Cloverix

We had originally booked a Venice excursion via NCL. Once it was clear that it would be Ravenna instead of Venice directly, NCL offered to cancel any booked excursions for an onboard credit refund if you did not want to do the bus ride. So we cancelled our boooking and did Ravenna on our own instead. Because of this I do not know anything about return times.

I can only speak for the cruise we were on, the one before and the one directly after ours. There is no tendering at all, the stop labeled "Venice" (without any other city in brackets following) was replaced by a call in either Ravenna or Trieste and the posiibility of a bus transfer to Venice which was anything but well organized.

I understand the concerns of the city of Venice. What I just do not understand is the way NCL is handling it. Right now it seems it will come as a surprise to each and every cruise that even tendering at Venice is not possible (independent from the fact I would not be keen on a 90 min tender boat ride either). And yet Venice as a stop is continued to be sold. Not very honest, imho…

Just returned from a cruise on the Gem which was supposed to have Venice as the second last port and then to end in Ravenna. The day before the planned stop in Venice it was announced that Venice would be skipped and the Gem went to Ravenna a day early, where bus shuttles would be provided to visit Venice for those not minding a 2,5 hr bus ride to get there. The communication and organization of this on board was chaotic, to say the least. It was communicated by leaving a small note on the cabin and the captain just mad a very sparse announcement the next morning that Venice would be skipped without any further explanation or apologies. It also gave the impression that this early stop came to Ravenna as a surprise. I know the Venice situation is difficult for cruise ships, however the port of Maghera had the Gem listed. Back home I found out that ours was not the first or the last cruise this month to get Venice removed from the itinerary. On the other hand, NCL still lists and sells Venice on the itineraries for the next weeks on their website. So something really fishy is going on here and NCL is not communicating it well, to say the least. Could anyone provide any more background information to this?