From Venice: Private boat from hotel, Glass blowing demo and Gift

The hotel arranged for us to go on this tour, so we knew that when we accepted the free boat ride there, there would be an expectation of us making a purchase. The demo was interesting, although we did not get to try glass blowing - only the other family that was there at the same time did. What they were selling was absolutely beautiful but mind-bogglingly expensive. We finally settled on a set of six drinking glasses for €777. With shipping and insurance, that brought us to €854. That gets us to basically US $1,000 for six glasses. At $165 US per glass that already felt kind of insane, but we hadn't paid for the boat, and we were on vacation, and we thought it'd be memorable -- so we splurged. HOWEVER, a month after the glasses arrived at our home, we received an invoice from FedEx asking for another US $115 for customs duties. Now, I just feel like an idiot. I definitively would NOT recommend shopping with this merchant. I feel like the hotel guy made money, the water taxi guy made money, the glass people made money, all off of us dumb Americans who were just trying to have a nice experience and support local artisans. I'm including a picture. Would you pay US $185 EACH for these glasses? Apparently we did. I'm embarrassed about this, but sharing so that other people can make better and more informed decisions than we did.

We had an amazing time! We enjoyed this experience so much that we even bought not one, but 2 artworks as memory of the great time we had!

Simply wonderful experience! Through their website we booked a private tour, they took us to the glassworks by private taxi and the visit was fantastic. Highly recommended!

We had such a great time! Everybody was so kind and smiling. We were like Vips having our bottle of Prosecco while watching the glass master making magics! Highly recommended!

Simply wonderful experience! After a careful search we chose the Gino Mazzuccato glassworks for the excellent reviews. And we'd pick it 1,000 more times! Very kind and super professional staff, a glassworks full of history, not like other realities with purely commercial purpose. We felt like we were family! Absolutely recommended!

Had an absolute wonderful time. The people at the glass factory were very friendly and we enjoyed the entire experience.

Watching the glassblowing in the workshop was incredible and the tour given with the owner of the factory was also very enjoyable.

The glass blowing demonstration was fantastic! Being able to see the artists create these beautiful works of art was amazing. Our guide however left much to be desired. He offered very little information about the process, only providing insight when specifically asked. Otherwise, he was either on his phone, having side conversations with the artists, or just sat in silence. Luckily, watching the demonstration was interesting enough, even without his participation. In regard to quality, the items in the private gallery upstairs were beautiful and of very high quality, but the items in the shop on the main level were not very impressive; we found nicer "souvenirs" in other shops.

The tour is not worth it. High cost whereas you can see the live demonstration for free. As far as the buying experience, we were led to believe there would be no import taxes to the US, because its considered Art etc etc. They lied to us. Fedex sent us a hefty bill. In other words, they will tell you anything to sell. Do your research, negotiate better prices, get everything in writing!

Very Informative and interesting to see great craftsman at work. You do need to take transportation to this event.