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Reading the port schedule for our Mediterranean cruise in September.

 

The day we depart Barcelona there is 5 cruise ships in port that day. This includes some little ones like royals symphony & Norwegian epic. Passenger count is over 18,000.

 

Venice will have a similar number of ships coming & going.

 

Might just hog myself a deck chair on the upper decks and get me some good cruise ships viewing.....

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Reading the port schedule for our Mediterranean cruise in September.

 

The day we depart Barcelona there is 5 cruise ships in port that day. This includes some little ones like royals symphony & Norwegian epic. Passenger count is over 18,000.

 

Venice will have a similar number of ships coming & going.

 

Might just hog myself a deck chair on the upper decks and get me some good cruise ships viewing.....

 

You have to go ashore at those places, what is the point of going on a cruise to anywhere, in particular Europe if you don't go ashore for a tour or look around? Barcelona and Venice are both easy ports to do on your own or on a tour.

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Agree with NSWP - I know you are spending a few days in Barcelona first so will have toured there.

Just remember, unlike many of our small towns, places like Venice, Naples, Santorini, etc are used to large numbers of visitors. Noticed the other day that Santorini is actually talking about putting an 8000 a day limit on visitors - can you imagine - only 8000?

This may be an exclusive chance for you and your family - make the most of every moment ashore - it is one of my favourite places, Europe [emoji6]

 

 

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Agree with NSWP - I know you are spending a few days in Barcelona first so will have toured there.

Just remember, unlike many of our small towns, places like Venice, Naples, Santorini, etc are used to large numbers of visitors. Noticed the other day that Santorini is actually talking about putting an 8000 a day limit on visitors - can you imagine - only 8000?

This may be an exclusive chance for you and your family - make the most of every moment ashore - it is one of my favourite places, Europe [emoji6]

 

 

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I agree don't miss Venice. You should have a great time walking around.

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Yikes, that's a lot of people. Hate visiting when that happens.

 

You do notice the extra people when you're in those ports; hence the reason some cities are putting caps on visitor numbers. Book early if you plan to do non-ship tours!

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And you can buy great pizza in Venice[emoji39]

 

 

 

Lots of rip off merchants at pizzerias there, thanks to all the unsuspecting tourists.

 

 

Venice is a great place to explore, but tread carefully around the restaurants.

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Lots of rip off merchants at pizzerias there, thanks to all the unsuspecting tourists.

 

 

Venice is a great place to explore, but tread carefully around the restaurants.

 

Venice is a lovely city with, for the most part, vendors doing the right thing - buy a pizza or not Esilef, it’s only a bread pie - but do look out for some of the lovely glass from Murano Island that may be available. Genuine or not, this is wonderful to bring home.

Rose

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Yes I will certainly be going a shore. My father has already booked our shore tours with Royal for everywhere except Venice which I suspect he's booking today as Royal has another "sale".

 

Dad decided to book tours only through the cruise line as he wanted to ensure we could see the places in port plus not miss the ship. The issue was deciding what we wanted to see when every tour looked so good.

 

With an autistic child I'm doing mainly morning tours to places like Pisa with the afternoon free for shopping and exploring on our own with a 2 hour back on the ship rule.

 

We have planned 3 nights in Barcelona prior to the cruise. 12 nights on the cruise, then a bus to Andorra, then back to the same apartment in Barcelona for 6 nights.

 

For a "fill in" cruise for the radiance cruise being cancelled this is looking like our most extensive cruise holiday ever.

 

I am really looking forward to being able to see the other cruise ships whilst we are in port. We are on the vision of the seas which is small and older than the new big boys but we are going to Europe to see Europe and not go down a waterslide.

 

 

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Venice is a lovely city with, for the most part, vendors doing the right thing - buy a pizza or not Esilef, it’s only a bread pie - but do look out for some of the lovely glass from Murano Island that may be available. Genuine or not, this is wonderful to bring home.

Rose

 

 

 

We are hoping to go to mutant island but my addiction to shopping is holding us back. I love pretty and expensive things.

 

Looking forward to finding a good cafe for lunch during our port stops and trying good food & wine.

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Dont worry about being ripped off. One of my most memorable afternoon teas was when we were thoroughly and comprehensively ripped off for icecreams at a cafe off the steps of the Monte Carlo casino! Loved it all, despite the weak at the knees price for an ice cream sundae.

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It's interesting how your perspective can change. I will be in Italy in July travelling by plane and trains, not by sea. I'm looking at the port schedule to see when the ships aren't there!

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Just remember, unlike many of our small towns, places like Venice, Naples, Santorini, etc are used to large numbers of visitors. Noticed the other day that Santorini is actually talking about putting an 8000 a day limit on visitors - can you imagine - only 8000?

 

Just because those places are used to large numbers of visitors doesn't make them pleasant to visit when they are crowded.

 

There were two big ships at Santorini the day we were there, so around 8000 passengers. It was unpleasantly crowded and we queued for 75 minutes in the hot sun to get down the cable car at 3pm.

 

Marselles had five cruise ships in port and was very crowded, as was Corfu which also had five ships in port.

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Just because those places are used to large numbers of visitors doesn't make them pleasant to visit when they are crowded.

 

There were two big ships at Santorini the day we were there, so around 8000 passengers. It was unpleasantly crowded and we queued for 75 minutes in the hot sun to get down the cable car at 3pm.

 

Marselles had five cruise ships in port and was very crowded, as was Corfu which also had five ships in port.

 

Off to Europe next weekend, I will have to count the ships around Scandinavia, Baltics and Irish/Scottish Ports, not as many as above I would think. Alaska Inside Passage is often out of control at Juneau, Skagway etc, although we were there in the May, early season, only a couple of ships in.:hearteyes:

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Just because those places are used to large numbers of visitors doesn't make them pleasant to visit when they are crowded.

 

 

 

There were two big ships at Santorini the day we were there, so around 8000 passengers. It was unpleasantly crowded and we queued for 75 minutes in the hot sun to get down the cable car at 3pm.

 

 

 

Marselles had five cruise ships in port and was very crowded, as was Corfu which also had five ships in port.

 

 

 

OzKiwi - I don’t disagree with you, it isn’t always that pleasant, but I don’t think the OP has a lot of choice. Esilef and her extended family are going to book ships tours as she says, and I am sure as it is their first time in the Med perhaps the pleasure of the locations will far outweigh any of the inconveniences.

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Off to Europe next weekend, I will have to count the ships around Scandinavia, Baltics and Irish/Scottish Ports, not as many as above I would think. Alaska Inside Passage is often out of control at Juneau, Skagway etc, although we were there in the May, early season, only a couple of ships in.[emoji813]eyes:

 

 

Lucky you - feeling very envious :greeneyes:

 

 

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Just because those places are used to large numbers of visitors doesn't make them pleasant to visit when they are crowded.

 

There were two big ships at Santorini the day we were there, so around 8000 passengers. It was unpleasantly crowded and we queued for 75 minutes in the hot sun to get down the cable car at 3pm.

 

Marselles had five cruise ships in port and was very crowded, as was Corfu which also had five ships in port.

 

Agreed. The city itself may not be visibly more crowded, but the thing is that the tourist attractions get more crowded than usual. I've also found on European cruises in particular, whether because of language or other reasons, more people take the ship tours, so there are even more concentrated crowds than usual.

 

It's less of an issue if you're just going around streets and shops, but around museums and sights which aren't designed to hold hundreds of people at once/in one room, it is noticeable. Venice suffers from the issue that, aside from the major sights, many paths and even shops/market smalls are quite small so crowding is also felt.

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OzKiwi - I don’t disagree with you, it isn’t always that pleasant, but I don’t think the OP has a lot of choice. Esilef and her extended family are going to book ships tours as she says, and I am sure as it is their first time in the Med perhaps the pleasure of the locations will far outweigh any of the inconveniences.

 

Agreed, it's just good to be aware where there can be impacts, especially if you have special needs situations. That way you can plan for it better and consider what is suitable as appropriate.

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Agreed, it's just good to be aware where there can be impacts, especially if you have special needs situations. That way you can plan for it better and consider what is suitable as appropriate.

 

 

Yep - definitely something they will need to consider. Ships tours are the way to go to see the sights in most cases, with some planning as you say.

 

 

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OzKiwi - I don’t disagree with you, it isn’t always that pleasant, but I don’t think the OP has a lot of choice. Esilef and her extended family are going to book ships tours as she says, and I am sure as it is their first time in the Med perhaps the pleasure of the locations will far outweigh any of the inconveniences.

 

No, you don't have much choice and it is still wonderful to be able to visit those places. Some of them are very special indeed. However the cruise industry is becoming it's own worst enemy as more and more ships are launched, and new builds get bigger and bigger. I applaud those ports that decide to limit the number of ships that visit per day. However in some cases, like Santorini, the limit is still too high. Plus quite a few ports also have land-based tourists that add to the congestion.

 

We're actually very spoilt here in Australia, NZ and the South Pacific as ports aren't yet overcrowded. The Asian ports I've stopped at on the two repositioning cruises we've done weren't too crowded either.

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OzKiwiJJ - perhaps this is one occasion when our isolation is actually an advantage and this lack of crowding may continue to be one of our treasures.

 

Here's hoping! :) At least for a few more years.

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While some of the international ports can have many ships, they can also handle them as they are set up for it. The only port that I have found to be too crowded was Santorini which had all the ships tendering to the bottom of town for the cable car or donkeys up.

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We will be in Venice in 4 days. Don’t miss it. Europe is always crowded. It’s part of the deal. The ports can handle it. You must get off. The ship is not the destination.

 

This trip our ‘cruise’ is the Dalmatian coast. Dubrovnik to Split on a 30 person boat. Where we can jump off the aft deck into the sea. Huge change for us.

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We will be in Venice in 4 days. Don’t miss it. Europe is always crowded. It’s part of the deal. The ports can handle it. You must get off. The ship is not the destination.

 

This trip our ‘cruise’ is the Dalmatian coast. Dubrovnik to Split on a 30 person boat. Where we can jump off the aft deck into the sea. Huge change for us.

Just don't do that in Venice.
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