMO the reason the 3 were optional is they required a bit more walking/steps and/or bus time then the included excursions. For instance the Marksburg Castle would have been very difficult if not impossible with people with mobility issues. The Black Forest optional excursion had a great deal of bus time involved. We took 2 of the 3 optional excursion which were 30 to 49 euros. Since there were included excursions available at the same time I felt they were NOT misleading in billing as all inclusive. I thought it was done well. I did get a Amex Platinum card that provides $300 OBC in Uniworld bookings so for my next two cruises I will have a $0 balance even if I take the optionals. Just one man's opinion for those who are looking at Uniworld.

 

SOS can't wait until your review and which excursions you take. I'm struggling with a couple decisions myself. What a great problem to have that when more then one excursion is offered they both sound great.

[SOShrink]

Thanks everybody, for the feedback about the art tours. Don't worry, Jazzbeau, I am a big fan of Uniworld, all-inclusive or not. However, I do have mixed feelings about "all-inclusive" cruises, so I think I'll start a new thread about it when I have a chance,