Juniper Venice Viking Excursions

[OneSixtyToOne]

21 minutes ago, kctwinmommy said:

Thanks @TayanaLorna! I think I need to just get some tickets for St. Marks & Doge Palace on our own. It sounds like the "Venice on your own" basically just gets you there. Which is fine... I just wonder what time our tickets should be bought for.

You can really do the palace on your own. Tickets are easy to buy in advance. Make sure you buy the Secret Itineraries tour of the Doge’s Palace. It’s incredible. You’ll see the cell where Casanova was imprisoned and walk across the Bridge of Sighs as well as other sights not seen on the general tour.

 

Right in San Marcos Plaza is the Florian, one of the oldest cafe’s in Europe. Splurge and have a dessert there.

 

Edited March 19 by OneSixtyToOne

[kctwinmommy]

@OneSixtyToOne - thanks! I just am not sure what time we should pick for ticket entrance. I'm guessing the excursion will probably leave a few times that morning, probably between 8-10 a.m. I'm thinking of getting tickets for like 1 p.m. or so, kind of in the middle of the day. And just looked now, the only option is 9:15 a.m., which I doubt will work. Darn!

[kctwinmommy]

13 hours ago, TayanaLorna said:

We did Secrets of the Doges Palace day 1

Murano & Burano day 2

A Taste of Chioggia day 3

 

The boat ride to/from Venice takes 1.5 hours each way.  There are bathrooms, a bar where folks could purchase coffee, hot chocolate etc and a guide explaining all kinds of things about the canals, Venice etc.  The boat had an open upper deck and the ride was scenic even in the awful weather we had.  We were the only cruise ship in town and Venice was still crowded in February.

So I just booked the Secret Itineraries of Doge's Palace, and it has a 9:15 start time. I can cancel up to 48 hours before. I'm hoping we can get on a boat early in the morning, like 7 a.m. or so, and make this tour. It was the only time available between Viator & Get Your Guide.

[TayanaLorna]

10 hours ago, kctwinmommy said:

So I just booked the Secret Itineraries of Doge's Palace, and it has a 9:15 start time. I can cancel up to 48 hours before. I'm hoping we can get on a boat early in the morning, like 7 a.m. or so, and make this tour. It was the only time available between Viator & Get Your Guide.

You may have an issue getting into Venice for a non Viking excursion. 

 

In Venice, unlike many ports there was only one boat for Venice on Your Own. It was in the morning at 9 am on Day 1 in Venice and 7 am on Day 3 and those folks had one boat back to the port in Chioggia 8 hours later.  It was an Optional excursion and sold out before the DV's could book.  Same tour ran on Day 2 (turnover) and was around 8:30 or 9 am.  That one was easier to reserve as it was only offerred to folks staying on board for next leg.

 

They did not do shuttle boats all day.  They did shuttle boats to Chioggia every half hour but that was only a 10 minute ride.

 

At A Glance: St. Marks Square was the Included.  It was a guided tour of the square and then free time.  You might be able to reserve this excursion to get to Venice, tell the guide you are leaving the group and ask where and when to meet the return boat.   It was 6 hours, 15 minutes which gave folks 3 hours 15 minutes in Venice max.  It left at 9:15, 9:45,  am on Day 1 in Venice.  On Day 2 there was one around 8:30 ish.  On Day 3 times were 7:30, 8:30 and 8:45 am.  Figure the boat ride is 1 hour 30 minutes.  It was a 15 minute walk from where the boat docked to St. Marks Square.

 

The Viking Secrets of Doges Palace was a Privledged Access tour meaning only our Viking group had access to those areas of the Palace at that time.  We were also in areas of the palace not open to the Public.  Afterwards our most excellent and informative tour, we had time to explore the gorgeous staterooms where the Venetian Republic was governed.  The path for self exploration also took us through prison cells and dungeons open to the public and out through the cafeteria and bookstore.  Since we had already seen private areas of the prisons, we would have preferred to exit the palace after the staterooms and not have to follow all the folks on their own.

 

We were really glad we had a pre-planned tour as folks who went on their own for the day reported standing in line for 1.5 hours to get in.  And this was February off-season!  Our group just strolled to the beginning of the line.

 

Also keep in mind that the times Viking docks near Venice can change depending on tide, wind direction and rainfall.  Ours did.  It was near full moon so higher then normal tides.  We had a southerly wind keeping the water in the lagoon and 3 days of rain.  The MOSE gates were even closed during our visit.

[kctwinmommy]

@TayanaLorna - that's super helpful info! I didn't realize you had booked the secrets one through Viking. I booked it through another company, but I can cancel up until 48 hours before. I'll probably cancel it now though as it looks like we'd never make it there in time. I guess I was under the impression that a lot of them would be "on your own" tours, meaning you would still need tickets to actually see things. I just hope that we can get into that one. We also have a DV cabin, so like you, those tours on Day 1 & 3 were also booked up already.

[TayanaLorna]

Just now, OneSixtyToOne said:

I think it means it is not open to the public unless you have a special ticket and tour guide to enter. 

You enter the “secret” part of the tour through a hidden door in a wall and through a passage to the torture room. It’s quite a tour. You also visit the administrative offices of the Doge that contains large cabinets with the heraldry of all the noble families of Venice. It was in use up until the time that Napoleon conquered the city. 

Yes and it was such fun exiting through a door and be right inside those spectacular palace rooms.  Definitely behind the scenes so to speak.

[OneSixtyToOne]

3 minutes ago, TayanaLorna said:

Yes and it was such fun exiting through a door and be right inside those spectacular palace rooms.  Definitely behind the scenes so to speak.

When we toured a palace in Germany, they had secret doors and passageways behind the walls for the servant to move about and tend to the ornate stoves that heat the rooms. It’s where the expression “the walls have ears” originated.

[lackcreativity]

On 3/18/2024 at 7:25 PM, quiltsnh said:

Thank you everyone… it is much clearer now… 

I can understand your confusion. Viking shows "Italy, the Adriatic & Greece" as a 15 day cruise on the website, when it is actually the middle two parts of a four week cruise. We went all the way from Barcelona to Istanbul, but we did the first half one year and the second half the next. We really enjoyed both parts!

[quiltsnh]

Lackcreativity..

 exactly.  And no one at Viking had answers.  Thanks for your reply.

[Murt22]

We are on the reverse cruise that starts in Istanbul, but we start in Athens -so Venice and Rome are our turnaround days. We knew this would not give us enough time in Rome, so we are going early to Rome and then flying to Athens to catch the cruise. The Venice discussion is on point for us as well - we don't book our excursions for 5 weeks - so the information in this thread is very informative.

[TayanaLorna]

12 hours ago, quiltsnh said:

Lackcreativity..

 exactly.  And no one at Viking had answers.  Thanks for your reply.

It was confusing.  When i booked our Med cruise i wanted to do it way off season so looked for a Viking ship that did it.  It was only the Saturn. Then i looked at the different cruise choices on Saturn and noticed that some overlapped.  If a person wants to do a Med cruise of more then 7 nights without booking 2 separate cruises, these connected cruises are a nice option and actually more economical then booking 2 separate cruises back to back.  There are some things that i liked about the option and some i did not.  It was a fabulous cruise nonetheless.

[quiltsnh]

Thank you!

[CHammond]

On 3/19/2024 at 5:03 PM, kctwinmommy said:

@OneSixtyToOne - thanks! I just am not sure what time we should pick for ticket entrance. I'm guessing the excursion will probably leave a few times that morning, probably between 8-10 a.m. I'm thinking of getting tickets for like 1 p.m. or so, kind of in the middle of the day. And just looked now, the only option is 9:15 a.m., which I doubt will work. Darn!

We went with Viking in October to Venice, on our turn around day there was only one free shuttle to Venice which left at 8:30, it gave you about 4 hours in Venice, however, if you want to stay longer you can get back to the ship on your own, you need to ride the water bus up the grand canal to the old cruise port where viking is taking all the passengers getting off their flights, meet up with them and get on the viking bus to the cruise ship. We stayed in Venice until 5 and were glad we did, we were there at a slow time so were able to walk right in to the Doge's palace and do a tour. We were able to buy tickets on the spot, we also waited 45 minutes in line to see St Marks

[kctwinmommy]

1 hour ago, CHammond said:

We went with Viking in October to Venice, on our turn around day there was only one free shuttle to Venice which left at 8:30, it gave you about 4 hours in Venice, however, if you want to stay longer you can get back to the ship on your own, you need to ride the water bus up the grand canal to the old cruise port where viking is taking all the passengers getting off their flights, meet up with them and get on the viking bus to the cruise ship. We stayed in Venice until 5 and were glad we did, we were there at a slow time so were able to walk right in to the Doge's palace and do a tour. We were able to buy tickets on the spot, we also waited 45 minutes in line to see St Marks

Thanks! I guess we'll figure more out once we're onboard. I'll be honest, it's the only port that we don't have plans set, out of the 17 we have. LOL! So, that's not too bad.

[OneSixtyToOne]

1 hour ago, kctwinmommy said:

Thanks! I guess we'll figure more out once we're onboard. I'll be honest, it's the only port that we don't have plans set, out of the 17 we have. LOL! So, that's not too bad.

BTW if you’re looking for a place to eat lunch while in San Marcos plaza, walk under the astronomical clock and take a right. That area is the restaurant row of the district.

Edited March 22 by OneSixtyToOne

[kctwinmommy]

@OneSixtyToOne - thanks! Good to know!

[Murt22]

On 3/18/2024 at 4:34 PM, Frenchberet said:

On our other days in Venice we did an included walking tour, “Highlights of St Mark’s Square”, and an optional tour to the Doge’s Palace.

Did you go inside St. Mark's and/or Doge's Palace on the first day? We have an excursion "Unraveling St. Mark’s Square & Doge’s Palace" and wonder if it goes inside Doge's palace. I find the descriptions to be unclear. 

[Frenchberet]

3 hours ago, Murt22 said:

Did you go inside St. Mark's and/or Doge's Palace on the first day? We have an excursion "Unraveling St. Mark’s Square & Doge’s Palace" and wonder if it goes inside Doge's palace. I find the descriptions to be unclear. 

On day 1 we signed up for the included “Highlights of St Mark’s Square”.  Our plan was to do the tour, explore Venice on our own, then take the last boat back to the ship.  We found out that there really wasn’t a “shuttle boat service” and that we had to return to the ship at an assigned time with our group. That left us with only 45 minutes of free time.  So, we decided to ditch the included tour.  We stood in line and purchased tickets to St Mark’s Basilica.  We toured the inside, including the museum that houses the bronze horses brought to Venice from Constantinople.  Very nice.

Day 2 was transfer day and we did the optional tour to Murano and Burano.  

Day 3 we did an optional “Secrets of Doge’s Palace with Early Access”.  We had a small group of 8-10 people and a guided tour inside the rooms, hidden passages, and cells within the palace. It was very interesting.  After the tour we had an hour of free time before returning to the ship.  Overall, not a lot of time in Venice.

[Murt22]

Thank you so much for the information - debating on doing the Venice on your own which has a longer time in Venice - but if we can't pre-order our tickets, we may be in the same boat - so to speak - as doing the paid excursion that includes St Mark's.

[kctwinmommy]

35 minutes ago, Frenchberet said:

Day 3 we did an optional “Secrets of Doge’s Palace with Early Access”.  We had a small group of 8-10 people and a guided tour inside the rooms, hidden passages, and cells within the palace. It was very interesting.  After the tour we had an hour of free time before returning to the ship.  Overall, not a lot of time in Venice.

I'm hoping that shows up on our cruise. We don't have anything for that 2nd full day on the schedule yet. I know we have to wait until we board to find those out. But this is the one I want to do!

[OneSixtyToOne]

4 hours ago, kctwinmommy said:

I'm hoping that shows up on our cruise. We don't have anything for that 2nd full day on the schedule yet. I know we have to wait until we board to find those out. But this is the one I want to do!

One other option is to rent a hotel room in Venice for one of those nights. I’ve read of other people who have done this. Venice after dark is magical.

[Murt22]

4 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

One other option is to rent a hotel room in Venice for one of those nights. I’ve read of other people who have done this. Venice after dark is magical.

We thought about that - but how do you get back to the ship?

[kctwinmommy]

@OneSixtyToOne yes I understand we could do that, but not something we really want to spend money on. I get it, I know how beautiful it is, I've actually been there before.

 

And @Murt22 you would most likely need to schedule your own transportation back to the ship. That's what the people I know who have done it had to do. On another site, someone wrote up their whole trip, day by day, including their overnight stay in Venice. It wasn't cheap, that's for sure.

[snoopy2001]

On 3/18/2024 at 10:19 AM, quiltsnh said:

 I did do search but found nothing.  It should be noted this is not a back to back cruise.  This is in the middle of cruise from Rome to Athens so not a transition day.  But thanks for replying. 

As said previously, this cruise is 1 leg of viking's cruise from Barcelona to Istanbul, so many people will be departing or boarding in Rome & Venice. Italian sojourn starts in Rome and ends in Venice, while other cruises are longer.

Edited Wednesday at 04:16 PM by snoopy2001