Exploring Venice at Night

St. Mark's Square - Venice

Our ship overnighted in Venice, Italy which gave us the opportunity to explore the city of canals at night.  Taking a water taxi from the ship, we made our way to St. Mark's Square where we began our self-guided walking tour.

Here are just a few of the sights we saw that night.  Click on images to enlarge them.

Rialto Bridge

The Piazza San Marco may be more famous, but the Ponte di Rialto (Rialto Bridge) is the true heart of Venice. As we approached the Rialto Bridge, there were many people checking out the local shops.  It was just starting to get dark.

Be Prepared to Climb Stairs

If you plan to walk through Venice, be sure you have good walking shoes and are able to climb stairs.  This is especially challenging if you have luggage and are heading to the train station (which was our main objective for the evening).  We wanted to figure out where we'd be going in the morning to catch the train back to Rome.

With its gondolas, canals, amazing restaurants, and unforgettable romantic ambiance, Venice is definitely a city for one's bucket list.  

Many Perspectives of Venice

Our first glimpse of this amazing city was from the ship's deck as we sailed past the canals to our dock.   Next we saw the city from a water taxi and then explored during the day by foot and finally gondola before returning to our ship for dinner.  The most amazing view was walking through the narrow streets and over canals at night.   The lights cast a glow that really changed the mood of the city.

 

Gondola's 

Along the Grand Canal, the restaurants were filled with visitors and local patrons enjoying an evening meal with a view.   The moon was almost full and shone brightly on the city below.

Returning to Our Ship

What a beautiful sight as we concluded our nighttime exploration of Venice via water taxi back to our ship.  

Time for You to Explore

We hope that you enjoyed this brief visit to Venice at night. Check out our Diary of our 12-Night Mediterranean & Greek Isles Cruise for more stories about Venice and our other ports as well as links to our photo albums.

  Photo Albums:

Venice - Evening 64 photos

 

Venice at Dusk  38 photos

 

Venice at Night  50 photos 

 

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Additional photos can be found on our Facebook Albums.




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Natiional Conference 2014 in Review

Can You Find Me?

We've just returned from a very successful CruiseOne Cruises Inc. National Conference on board the new Regal Princess.  Our sailing was the inaugural North American sailing to the Eastern Caribbean.

This was our largest conference ever with more than 900 franchise owners, agents, and families attending.

Pre-Cruise (Ft. Lauderdale)

Water Taxi Tour

Shortly after arriving in Ft. Lauderdale, Saturday November 7th, we boarded a Water Taxi for a private tour of the yachts and mansions along the Ft. Lauderdale canal system.

Our guide provided background information about the properties and boats we saw along the way.   The tour is very informative and a good way to pass the time before your cruise.

Renaissance Hotel Ft. Lauderdale

Our pre-conference activities were based out of the Marriott Renaissance Hotel Cruise Port which was walking distance to the water taxi.

Following the water taxi tour, we had time to freshen up and then had a welcome cocktail party which was hosted by Crystal Cruises. 

Several of us went to dinner at Bimini Boatyard Bar & Grill which was just across from the hotel.   Despite having tables empty, we had to wait to be seated.   The food was fantastic, but we weren't crazy about the wait since we were hungry after traveling earlier that day.  

Our day had actually begun at 4:00 AM so we were really starting to drag.  Following dinner, we went back to our hotel room and went to bed.

We had prearranged transfers from the hotel to the pier, so after some breakfast, we boarded a shuttle to the port.

Welcome to Port Everglades

The town rolled out the red carpet for us with this sign at the entrance to Port Everglades cruise terminal.  As you can see, there is a lot of traffic entering the port.  Make sure you allow enough time when embarking from here.

It wasn't long after this photo was taken that we got our first glimpse of Regal Princess which would be our home for the next 7 nights.

We will update this article with links to additional stories and photos about our National Conference Cruise on board the beautiful Regal Princess.  Be sure to visit again or better you follow us here and our other social media sites to stay up to date on the latest cruise industry news and reviews.

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Venice in Spring and Winter

A water taxi  transports tourists last Spring during our visit to Venice.  

Two Sides of Venice

Venice is known for its lagoons and canals that connect the city on water.  We visited Venice during our Mediterranean & Greek Isles cruise last June.

In the first picture, we see a water taxi moving freely in rushing waters with the city in the background.  

The second picture paints a different image of Venice as ice hampers the movements of this small boat.  Venice has not been exempt from the current freeze that has brought record cold temperatures, snow, and ice to parts of Europe snarling transportation and even causing deaths and injuries.

A vaporetto ferries passengers across the frozen Venice lagoon 
CREDIT: REUTERS/Manuel Silvestri

For more images of Venice in present day, see the following photo gallery: 

Frozen Venice: the lagoon and canals ice over as Europe's big freeze continues

Getting Around Venice

It is crucial that the various small boats and gondolas  are able to navigate the lagoons and canals of Venice.  This is the primary means of transportation through the system of canals.  While you'd see a box truck on your city streets making a delivery, that same merchandise is transported by boat in Venice.

Our ship was docked on the outskirts of Venice at the cruise ship terminal.   In order for us to tour the heart of the city, we needed to take a water taxi from the ship to St. Mark's Square.  We purchased a shuttle ticket from the ship which allowed us to take unlimited water taxi rides between the two locations during our overnight visit to Venice.   We also took an organized tour which met on land following the water taxi ride.

We've posted some more springtime images on our Facebook Page:  Venice - Water Taxi. 

We will continue our story about Venice in future posts.   When we saw these pictures of frozen Venice, we wanted to show you the other side of the city, when the waters were running freely with boats of all sizes darting along the waterways.

Additional photos can be found on our Facebook Albums.




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