Warning about venice

[artistcleveland]

I'm a bit confused by the port discussion (but environmentally, I agree with preserving the place); we just received a brochure for a nice cruise in Oct and want to book quickly.

despite the port uncertainties, if we do fly into Venice for our cruise and want to spend a day and night prior to the cruise, can people please recommend decent hotels reasonably near the sights and reasonably convenient to transportation to the ports. we may be taking ship transfers.

what price range are we looking at?

thanks

[-Lew-]

 

I'm a bit confused by the port discussion (but environmentally, I agree with preserving the place); we just received a brochure for a nice cruise in Oct and want to book quickly.

despite the port uncertainties, if we do fly into Venice for our cruise and want to spend a day and night prior to the cruise, can people please recommend decent hotels reasonably near the sights and reasonably convenient to transportation to the ports. we may be taking ship transfers.

what price range are we looking at?

thanks

With all due respect, your question is waaaay off topic. :)

 

Rather than hijack this thread with an off-topic question, you might want to do a search or start a new thread.

 

Lew

[Cruising89143]

Thanks for sharing this information. We have sailed out of Venice twice and considered another cruise on the Silhouette this summer while planning our next vacation. Now, I'm happy with our decision to cruise on the Reflection and avoid Venice. Hope we can visit Venice again in the future, it is a wonderful city:):)

 

We are on the EQ in June from Barcelona to Venice. I contacted Michael Bayley's office via email last week and received a phone call from one of his assistants. Before returning my call he did some legwork with Celebrity's deployment department. There are no known changes at this time. They will still be docking at the current pier. I do have a contact at X to call from time to time to keep a check on this but no changes are showing now. We are five months away from our cruise.

[KirkNC]

Well I am thankful for the numerous nights we have already spent in Venice both on and off of cruise ships. The impact of this change will be less visitors to Venice. I know I for one will not spend several hours to get into and out of Venice. Maybe in some ways it's a good thing as Venice can be very crowded at times but wait until it starts having a negative impact on their economy. The city already has a shrinking population, this will just make things worse.

[sunshine nana]

This will also have an effect on the cruise lines. We booked our Sept. cruise to sail out of Venice one more time. It will be a huge hassle if we dock somewhere else after we have made our pre-cruise hotel reservation. I hope to find out before I do that.

[olemissreb]

This makes me sad although I do understand. My son wants to visit Venice for his graduation trip, but that won't happen until 2017. I do hope that somehow we'll still be able to experience cruising through Venice down the canal. Even if we can't, we'll be spending extra days in Venice either pre or post cruise. I just fell in love with the city when I was there 20 years ago (land based vacation).

[PCWalton1]

I am grateful we had our opportunity in 2012 to experience sailing out then back in to Venice. I took this the morning we returned on Splendour of the Seas.

 

[Pushka]

I must be doing something wrong with that link as it's for 2013.

[cruise kitty]

We are on the EQ in June from Barcelona to Venice. I contacted Michael Bayley's office via email last week and received a phone call from one of his assistants. Before returning my call he did some legwork with Celebrity's deployment department. There are no known changes at this time. They will still be docking at the current pier. I do have a contact at X to call from time to time to keep a check on this but no changes are showing now. We are five months away from our cruise.

 

We sailed in & out of Venice on our Adriatic cruise on the Silhouette, if you read my review you'll see that we were probably the last ship of our size that will be allowed to do so. I would not count on the info you're getting from Celebrity.

[Adventures ahead]

Well, that sort of seals the deal for the Regal Princess:eek:, no kidding! Grateful we've had a chance to sail in and out the "old-fashioned way".

 

With bigger ships docking at the commercial port, it will be interesting to see what will be provided for transportation and to where, for passengers not going directly to the airport. When someone has up-to-date information, I hope they will post it here.

[lovestx]

We sailed in & out of Venice on our Adriatic cruise on the Silhouette, if you read my review you'll see that we were probably the last ship of our size that will be allowed to do so. I would not count on the info you're getting from Celebrity.

 

I have enjoyed reading your review, but wonder how you know that you were probably the last ship of that size to sail into Venice?

[Pushka]

There are many cruise ships berthed the day we embark. I wonder when Celebrity will advise us where to embark? Are the two ports far apart? I booked this cruise on the basis of the Venice sail out. :(

[cruise kitty]

I have enjoyed reading your review, but wonder how you know that you were probably the last ship of that size to sail into Venice?

 

Hi, you'll note I said "probably" :) at the time we went, there weren't supposed to be any changes in place yet, however, they pulled our permission to dock, & then granted it back at the last minute. They were actually selling the transport that would take people across the causeway.

 

Several crew members (higher up managers) said we would more than likely be the last ship of our size allowed in

 

 

There was an informal "ask the captain a question" session, & I asked him if this was true... he said he could not possibly answer that.... however, we could count ourselves as very, very lucky to have experienced it as in the future it was very doubtful.

 

I only posted one photo of anti cruise ship signs in Venice, but they were everywhere. We ate at the same restaurant twice in Venice & the manager there took some time to talk to us, the thought process there is that the cruise people cause more harm than good, they eat one or two meals out, see all the sites, & don't have time to shop & spend money.

 

The hope is that cruises will start or end in Venice with people staying at a hotel for several nights pre or post, & that people will do a land based trip to Venice instead of a cruise.

 

I hope the OP gets what he wants, but I really don't think Celebrity will give him a phone call if they can't dock at the last minute.

[Pushka]

Celebrity must tell people in advance where the ship will berth when it's an embarkation port.

[milolii]

Wow cruise kitty thank you for the update. Yes, your ship is the size the local authorities want to discourage from sailing through the Giudecca canal. And indeed most likely all ships.

 

Celebrity, as well as other cruise lines, have to follow local law. The cruise lines may do their best to inform their guests, but in the end the harbour master decides who will dock where. Not the cruise line. The reports from the first cruisers of the season, April, May, will give us a good indication of how it is going.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[Pushka]

If the two port locations are far apart then Celebrity et al will have to advise people where to go to get onboard. Won't matter so much for port stops and disembarking passengers.

[happy 2 b cruising]

If the two port locations are far apart then Celebrity et al will have to advise people where to go to get onboard. Won't matter so much for port stops and disembarking passengers.

 

Bottom line, we need to know where we will embark. Curious as to when we will be notified :confused:

[dbeckett]

As the original poster was doing it as part of a port stop and not embarking or disembarking could it be that the Italian Government are doing it as a trial to see how it works and what needs to be changed to make it more stream-lined for getting on and off a cruise?

 

Hopefully that's the case as hotels will need to considered based on the location of the port and have people have said the cruise lines like to keep that a secret till closer to the date of departure.

[slidergirl]

Saying you won't go to Venice because of a change in docking is like, to me, cutting off your nose to spite your face. It shouldn't add hours to your travel time. Sure, you don't get to pollute the Giudecca Canal with the huge ship, but you are still getting to visit one of the great destinations of the world. People port in Civi and Livorno all the time and travel to Rome and Florence.

[vadell]

We have booked a flight to Venice in anticipation of booking a cruise from there, with the uncertainty of where the port is likely to be and what sounds to be a lot of hassle we are holding fire on booking the cruise. We live about 15 minutes from an airport and Venice is less than two hours away I would rather just book a weekend in Venice and take a cruise from elsewhere.

[Cruising89143]

We sailed in & out of Venice on our Adriatic cruise on the Silhouette, if you read my review you'll see that we were probably the last ship of our size that will be allowed to do so. I would not count on the info you're getting from Celebrity.

 

Time will tell. I will be checking with Celebrity's deployment department from time to time but I was assured from Michael Bayley's office that nothing has changed to date for our arrival into Venice.

Edited January 19, 2014 by cruisingator2

[Pushka]

Maybe for the moment large ships that are starting their cruise in Venice will be porting as usual until 2015 because the require more processing than ships that are just a stop.

[mapleleaves]

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

[Pushka]

 

 

 

I'd be more concerned about missing out on the Guidecca Canal. That was a highlight for me.

 

 

 

Yes that's my concern too.

 

Using a different pier isn't an issue as long as you know which pier will be used if this is your embarkation port.

[she11ey]

Thanks for that but i can only see dates to december last year, we go in april.