Doge’s Palace & Optional St. Mark’s Basilica Fast Access Tour

The tour guide was ok, but the headsets wouldn't stay on my ear and the sound quality was not great. It was very crowded, which is not the fault of the tour, just be mindful of it late September.

Terrible experience. The earpieces used by the guide weren’t functional two-thirds of the time and the guide didn’t understand how they worked. She had the microphone clipped to her shirt down by her stomach so you had to turn them all the way up and then when she walked into certain rooms she would whisper which made it even more difficult to hear. When they were working the clicked and chirped in your ear. Sounded like an old 1960s transistor radio. Besides the quick entrance I don’t know why we had a guide at all. The tour is billed as two hours but the tour of the Doges Palace was only an hour and the rest of the time was spent as some glass blowing factory, for which we opted out. Not at all worth the time or money we spent. Viator, don’t you have any quality control?

Got to the first place on the agenda to discover we had not been given our tickets at the meeting point. So we got put aside to wait for someone to come with them. Then the crowd went off to visit the Doge's palace upstairs which my husband could not do. We were told they would be an hour and after that hour we gave up waiting and went on to the Basilica on our own. Also we booked for 10.45 in the morning and this got changed to 1.30 pm then this got changed again to 2pm. Overall the organisation on this tour was a shambles.

This is a must see in Venice. The palace and chapel were amazing. The tour guide was very detailed and knowledgeable about both sites. One note. There are a lot of steps at the palace. There are elevators if you need them, however the elevators don't really line up with the tour route. It gets very easy to get seperated from the group. Afterwards we also went to see a glass blowing demonstration which was really neat.

Valentina was wonderful. So warm and so well informed about the area. We had a semi-private tour and we all singing Italian songs on the boat ride back. I recommend her highly.

Hardly could hear or understand the guide. Repeated facts and history that had nothing to do with the area of interested

My one star is not about the tour....because I could not make the tour. This is a popular tour, and as I looked for options, for Enhlish speaking tour, for both attractions, I found this. In my excitement I booked fast, not wanting to miss this. Seconds after I got the congratulations you are confirmed I Realized I hit the wrong date, a day I was flying out. I went back immediately to change reservation, all sold out. I called Viator, first person was very accommodating, found alternate times and then the phone dropped. (I think I was hung up on.) The next agent immediately said, did you read terns and conditions, no refunds within 3days. I booked this at a 36 hour period. I said, understand, but can we treat this like an undo....im calling literally within minutes of mistake. All she could do is put in a request for refund. 24 hours later, I got an email that the tour operator declined my refund.....due to terms and conditions. Let me say this, viators responses were timely and felt as if they were understanding ny issue and gave all the apologies, but I still feel that within an hour of booking, there needs to be an undue option. $300, just giving money away is not fun. I ended up (luckily) finding another tour and spending another $250. And it was a good tour, so the sites are worth seeing......even if you spend most of your time in the Doge, but not having even a partial refund stings. This operator needs a liite more grace.

Great experience! Everything was well organized, and the staff was very friendly and helpful. I really enjoyed the tour and would definitely recommend it!

It was a very good option to make the most of the time and avoid the long lines. The guide was very kind, professional, and explained the history and details of both places to us in an interesting and easy-to-understand way. The Doge's Palace is impressive, and visiting St. Mark's Basilica was equally spectacular. The tour organization was very good and everything went smoothly.

Amazing experience! Our guide was fantastic very attentive, charismatic, and knowledgeable. Everything was perfectly organized, and I had no issues at all. Highly recommended!