Cool Girl & Crazy Mom do the Med-Venice: A (very delayed) review of a Serenade voyage

[windjamming]

Hi Melissa, I'm back from a Canada/NE cruise and see from a quick scan that you're up to Venice - yay!!! Can't wait to catch up on your adventures!!

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[kirian]

I guess I'm a bit late to the party, but am really enjoying reading your thread.

 

I was a tad upset that the first few photos had vanished, but glad to see you fixed the problem later. I really wanted to see the purple luggage :D

 

Hi Karen - welcome to the party (better late than never...haha)!!!

 

Ask and ye shall receive....

 

 

Melissa

[kirian]

Hi Melissa, I'm back from a Canada/NE cruise and see from a quick scan that you're up to Venice - yay!!! Can't wait to catch up on your adventures!!

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

Hi Windjamming! Can't wait to hear about your Canada/NE cruise. My TA next year stops in Halifax. Did you stop there? If so, definitely feel free to pass along some tips :D

 

Melissa

[kirian]

Hi Melissa

 

Great review.

 

We are in Venice in October and a self guided wine and nibbles tour sounds great. i know we could wander aimlessly finding bars on our own but I was wondering if you kept notes with the name of the places you stopped at and your approximate route as a starting point?

 

Thanks

Patti

 

Hi Patti,

 

To be perfectly honest, I don't have a clue what direction we traveled :eek: It was all so new to me and our self-appointed guide was trying to go by memory (so we back-tracked and circled quite a bit). The most can say for sure is that we started and ended at the ship

 

However, I think I have pics of a couple of places with the names. I will check in my photos. I will happily post what I find (along with a my thoughts on each place I can name). Then, worst case, you can try to Google them and find them on a map of Venice :)

 

Melissa

 

Hi again Patti! Below are some photos I came across of 2 of the places (the signs with the names) that we stopped at. The first one was more of a sit-down little place where we had more "warm" tapas. This one was on a large square. The second one, was a stand-up joint, but I think I recall actually liking our nibbles here a bit better. This one was on a side canal.... seemed like a very popular spot with the locals (always a good sign). The third photo shows what the outside of this one looked like:

 

 

 

 

Hope these help.... even just a little :)

 

Melissa

Edited September 7, 2014 by kirian

[kirian]

Before we move along to our next stop, I did want to share just a few more photos from Venice.

 

First - some pics related to the port itself and using the People Mover:

 

 

The People Mover (that is outside of the actual port) is pretty straightforward. There is only one line. One direction takes you to the last stop (away from Venice) the other direction takes you toward Venice. The sign tells you when the next train will be arriving and which way it's going.

 

Remember, this is the name of the stop for the port

 

Here is what your one-way ticket looks like (note the cost is 1 Euro)

[kirian]

 

Of all the fountains I saw while in Europe, this was by far, my favorite!!! And yes, it was at ground level for the pups :)

 

How do packages get shipped and delivered in Venice? Why, by the UPS boat, of course!

 

And where do folks in Venice like to shop? Amazon!!!

[kirian]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[patreke]

hi Melissa

 

Thanks for the pics…it was always nice to have a few options in my mind for our 'pub crawl' .

 

Thanks also for all the great pics, i am getting down to the wire on planning and packing for our Serenade adventure and the looking at the pictures of Venice makes it all seem so much more real!

 

Patti

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

:pabsolutely in love with the puppy fountain!

 

the ups boat is pretty cool as well -- did ya notice that one of the Amazon packages is from Italy and one from Germany? The German one looks pretty soaked though:D.

 

Stef

[kirian]

:pabsolutely in love with the puppy fountain!

 

the ups boat is pretty cool as well -- did ya notice that one of the Amazon packages is from Italy and one from Germany? The German one looks pretty soaked though:D.

 

Stef

 

Haha! I didn't notice that... I wonder how often those packages are soaked though (if all of the UPS boats are open like that one)????

 

I soooo want one of those puppy fountains. They didn't skimp on it's construction either (like we would have in America.... we would have used concrete). It looks like it's carved from marble!!!!

[kirian]

I am going out of town tomorrow for a few days, so I a may not get Sunday's weekly update done.... but I promise to try to post at least a little something about our next stop, Ravenna on either Sunday or Monday.

 

Melissa

[Theredofshaw]

I am going out of town tomorrow for a few days, so I a may not get Sunday's weekly update done.... but I promise to try to post at least a little something about our next stop, Ravenna on either Sunday or Monday.

 

Melissa

 

 

Why must you torture us so?

 

 

 

;)

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Melissa, I must say that you have been on my mind tonight as I work my normal night shift here in Arizona. I have a Southern gentleman as a patient who I have to check on regularly. Everytime I open his door he opens his eyes and says, "oh, it's you again, bless your heart". If I hadn't read your review I would be feeling very well blessed by now!😰

[crvng4mr]

Melissa. .......oh Melissa. .........

 

Don't worry, we will be here as long as it takes!

[kirian]

 

Why must you torture us so?

 

 

 

;)

 

Oh my gosh.... that little guy is hysterical!!! Reminds me of Julia's little screaming fella in her signature :D

 

I promise, I'm not torturing you on purpose....honest :)

[kirian]

Melissa, I must say that you have been on my mind tonight as I work my normal night shift here in Arizona. I have a Southern gentleman as a patient who I have to check on regularly. Everytime I open his door he opens his eyes and says, "oh, it's you again, bless your heart". If I hadn't read your review I would be feeling very well blessed by now!😰

 

 

Haha!!! Every once in a while, someone actually means it when they say it.... especially folks in the older generation. So maybe, just maybe, he really is blessing you instead of mocking you. Although, if you're keeping him really drugged up, whose to say for sure :p:D

 

Melissa. .......oh Melissa. .........

 

Don't worry, we will be here as long as it takes!

 

Thanks Ayasha!!!! You are too sweet :) New Orleans was EXHAUSTING!!!! Fun, but exhausting. I spent all of yesterday napping and trying to recuperate for the week ahead. What a crazy town! However, I have good news.... I just finished writing up Ravenna part 1 of 2 and I am about to post. So thank you, Ayasha, and everyone else who has stuck around during this latest hiatus!!!!

 

Melissa

[mj]

Looking forward to hearing about Ravenna. This is the one stop I am not sure yet what to do.

[kirian]

 

So…. Ravenna. Yeah, we really didn’t have a solid plan of attack for this stop. Truth be told, it was the one I was looking forward to the least. Don’t get me wrong, it ended up being a lovely little town, but when your other ports-of-call included Venice, Rome, etc… poor Ravenna just had a hard time competing for my interest.

 

We slept in late, which was fabulous and much needed after our 2 exhausting days in Venice. On our way back from the WJ (where we had our usual breakfast on the aft deck), we ran into Laura & Scott while they were waiting for Peggy & Ernie (you all remember Ernie from the magic show….;) They explained that they were going into Ravenna on their own. Crazy Mom and I were going to buy a ticket on the ship’s shuttle for $14pp, but decided to throw caution to the wind and join this band of rabble-rousers on their DIY excursion.

 

The Port terminal is tiny, but there was a stand set up where you could buy ship shuttle passes or just get a map. We walked about 100yds to the port entrance. Here there was a little wooden shack which happened to be the Tourist Information (T.I.) booth. The lady manning the booth was very helpful. She had a map of the main sites in Ravenna… she was kind enough to mark on the map which were free and which were covered by the historic site pass you could buy for 9.50E. She also gave us a separate “restaurant” map, but this turned out to be useless since most restaurants were closed at lunch time (don’t even ask… I don’t know why). She then gave us details on how to take the ferry and bus. We were able to buy our “all-day” bus passes from her for 4E.

 

Disclaimer #23: I’m about to get VERY detailed here in my explanation of how to get to and from Ravenna on your own.

 

To get to Ravenna on your own, you have to take a ferry across the waterway and then catch a local bus… it’s VERY easy. Exit the port terminal and head down the street keeping the waterway on your left. You will come to small set of ferry ticket kiosks. The ferry is 1E each way. The ferry leaves

every 15 minutes and the ride across the waterway is only about 5 minutes.

 

This is what the little ticket kiosk area looks like

 

And here is the ferry you will be boarding... you'll just stand along the one side next to the cars

 

Once you purchase your ticket at the machine, do NOT wait there (we did this at first thinking this is where the ferry actually stopped… it doesn’t, even though it “looks” like a ferry landing). After buying the ticket, head back towards the ship about 30yds to the “real” ferry landing and board the next one for the short ride across the way. BTW – there is no need to validate the ferry ticket (at least not that we saw). Just show it to the person on the ferry if they ask.

 

Once you exit the ferry on the other side, cross the street diagonally to the bus stop. Take bus #70 (which runs at :05 and :35)… this is also the bus you will catch coming back from town. Validate your ticket when entering the bus (remember, we had already bought the all-day bus tickets at the T.I. booth at the port).

 

This is the bus stop

 

And this is the view from the bus stop, looking back to where you just got off the ferry.... you can also see the ticket kiosks on this side where you buy your return ticket

 

We caught the 11:35a bus and the ride to Ravenna us about 30 minutes. You can get off at the train station stop at the bottom of town or continue on to “Piazza d. Baracca” at the top. We did that and then worked our way back down to the train station stop.

 

You can basically cross the entire town of Ravenna in about 15 minutes on foot, so needless to say, it’s small. From what I saw, it looked like most of the inhabitants get around via bicycle versus car (there were bikes parked EVERYWHERE!). The various sites are quite easy to find, but we found it difficult to find the actual “entrances” to some of them (so don’t feel stupid if you walk around a building a couple of times until you actually locate the entrance…lol!). During the 3 or so hours we spent in town (including time to eat) we managed to stop by S. Francesco, Dante’s tomb and the Arian Baptistery (next to Santo Spirito). This last one was the only spot with mosaics that we visited (Ravenna is known for its mosaics).

 

Even walking in this little town made us all hungry. So, we did what any good tourist in Italy does… we ate gelato!!!! After our “appetizer” we went in search of a place where we could have the main course. As previously mentioned, it seemed most of the restaurants actually closed for lunch, so this posed a bit of a problem. There is a main square in town that seemed to have at least one restaurant that looked promising. As we approached, we saw two of our fellow roll callers (Nancy & Natalie) eating and asked how it was there. Sadly, they didn’t have good things to say, so off we went in search of some place, any place, that was open and seemed to have good food & service.

 

About 50yds down a side street, our luck changed and we found a great little place, Ristorante Bella Venezia. Each couple shared a pasta and everyone had wine as well (I love lunch in Italy!). CM and I shared a plate of homemade ravioli with spinach and ricotta in a tomato cream sauce with ½ liter of wine. Our total, including 2E per person service charge was only 19E. The service was superb!!! Our waiter was kind enough to pre-split all the plates in the kitchen (so we wouldn’t have to try to divide them at the table) and he gave us no trouble with getting separate checks or paying by credit card.

 

Bellies full, we made our way to the bus stop and caught the 3:35 #70 back to the ferry. Be sure to keep an eye out for your stop. You’ll know it when you see water ahead and a Cuban restaurant on the right. Don’t forget to buy another ferry ticket at the kiosk for the ride back across the waterway.

 

TIP: The little port terminal claims to have free wifi, but no one could connect. However, there are free wifi spots all over the town of Ravenna. Just look for the signs (I recall there being one in the corner of the main square near a little open-air market). No need to buy a coffee or anything… the town itself just has hotspots. How nice!

 

Up next, arrival and events back on the ship and a story from earlier in the day that resulted in a wedding being planned….

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Whoohoo -- it continues!

 

....in the picture of the bus station ... is your mom the woman standing next to the tree?....or the real tiny one right in front of the bus station? I'm just wondering:D.

 

In the picture with the "day fingers" she's wearing pink...now blue?...I'm so confused.

 

Stef

[suekay]

Loving your review. Thanks for the time and effort involved

 

Stef - you are so observant. I had to scroll back and look again,but my guess is the lady by the tree with a black jacket whose t shirt we can't see

[kirian]

Whoohoo -- it continues!

 

....in the picture of the bus station ... is your mom the woman standing next to the tree?....or the real tiny one right in front of the bus station? I'm just wondering:D.

 

In the picture with the "day fingers" she's wearing pink...now blue?...I'm so confused.

 

Stef

 

LOL!!! She is the little one next to the tree.... but that other lady (in the blue) does look a lot like her from a distance :D

 

Loving your review. Thanks for the time and effort involved

 

Stef - you are so observant. I had to scroll back and look again,but my guess is the lady by the tree with a black jacket whose t shirt we can't see

 

Right you are, Suekay!!! If I had a prize, you would win it. Oh wait, I do have the XXL RCCL Bingo shirt I won at our Meet & Mingle. You are welcome to have it.... I know everyone is dying for one of those...:eek::p

[suekay]

Thank you, but I think I'll pass. Don't want to appear greedy:D

[denisey]

I am still loving the reveiw! I am anxiously awaiting Day 11! Will Crazy Mom take off a shoe to get to 11 "fingers?" or does she just have some spares lying aroung?

 

Can't wait to find out!

 

PS You need to book another cruise when this review is finished, so we have another adventure to read!!!

[kirian]

I am still loving the reveiw! I am anxiously awaiting Day 11! Will Crazy Mom take off a shoe to get to 11 "fingers?" or does she just have some spares lying aroung?

 

Can't wait to find out!

 

PS You need to book another cruise when this review is finished, so we have another adventure to read!!!

 

OMG, Denise, your comment about wondering how CM will count Day 11 onward is too funny!!! Guess y'all will just have to wait and see :p:D

 

PS - CM & I are booked on our first TA next Sept.... 15 nights - can't wait!!!! (maybe if we are lucky, I will be finished with this story, I mean.... review..., before that cruise starts :eek:)

[windjamming]

Melissa, you've managed to make your Ravenna day an adventure!! Not that it's not a perfectly nice town (and truly amazing mosaics), but it was definitely one of the days that we aimed for more downtime. (And really, sandwiched between 4 port days in a row and Venice, we really enjoyed a calmer day.)

 

Can't wait to read about the rest of your day...and cruise! We're here for the longhaul!