20 Jul 2024
The tour guide for the Basilica and Doge's Palace did a great job and we found him to be very knowledgeable. However, as other reviewers have said, this is really three different things bundled as one. We were in a group where some had just signed up for the Basilica, some for Basilica + Doge's Palace, and some for all three (Basilica + Doge's Palace + Gondola). For the first two parts, it was the same tour guide and he took us to both so that went smoothly. For whatever reason though, no one with the tour company could give us a clear answer about when and where to go for the Gondola ride portion of this activity. I think it might depend on whomever is working that day.
We had pretty much given up on finding this until we luckily stumbled across it later on - you have to go to a separate meeting location (found at: Calle larga de l'Ascension, 1257, 30124 Venezia VE, Italy) and there they were able to confirm the time and process for us. In our case, we had a 9AM tour but the gondola ride wasn't until 2PM. I think they gather all the groups who booked tours that day to do the gondola ride altogether.
The gondola ride was fairly brief (~30 mins) but we enjoyed it and it was enough to cross it off our list (and going by yourself in Venice can be 80+ euros, so overall good value). If the communication of this activity was a bit better we wouldn't have had any issue and would probably give this 5 stars. Good way to see the main sights of Venice.
(Also, know that you'll have to cover shoulders and knees to enter the Basilica, so dress accordingly!)