No more Celebrity cruises sailing by St. Mark's...

[WonderMan3]

Hope you got a chance to have that spectacular sail away by St. Mark's Square at some point as you won't get to do it in the future. Venice has banned cruise ships from the lagoon.

 

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/venice-cruise-ship-ban/index.html

[mom says]

Well finally! It took them long enough- they've diddle around with this for too many years. IMO they should have done it long ago.

[Mr. Click]

They have made rules and passed laws before but some how the ships kept coming. Lets see if this one sticks.  For the sake of Venice I hope so but as a cruiser I am sad to see it.  It really is or was the best sail away ever.  Even better than Sydney on a perfect night.

[Host Jazzbeau]

The last attempt did succeed in banning Celebrity's S-class and E-class ships ['voluntarily'], although the M-class still snuck under the size limit.  It isn't yet clear what the exact size limit on this one will be ('large cruise ships' is about as vague as you can get) but it will surely require all those ships affected by the earlier one to dock at Marghera – and possibly all the way down to '1,000 tonnes' [whatever that measure means – it sounds mighty small!] that was mentioned in one source.  Lately I'm seeing 40,000 as a probably limit, which would definitely rule out all Celebrity ships.

[Auntiemomo]

Royal has already shifted their cruises from Venice to embark Ravenna.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Ravenna is reportedly lovely [fantastic Roman mosaics] – much nicer than Marghera – and until recently it has been hard to visit.  This could have an upside – if Ravenna has the infrastructure to serve as a home port.  It's a 2 hr 15 min drive from the VCE airport, which the cruise lines can easily set up as transfers.  And an option at beginning or end to spend as much time in Venice as you like.

[Norwich Cruiser]

2 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Ravenna is reportedly lovely [fantastic Roman mosaics] – much nicer than Marghera – and until recently it has been hard to visit.  This could have an upside – if Ravenna has the infrastructure to serve as a home port.  It's a 2 hr 15 min drive from the VCE airport, which the cruise lines can easily set up as transfers.  And an option at beginning or end to spend as much time in Venice as you like.

RCG has set up a transfer from Marco Polo airport.

 

However I wouldn’t rely on the two hour fifteen minute transfer time in the middle of summer.

 

Whichever way you look at it the transfer is unfortunately a half a day out of your holiday.

[CruiseCrew123]

So the transfer to the proposed new departure point would be longer than the flight from London to Venice (and possibly more expensive) . Looks like that’s a big no go for me 

[Miaminice]

As nice as it was to sail by San Marco... it was about time!

 

[chemmo]

1 hour ago, Miaminice said:

As nice as it was to sail by San Marco... it was about time!

 

 

Agree...we loved our sail into and out of Venice but the protection of the city must now come first.

 

6 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Ravenna is reportedly lovely [fantastic Roman mosaics] – much nicer than Marghera – and until recently it has been hard to visit.  This could have an upside – if Ravenna has the infrastructure to serve as a home port.  It's a 2 hr 15 min drive from the VCE airport, which the cruise lines can easily set up as transfers.  And an option at beginning or end to spend as much time in Venice as you like.

 

Agree, I think most cruisers opt to spend a few days pre or post cruise in Venice (it would be such a waste not to!) and now Ravenna could be an option to add another aspect to a cruise vacation.

 

3 hours ago, CruiseCrew123 said:

So the transfer to the proposed new departure point would be longer than the flight from London to Venice (and possibly more expensive) . Looks like that’s a big no go for me 

 

 

If Ravenna becomes a regular cruise port then I am sure a range of transport options will follow provided by the cruise lines and independently. I can see us enjoying a few days in Ravenna pre cruise and a few days in Venice post cruise. Yes, there are some transport costs to add on but I would think accommodation in Ravenna would be significantly cheaper than in Venice which may balance the cost a bit...

 

In addition to flying into Venice there is also the option of flying into Florence and commuting from there to Ravenna which may appeal to some. For those of us flying from the U.K. there may also be the option to look at budget/charter flights to the sea side town of Rimini.

 

 

Edited April 2, 2021 by chemmo

[ipeeinthepool]

7 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Ravenna is reportedly lovely [fantastic Roman mosaics] – much nicer than Marghera – and until recently it has been hard to visit.  This could have an upside – if Ravenna has the infrastructure to serve as a home port.  It's a 2 hr 15 min drive from the VCE airport, which the cruise lines can easily set up as transfers.  And an option at beginning or end to spend as much time in Venice as you like.

 

For me, I would probably fly into Bologna.  It's a decent size airport with connections to several major airports in Europe and only about an hour drive away from Ravenna.

[chemmo]

2 minutes ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

For me, I would probably fly into Bologna.  It's a decent size airport with connections to several major airports in Europe and only about an hour drive away from Ravenna.

 

The rail service in Italy tends to be fairly reliable and a decent price too. So for those who travel light the option of combining a cruise with a tour or a one/two stop city break is another option without needing to drive. Ravenna, I believe, does have a railway station.

[Miaminice]

Let’s not jump to conclusions... while Ravenna might be the choice for RCL and ships their size, there’s no reason why Celebrity won’t switch to Marghera - which is the intended plan of Venice.

 

[downsmead]

We have been to Ravenna on a cruise, it’s a lovely city and one I would return to.

On one cruise we took that departed from Venice, we flew into Florence (direct flight from London City airport) for a few days and then took the train to Venice, where we stayed another few days prior to starting the cruise. The train is so easy for getting between cities in Europe.

[carlmm]

How sad!

 

The only proper way to got to Venice is by boat / ship / the sea.

 

An industrial port is the total opposite of what Venice is about.

 

It is an anticlimax having to enter Venice from the land side via the Ponte della Liberta, an industrial structure itself which has been added only in modern times.

 

--

 

Even from a practical point it will make a visit to Venice a pain:  It might be just a few miles (as the crow flies) away from Venice but walking is impossible. Public transportation from a randomly choosen point in the Marghera port requires at least three (3) different modes of transportation, additional walking and 1 hour 20 minutes.

Edited April 2, 2021 by carlmm

[excitedofharpenden]

2 hours ago, chemmo said:

 

Agree...we loved our sail into and out of Venice but the protection of the city must now come first.

 

 

Agree, I think most cruisers opt to spend a few days pre or post cruise in Venice (it would be such a waste not to!) and now Ravenna could be an option to add another aspect to a cruise vacation.

 

 

 

If Ravenna becomes a regular cruise port then I am sure a range of transport options will follow provided by the cruise lines and independently. I can see us enjoying a few days in Ravenna pre cruise and a few days in Venice post cruise. Yes, there are some transport costs to add on but I would think accommodation in Ravenna would be significantly cheaper than in Venice which may balance the cost a bit...

 

In addition to flying into Venice there is also the option of flying into Florence and commuting from there to Ravenna which may appeal to some. For those of us flying from the U.K. there may also be the option to look at budget/charter flights to the sea side town of Rimini.

 

 

I've been to Ravenna and we overnighted there when I cruised on Azamara. I really enjoyed it and first day went to see the mosaics (which are spectacular) and second day as a car buff took a tour out to the Ferrari museum at Maranello, just the other side of Bologna. 

 

The feedback from guests as the first time Azamara had been to Ravenna was mixed, but the general concensus was don't bother staying overnight because there isn't much to do. As I say I really enjoyed my two days there. 

 

The port area I remember being a little way out of Ravenna itself and a bus ride and the docks for cruise ships were quite new. The immediate area was industrial. This was ten years ago.  

 

Trieste seems to get used as an alternative to Venice as well and is more straightforward by train. 

 

I agree about the Venice comments. It's been way too long coming. 

 

Phil 

[cruisemom42]

51 minutes ago, carlmm said:

How sad!

 

The only proper way to got to Venice is by boat / ship / the sea.

 

An industrial port is the total opposite of what Venice is about.

 

It is an anticlimax having to enter Venice from the land side via the Ponte della Liberta, an industrial structure itself which has been added only in modern times.

 

--

 

Even from a practical point it will make a visit to Venice a pain:  It might be just a few miles (as the crow flies) away from Venice but walking is impossible. Public transportation from a randomly choosen point in the Marghera port requires at least three (3) different modes of transportation, additional walking and 1 hour 20 minutes.

 

I'm not sure that I would agree that the "only proper way" to approach Venice is by sea.  There are pluses and minuses to both approaches. Remember, those on the Grand Tour approached by land...

 

Also, there is a possibility that if ships dock in Marghera, there could be a transfer to the appropriate sized lighter boats to carry them into Venice through the lagoon, rather than a journey around the lagoon on land.

[cruisemom42]

Ravenna and Trieste are both alternatives being considered for ports in the area but they really do not lend themselves (or at least Ravenna doesn't) to be major hubs for embarkation/disembarkation currently. I suspect the long-term plan may be to build a modern terminal in Marghera.

 

That said, Ravenna is an extremely pleasant small city to visit with a lot to see including a full day's worth of gorgeous and very early mosaics, as well as the original "old" Roman city with ruins. 

 

I was just in Ravenna about 15 months ago and thought it was delightful. Very good food, a city of reasonable size and very walkable, much to see. The hotels for the most part are modest, probably not something US passengers would be thrilled with....

 

Ravenna does have a train stop but it is not on the "fast train" route. To get to or from Venice a change of trains is required and the trains are "regional" trains.  Also the port itself in Ravenna is not in the midst of the city, e.g., not walkable -- but a short ride by taxi.

 

 

[Hlitner]

We have discussed this before, but a big issue is how to move thousands of cruisers between Marghera and Venice.   At the moment there are only two choices which are via some kind of water craft or via bus.  The bus option is not good for Venice as the last thing they want are a 100 buses moving over the causeway into the P. Roma.  And it would take nearly 100 buses to handle a large cruise ship's passengers.  Another option would be to bus folks to Tronchetta where the passengers can connect to the People Mover...but the numbers would overwhelm that system.  Using some kind of watercraft might be a better solution, but they may need to think about building some new kind of boat designed to handle a large crowd.  Vaporettos are a bit small if you are dealing with 4000+ passengers and there are probably not enough spare vaporettos just sitting around waiting to move cruise ship passengers.  I imagine that the Italian authorities will have it all worked out in about 50 years.

 

Hank

[TeeRick]

17 hours ago, WonderMan3 said:

Hope you got a chance to have that spectacular sail away by St. Mark's Square at some point as you won't get to do it in the future. Venice has banned cruise ships from the lagoon.

 

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/venice-cruise-ship-ban/index.html

Thanks WM3. Memories!  I had the good fortune of cruising past St. Mark's Square on Constellation on my 60th birthday.  I took 8 people from my family along on this cruise.  It was very memorable.  We had a bon voyage party together on out mid-ship Sky Suite with the large balcony.  The butler helped us put this together.

[TeeRick]

13 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

The last attempt did succeed in banning Celebrity's S-class and E-class ships ['voluntarily'], although the M-class still snuck under the size limit.  It isn't yet clear what the exact size limit on this one will be ('large cruise ships' is about as vague as you can get) but it will surely require all those ships affected by the earlier one to dock at Marghera – and possibly all the way down to '1,000 tonnes' [whatever that measure means – it sounds mighty small!] that was mentioned in one source.  Lately I'm seeing 40,000 as a probably limit, which would definitely rule out all Celebrity ships.

Size?? Maybe a Silversea cruise would be a good option out of Venice Lagoon?  Azamara? Crystal?

[KWW88]

On 4/1/2021 at 5:30 PM, WonderMan3 said:

Hope you got a chance to have that spectacular sail away by St. Mark's Square at some point as you won't get to do it in the future. Venice has banned cruise ships from the lagoon.

 

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/venice-cruise-ship-ban/index.html

I have been to Venice several times as part of a land cruise, one of the most beautiful and magical cities in Europe!  It really always bothered me seeing those huge ships sitting there, love cruising, but IMO, they were a huge eyesore to the splendor that is Venice.  Train and bus transportation is good in getting one there.

[hvbaskey]

Truly was the most spectacular sail-away of all of our cruises

 

 

Even more special when shared with new Friends (most of which we have kept in touch with)

 

 

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

I have been to Venice both by land and by sea.  I agree that it is spectacular sail in/out.  I did it on a reasonably sized ship (Constellation).  I think that the new 4-6,000 pax ships are the real problem, but I don't think they're going away.  Venice can't survive with more than it's normal population descending on it every day.

[TeaBag]

We. too enjoyed a special sail past Venice.  The ship's horn really dispersed the pigeons!  We also visited on a land vacation.  Loved the Murano glass place.