My only Italy disappointments

[Rapunzellover]

I'm going very slow with my trip review, cause I'm slammed at work, so I wanna share a couple disappointments with Italy for people who might be leaving on this trip before I discuss these issues in my review.

1st disappointment: Hilton Molino Stucky in Venice. Lovely hotel, good location (the view from it is amazing) but the shuttle you need to take SUCKS! It runs on a lousy schedule and you have to be very careful reading the schedule cause different days have different times. Very inconvenient. Be warned. I really think Disney needs to go back to the main island for its hotel.

2. The Colosseum. This is a big let down for me. The trip details say you go to the third tier. And ABD said while booking we would go to the underground. We did neither. Nobody explained why. I asked was given a vague "they don't always let us go." and someone said something about closures underground and above due to cleaning. But I saw people going up and I think even down. I'm not happy ABD could use its clout. I suspect maybe they didn't want to? I'll say more in trip review, but I think those going should know the possible change to the advertised details. It was a bummer. But there's a clause saying things can be altered, so I didn't bother complaining to ABD.

 

[Cousin Orville]

I checked ABD's website and see they are still using the Molino Stucky for 2016. This baffles me. FYI, for anyone who hasn't been to Venice before this location is not where you want to be - certainly not on your first trip. You are Stucky on the wrong side of the canal.



The reason posted on the board is it has a pool that guests want. I have to be a bit skeptical here. I'm sure it's possible, but REALLY? Guests are writing on their commend cards... "loved the guides, trip was great, Venice was amazing, but we were disappointed ABD chose a hotel with no pool." I can't...

On the other hand, it appears the Stucky is half the price as their previous hotel Luna Baglioni judging from a tripadvisor search. And the Italy ABD is one of their cash cows, so they may not be interested in raising prices to cover hotel costs.

Very sorry to hear about the VIP Colosseum tour being nixed. This surprises me too. Wonder why?

 

[Bobo912]

Did the guides tell you in advance that the Colosseum tour was cancelled, or did they not mention it until you asked? I think it's a bit odd that they sometimes just drop activities with no explanation. On the Peru trip, the itinerary lists a walking tour in Cusco with a local expert, but we didn't do that and the guides never even mentioned it. I didn't realize an activity had been dropped until we got home and I was looking at the booklet, so I didn't even know to ask about it.

 

[Daisyduck49]

We just left Rome yesterday and were able to do both. We had three main areas at the Colosseum- the wooden "stage" which I think was ground level. We then went up to "top" and of course the level you enter on. Both the ground and upper level required a key and a escort. Sorry your tour didn't get to. But at least for ours we were able to access those areas