The Croisieurope river boat is a great way to see Venice. It can be booked with a variety of tour operators and direct with the company. The ship is a reasonable size, with room for about 140 passengers in a mixture of double, twin and single cabins, all with sea view. This is just the right size ship for Venice as all the large cruise boats that visit for a day look quite out of place as they dwarf the beautiful buildings as they are towed to their mooring in the cruise port. The MS Michelangelo was able to moor at the smaller San Basilio port for embarkation and on the last night and move to the 7 Martyrs Quay for most of the rest of the trip. Both places were about 15 minutes on foot from St Mark’s Square and near to many other attractions. This allowed people to walk or catch water buses easily and explore the city.
This is a French boat and many guests are French. I would say about 1/3 are English speaking. Our tables for meals were organised so that English speaking guests sit together. The staff all spoke good English. Food on board was excellent with a buffet breakfast, 3 course lunch, 4 course dinner and wine and drinks included in the package. The food was French with an Italian twist.This cruise represents excellent value as Venice is a very expensive place to eat and drink and a 3 course meal with wine would typically cost £120 and accommodation prices are high too.
The excursions on offer were good, although some seemed rather expensive. We chose to do the trip to Murano and Burano which was by private boat with a guide and included a trip to the glass factory. On the last day the ship sails to Choggia and we then took the optional excursion by coach to Padua which is a beautiful city and very different from Venice. For the rest of the time we made our own walking tours and managed to visit a wide range of museums, church, squares and canals. St Mark’s Square gets very busy and we managed to visit the Doges Palace and the square first thing in the morning to miss the crowds. We bought a skip the line ticket for the Basilica for early the next day and also managed to see that without too many people.
The crew members of the MS Michelangelo are fantastic and nothing is too much trouble. Added to that, they always had a smile on their faces and seem to genuinely enjoy their jobs. This gave a lovely atmosphere on board.
“MS Michelangelo Venice”:https://www.croisieurope.co.uk/boat/ms-michelangelo
