Private Gondola Ride in Venice

Venue was easy to find, trip was on time and we did get the whole 30 minutes. However we did not get any prosecco and it’s only €80 to hire a gondola yourself from one of the many gondola stations around the city.

We got here a little late, which was OK since they have several 6pm private tours. We checked in with the guy holding the sign, who was very nice, and then waited about 5 mins to start our trip. Our Gondolier was rude, he seemed to be mad the entire time. Other than we did agree the signing was just a movie/Vegas thing. The experience was amazing, we made sure us ladies were having a good time. The bottle they gave us was amazing, but if you spill there is a fee, so we were really scared to sip on the wine. Other than that, I will still do it.

The 30 minute ride was more like 20-25 minutes. Our gondolier did not say one word to us and the whole thing felt like a ride at Disneyland. I don't blame the tour operator or Viator... the whole gondola ride concept is so touristy. Wish I'd saved my money.

You don't expect your gondolier to have a Mohican haircut, be on his I phone, be wearing phone earplugs and smoke during the trip, all of which he did. You do expect them to greet you, or at least acknowledge you, make you feel that you are going to experience a something special in Venice and say goodbye when you leave, none of which happened. I purchased this trip as a 40th anniversary gift for some special friends, I was embarrassed by the complete lack of any communication, I knew that it was not a narrated tour but I did expect some common courtesy and manners. I did not comment at the time because I did not want to ruin their time in Venice any more than this experience did. A once in a lifetime gift ruined by an individual who was clearly bored the whole time. The 1 star is for the fact that the tour representative was at the meeting place on time .

Very good alternative to the expensive book-while-you're-there tours. It's short, but we used it just to get a feel for the grand canal. The prosecco was also good. They're very short tours, but the description of the location is accurate and is as easy to find as anything else in Venice is.

Classic Venice experience by seeing the sights via Gondola. Fun ride, excellent history, and drinking some Prosecco never hurts. FYI, the Prosecco tasting is two small bottles and two paper cups to drink while you ride, so don't expect anything too fancy there.