Bucintoro Viaggi

Absolutely disappointing. We had booked a gondola ride a few months ago when planning our trip to Italy. We arrived in the pouring rain. The agent said it would likely be cancelled but we had to show to the pier in person. We arrived and it was raining harder. The workers at Bucintoro told us we had to travel Now as it was the booked time or forfeit the booking (and our fare). They were aggressive, intimidating, and refused to assist in any way. We offered to come back later (as it looked as though the rain was passing). They refused. I would have given a 0 star rating if possible.

We used them twice once for the shared gondola ride and once for the airport taxi. The airport taxi was a breeze, driver was helpful and nice, great way to do it. The gondolas were okay, we knew it would be shared so that was okay but our gondolier was surly and really didn't like answering questions

Avoid this company at all costs. I booked (and prepaid for) a private water taxi in Venice to the airport, thinking it would make my departure easier. Instead, the service was a total disaster. The boat never showed. I was at the designated pickup spot well ahead of the scheduled time, and no taxi ever arrived. When I contacted customer service, they gave me the runaround and made zero effort to help. Later, the operator tried to claim they came and left within 2 minutes and even sent “proof” photos — but they weren’t timestamped and could have been taken at any time. No call, no message, no attempt to reach me. Just took my money and vanished. To make things worse, the staff were shockingly rude and dismissive when I tried to resolve the issue. For a premium, pre-paid service, the complete lack of professionalism is outrageous. I ended up scrambling for last-minute transportation at my own expense, all while trying to catch an international flight. Save yourself the stress, money, and frustration — book with literally anyone else.

AVOID - Expensive Scam That Failed to Deliver Premium Service I booked (Booking Ref: GYGX7NV2KFBM) and paid a premium price (€154.34 / 596 NIS) through GetYourGuide for a dedicated water taxi transfer to my hotel, which has a private pier. The service provided by Bucintoro Viaggi was a total fraud. LONG WAIT: We waited over 30 minutes for the boat to even arrive at the airport. WRONG DROP-OFF: They refused to drop us at the hotel's private pier and instead left us at the public Hospital Pier. SEVERE INCONVENIENCE: This forced a 10+ minute walk with heavy luggage, completely defeating the purpose of paying for a premium door-to-door service. This company charges luxury prices for a service that is equivalent to a cheap public ferry. Other customers were dropped correctly, proving the service was possible. Do not trust them to deliver what you pay for. Use literally any other provider.

Slightly difficult to find where we were meant to go, ask for a map at the Travel Office to find your way. Overall, it was a very enjoyable experience. The Gonderlier was very knowledgeable about the local area and its history (as well as speaking good English). He was very friendly and polite to us, even though we were unaccompanied minors. They were also very flexible with arrival times.

Truly I cannot say enough about how wonderful this transfer service is. They are on time, professional, knowledgeable, amazing people. Claudia and Yoriko were our representatives for both transfers and they took amazing care of us — getting us to the right spots at the right time and just being so wonderful. The private experience is so amazing — would not do it any other way! Highly highly recommend this company and service.

We did the tour to Murano, Burano and Torcello. First boat, the windows were filthy with salt/dirt so couldn’t do any sightseeing for 30 mins through the heart of Venice. I thought it was only fair to mention it to the tour guide before the next stop but she claimed it had rained (the day before) and it was a ‘fast boat’ so waves hit it….No, you just hadn’t cleaned it in a day or two!! Funnily enough, the captains windows were spotless! The speakers on the second boat were barely existent and so we couldn’t hear the guide. Not only because she forgot to say the English translation at times, as she was juggling Italian and French. 3 languages on a tour does not work, maybe 2 at most. The time between stops should be reviewed. Too much time was given for Torcello (the furthest place with nothing to see) as opposed to the beautiful Burano. Book the boats separately and be your own tour guide. This is an expensive water bus.

We booked the private boat transfer with pick up service at arrival hall at the airport. Many people have been picked up but us. We walked 4 rounds we couldn’t find anyone. We decided to walk to water taxi area. As we arrived some other water taxi drivers told us to which pier to go. No one there as well and no boat either. After a while an arrogant and unfriendly man approached us and asked us that he could help us if we we are nice to him. I said why? I booked and paid a service and I want my service for me and my family. So he took off. We had to walk back to the airport to find the police. On the way I find their office. I asked who is responsible for this criminal actions. The response was no this company is not here. I had to ask 4 policeman to help us out. They managed to get a handwritten paper although we had all printed booking reservations already. In the end we had to walk all the way back again to the pier. Where eventually the boat popped up. Poor service with system behind it. Criminal careless energy instead of service quality. We lost 1.5 to 2 hour for paying 235 Euros. Avoid this criminal thieves!

Used this private boat charter while in in Venice- it was easy to pre-book beforehand to eliminate the hassle once arrival. The ferry transfer was 45 minutes late and which was frustrating but a great ride once it arrived.

Little to no directions for where to get water taxi. Walked all the way to the point at docks then told to go to a desk back in airport. The. Told to wait there for a group to mass Really poor communication and Viator should drop this city of it can't keep its standards

Booked Doge's Palace and St. Mark's through get your guide. The tour operators did not arrive. It cancelled 10 minutes after it was supposed to start. We could not get our entry tickets and missed this experience in Venice. When you travel this far you expect better. Do not book this guide. They will disappoint you.

I booked a tour to see the Doge Palace and St Mark's Basilica. The tour was to start at 10am. The company cancelled the tour right when it was about to start and made up an excuse that there was a private event. Every other tour company went to these two venues that day. We bought tickets directly at the venues and seen no private event. I will never book anything with this company.

Zero star if that was an option. Booked a water taxi arrival transfer with guide with these guys via Viator for $312 and they didn't even bother to show up. Waited for over an hour at the airport and finally had to pay for another water taxi ride. They don't even issue a refund and Viator just claims that the tour was rendered when it's clearly not. Either these guys are lying to Viator or Viator is lying. In either case, I've been scammed $312 and it was a bad start to a long awaited holiday. Stay away from any Venice tours offered by Viator because Viator use this company for many transfers and tours in Venice.

Booked a private water taxi through Viator and they no showed, and never responded to multiple attempts to reach them. Would give 0 starts if I could

Eh... the Gondola was not what we expected. They said only 4 per Gondola and they piled 6 of us on there. You're thinking the serenade would be by the gondolier but it's not. They have 6 boats, that might as well be tied together, and 1 guy singing to all the boats. Customer service was decent but nothing to speak of for sure. Not bad for the price since taking a gondola is expensive!

This place has the worst customer service. Booked a walking tour and gondola ride in Venice via TripAdvisor. Let me say, the staff that works here is EXTREMELY rude and unhelpful. The walking tour was decent. Very knowledgeable guide. When we got back to travel agency, they said we could use the restroom and we'd be leaving for the gondola ride soon. They left without us. When I asked the person behind the desk where to go, I received a snarky comment about being late, going to the right, etc. wow, for working at a tourist attraction, it seems like you pretty much hate tourists and your life. I would not recommend this company based on how they treated us. Listen, I'm not an idiot and travel a lot. Just give me the address of the stupid gondola ride and I'll find it. Not to mention, the gondola ride was two thumbs down...but when in Venice....

We used this service to book a walking tour through Venice. The guide was very well-versed on the sights we saw, as well as the history of this amazing city. He was also a good sport, coming out in the pouring rain to lead us through the slick, narrow streets of Venice. I loved that the tour took us to places off the beaten track, hence way less tourists. Venice is fascinating and has so much more to it than St. Mark's square and the Grand Canal. I loved just coming onto beautiful private courtyards, in the midst of all the crowdedness of building after building. Some of the people in our group had booked a gondola ride to immediately follow the walking tour but, because of the pouring rain, they asked to defer to another day. I was impressed that the company cheerfully agreed in each case.

We used this service to book a private taxi from the airport to deliver us to our hotel dock (Colombina) in Venice. The driver dropped us in a public plaza (Formosa?), saying the hotel is around the corner. Two hours later we and our luggage found the hotel. I notified the company that we did not get what we paid for and I requested a partial refund. After being led around the block for a few emails, they tired of the charade and stopped all communications. Poor service is bad enough. But for the booking company to not back up its obligation is terrible. I would not use this service again. In fact you ought to use the public taxi.

The guide really made all the difference for my family. We got Mattheo, and he was one of the best, most polite and knowledgeable tour guides I have had anywhere. We learned a lot about the history of Venice and he was very accommodating of questions and even looked out for us when potential pickpockets were spotted. I would love to give a shout out to Mattheo specifically.

When my wife and I finally got our luggage and cleared everything at Venezia Marco Polo Airport, we used Bucintoro Viaggi S.r.l. to transfer from the airport to Lido Island by a shared taxi. We had pre-arranged this through an American tour guide prior to coming to Italy. The water taxi (transfer) was very efficient, safe, and was overall very nice going out to Lido Island from Venezia Marco Polo Airport. You can find the counter very easily at Marco Polo Airport Lobby. They will then verify the paperwork, and lead you to the water shuttle at their launch point, just next door to the airport terminal. We even had an escort to the shuttle. This is definitely worth arranging if you fly into Venezia.

My husband and I had prepaid a shared taxi with this company through Expedia . We were delayed leaving the terminal due to a lost bag and filing a claim. When we got out the company was no where to be found, even though they say the last Taxi leaves at 10 pm. (we were out just before 10) We found a very nice young lady working at the public taxi desk who was kind enough to call them for us. (language barrier for us) They would not come back to get us and offered us a return ride, however we told them at the time we were not leaving out of Venice as we were going on a cruise. Then when we returned to the US and requested a refund they refused saying we didn't give our cancellation early enough...could that be because we didn't cancel?!?! Save yourself the extra money and take the public taxi...

During my trip to Venice my friend and I saw tours advertised while we were wondering around. We went into the Bucintoro Viaggi building and signed up for the hour boat tour (not a gondola ride) around the city. The tour itself was pretty bad and I'd say generally a waste of EUR 27 per person. It was only a group of 6 people (2 from the U.S., 2 from the U.K, and 2 from Germany) on a small boat. The six of us on the tour sat in the back of the boat in a covered area while the tour guide was up front talking into a microphone. She was not a native English speaker, but under normal conditions you could generally understand what she was saying. However, the combination of her accented English along with the boat noise and microphone system made pretty much anything she was saying unintelligible. The main reason I'm giving this tour and company one star is that after we realized the intelligibility of the narration wasn't going to get any better we asked the tour guide if she would sit in the back with us and talk normally (e.g. without the microphone). We explained that we could not understand her and were getting nothing from the tour. We all felt like this was a reasonable request as there was plenty of space and we were such a small group. She simply said no, didn't budge, or really seem to care that we couldn't hear. As the tour went on it became apparent that she cared more about socializing with the captain and first mate of the boat between sites rather than providing a quality tour.

I booked a walking tour through trip advisor with gondola ride. First, the guide kept saying that We need to clear the way coz Venetians don't like tourists. So we need to step aside, so I was watching my back the whole time. Then, she said all Venetians are rich and don't need tourists, okay. Then, after, the walk she told us we can go to the rest room on a cafe before the gondola ride and they left us. And when I went to the office and gave us directions, the gondola left. They never refunded us the gondola ride portion of the tour which they never provided. Told us to talk to Viator. And they were very rude and told me that it's my fault..I wasn't on time. I told them I was told I could go to the restroom. You will not be given a toilet break for two and half hours. Unlike other tours I have been to. I have been to plenty. The guide also never talked about the history of Venice. You will learn more reading Wikipedia. She wasn't also clear about how Venice was built surprisingly with her background, I think she may have mentioned she's an architect. But oh well, never book this via trip advisor Viator. It sucks! Go somewhere else.