Venice

We arrived into Venice early in the morning and stood out on deck to see the sights of this magnificent spectacle unfold as we cruised in.  Unfortunately it was overcast so the photos are not as spectacular as the event was in reality.

On the way through the canals to the cruise terminal we came across the Seabourn Spirit again which was docked at a smaller terminal some distance from where we were going to dock.  The Spirit is the ship that we are going to celebrate Sue’s 60th birthday on in October next year.

Seabourn Spirit

After docking at the main cruise terminal we set off to wander around Venice.  We started by taking a water bus called the Vaporetto to St Marks Square.  The Vaporetto provides a good vantage point to get some images of Venice from the water.

As we had recently been to Venice and the weather was inclement, we decided to just wander around.  Even though it was not peak tourist time there were still hordes of people around and getting in to shops to have a look was almost impossible.  Unfortunately the weather deteriorated and it started to rain which caused a proliferation of umbrellas which exacerbated the difficulty in moving around.

Although the rain was not heavy it was enough to make things unpleasant.  It also meant that we didn’t get a lot of opportunity for photos due to a lack of enthusiasm, dampness and poor lighting.  We started to walk back towards the ship and we didn’t have to go too far from St Marks Square before the crowds thinned out and it was very pleasant wandering the narrow alleys.

It was an interesting walk back to the ship because you never get a decent sight line to work out which direction you are heading.  Fortunately I had a map on my iPhone that when combined with the phone’s GPS capabilities meant that we were able to accurately weave our way around the streets to get back to the ship.

Although we didn’t get to have a really good look around Venice and take great photos, we are coming back next year as part of Sue’s birthday cruise so hopefully we will be able to get better conditions then.

The next day was disembarkation day and despite having been on board the ship for 55 days, we would have been happy to stay on board for a little longer!  We had a room service breakfast and then left the ship at 8am to catch a flight to Amsterdam where we were going to stay for six nights.

Our time on the Seabourn Quest was the most fantastic journey we have had.  We visited many amazing places and made some lovely friends that we are sure to catch up with again.  Many of the things we did were on our bucket list but we never expected that we would ever get to see them.

For these and more photos of Venice click here to open a new window.