Venice & the Jewels of Veneto - Uniworld S.S. La Venezia - Day 2

 

Monday 22 June 2026 (Day 2)

 

Early start, we had to be in reception by 07:50 for an excursion to Doges Palace. This was a trek along the water  front, crossing seven canals by  seven bridges between the boat and the Palace. Six bridges have gentle slopes with good hand rails, the seventh - nearest to the palace - has steeper ramps on the steps and no handrail part of the way, one can hang onto the wide original stone rail or, luckily for me, a strong chap in the group gave me support.

The group had access to the palace before it was opened to the public. After an introduction and admiring the courtyard the tour started at the top. This involves ascending flights of marble stairs.

The upper floor has highly decorated rooms where the Doges used to rule and receive ambassador. Some of the ceiling paintings are flaking  and nets are strung beneath to protect the public.

There is a lift which needs to be operated by the staff. The tour guide arranged that with the Doges Palace staff who take the passenger past ropes and through back rooms to the elevator, however one misses crossing the Bridge of Sighs to the old prison if using the lift to descend.

Bridge of Sighs

On this blazing June day  the guide took the group back a different way to stay in the shade, and some of the bridges used don’t have slopes so I chose to go back the way we came.

 

After lunch we cruised back to Basilio Cruise Terminal while we had  cruise presentation. We’d received a useful large 3A paper sheet detailing every days activities and were given a sheet of paper to choose which excursions we wanted to go on. As I noted earlier, there are limits on most excursions. This is not mentioned in Uniworlds brochure or website, so I’ll note them here: 

St Marks Basilica  MAX 100 guests

Musica a Palazzo MAX10 guests

Padua Walking Tour  MAX 70 guests

Vincenzo with Teatro Olympia  MAX 45 guests

Murano Glass Blowing  MAX 80 guests

Let's go biking Choggia - MAX 20 guests (Presumably limited by the number of bikes they have)

Braganzo Boat Ride with tastings at Ca'zen  MAX 75 guests

A Noble Country Villa & its Wines MAX 40 guests

Palazzo Goldini Visit with Music & Refreshments  MAX 30 guests

Castello del Catago visit  MAX 75 guests

Po Delta Sailing  MAX 45 guests

Venice Walking Tour  MAX 50 guests (Presumably limited by the capacity and number of water taxis they book to get the group to the start at Rialto Bridge)

Venice Morning Walk with Gondola Oar Artisans  MAX 25 guests

Ca Maca Mask Atelier  MAX 20 guests

Row Venice  MAX 8 guests

 

 

At 14:20 on the sun deck Butler Bogdan performed sabrage, shown in the Daily Programme as a Sabreing Ceremony (i.e. removing the top of a Champagne bottle with a sabre.)  It looked like it was the first time he had done it as he needed guidance and he didn’t make a ceremony of what is really a very simple procedure, and as a result the event was rather perfunctory. A tray of glasses of  Prosecco was handed around afterward.

 

Dinner was a buffet, presumably because the St Marks Basilica visit left at 18:35. I don’t know why the boat had moved from its mooring near St Marks Square as we had to board a water ferry to be taken back. It stopped a bit closer so there were only four canal bridges to cross.

 

The Basilica is behind the Doges Palace and the group had exclusive access. Our guide was Susan Street. We sat in seats facing the altar. I'd read “It’s amazing to enter the church in darkness and watch it come to life as they turn the lights on bank by bank – then all that gold really sparkles!  And going behind the altar to view the altarpiece up close!” and later “It’s magical”.

 

I was looking forward to that, but the Basilica has many roof top windows and we were there in the bright light of a late June day so it made little difference whether the lights were on or not. Susan waved her torch at the ceiling to point at the feature she was speaking about but it was so bright inside it was difficult to see where the beam was at. The ceiling of the domes were golden, and when we moved behind the altar we saw a golden panel with icons and studded with 2,000 precious stones, but the Basilica wasn’t magical for me. (I didn’t descend to the crypt).

 

Back at the boat were slices of pizza in the lounge. I had some Offley Tawny Port.

 

The boat was moored at Basilio Cruise Terminal.

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