Venice 11/9/2021

[cruisingxpert]

Goodbye Venice.  It was magical leaving there on Riviera.

Edited July 14, 2021 by cruisingxpert

[Dwtlion]

3 hours ago, Jayne E said:

This is from my TA regarding Amsterdam-Venice cruise 9/20/21:

”I double checked with Oceania regarding the port in Venice. They have never been scheduled to dock at the Lagoon port in front of St. Mark's Square so the ban at this time does not effect them.  The ship is going to dock in Venice as it always has just on the outskirts of Venice at StazioneMarittima - Pier 1 - Port of Venice.  The agent that I work with at Oceania
forwarded me a map of the port showing the port location.  I'll forward that to you to follow this email.

Wrong. 

[Hanoverian]

Take a look at this article.  Malfalcone and Trieste appear to be ready for cruise ships.

 

https://adriaports.anawim.it/en/cruises/monfalcone-a-cruise-ship-docked-for-the-first-time-two-other-white-ships-are-moored-in-trieste/

[Host Jazzbeau]

2 hours ago, avalong said:

Someone on the Windstar forum pointed out that although the Windsurf makes it tonnage-wise, it exceeds the length requirement, depending where you measure it: if you measure at the water line, she makes it. If you measure from the longest points, including the bowsprit, she doesn't.

I read somewhere that the length measurement is at the water line.

[avalong]

3 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

I read somewhere that the length measurement is at the water line.

I hope you're right!

[jgd3rdbcfd]

Just talked to OC.  Rep as not aware of this situation.  She spoke to a supervisor who advised that paxs will be advised via email of any change.  Keep an eye on your email.

[Eloise4Ever]

My TA spoke to Oceania and said they may consider tendering in Venice! This seems unlikely to me so would be interested to hear what others think .

[curmudgeon98]

23 minutes ago, Eloise4Ever said:

My TA spoke to Oceania and said they may consider tendering in Venice! This seems unlikely to me so would be interested to hear what others think .

Tying up (or anchoring) in Marghera and running tenders to Venice might be a viable solution.  While the channel between Marghera and Venice isn't dredge for ships, it may be usable for tenders.  Tenders could go to the cruise port (with the people mover), or even further down the Guidecca towards St Marks.  It would be longer run than the typical tender port, but might still be viable.  

[JeffElizabeth]

Our March 2022 cruise from Miami is supposed to end in Venice with an overnight.  Wonder what changes they will make? Finish up in Trieste instead? Or dock there and take a bus or train to Venice. If we still go there, maybe we will add a few extra days. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

Could a cruise ship anchor outside the lagoon and use tenders to move passengers through the normal channel to San Basilio or San Zaccaria?

[jgd3rdbcfd]

Tender is a possibility, BUT how do you move all of the luggage?

[Host Jazzbeau]

2 minutes ago, jgd3rdbcfd said:

Tender is a possibility, BUT how do you move all of the luggage?

I was thinking for port calls, not turnarounds.  Turnarounds require provisioning as well as luggage handling.

[Hlitner]

14 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Could a cruise ship anchor outside the lagoon and use tenders to move passengers through the normal channel to San Basilio or San Zaccaria?

A good question and perhaps some of our active professional mariners will chime-in on the question.  But my thinking is that cruise ships would need to use an anchorage that is too far for any kind of reasonable tender operation.  Larger shore-based tenders might be an option but that will be for the Italians to think about and the Italian can take many years to think through such issues.

 

Hank

[Hlitner]

I want to follow up on this Venice issue having giving it further thought and reading through some of the latest Italian proposals.  The Government is certainly pushing the idea of using Porto Marghera as an option although this port would need some major modifications to serve as  a practical cruise port.  But assuming that some new and longer piers were constructed at Porto Marghera (the government talks about 5 new piers) then it does become an option.  The port is located on the mainland about 3 miles from Venice (somewhat closer to the current cruise ship port) which would be within a long tender run.  So yes, ships could dock at Porto Marghera and use boats (preferably larger port based tenders) to get across the lagoon to Venice or perhaps to the Maritima port from where they can use the People Mover into Venice.  Is this an ideal solution?  No.  But it is certainly possible.  Can Porto Marghera be ready for multiple ships by 2022?  In a perfect world it would be possible but in Italy it will be a real challenge.  Not only would they need some major port construction (done in a hurry) but would likely need to dredge a wider/deeper ship channel.

 

Hank

[jgd3rdbcfd]

Just a thought.  What if Covid spread continues and Italy 'closes' the country or make for mandatory masks; what happens to our cruise since we have 5 stops in Italy?

[susiesan]

3 minutes ago, jgd3rdbcfd said:

Just a thought.  What if Covid spread continues and Italy 'closes' the country or make for mandatory masks; what happens to our cruise since we have 5 stops in Italy?

Then your cruise will be canceled along with hundreds of other European cruises.

[basor]

56 minutes ago, susiesan said:

Then your cruise will be canceled along with hundreds of other European cruises.

Or the itinerary will change and we will go to Greece.....not a big deal and there are very few cruises in the Mediterrean this Fall

[Harters]

12 hours ago, jgd3rdbcfd said:

What if Covid spread continues and Italy 'closes' the country or make for mandatory masks; what happens to our cruise since we have 5 stops in Italy?

I agree that cancellation would seem to be the most likely option.

 

But how things will develop over the coming weeks and months is anyone's guess. Different European countries will take different actions. In recent days, the Netherlands has reimposed restrictions, France has tightened them. Yet today, here in the UK with rocketing infection rates, our government has removed all legal restrictions, like mask wearing, social distancing, etc. You might call that reckless and I would not disagree with you.

[SEASwim]

Does it seem a little strange to anyone else that it's been a week since the Venice announcement and Oceania hasn't even issued a cursory statement about it (at least as far as I've seen)?

 

P.S. This is my first post here. Excited to cruise this fall and hoping Oceania can find a solution!

[clairol]

14 minutes ago, SEASwim said:

Does it seem a little strange to anyone else that it's been a week since the Venice announcement and Oceania hasn't even issued a cursory statement about it (at least as far as I've seen)?

 

P.S. This is my first post here. Excited to cruise this fall and hoping Oceania can find a solution!

First of all, welcome! We are excited to cruise this fall as well and are supposed to end our trip in Venice in October. So, like you, we are very anxious to hear something - anything!

 

We checked in with our TA and he didn't have any insight either. Hopefully we will hear something soon... I am trying to figure out flights and if Venice will be scratched completely that will, obviously, impact our plans.

 

I am sure Oceania is "on it" and the radio silence is because they are trying to offer up a concrete solution... but that doesn't help my insatiable (and possibly unrealistic in this uncertain world) need to know! 🧐

[basor]

27 minutes ago, clairol said:

First of all, welcome! We are excited to cruise this fall as well and are supposed to end our trip in Venice in October. So, like you, we are very anxious to hear something - anything!

 

We checked in with our TA and he didn't have any insight either. Hopefully we will hear something soon... I am trying to figure out flights and if Venice will be scratched completely that will, obviously, impact our plans.

 

I am sure Oceania is "on it" and the radio silence is because they are trying to offer up a concrete solution... but that doesn't help my insatiable (and possibly unrealistic in this uncertain world) need to know! 🧐

Luckily there are several very viable options that are close to the Venice airport so for all of us with tickets to fly into Venice, can still transfer to the new port easily.....the most mentioned port is Trieste which is only a few hours East of the Venice airport.   It is an already established deep water port and a beautiful city - Trieste - Wikipedia

[SEASwim]

1 hour ago, basor said:

Luckily there are several very viable options that are close to the Venice airport so for all of us with tickets to fly into Venice, can still transfer to the new port easily.....the most mentioned port is Trieste which is only a few hours East of the Venice airport.   It is an already established deep water port and a beautiful city - Trieste - Wikipedia

Yes, an alternate port seems like the most likely option. I'm sure Marghera won't be ready. Everyone should remember it's not just passengers and luggage that needs to be loaded onto the ship and that port is setup to handle a very different kind of vessel right now.

[curmudgeon98]

6 hours ago, SEASwim said:

Yes, an alternate port seems like the most likely option. I'm sure Marghera won't be ready. Everyone should remember it's not just passengers and luggage that needs to be loaded onto the ship and that port is setup to handle a very different kind of vessel right now.

Marghera certainly can handle the ships; after all they build large cruise ships there.  It's probably a 2-3 mile tender trip to the Venice cruise port from there, or a somewhat longer bus trip. 

 

The ferry port at Fusina on the south end of Marghera (for the big ferries) could handle most cruise ships and would be the obvious choice, but it may be pretty busy with the Adriatic ferries. 

 

Certainly the heavy industry docks (coal, grain, oil etc) wouldn't work, but there are a few other more usable docks that at least have plenty of open space to set up big tents or such.

 

The main challenge is for the large block of cruises that currently start/end in Venice.  You need check-in and customs facilities with power, network, shelter, restrooms, baggage collection/return to handle large numbers of people, as well as the means to get those people to/from their travel connections.  The most obvious answer is to use the current Venice port buildings, and then shuttle the passengers by bus or tender and carry the luggage around by truck.  For the limited number of ships this fall,  that would probably work.  

[lj77346]

For those who are interested, MSC has two weekly cruises from Venice on the Orchestra and Magnifica - here is their approach for handling the cruises.

 

Passengers will check in for their cruise in the Venice cruise terminal. Then, they will be transported by bus to Monfalcone, Italy (looks like about a 90 minute ride) where they board the ship. There are no facilities to check in passengers in Monfalcone. At the end of the cruise, passengers have a choice of being taken to the Venice airport, the train station in Venice or back to the cruise port.

 

Oceania has a bit of time to figure out an approach, but regardless of what is chosen, the logistics are complicated. However, passengers on Oceania cruises from Venice probably would be interested in knowing the plans for their cruises as promptly as possible. I guess that’s part of the reason for changing the final payment date for those cruises, so passengers don’t make a final payment for a cruise that could be much different than they expected.

[Hlitner]

On 7/14/2021 at 12:53 PM, Jayne E said:

This is from my TA regarding Amsterdam-Venice cruise 9/20/21:

”I double checked with Oceania regarding the port in Venice. They have never been scheduled to dock at the Lagoon port in front of St. Mark's Square so the ban at this time does not effect them.  The ship is going to dock in Venice as it always has just on the outskirts of Venice at StazioneMarittima - Pier 1 - Port of Venice.  The agent that I work with at Oceania
forwarded me a map of the port showing the port location.  I'll forward that to you to follow this email.

Sorry to say but they gave you completely incorrect information.  The Stazione Marittima is the name of the main cruise port of Venice and it can only be accessed via the Giudecca Canal channel which passes right in front of St Marks Square.  The cruise ship ban is all about keeping cruise ships out of the Giudecca Canal Channel which now makes the Stazione Marritima useless except for some small vessels.   We have been there so  many times over a few decades that we do not need a map :).  in fact we could draw a map as could many others.    The person you talked to at "O" was probably thinking of a secondary docking location which is right along the Giudecca Canal even closer to St Marks Square then the main port.  And yes, it is true that even that docking location would be part of the ban since it can only be accessed by the Giudecca Canal channel.   

 

As least for the near future the nearest place that could possibly be used by cruise ships is the Port of Marghera which is on the mainland not to far from the causeway that connects the mainland to Venice.  Cruising into Marghera would not gives folks the fantastic views of Venice that many of us enjoyed when cruising via the Giudecca.

 

Hank