Italy officially bans cruise ships from Venice effective August 1st

[Vict0riann]

Remember when Civitavecchia didn't have a building, but we just went through huge tents to check in?  I'm sure there would be an area at Marghera to erect a few tents like that, there must be space as it is an industrial port.

[nocl]

3 hours ago, Vict0riann said:

Remember when Civitavecchia didn't have a building, but we just went through huge tents to check in?  I'm sure there would be an area at Marghera to erect a few tents like that, there must be space as it is an industrial port.

MSC is clearly going to use the cruise ship terminal for check in and bus people to the port. 

 

While they could use tents for check in, with COVID the process might be more complex.  MSC clearly stated that no testing would be done at the port itself.  Only at the cruise terminal.

[Vict0riann]

10 minutes ago, nocl said:

MSC is clearly going to use the cruise ship terminal for check in and bus people to the port. 

 

While they could use tents for check in, with COVID the process might be more complex.  MSC clearly stated that no testing would be done at the port itself.  Only at the cruise terminal.

 

Is Monfalcone also an industrial port?

[nocl]

32 minutes ago, Vict0riann said:

 

Is Monfalcone also an industrial port?

That and ship building port (Fincantieri)

[liamur14]

19 minutes ago, nocl said:

That and ship building port (Fincantieri)

 😎  So should I cancel my stay at Olimpia hotel and book somewhere else? 

[chengkp75]

4 hours ago, VMax1700 said:

I saw that ok!  Not sure I would be happy with a 90 minute bus ride to the ship.  on the Italy board it is mentioned that the Silver Seas Silver Shadow will be docking  at a ferry port close to Marghera, but looking at the ferry port online, it seems unlikely that it would be possible to dock there.

What dock?  I see the Anek ferry terminal in Fusino, well south of Marghera, could easily handle a ship the size of Silver Shadow.

[KirkNC]

5 hours ago, Vict0riann said:

Interesting - everything seems to be on hold.  There is another thread with the Cruise News that Rotterdam is starting up in Fort Lauderdale on November  3 -  no mention of her TA.  Lots of changes going on.  (And the TA is not on the HAL listings any more, either, but that may just be temporary while they sort things out.)

I can’t find it but for some reason I thought the TA had been canceled long ago.

[KirkNC]

5 hours ago, VMax1700 said:

I saw that ok!  Not sure I would be happy with a 90 minute bus ride to the ship.  on the Italy board it is mentioned that the Silver Seas Silver Shadow will be docking  at a ferry port close to Marghera, but looking at the ferry port online, it seems unlikely that it would be possible to dock there.

Not what I would want to do after a long flight…

Probably take 2-3 hours more to go through the checkin process, get on a bus, wait for it to fill up, drive 90 minutes to another port, go through another abbreviated checkin and finally get on the ship.  I don’t fault either the City of Venice or even the cruise lines but hopefully this will be temporary.  No way am I going through this process.  I am thankful we had several overnights onboard over the years.  The hurdles to cruising these days are amazing.

[Riversedge]

1 hour ago, liamur14 said:

 😎  So should I cancel my stay at Olimpia hotel and book somewhere else? 

We’re not going to put the cart before the horse.  When we get info from HAL we’ll decide whether to keep our Olimpia hotel or not.  No sense canceling something only to have plans change again.  If by chance they process us in Venice we would stay there anyways.  

[kazu]

34 minutes ago, KirkNC said:

I can’t find it but for some reason I thought the TA had been canceled long ago.

 

The original inauguration TA was and the TA was moved to later.

Whether it goes or not is another question.

[liamur14]

23 minutes ago, Riversedge said:

We’re not going to put the cart before the horse.  When we get info from HAL we’ll decide whether to keep our Olimpia hotel or not.  No sense canceling something only to have plans change again.  If by chance they process us in Venice we would stay there anyways.  

Riversedge, Yes I  agree , I am not cancelling till I have a confirmation from Holland. I really want to stay at Olimpia, we have never been to Venice.

 

But.... I am nervous about this whole trip. 

 

Am I right in thinking this?? So we fly into Marco on the 11,  arrive there 1 pm , then transfer to Olimpia Hotel  and  In the morning (12 th)  we then transfer to the processing area (Venice* TBD) and they shuttle us to the ship where we get our antigen tests?  and after our negative results (fingers crossed) wait for our  boarding time....    Is this right?

 

Again thanks so  very, very much to this group you guys are THE BEST !  

[Riversedge]

1 minute ago, liamur14 said:

Riversedge, Yes I  agree , I am not cancelling till I have a confirmation from Holland. I really want to stay at Olimpia, we have never been to Venice.

 

But.... I am nervous about this whole trip. 

 

Am I right in thinking this?? So we fly into Marco on the 11,  arrive there 1 pm , then transfer to Olimpia Hotel  and  In the morning (12 th)  we then transfer to the processing area (Venice* TBD) and they shuttle us to the ship where we get our antigen tests?  and after our negative results (fingers crossed) wait for our  boarding time....    Is this right?

 

Again thanks so  very, very much to this group you guys are THE BEST !  

In a perfect world, yes.   I think if this were the case, all paperwork, testing etc would be done at the main terminal.   I doubt that the Eurodam will be allowed dockage at the main terminal so obviously HAL is working on something.  However, since we don’t know if Venice port is actually where things will happen we can’t count on anything.   Time will tell and nothing we can do now but wait and hope they let us know soon.   

[liamur14]

2 minutes ago, Riversedge said:

In a perfect world, yes.   I think if this were the case, all paperwork, testing etc would be done at the main terminal.   I doubt that the Eurodam will be allowed dockage at the main terminal so obviously HAL is working on something.  However, since we don’t know if Venice port is actually where things will happen we can’t count on anything.   Time will tell and nothing we can do now but wait and hope they let us know soon.   

Thanks Riversedge.

[KirkNC]

2 hours ago, kazu said:

 

The original inauguration TA was and the TA was moved to later.

Whether it goes or not is another question.

That must be what I am thinking about.  A shame as I am sure many looked forward to an inauguration cruise.

[nocl]

6 hours ago, KirkNC said:

Not what I would want to do after a long flight…

Probably take 2-3 hours more to go through the checkin process, get on a bus, wait for it to fill up, drive 90 minutes to another port, go through another abbreviated checkin and finally get on the ship.  I don’t fault either the City of Venice or even the cruise lines but hopefully this will be temporary.  No way am I going through this process.  I am thankful we had several overnights onboard over the years.  The hurdles to cruising these days are amazing.

Marghera is only about 20 minutes ride from the cruise terminal.  Actually closer to Venice than the airport. (about 13 km by the time you loop inland and then back out to the docks)

[KirkNC]

4 hours ago, nocl said:

Marghera is only about 20 minutes ride from the cruise terminal.  Actually closer to Venice than the airport. (about 13 km by the time you loop inland and then back out to the docks)

But apparently that’s not where MSC is docking.  Due to a lack of communication, we don’t know where HAL is docking but assume it’s the same as MSC, 90 minutes from Venice per MSC’s own words.

[rkacruiser]

On 8/19/2021 at 12:45 PM, Vict0riann said:

Remember when Civitavecchia didn't have a building, but we just went through huge tents to check in?  

 

Did you see me raise my hand?  Yet, it was a pleasantly memorable embarkation.  Staff lined the gangway to welcome us aboard.  

 

On 8/19/2021 at 6:15 PM, KirkNC said:

The hurdles to cruising these days are amazing.

 

That's why I won't be cruising or flying and, probably, not traveling far from where I live for more time in the future than I would have thought 2-3 months ago.  

[Hlitner]

On 8/20/2021 at 12:00 AM, liamur14 said:

 😎  So should I cancel my stay at Olimpia hotel and book somewhere else? 

Not necessarily.  It is very likely that all the cruise ships originally scheduled for Venice will provide some kind of bus, water, or train transfer from whatever replacement port is used to Venice.  When transferring to Venice they would likely drop folks at the cruise port or possibly Piazale Roma...both of which work fine for those staying at the Olimpia.  

 

Hank

[Charlies Aunt]

I think where we are going to dock is the least of our worries at this time.

 

The Powers That Be in Italy are due to review their regulations as to who can cross their borders without quarantine on the 30th August. This decision will be a major deciding factor as to where our cruises are heading or if indeed they are able to find their way out of this chaos at all.

 

The British already have to quarantine for 5 days and , from what I can gather, there is a fifty fifty chance that this will be extended due to our rising infection rates. Which puts me out of the running.

How this will effect those travelling from the US?

 

We will find out on the 30th 

[KirkNC]

3 hours ago, Charlies Aunt said:

I think where we are going to dock is the least of our worries at this time.

 

The Powers That Be in Italy are due to review their regulations as to who can cross their borders without quarantine on the 30th August. This decision will be a major deciding factor as to where our cruises are heading or if indeed they are able to find their way out of this chaos at all.

 

The British already have to quarantine for 5 days and , from what I can gather, there is a fifty fifty chance that this will be extended due to our rising infection rates. Which puts me out of the running.

How this will effect those travelling from the US?

 

We will find out on the 30th 

Another twist in the intrigue.

[bennybear]

On 8/19/2021 at 6:53 PM, KirkNC said:

That must be what I am thinking about.  A shame as I am sure many looked forward to an inauguration cruise.

The original was in May then moved to August, then October,  now?  We had never done one but gave up after the first two,  disappointing for sure!  

[rkacruiser]

OK. Venice "suits", whomever you may be, let's keep coming up with reasons why you want to discourage tourists from visiting your city and spending money.  This is a cruiser that has no further interest in another visit to Venice.  

[chengkp75]

1 hour ago, rkacruiser said:

OK. Venice "suits", whomever you may be, let's keep coming up with reasons why you want to discourage tourists from visiting your city and spending money.  This is a cruiser that has no further interest in another visit to Venice.  

As I've said before, tourism as a whole only accounts for 11-12% of Venice's GDP, and cruising only 20% of that.  So, while it is a significant portion of the tourism economy, it only supports about 2% of Venice's economy, and if stopping the ships from transiting the lagoon can save it, so much the better.

[suec12]

chengkp75 - I took a quick trip over to Wikipedia about the GDP of Venice - now are we talking Venice or Veneto? but if strictly Venice - I really question the above statement. Could you provide a link that verifies that tourism only accounts for 11- 12% of GDP of Venice?  What else? Just curious, thanks!

Edited August 22, 2021 by suec12

[chengkp75]

26 minutes ago, suec12 said:

chengkp75 - I took a quick trip over to Wikipedia about the GDP of Venice - now are we talking Venice or Veneto? but if strictly Venice - I really question the above statement. Could you provide a link that verifies that tourism only accounts for 11- 12% of GDP of Venice?  What else? Just curious, thanks!

It is from the World Travel & Tourism Council:

https://www.traveller.com.au/cities-most-reliant-on-tourists-for-their-economies-named-highest-percentage-of-gdp-from-tourism-h1717r

 

https://wttc.org/Portals/0/Documents/Reports/2019/City Travel and Tourism Impact Extended Report Dec 2019.pdf?ver=2021-02-25-201322-440

 

As noted in the first link, the municipality of Venice includes areas on the mainland, like Marghera.   Shipbuilding and commercial port operations account for a lot of their GDP.  Also, Marghera is the largest oil port in Italy, and there are biofuel refineries there (first in the world to convert from conventional to biofuel).  Construction, heavy industry, and manufacturing round out the sources of GDP.