Sunday September 22nd, 2013 Venice, Italy

Last day in Venice, sad - we've really enjoyed our stay, but today we have to get on the ship for our cruise.

We spent the morning doing some last-minute wandering and we also took a ride on a gondola - not the cheesy, tourist affair - but the short ride that the locals take directly across the grand canal at several points; it's called a Traghetto. This ride is also a great value at 2 Euros per person and the boat is a regular gondola, but no singing (sometimes this can be a good thing). The locals make a point to stand for the short trip across the canal, we weren't that brave.

We found ourselves in the vicinity of Osteria Al Squero - and this time we were not between meals, in fact it was almost noon. Al Squero is amazing, we'd put it on our "must visit" list for Venice. The cicchetti consist of thinly sliced bread with various, mostly fish-based, spread toppings - each piece cost 1 Euro. This kind of food, served in a place filled with locals, is right up our street - we just soaked up the culture while wolfing down plates full of cicchetti accompanied by several glasses of prosecco. Sitting in the window seat, directly across from the gondola boat repair yard, we agreed that this was a great discovery and fantastic value. By the way, the buildings in the gondola yard strangely reminded me of Fagin's lair in Oliver Twist. 

The hotel Violino was kind enough to store our bags after checkout so we could have another couple of hours in Venice before heading to the ship. St. Mark's Square is only about 2 minutes from the Violino - the location of this hotel is amazing, so we set out for a final stroll around one of the best squares in the world (actually if you look closely, you'll realize it's not actually square - move of a trapezoid really).

St. Mark's is famous for the three grand old cafe's that open out into the square, offering al fresco dining and delightful music. These cafes are also famous for stratospheric pricing; we decided to splurge. White jacketed waiters swirled around the tables, the music set the mood, the sun was out, it was warm - we sat and watched the people go by while enjoying cappuccinos, biscotti, and fruit tarts. Could there be a better way to end a short stay in Venice?

Back at the hotel we collected our bags and met the pre-arranged water taxi who arrived right on time just over the little bridge outside the Violino. Again we feel that, though there are less expensive ways to get from your hotel to the ship, the private water taxi is so convenient - and there is nothing cooler than standing in the open stern zooming along the canal.

 Embarkation was ultra-smooth; the bags were picked up by a porter from the water taxi and we sauntered to the terminal where we sailed through the registration and security processes - thanks to Sandra's Platinum status with Cunard. After locating our room we headed straight to the Golden Lion Pub for celebratory drink. We sailed on the Queen Elizabeth last year, so we did not feel the need to take the grand tour, so we just kicked back and waited for the tedious, but necessary safety drill.

Cunard has changed the dress code requirements on their ships; basically the semi-formal level has been eliminated leaving only the formal (tux, bow tie etc.) and informal (jacket, no tie). While this does make things simpler and cuts down on the number of suits I have to bring, we feel it also takes a little bit of the formalness off the whole experience. As someone who basically never wears a tie all year, it's the formalness that has a certain attraction to a cruse on Cunard. As a personal protest I decided to bring a new grey suit for the semi-formal nights - I may even wear a tie…

Sailing out of Venice on a massive ship is a fantastic experience, we did it back in 2010 on the Queen Victoria and were really looking forward to repeating the event. Sailing time was 8:30PM, and as were have opted for late dinner on this trip which starts at 8:30PM, we decided to skip the dining room tonight so we could sit in the Commodore club and watch the ship depart. The commodore club is on deck 10 at the very front of the ship and the forward-facing wall is constructed entirely of glass - making it an ideal spot from which to observe the huge ship snake its way through the outer canals, past the Lido and out into the Adriatic Sea.

Many of the major buildings in Venice are illuminated and the ship's cruise directory provided a live commentary from the bridge - pointing out the significant sites and providing historical background as we passed by. This must be a new feature as it was not provided the last time we sailed from Venice - we found it to be excellent. 

We breezed through the buffet and headed off to bed; tomorrow we'll be in Split, Croatia.