Fight Against Big Ships in Venice and Key West

[north29]

But I know Key Weird well, spent many nights on the Duval side walk, when I was younger LOL. The Key West is a great place, but over the years has lost much of its originality to tourism. Tourism is highest from Friday to Sunday. Monday brings peace and normalcy to the Island. I can understand if a ship the size of the Oasis, came in on a weekend, it would over load all infrastructure, traffic would most likely be at a stand still, yes even with say just, 2000 more cruisers over the smaller ships, it would be so crowded it might not be fun. Yes, making money is important to the shops but so is the laid back atmosphere.

[Ocean Boy]

I never said... nor implied that Italians were stupid... I have no idea why you would say that... nor do I know what all Italians know.... I never said any of those things... and if you interpreted my words to mean such, you are mistaken.

 

I never said you implied anything. I simply stated that they are not dumb and know exactly how the politicians work in their country.

[Ocean Boy]

Part of the problem we have in Key West is, one of the city commissioners owns a large bar complex. If you've been here, it the Ricks/Durty Harry's/Red Garter complex across from Sloppy Joes. So as expected, his votes are always that which benefit him. He's unethical and a direct result of dirty, small town politics.

He didn't say much here, but this an interesting article from a year ago about the tourism dollars and the ongoing argument over this issue:

 

http://keysnews.com/node/41845

 

So Key West and Venice do have a lot in common.

[BonTexasNY]

Years ago, our Rhapsody cruise out of Galveston was making a port stop in Key West. What??? A port stop in FLORIDA on a Caribbean vacation? We were outraged. How can this be? BUT, we were so pleasantly surprised that we quickly booked another cruise that had KW as a port stop.

 

Actually, stopping in Key West as a port of call is a tease. Just can't get into the laid back feeling of how it must be on non port days. One day we hope to make it a land vacation and really experience all that Key West has to offer. What a pleasure it will be not battling the crowds on Duval St., and not having to rush to "do it all" before the ship departs.

[FLACRUISER99]

Years ago, our Rhapsody cruise out of Galveston was making a port stop in Key West. What??? A port stop in FLORIDA on a Caribbean vacation? We were outraged. How can this be? BUT, we were so pleasantly surprised that we quickly booked another cruise that had KW as a port stop.

 

Actually, stopping in Key West as a port of call is a tease. Just can't get into the laid back feeling of how it must be on non port days. One day we hope to make it a land vacation and really experience all that Key West has to offer. What a pleasure it will be not battling the crowds on Duval St., and not having to rush to "do it all" before the ship departs.

 

Funny I always thought that KW was Capitol of the Conch Republic and not in FL!

 

 

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[Aquahound]

So Key West and Venice do have a lot in common.

 

Yep.

 

Actually, stopping in Key West as a port of call is a tease. Just can't get into the laid back feeling of how it must be on non port days. One day we hope to make it a land vacation and really experience all that Key West has to offer. What a pleasure it will be not battling the crowds on Duval St., and not having to rush to "do it all" before the ship departs.

 

You are correct. Come down and spend some time here. It's a whole different place at night and if you get off the island to some of the smaller, less populated Keys, you'll see how laid back we really are.

 

I felt the same way about Venice. Spending a few days there pre-cruise was the best decision I could have made. Drinking the house wines at night in St Marks or at the hidden joints down any of those little alleys was really special.

[Aquahound]

Funny I always thought that KW was Capitol of the Conch Republic and not in FL!

 

Absolutely correct. For 1 minute on April 23, 1982, we were a sovereign nation.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conch_Republic

 

In some regards, we like to think we still are. As a matter of fact, I'm a Master Chief in the Conch Republic Navy. :D. Kinda conflicts with my USCG career, but those sort of conflicts are what we live for. ;)

[BonTexasNY]

Funny I always thought that KW was Capitol of the Conch Republic and not in FL!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

I'm Brooklyn born, raised in Manhattan then defected to TX 11 years ago. What do I know? :rolleyes::p

[Cruising89143]

Yep.

 

 

 

You are correct. Come down and spend some time here. It's a whole different place at night and if you get off the island to some of the smaller, less populated Keys, you'll see how laid back we really are.

 

I felt the same way about Venice. Spending a few days there pre-cruise was the best decision I could have made. Drinking the house wines at night in St Marks or at the hidden joints down any of those little alleys was really special.

 

We love KW and we love Venice. The two days that we stayed prior to our cruise were some of the best on this vacation. I can't wait to see Venice again in June.:)

[Ocean Boy]

We love KW and we love Venice. The two days that we stayed prior to our cruise were some of the best on this vacation. I can't wait to see Venice again in June.:)

 

I also love Venice. I remember one night back when I was a teenager I was there and I had just gone to bed and I heard all of these people singing in German. I got up and went out of the hotel and spend the next couple of hours with some Germans on one of the bridges and had one of the best nights of my life.

 

I have never made it to Key West and it is definitely on my list of places that I want to get to.

[Biker19]

[Biker19]

https://www.cruisehive.com/big-cruise-ships-banned-sailing-venice/21117

 

The Italian government has decided to ban big cruise ships from sailing through the Venice lagoon and docking.

The Government of Italy has decided to ban big cruise ships from docking in Venice and sailing on the precious canals along the famous St. Marks Square. The new ban will apply to cruise ships at 100,000 gross tons and over.

The decision comes after anti large cruise ship campaigns from local residents reached desperate measures. In September activists chained themselves to a large cruise ship while it was calling in Venice. The same group which is known as “The Grand Navi Committee” also attempted to block the large vessels from entering the port just days later.

It has been long argued that the larges cruise ships are damaging the water beds which the historic city is located on. Authorities originally banned ships at over 96,000 gross tons in 2013 but that ban was later lifted and large ships continued to sail in Venice.

For this new ban, the larger cruise ship will have to dock at the nearby Marghera yard which is further away from Venice. Cruise passengers would have to use transport to the city and will not be able to enjoy the stunning arrival views of Venice while entering the port.

It isn’t known when the new ban will begin but time will likely be needed for cruise lines and ports to prepare.

[Biker19]

Not sure this has any affect on RCI since Vision and Radiance class ships (usually used in Venice) are under the limit.

[londongal796]

The BBC produced a documentary called 'Italy's Invisible Cities' and one of the cities they highlighted was Venice.

 

Venice was built on a mudflat in a lagoon. The mud was not firm enough to build foundations for homes on, so they used a technique which involved boring huge logs (or 'wooden piles) into the ground vertically and using the flat surface at the top as a 'foundation'.

 

These wooden piles have been prevented from rotting owing to their unique location, underwater and surrounded by mud.

 

Small passing vaporettos and gondolas along the main canal do not have an impact on the preservation of these logs -- they do not create enough of a wake. But absolutely giant cruise ships 100% do. They are exposing this petrified wood, which has been preserved for hundreds and hundreds of years, and causing it to rot. And the rot is literally causing the buildings of Venice to sink.

 

This is more than an issue of overcrowding or locals not wanting tourists to visit. This is literally causing Venice to sink.

 

Personally, I have no problem with cruise ships going into the relevant port in Venice going the long way around, but I do have a problem with them taking the 'scenic route' via Guidecca Canal and causing untold damage to buildings which have survived for hundreds of years.