Reserving for Clients, Guests and Groups

Thank you for your interest in Venetian rowing and the opportunity for your clients to provare la voga with Row Venice. We are a non-profit association that supports women athletes and the presence of the voga and traditional boats unique to the city of Venice. We have four beautiful, rare, spacious batelline available for our lessons, and with over fifteen instructors our goal is fulfill every request we receive.

If you’re an agency, hotel, tour operator, school, production company or other organization, this is the information you’ll need to book for your participants, clients and guests.

ACTIVITIES

Here are the activities we offer, and their cost:

Venetian Rowing Lesson: Lezione di voga

  • Lessons are 90 minutes
  • Total cost (per boat) is €85 for 1 or 2 people; €120 for 3 people; €140 for 4 people.
  • Lesson start times: (8:30), 10:00, 11:30, 13:00, 14:30 and 16:00. 8:30  lessons are available only April-October. Note that midday lessons may not be available in excessive heat; in that case we will add lessons at earlier and later times. These lessons are not offered on international and Italian holidays, but we will offer the Grand Canal Row instead (check calendar for availability).
  • If a family has 3 children all 10 years-old or under, you may book for four people; make sure to list children’s ages in the comments, and write us a separate email as well to let us know.
  • For 5 people in one group you may reserve our larger batela for €200 directly on our website, or two boats. If you do not see two boats available at the time you prefer, contact us and we will add one if we can.
  • PLEASE NOTE: For safety reasons, if the instructor deems that the group is older, larger, or heavier than the equivalent of four adults, one person will have to stay behind.

Cicchetto Row

  • Lesson plus cicchetti ad drinks from two bàcari (included).
  • 2.5 hours, starting at €240 2023 / €250 from 2024 for two people (more than 9 people, €75 per person / €80 per person from 2024). The cost for a 5-person group in the larger batela is €400 / €425 from 2024.
  • Great for food and wine enthusiasts (request the instructor-sommelier), less appropriate for picky eaters and non-drinkers.
  • Please be sure to supply any dietary preferences or restrictions.
  • Start times are
    Jun-Aug, 17:30;
    Apr-May & Sept-Oct, 11.30 & 17:30;
    Nov-Mar, 11:30 a.m.     only (due to early sunset and chilly temps).
  • The Cichetto Row may not be available on holidays when wine bars are closed. Check calendar for availability.

FOR TOUR OPERATORS ONLY!

We also offer the Squero & Cicchetto Row, exclusively for travel professionals to offer their clients:

  • Similar to the Cichetto Row, but we substitute the first bacaro stop with a guided visit to an ancient squero (Venetian boatyard)—dating from 1560, in operation until 1920—and its one-of-kind traditional boat and implement collection.
  • Activity lasts 2.5 hours. The cost is €350 per boat for up to 4 people; a larger batela with two instructor for 5-person group is €450.
  • Start times for the Squero e Cicchetto Row are 10 or 10:30, or 16.00 or 16:30. 

This is a bespoke activity. To reserve, just contact us with your preferred start time and date and client information and we’ll create the reservation for you with a payment request to confirm. The activity may not be available on major international and Italian holidays, check with us for availability.

Please note: do ensure the agility of your clients as they will need disembark and re-embark at the squero water entrance.

Row the Grand Canal

Lessons in the Grand Canal are are 90 minutes, and are conducted when the Canal is its most tranquil: in the evenings at sunset, or during the day on Sundays and on international and Italian holidays (check calendar for availability).

  • Start times for the Evening Row are 8pm in summer (or 6.30 depending on availability 24 hours beforehand); 5:30 pm in winter. Nearby restaurant drop-off a possibility (we can suggest/approve restaurant;  you will need to make the reservation).
  • Start times for Sunday (and holiday) Grand Canal Row are from 10:00-16:00, and also from 8:30 May–October (highly recommended).
  • Cost for the Grand Canal Evening Row is €180 for up to 4 people; for groups of 5 the larger batela is €280.
  • Cost for the Grand Canal Sunday Row is €140 for up to 4 people; for groups of 5 the larger batela is €220.

CANCELLATIONS, WEATHER, and
NO SHOWS

Weather

  • We cannot row when the wind is over 20km per hour; traditional boats have no keel and no rudder and they become unnavigable in strong winds, even in canals.
  • We do not row in the rain, it is dangerous for us and for the guests, and requires bailing out the boat after the lesson has ended. Lessons may proceed in light drizzle, but this will be at the discretion of the instructor.
  • In the event we must cancel a lesson due to weather, we will try to reschedule according to availability. If we are unable to do so, we will refund your payment minus a €5 administrative fee.
  • Once your clients are in the boat and the lesson has begun, we cannot offer a refund.

 Cancellations and No Shows

  • When lessons are scheduled on their arrival day, please make sure clients have alternative availability in case of ever-more-common transit issues, and indicate optional times in their reservation.
  • For cancellations up to 48-hours in advance of lesson time, we will refund your payment minus a €25 administrative fee per boat reserved.
  • We cannot offer a refund for cancellations within 48 hours of the reservation; if possible we will reschedule the lesson. Please notify us as soon as possible for the best options. 
  • There are no refunds for no shows; as we will still need to compensate the instructor for their time. Please make sure your client has a way to get in touch with us (email, SMS, iMessage or Whatsapp) in case they need any help on their way to the lesson. If they miss the lesson, we have availability we can try to reschedule at additional cost.

WHERE TO MEET

Row Venice has a single meeting point for all their activities. For a map and detailed directions from various locations around the city, see WHERE TO MEET or search Row Venice in Google or Apple maps. Please let us know if you have any questions at all.

RESERVATIONS & PAYMENT

You must always use the online system to make your reservation.

You’ll register once to create your agency, hotel, or organization account, and then SIGN IN to book each reservation. Make sure to remember your sign-in email; you may reset your password from the sign in page at any time if you forget it.

CREATING RESERVATIONS

Once you have signed in to your account, to create a reservation

  • Select New Booking
  • Select the desired activity, date and time
  • Supply all client information in the Tell Us More comment section: client/escort name, language, cell phone, and other any pertinent info, then pay to confirm
  • Your confirmation will be sent to your account email.

Remember, you can always review existing bookings, change the date and time, and add additional information, and cancel your bookings yourself. Just sign in with your email and password, select Your Bookings and the desired booking to revise it.

IMPORTANT: When creating your account, please include your agency/hotel/organization details for invoicing (VAT/P.Iva/TIN is required) in the Additional information field. (You can use any date for Date of Birth, it’s not require for organizations.)

Invoices are issued at the end of each trimester unless otherwise requested.

LARGE GROUPS

We can arrange for a lesson for your group of 10 or more people for €35 per person. Up to 17 participants can row in one time slot; more than that can row in consecutive time slots.

Lessons are 90 minutes, normal start times are 8.30, 10, 11.30, 13, 14.30, and 16.00.

For Cichetto Row groups of 10 or more, the cost is €75 per person / €80 from 2024; normal start times are 11:30 and 17.30.

HOTELS & Other 3rd Party Bookings

Hotels and other travel coordinators may reserve in one of two ways.

• IF YOU NEED AN INVOICE: Create an account (hotel, accompagnatore, group leader, etc.) with complete invoice information, including TaxID (and codice destinatario if Italian), then reserve for individual guests using that account. You must include guest name and cell contact number for each reservation. Otherwise,

• BOOK FOR YOUR GUEST directly with their information (name, date and country of birth required). You may pay with their credit card or yours, but note that we do not issue invoices for individuals’ bookings.

Commission

As a non-profit with a number of substantial fixed costs and skeleton admin staff, we are not able to offer commission. We try to keep the cost of our activities as low as possible, however, so that tour operators and travel pros are able to add booking fees and still keep our excursions reasonable for travelers.

Wire Transfers

Depending on the volume of bookings, you may request to pay via wire transfer by special arrangement. Payments will be made to the account below.

Please email a copy of the receipt to rowvenice@gmail.com when the wire has been executed:

Row Venice Srl Sportiva Dilettantistica

IBAN: IT 62 J 05034 02023 000000000457
BIC: BAPPIT21337

Banco Popolare Società Cooperativa Murano
Fondamenta Riva Longa 25/A
30141 Murano (VE)

 

IMPORTANT!

  • Row Venice takes place in a quiet part of the city where we can help travelers learn to row the Venetian way in typical, tranquil surroundings. This means it may take some preparation on your clients part to understand how to best arrive (in a city that is confusing by nature, even for locals).
  • Book early in their stay so that if we have to reschedule for weather, there’ll be time.
  • Please make sure we have a way to communicate en route with either you or your clients (and vice versa) on lesson day should they be delayed or need our help to arrive.
  • Encourage clients to review maps carefully and plan how to arrive a few minutes before their appointment. We will likely have another lesson following yours, and want to make sure they get the benefit of your whole lesson time.

IMAGES

Download images for your web site or publicity materials in any resolution you need at adobe.ly/2TI10ea.

 *** ONE LAST REQUEST ***

Whenever possible, choose public transportation for your clients’ arrival. Private water taxi is not always necessary or even the most convenient, and are destructive to small canals. Before you book a taxi, we’ll be happy to suggest alternative arrival arrangements to see if they might be acceptable to you and your clients.

We thank you for your consideration, and look forward to hosting your clients in Venice, vogando!

Jane Caporal, Nan McElroy

Coordinators
Row Venice Srl S.D.