Gems of Northern Venice - Day 1 Venice

Want to learn more about Venice and river cruising it’s Lagoon?  Then read about our trip aboard Uniworld’s River Countess.  This is the first in the series.

Uniworld's Royal Countess docked in Venice

Getting there is half the fun?

Thanks to the wonders of credit card points, we were able to score business class tickets nonstop from Newark to Venice.   Eight hours is always a long flight but thanks to excellent service and accommodations the flight was just fine.  Venice airport is small and easy to navigate.  

Even before baggage claim, we were met at the airport by the Uniworld representatives.  Nice touch. Once we collected our luggage, she escorted us to a van which drove 20 min to the ship.  We were on ship by 10:20 AM having landed at 9 AM.  Easy.  The cruise manager met us at outside the ship, took our luggage and voila - we’re on the ship!

Venice first impressions

Most of the passengers took the pre cruise extension to Milan so there were no official activities until that evening.  So we actually took three walks in Venice that first day - one each in the morning, afternoon and evening.  We figured it would help us stay awake and it felt good after a day of flying.

We were docked in the Dorsoduro district of Venice which is a nice residential neighborhood. There’s a nice walk along the water directly from the ship which served as a great launching place to explore.  

This is not an easy city to navigate as the streets are narrow with lots of dead ends. There’s something like 400 bridges in the city which is virtually all car free.   But it’s also hard to get too lost since each island district is pretty small.

Narrow Canals, narrow streets.  Wide Canals, narrow streets.

Narrow streets lead to dead ends

Venice is filled with narrow canals

There’s lots of small narrow canals and many small narrow

streets.  Not only are the streets narrow but they are winding.  No symmetrical grid system here.  Even though we’re in the middle of tourist season we hear mostly Italian spoken by the crowds in the street.   It’s Sunday so many shops aren’t open, though many are.

There’s a couple of wide canals which from the main boundary between the various districts. The most famous is the Grand Canal which we cross on  the Academia bridge.  This brings us into the San Marco district which is where San Marco square is located.

Once a year bridge

The temporary bridge across the Guidecca canal, Venice

It turns out that once a year the town builds a temporary bridge across the Giudecca Canal as part of the Redentore festivities (Festival of the Redeemer).  This has been on going for over 500 years, commemorating the end of the bubonic plague.  There’s music and lights everywhere.  We see a regatta of small boats go by several times, all a part of the celebration.

By evening the restaurants are full of life along the water and the walk is very pleasant.  Loads of people are strolling along the canal and many more are in the restaurants.

By 10 pm we were exhausted, having not slept much in 24 hrs.

The ship

We are aboard Uniworld’s River Countess.  She holds 130 passengers, although there’s only 63 aboard our trip.   The ship has two restaurants - one of which offers pizza every day and is more casual.  One really nice feature is the on board laundry room which includes two washers and driers and is totally free for guests.

The cabin

We have room 401 which is on the top passenger deck and has a french balcony.  It’s 151 sq ft - tight but sufficiently sized to comfortably fit all our luggage and belongings.  Very nicely appointed and we even get a pillow menu.  Three really nice little features of our cabin:

• The have a blue light on in the bathroom which acts as a perfect night light
• There are several 115v outlets which means you don’t need to bring voltage converters typical of trips to Europe
• The shower is marble with plenty of room. There’s a fog free mirror as well as a lighted mirror for makeup

The Motion

One of the things we like most about river cruises is that you rarely feel any motion at all.  While the sea sick prone have to be careful about blue ocean cruises, not so about river cruises.  Or so we thought.  As we’re moored along the Giudecca canal, we’re affected by the wakes created by the many boats going by.  This is fine for most, but if you are prone to being sea sick, you’ll feel it.

So if you are prone to motion sickness, bring your motion sickness pills!  Having said that, by evening the boat traffic quiets and the ship is still for the evening.

First day closure

By our evening’s walk the fact that we’re in Venice finally really hits us.  Canals and gelato everywhere and a luxury ship awaits us close by.   First impressions? History and luxury combined. We can’t wait to start our first official tour tomorrow.