Day 1 - Venice, Italy

Saturday 22nd, September 2018

Venice, long revered as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, lies at the head of the Adriatic Sea in the salt-water Laguna Veneta. Resplendent with graceful palaces and churches, the city is built on 118 small islands and laced with a unique network of canals and bridges. Full of enchanting discoveries from  architectural delights to the romance of the gondola.

Our Route , Part one

Crack of dawn start today, 3:30 alarm, and out of the hotel room in about an hour.

Bit of confusion at the airport, all the book-in and baggage check handled by machines (not much in the way of instruction), luckily the staff who were about were very friendly and helpful so all went well in the end.  The 3 hour wait at the airport didn't seem too long. Soon to boarding gate and onto the plane on time.  Nice comfy seats and plenty of legroom.

Quite enjoyed the flight for the first ten minutes and then boredom set in. Glad its only 90 minutes.

Not much view, cloudy most of the way, glimpses of the ground and a few alpine peaks, not much else.

Soon coming down to land at Treviso airport, hardly time to update notes.

Treviso about an hours bus ride  from Venice. Fortunately our cases were handled by Cunard, so not to be seen between Heathrow and Queen Victoria.

Treviso looked a nice little town.  On the way to Venice went went past the Fincantieri ship yard, well known name for building cruise ships, like most of the mainland part of Venice not so appealing to look at.

Our Itinerary, Part one

Booking in at the port quite easy, and with our ‘Diamond’ status we were soon on board. Went straight up to our stateroom. Very nice. Lots of invites to all our loyalty benefits events.

Off for a walk round to explore and had a hotdog for lunch, good start with keeping down the calories!

Back to check if cases have arrived, they soon did. So unpacked and enjoyed a short relax before attending the emergency drill.

Then time for dinner in the main restaurant. Table 558, table for six, only two others today, two missing.

Back to cabin to rest again, it has been a very long day. Sailaway about 10:30, had to stay awake to enjoy the sights of Venice as we start our cruise sailing out of Venice down the canal and out into the Adriatic.

Sail out, St Mark's by night