Warning about venice

[mickeysgal]

I'm booked on a Celebrity ship; so it looks like we won't get the sail in/out. Disappointing because for whatever reason I thought the changes would come in 2015 hence why we booked this year. Well, the bright side is there is no longer a scramble to get a cabin on the "right" side for the sail out. Sigh.

[cruisemom42]

I'm booked on a Celebrity ship; so it looks like we won't get the sail in/out. Disappointing because for whatever reason I thought the changes would come in 2015 hence why we booked this year. Well, the bright side is there is no longer a scramble to get a cabin on the "right" side for the sail out. Sigh.

 

The 2014 restrictions were announced last Fall; if I recall there was something here on the CC news page about it as well as on the boards.

 

Anyway, for what it's worth, here's a good recap of all the issues associated with having these very large cruise ships sail in and out of Venice:

 

http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2013/07/15/202347080/In-Venice-Huge-Cruise-Ships-Bring-Tourists-And-Complaints

[slidergirl]

The 2014 restrictions were announced last Fall; if I recall there was something here on the CC news page about it as well as on the boards.

 

Anyway, for what it's worth, here's a good recap of all the issues associated with having these very large cruise ships sail in and out of Venice:

 

http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2013/07/15/202347080/In-Venice-Huge-Cruise-Ships-Bring-Tourists-And-Complaints

 

Good article!

[PaulB]

My ship is due in at 8am and I asked the cruiseline (NCL) about what time flights are recommended for and they stated 11:30 and after. I have a 11:45 flight schedule but if this change is going to delay people that has me concerned about making that flight.

 

Thank you

[lovestx]

I think everyone is getting overly excited by the OP's words but keep in mind "we were told" hardly means fact.

 

True, there will be new restrictions on ship traffic in the Guidecca Canal starting in Jan '014. Traffic will be reduced by 20%, plus ships over 96,000 tons will be banned from the canal. Is your ship over 96,000? The 2 NCL ships aren't and either is RCI's SOS. Celebrity's 2 ships are over. (There is a partial listing in the attached article from the UK Telegraph.)

However, restricting ship traffic in the Guidecca Canal doesn't mean that ALL ships will start using the Marghera pier. A common sense conclusion would be that if the ship exceeds 96,000 tons and CAN'T sail down the canal, it may as well use the Marghera pier.

I wouldn't be concerned about using a different pier .... the airport buses will soon adapt their schedules and the kinks will get worked out. I'd be more concerned about missing out on the Guidecca Canal. That was a highlight for me.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/cruises/10432424/Confusion-over-Venice-cruise-ship-ban.html

 

Just to clarify...this article and others that I have been mentioned on CC detail that the large ships (96,000 tons) will be banned starting in NOVEMBER of 2014. That means the Celebrity ship that we and others are on should be fine sailing in the Giudecca Canal this summer. Have yet to read an article that suggests otherwise. If someone has seen an update to this information, would you please post?

[mapleleaves]

Just to clarify...this article and others that I have been mentioned on CC detail that the large ships (96,000 tons) will be banned starting in NOVEMBER of 2014. That means the Celebrity ship that we and others are on should be fine sailing in the Giudecca Canal this summer. Have yet to read an article that suggests otherwise. If someone has seen an update to this information, would you please post?

 

the 20% reduction was slated to start Jan '14. Can't imagine the gov't getting their act together quick enough to implement it, and how do they choose which ships will be part of that 20% ? But you may be affected this summmer. That's a question to ask your cruiseline.

[mapleleaves]

My ship is due in at 8am and I asked the cruiseline (NCL) about what time flights are recommended for and they stated 11:30 and after. I have a 11:45 flight schedule but if this change is going to delay people that has me concerned about making that flight.

 

Thank you

 

If you're worried, reserve a car or taxi service to meet you at the pier.

Regardless of which pier you use. be at the airport around 9am. The airport is a zoo.

[bcnvcanada]

From what we were told, the number of ships, plus size matters. Note

we were on the Pacific Princess, holds about 600 pax. It is one of the

smallest ships. Our captain was notified one day out that our ship would

have to dock in the commerical docks. This policy will change thoughout

the year. The commerical dock is very close to the Mestre train station, though there were no transfers to it. If I was booking a hotel, it wouldn't change where I would book. You still will have to go to the terminal to check in. As for the airport, it should be closer, with ships transfers. This was a port of call, an overnighter. You can still get the Venice experience, so if you have not been, it is still okay. We will still cruise to

Venice, though it won't be the highlight is once was.

[mapleleaves]

From what we were told, the number of ships, plus size matters. .

 

Several newspaper articles have been added to this link and they outline the current rulings.

[bp traveler]

Following this with interest.

 

I have sailed in through the Canal an it is quite a site of beauty!

 

I can appreciate the damage the ships are doing to the shoreline but do hope I get to do it one more time this summer!

[Compass Rose Monica]

I skimmed through the posts. Here's an article about ships being banned in Venice.

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/06/cruise-ships-venice_n_4224674.html

 

I was fortunate to sail out of Venice (November 1st) on the helipad. Some of us were told there would be just a couple more sailings out of Venice.

 

Monica

[slap1s]

I've been researching my May 2014 cruise and have read a few articles on the Port in Venice. There are 2 issues in play:

 

1 - from Dec 2013 to April 2014 all ships will use the commercial port. This is to allow construction of a system of gates in that area designed to control the flooding in Venice itself

 

2 - After construction, the main port will be reopen

 

Once the main port is reopened, there will be new restrictions going into effect. From what I read, fewer ships and a different approach to the port but the various articles all had different effective dates for the restrictions

 

My cruise is May 10 which is so close to the construction completion that I probably won't know until I get there

[Waihekean]

My cruise is May 10 which is so close to the construction completion that I probably won't know until I get there

 

And here is guessing that this will be for almost everyone this summer.

But so far it seems okay for my July one. Fingers crossed.

[Adventures ahead]

I've been researching my May 2014 cruise and have read a few articles on the Port in Venice. There are 2 issues in play:

 

1 - from Dec 2013 to April 2014 all ships will use the commercial port...

 

Was anything said about how passengers will disembark at the end of their cruise? As someone mentioned happened to them already, will (all?) passengers be bussed to the new port to go to through the new terminal before they can go their own way?

[Pushka]

Was anything said about how passengers will disembark at the end of their cruise? As someone mentioned happened to them already, will (all?) passengers be bussed to the new port to go to through the new terminal before they can go their own way?

 

 

And ditto for those embarking in Venice like us.

[Hlitner]

We keep trying to warn folks that "this is Italy" which means that everyone will have to be a bit patient and go with the flow. The way things work in Italy, I doubt if they have much more of a clue how things will work in a few months then the cruisers. One will just have to take a deep breath and adopt the Italian attitude of what will happen is what will happen :). Folks can obsess about this from now until their cruise and it will not do any good since worrying is not going to change the final result. So, relax, enjoy, and deal with the situation as it arises.

 

Hank

[happy 2 b cruising]

We keep trying to warn folks that "this is Italy" which means that everyone will have to be a bit patient and go with the flow. The way things work in Italy, I doubt if they have much more of a clue how things will work in a few months then the cruisers. One will just have to take a deep breath and adopt the Italian attitude of what will happen is what will happen :). Folks can obsess about this from now until their cruise and it will not do any good since worrying is not going to change the final result. So, relax, enjoy, and deal with the situation as it arises.

 

Hank

 

I will also follow this advice for Delta airlines which has already changed our return flights from Venice to the States in May six times.

[prish]

And ditto for those embarking in Venice like us.

 

Pushka, looks like we're both on the Celebrity June 14 sailing. Yes, the sail-out from Venice was to be the highlight of our cruise, lets see how it goes. Hopefully we'll get more info both from CC and Celebrity closer to our sail date...:)

[Cruising89143]

I emailed the Venice port authority about our Equinox cruise and they responded right back. They stated that for our June cruise we would be docking at the Venice terminal and not the Marghera terminal. Berths (terminal numbers) have not been assigned at this time.

Edited January 29, 2014 by cruisingator2

[luv2vacation]

I will also follow this advice for Delta airlines which has already changed our return flights from Venice to the States in May six times.

 

Same here except Delta keeps changing my flights to Milan in May. My connection time keeps getting shorter and shorter.

[Pushka]

I emailed the Venice port authority about our Equinox cruise and they responded right back. They stated that for our June cruise we would be docking at the Venice terminal and not the Marghera terminal. Berths (terminal numbers) have not been assigned at this time.

 

 

That's a great sign. Did you get the email address from their website? I emailed celebrity 3 weeks ago and nothing!

[Alex71]

We'll embark on the Fantasia on April 13. Is it safe to assume that the Fantasia will dock at the industrial port? We booked valet parking through the cruise line. Can we drop and reclaim the car at the industrial port then? Does it already have passenger facilities?

[General Max]

We keep trying to warn folks that "this is Italy" which means that everyone will have to be a bit patient and go with the flow. The way things work in Italy, I doubt if they have much more of a clue how things will work in a few months then the cruisers. One will just have to take a deep breath and adopt the Italian attitude of what will happen is what will happen :). Folks can obsess about this from now until their cruise and it will not do any good since worrying is not going to change the final result. So, relax, enjoy, and deal with the situation as it arises.

 

Hank

 

We also followed this advice when we first visited Italy in 2005. And it paid off. Allow twice the time it usually takes in your travels. If by chance you would arrive early, enjoy the time at the new location.

[marne-c]

I emailed the Venice port authority about our Equinox cruise and they responded right back. They stated that for our June cruise we would be docking at the Venice terminal and not the Marghera terminal. Berths (terminal numbers) have not been assigned at this time.

 

.

cruisingator2: I loved your idea about emailing the Venice port authority about where my ship would dock in June. So I tried to do what you said you did. My efforts produced no useful information. So please explain what email address you used, and what you said to elicit a meaningful reply.

 

 

--Marne

 

 

FWIW, here's what I did, based on your quoted words above. I went to the official Venice port authority website (https://www.port.venice.it/en/terminals.html), found their contact email address (apv@port.venice.it), and sent them an email containing this text:

 

My wife and I will be passengers on the Oceania Riviera when it docks in Venezia on 10 June 2014 at about 12:00. Can you tell me whether

the Riviera will dock at Venezia Terminal Passeggeri, or at one of the terminals in Marghera? I'm not concerned about which berth, just which terminal.

 

Here is the entire email reply I received: "Please contact VTP Venezia Terminal Passeggeri http://www.vtp.it/."

 

So I went to the VTP website as directed. The website has an 'Information and Feedback' page with a form for submitting questions. I used the form to submit my question using the same text indented above.

 

Here is the entire reply I received: "Hallo. from May, the Ships will depart from Venezia."

 

To me, that was not useful information. So I went back to the VIP website, when to the 'Offices and Contacts' page, found the email address for the 'Operations Department, Cruises' (operativo@vtp.it), and emailed them the same text . That produced no reply at all. (Well, no reply yet...)

 

 

-M

Edited January 31, 2014 by marne-c

[Alex71]

Why would the information not be useful? Sounds like you will be lucky and doch in Venice, whereas we will dock in Mestre when we depart in April

Edited January 31, 2014 by Alex71