NCL and Venice

[Cloverix]

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?
 

 

[yakcruiser]

I was on the Star in mid April that dropped anchor a great distance from Venice and we had 90 minute tender rides to the old cruise port. The cruise before didn't stop in Venice but docked a day early in Trieste. I opened my hotel window in the morning and saw the ship at the dock and thought I slept for 30 hours straight. I do believe NCL is trying to figure this Venice thing out as they go but don't want to take Venice off the itinerary as that is a main selling point for many people. They do need to do a better job communicating to their passengers what is going on. 

[insidecabin]

Venice has been relegated to a suck them in port like Paris, Berlin, London and a few others.

That's all cruise lines  it is no longer a practical day visit port.

 

They need drop it  and only consider as a pre post cruise option.

 

Venice does not want cruise passengers give the business to the other wonderful ports in the Adriatic.

[quack2]

cruise ships are destroying Venice.  Better they dock elsewhere.

[insidecabin]

2 hours ago, quack2 said:

cruise ships are destroying Venice.  Better they dock elsewhere.

That's what they are doing docking a long way from Venice

.

Problem is they are still selling it as a dream destination but putting the 2-4 hours transfer time in the small print if you are lucky.

 

Some of the itinerary are bonkers.

check out Gem 14 Aug

[Greener123]

1 hour ago, insidecabin said:

That's what they are doing docking a long way from Venice

.

Problem is they are still selling it as a dream destination but putting the 2-4 hours transfer time in the small print if you are lucky.

 

Some of the itinerary are bonkers.

check out Gem 14 Aug

Jeez, that’s jam packed… we’re on breakaway in September and only have 1 seaday but to have none on that long a cruise will be exhausting. 
 

Have to say I’m sad ships no longer go into Venice proper, got to do it twice and it is the most amazing cruise port to sail in and out of. I don’t buy the idea that the ships caused any kind of damage - they sail through basically with their engines off - just using the tugs, the tourists added compared to the 20m that visit anyway is going to negligible. Locals in Venice just hate tourists full stop and I guess the ships were the easiest to ban 

[insidecabin]

11 minutes ago, Greener123 said:

Jeez, that’s jam packed… we’re on breakaway in September and only have 1 seaday but to have none on that long a cruise will be exhausting. 
 

Have to say I’m sad ships no longer go into Venice proper, got to do it twice and it is the most amazing cruise port to sail in and out of. I don’t buy the idea that the ships caused any kind of damage - they sail through basically with their engines off - just using the tugs, the tourists added compared to the 20m that visit anyway is going to negligible. Locals in Venice just hate tourists full stop and I guess the ships were the easiest to ban 

 

Missed the no sea, my point was they are claiming 3 Venice days when none will be close. 

(tender on the Venice day is a clue they are not at the main berths)

 

 

 

 

(not just NCL all lines do it)

[Cloverix]

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…

[cruise52]

Cloverix - Did you have a ship tour scheduled or were you doing on your own?  Did they have regularly scheduled return trips at various intervals throughout the day/evening, or one set time for the return for everyone?  We are on the July 17th sailing and beginning to think we may not be tendering to Venice as indicated (pretty sure we don’t want a 90 minute tender).  We have a sizable group that was planning on a private tour but I’m no longer confident that our plan will work.  I’m thinking we should “play-it-by-ear” and see what happens.  Just wondering if we take the 2.5 bus ride to Venice, if provided by NCL, if we need to plan to be there into evening hours or if we will be able to return when we choose?  BTW - thanks for posting this info.  I’d rather know the issues and possibilities in order to be prepared as much as possible.  

[Greener123]

3 hours ago, insidecabin said:

 

Missed the no sea, my point was they are claiming 3 Venice days when none will be close. 

(tender on the Venice day is a clue they are not at the main berths)

 

 

 

 

(not just NCL all lines do it)

I missed that, it shows on the site I use at Trieste, Venice, Ravenna as the first 3 days - often Trieste and Ravenna are labelled as (Venice) when on itineraries - not seen any with all 3 listed before though, I’d guess Ravenna should really be (Bologna) since it’s the closest major city - although still 2hrs away 

[amm8589]

New to this forum, DH and I just booked a cruise on the NCL Gem in August that will begin in Trieste. I was very confused by the description on the website about the "tender" day, but thanks to these forums, it all makes sense now. I assumed we were going to dock in Venice, but now I see we will have to tender there. I'm so glad to understand that ahead of time. We are flying into Trieste directly on the day we board, so the following day is the tender day, the next day we go to Raveanna. 

 

Does anyone know what time the tenders leave for Venice? I want to schedule a Venice tour, but under these circumstances, it may be easier to do it directly through NCL so we don't miss our "connection" to the ship.

 

[Ozmodiar]

IF, and it is a big if, they tender they will have a few times likely with timed tickets they will make available if you are not on a tour - hard to assure that you will get a specific time, they can't tender 2,000+ in at the same time. They used tenders from Venice, not the ship tenders, for the Star visit earlier this year, but really needed a couple more running.

 

Keep in mind that if the tenders drop off at the cruise port, you then need to get from there to wherever the tour starts - one of the frustrations with tendering to the cruise port on the Star was that no water taxis or water buses were there, so people needed to get to the transportation hub on the western edge of the city, which is another step.

 

For the bigger issue of Venice as a port, I think using Ravenna or Trieste with buses - no different than trying to get to Florence or Paris as noted from their "ports" - is the future. Unless Venice decides to either allow tenders to drop off at St Marks (which I believe was what NCL hoped and planned for initially), or better yet establish a permanent tender location/port on the eastern end of the city so that tenders don't have to go into the canals at all and crowds can be managed well. But as noted, I think the city has decided they would rather have visitors not come from cruise ships but instead use the city hotels, restaurants 3 times a day, etc.

[complawyer]

we were on an ncl cruise last year from Venice (trieste).  we flew from los angeles, to venice 3 days prior to the cruise departure.  by the way, if you've never been there, it's an amazing city. just sitting in st marks square watching al the people and having a cup of coffee was wonderful. we also had pre-booked a tour that took us to morano, borano and one other city.  cruise ended in rome (civitivecchia) 

where we also hired a cab to drive us to rome, also about a hr + from the dock

prior to leaving for venice, we also prebooked a shuttle to drive us to trieste. i believe it took slightly over an hr, and we stayed in trieste overnight. (trieste is also a beautiful city) we had an ncl agent on site at the hotel, and signed up. the next morning at around 10, there was a shuttle bus waiting outside the hotel to drive us directly to the ship.

 

while i certainly wouldnt want to take a 90 minute tender, spending  time in venice, prior to sailing is more  than worth the effort.

btw, since C/C wont allow you to name names, the hotel in trieste was beautiful, think two evergreens, maples, or pine, paris and conrad, (one of liz taylors former husband) and you'll probably be able to figure out the name of the hotel

[Cloverix]

1 hour ago, amm8589 said:

Does anyone know what time the tenders leave for Venice?

 

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.

[9tee2Sea]

and now I read that Venice is charging day trippers an entrance fee.  Glad I experienced Venice pre-Covid.

[Cloverix]

3 hours ago, cruise52 said:

Cloverix - Did you have a ship tour scheduled or were you doing on your own?  Did they have regularly scheduled return trips at various intervals throughout the day/evening, or one set time for the return for everyone?   

 

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.

Edited June 11, 2023 by Cloverix
correction

[ilovesalchows]

I am fine with Venice banning cruise ships in their vicinity.  I care more about Venice than cruising.

 

I am fine with Venice charging day trippers a tax, it is a small amount anyway, and as much as day trippers tout that they should want their money, they put a big strain on the city without spending hundreds of dollars locally like overnighters do.  

 

In fact, I am fine with anything Venice wants or needs to do to protect itself and it rapidly dwindling full-time residents.

 

What I am not so keen on, is NCL knowing they aren't going anywhere within 2 hours of Venice this summer, but not sharing this information with their clientele until the week before the cruise.  At least, this is how it seems from reading the emails people are posting in the roll calls.  It also seems some people aren't finding out until they are on the cruise, but it is unclear if they just weren't paying attention or not.  Judging from a lot of the transportation questions people are asking, I am assuming many passengers are not comfortable traveling on their own.  They like the idea of getting on getting on a ship and visiting many places without the stress or logistics of land-based travel.  There is nothing wrong with that, and this is the group with whom NCL should be communicating most clearly.

 

Most of us who are posting and scouring CC are a bit more informed and it won't be news to us.  We have put a lot of time and effort into researching all aspects of this trip.  We were suspect as to the likelihood of tendering into Venice even when we booked.  I won't know for sure until I take this cruise next month, but I suspect there will be plenty of people onboard who are shocked by this and will miss out on an opportunity to visit one of the most unique and beautiful places in the Mediterranean.  If they knew they wouldn't be spending time in Venice proper ahead of time, they may have been able to stay before or after their cruise.

 

This is totally different from Venice (Ravenna) and/or Venice (Trieste).  I am sure there are plenty of people who didn't understand that distinction either.  Heck, I am even pretty sure NCL was optimistically thinking they would be tendering us in when they planned this itinerary.  But now they know it isn't going to happen, they should just tell us where we will be spending that day.  It's not like anyone can cancel now anyway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[yakcruiser]

2 hours ago, amm8589 said:

New to this forum, DH and I just booked a cruise on the NCL Gem in August that will begin in Trieste. I was very confused by the description on the website about the "tender" day, but thanks to these forums, it all makes sense now. I assumed we were going to dock in Venice, but now I see we will have to tender there. I'm so glad to understand that ahead of time. We are flying into Trieste directly on the day we board, so the following day is the tender day, the next day we go to Raveanna. 

 

Does anyone know what time the tenders leave for Venice? I want to schedule a Venice tour, but under these circumstances, it may be easier to do it directly through NCL so we don't miss our "connection" to the ship.

 

Get on the earliest possible tender!!! We got off on the first tender at 6:30 AM and were in town by 9:00 AM. The next timed tender was 10:00 AM and some of those people didn't get off the ship until after 1:00 PM. If they overnight in Trieste consider getting up early and catching a train into Venice. It also is only two hours and will drop you off next to a waterbus station. And it will probably be cheaper than the NCL bus.

[insidecabin]

26 minutes ago, ilovesalchows said:

It's not like anyone can cancel now anyway.

this a big issue for the cruise lines with the UK and EU bookings because if they can't deliver the product due to known change they are supposed to let the the customers know without delay.

 

In some circumstance(eg major changes and certain delays)  this allows cancellation with full refund.

Cruise lines prefer to just keep changes to themselves just in case.

[amm8589]

Wow, this is a lot of valuable information, and it's a lot to digest. We booked this cruise on very short notice and did not realize all the particulars with Venice. That's okay, no regrets, we just have to improvise and I'm glad I have time to think things through.

 

There is no way we can get to Venice earlier, as we have to move our son into college on the Saturday before departure, we fly out the next day, and arrive in Trieste on Monday morning. I'm considering taking the train to Venice on Tuesday and spending the day there, then taking the train back to Trieste that evening. Does that sound realistic? Is this something I should book ahead of time or wait until we get there? I have never been to Italy (or anywhere in Europe for that matter) so this is all new to me. The tender situation sounds iffy at best, so I want to have my ducks in a row before we get there in just 2 short months. Thanks for any information you can share!

 

[yakcruiser]

1 hour ago, amm8589 said:

Wow, this is a lot of valuable information, and it's a lot to digest. We booked this cruise on very short notice and did not realize all the particulars with Venice. That's okay, no regrets, we just have to improvise and I'm glad I have time to think things through.

 

There is no way we can get to Venice earlier, as we have to move our son into college on the Saturday before departure, we fly out the next day, and arrive in Trieste on Monday morning. I'm considering taking the train to Venice on Tuesday and spending the day there, then taking the train back to Trieste that evening. Does that sound realistic? Is this something I should book ahead of time or wait until we get there? I have never been to Italy (or anywhere in Europe for that matter) so this is all new to me. The tender situation sounds iffy at best, so I want to have my ducks in a row before we get there in just 2 short months. Thanks for any information you can share!

 

That is very realistic. It takes about two hours each way and there are many trains per day if they aren't on strike which does happen quite often.  you want to go to the Santa Lucia station in Venice. It is around $15.00 each way and you can buy at the station or in advance which is what we did. If you youtube Trieste to Venice rail trip there are a couple videos that explain exactly what to do. I watched them and had zero problems. Also Venice is a very easy city to explore on your own. There are many videos showing all the sights and you can pick which ones you like according to your interests. Have an awesome trip!

[Ozmodiar]

Yes, I took the train from Venice where I stayed before my cruise to Trieste for embarkation, takes about 2 hrs, runs multiple times a day. I am pretty sure that both Trieste Centrale and Venice Santa Lucia are the "last" stations on the route between the cities - in other words on this route you are going end-point to end-point - so about as simple as it gets. From the train station you can either walk the city or get the water taxis and "buses".

 

FYI, the same train has a stop for Trieste airport if you want to investigate that, as the airport is a bit outside of the city.

[amygutman]

Out of curiosity, as our NCL Escape 2024 cruise ends in "Venice", if the ships does not dock at Venice, is the cruise actually ending in Ravenna?

 

Our plans were disembarking, spending the day / overnight in Venice then flying to London for another day prior to flying back to the US. Flights from Venice to Orlando are literally 3 x more expensive than London to Orlando so it seemed like a reasonable plan. 

 

Not terribly excited though about dragging our suitcases for a 2 hour transfer unless we were to pre-arrange a taxi / tour which would certainly mean knowing at which port we were disembarcing.

 

Any information would be helpful and appreciated.

Warmest, Amy

[Ozmodiar]

1 hour ago, amygutman said:

Out of curiosity, as our NCL Escape 2024 cruise ends in "Venice", if the ships does not dock at Venice, is the cruise actually ending in Ravenna?

 

You need to look at your booking documents, but most likely ends in Trieste. I only see Venice (Trieste) as an embarkation point for Escape in 2024, not Venice (Ravenna).

[sailingships]

On 6/10/2023 at 4:55 AM, Cloverix said:

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.

 

I was on the Epic TA last month. I traveled around Italy and flew home from Venice on May 22. That day there were Gem passengers at the Venice airport who said much the same thing. They came in a day early or late and had to travel to the airport from Trieste..