Now comes the worst part of the whole cruise - disembarking!!!
I set my alarm for 5am, which was when we had to have our bags out in front of our doors. I just didn't feel comfortable having them out all night. That worked fine and I got another hour or so of sleep after I did this little chore.
Sadly, we lost all the photos from our main camera for this day - which is really disappointing as we had some amazing ones. And now I am going to have to rely mostly on my memory which by the end of the day was seriously impaired by alcohol!
We had breakfast in the TopSail Lounge and got ready to disembark. The ship arrived in Venice at 8am and we had to schlep our bags to our next hotel, check in and then make it to the entrance of Round Church in Campo della Maddalena by 11:30am. I was very worried the timing was going to be too tight. But as it happened we were off the ship by 9am and well on our way.
For the last time we followed Suresh, our butler, off the ship. I wished we could take him with us. He was funny and kind and thoughtful and he helped make our holiday super relaxing and enjoyable. 
As we disembarked we could see heaps of trolleys of suitcases being unloaded. Fortunately ours were already waiting for us and it was only a minute or two before we were exiting the port and leaving the cruise to become a wonderful memory.
Here is my final thoughts about the MSC Preziosa and the Yacht Club and the itinerary we chose...
We had an amazing time! It was such a new and exciting experience for us that was super enhanced by what is definitely a beautiful and clean ship.
We were very glad that we chose to upgrade to the Yacht Club. We are neither of us highly social people and we enjoy peace and quiet - which goes without saying considering we have six boys and constant noise at home. The Preziosa is a
big ship but there were occasional times that the public decks felt very crowded - particularly when exiting the shows and also getting on or off for excursions. We spent most of our time in the Yacht Club venues and enjoyed that immensely. However when we did wander round the ship - with the exception of the busy times noted above - it didn't feel too crowded or chaotic.
We also found that there are some simple ways of avoiding some of the crushes. We hated getting the elevator and instead took the stairs most of the time. These were NEVER crowded! It became a point of pride to take the stairs from the 4th deck up to the 16th after our excursions. This may be why neither of us gained any weight on the cruise!
We found the food to be delicious. We didn't eat in the buffet or the main dining rooms so can't comment on those. But what we had in the Yacht Club was almost uniformly very tasty.
Our cabin was very clean and comfortable and the bed was great. We loved having a balcony and thought that the position of our cabin was perfect. We were 16029 which meant that below us was the TopSail Lounge and Conciergerie, and above us was the pool and bar. Our room was only a few metres from the steps up to the pool deck and there was very little foot traffic. It as super convenient.
The crew were great! We loved the butlers in the Yacht Club - they were friendly, welcoming, interested and had a wicked sense of humour. I forget the name of the gentleman who was the concierge but when my husband asked how he could get a book from the glassed shelves in the library he looked him in the eye and said "You just break the glass". The wait staff were also very droll and enjoyed joking around both with us and with each other. They remembered us and remembered what we liked and tried to anticipate our desires. This had a huge effect in contributing to our enjoyment of the cruise.
We were also really pleased with our choice of itinerary. Leaving from Venice was magical and we enjoyed having the opportunity to spend a few extra days there. Olympia and Ephesus were very special to me due to my bachelors degree in Classical Studies. And we simply loved Istanbul and Dubrovnik.
If I were to do it again, I would like to be able to allow a few more days to recover from the travel before boarding. The jet lag was the single biggest thing that impacted on my ability to enjoy the cruise. Unfortunately that wasn't an option this time due to our time constraints with being away from our kids. I am, however, very much looking forward to our cruise in December as we have a week on land before we cruise and I'm actually going to be able to stay awake this time!!!
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Once we left the ship we had the one kilometre walk to the people mover station. This was very busy and we had to join quite a long queue to get into the station. Even so, we ended up at our hotel (Hotel Papadopoli Venezia) with plenty of time to spare. Since we were ahead of check in time we left our bags there and continued on to the next exciting thing on the itinerary!
We had been trip planning one Sunday afternoon when we came across mention of food tours. This got my husband very excited so I found and booked us a 'Cicchetti of Venice' food tour with Venice Urban Adventures - http://www.veniceurbanadventures.com
This cost us 65 Euros each and was FABULOUS!!! It was a huge highlight of our trip! Our guide was Claire, a native of Venice, who talked non-stop the whole way explaining everything we saw and tasted. I can't remember how many places we stopped at but we wouldn't have gone into any of them if we had been by ourselves and even if we had, we wouldn't have had a clue what to order. Taking this tour gave us a taste of a side of Venice we would never have experienced otherwise and it was really amazing!
At each stop we had a small portion of something that was traditionally Venetian together with a small glass of either red or white wine. One stop was deep fried fish of some kind and what we would class as a toasted sandwich; another was bread topped with creamed cod; another was polenta topped with pickled fish; another was a range of breads with various toppings - I chose the truffled one! The food was amazing and so was the wine. Claire also showed us a fascinating shop where you can buy wine in demo-johns and can take in your own bottles and get them filled 'on tap' with white or red wine.
We also got to see some beautiful architecture, fascinating old bridges, a phallic shaped doorway that was so shaped for rolling wine barrels in and out, and a baffling public toilet sign!
...and here it is! Needless to say, I didn't like to take my chances using this one! Yikes!
We really enjoyed the tour immensely and can heartily recommend it! I must admit though, by the time we had worked our way through about eight (albeit small) glasses of wine we were both feeling rather jolly and somewhat impaired! So much so that on the way back to our hotel I fell down one of the bridges and skinned my knee - so I can now honestly say that I have left a part of myself in Venice!
After we weaved our way back to the hotel, we claimed our bags and took them up to our room to get settled and sober up. The room had a kettle in which was a huge help in the second part of the mission.
Then just after 3:30pm we left the hotel to find ourselves a good position along the Giudecca Canal to watch 'our' cruise ship go past on her next journey. Unfortunately we had completely different ideas about what direction to head in and neither Google maps or Apple maps was much use - they got very confused with the narrow passages and tunnels through buildings. We found our way there in good time though (i.e. I got stroppy and insisted that my husband follow me and not the bloody iPhone) and were able to grab a coffee and a good spot. The cobbles along the waterfront had big puddles and apparently the tide had flowed over them the previous night.
Here is where I am very sad that we lost our other photos as we had some fabulous ones on the big camera. However we managed to capture a few good shots on the little one. They don't adequately convey how huge this ship is in comparison to all the other vessels in the canal, and indeed the buildings lining it!
It was sad seeing her go into the distance. It really scored the point that the cruise was over!
Following this, we decided to walk back down to St Marks Square but we failed to account for the fact that we were on the wrong side of the Grand Canal! Whoops! Which meant that it was time to wander trying to find a way to cross and taking countless photos that would later be lost. I also found a number of fascinating little shops and bought glass jewellery for myself, my mother and my sister. My husband also bought some silk ties and cufflinks for very reasonable prices.
That took up a fair bit of time and by the time we continued on our way it was getting dark and clouds were gathering ominously. It had been a very hot day and was now feeling quite humid and oppressive. We were heading vaguely in the direction of our hotel when a bunch of American boys who had been meandering behind us started freaking out and running whilst shouting 'Cumulonimbus! Cumulonimbus! Cumulonimbus!' We found that highly amusing but we also picked up our pace as it looked like we were in for a serious drenching. Then the thunder started rolling in, and the sky started flashing. Around us, waiters were clearing their outside tables and dismantling their umbrellas - so we started walking even faster!
We got back to the hotel just as big fat drops of rain started to pelt anyone unfortunate enough to still be outside. We went up to our room and opened the windows so we could watch the tourists scurrying and the lightening lighting up the sky. The noise from the thunder was incredible and I was just commenting to my husband that it sounded like the storm was right over us when a bolt of lightening hit a copper dome nearby sending a huge shower of sparks over the buildings. It completely freaked me out and I closed the windows and refused to stand anywhere near them! I also pronounced that there was no way either of us were going back outside to find dinner.
So given my cowardice, the only thing to do was to head downstairs to the hotel lobby to see if we could rustle up something to eat. This turned out to be a remarkably fortuitous choice as our hotel boasted a beautiful covered pavilion housing their restaurant. Both the service and the food here were remarkable! The wait staff couldn't do enough for us and were constantly bringing out extra complimentary dishes and wines for us to try. We were utterly stuffed by the end.
This was the first complimentary dish they presented us with - some hors d'oevres consisting of little shrimpy things and squid ink. They were interesting to try but I won't be serving them at my next party.
I had ordered the lamb (again!) and my husband had ordered some kind of fish. We were both startled and rather impressed when the waitress wheeled out a large dish on a trolley and proceeded to skin and debone this whole cooked fish in front of us and plate it up beautifully. It was dinner AND entertainment!
We decided at that point that we had really had enough to eat and we would head back up to our room. The wait staff had other plans! First they bought out some small jellies to try, then a glass of dessert wine each, then a silver platter with little biscuits. I really couldn't manage another bite but my husband struggled manfully through them.
We were completely done by then so we made our escape and went to bed.
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