Venice 11/9/2021

[DLSHS_Mom]

8 hours ago, Earl Rosebery said:

Looks like Venice isn’t going to be much fun anymore. 2 hr bus ride to get there from port!

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/02/world/europe/italy-venice-tourism-cruise-ships.html?smid=url-share  

I am hoping that they can make some alternative excursions for the cruises that have multiple days in Venice.  I personally do not want to sit in a bus for 4 hours on an excursion.

[Jayne E]

Was booked on 26 day cruise disembarking Venice 10/16. Oceania put us on a flight departing Venice at 6 AM followed by a 6 hour layover in Paris.  If 1.5-2 hrs to airport, we’d have to leave ship before 2 AM!!  Worse, it’s our 15th cruise (1st time using O air) and they wanted to charge air deviation fee for changing this horrible flight. With so much uncertainty surrounding entire cruise, we cancelled. 🙁

[curmudgeon98]

1 hour ago, Jayne E said:

Was booked on 26 day cruise disembarking Venice 10/16. Oceania put us on a flight departing Venice at 6 AM followed by a 6 hour layover in Paris.  If 1.5-2 hrs to airport, we’d have to leave ship before 2 AM!!  Worse, it’s our 15th cruise (1st time using O air) and they wanted to charge air deviation fee for changing this horrible flight. With so much uncertainty surrounding entire cruise, we cancelled. 🙁

Flight routings to the US from Venice have always tended to be a bit tricky on timing, since you usually had to make a connection in one of the big European hub airports with a midday or afternoon flight to the US.  We've had some early morning departures from Venice that were a bit worrisome on timing (sometimes the water taxis to the airport get shut down by morning fog).  With sharply reduced intra-europe flight schedules, there just aren't as many options to make it to the US with good timing.  I was looking at London-Heathrow to Venice in August, and there was ONE flight per day (and some days none); normally I'd expect something like 10 or more flights per day on that route.

 

There definitely is a lot of uncertainty in trying to cruise this summer/fall.  Vacation is supposed to be fun and relaxing, not sweating various port and travel restrictions.  There's a lot to be said for doing things that don't require navigating multiple flight hops or dealing with multiple countries covid restrictions.    

[nikless]

We booked with O air, arriving 2 days early for our Marina TA that starts in Venice on 11/9.  Flying thru FRA, only 2 flights to VCE available, in the afternoon.  As long as O stays in the area (Ravenna, Monfalcone, Trieste), we are good to go.

We will find out shortly about which port they will use as the Marina makes a few trips into Venice before our cruise.

Then again, with the surge, who knows what will happen...

[mauibabes]

Nikless

Your flight planning is impeccable IMHO. 2 days keeps things flexible AND You have Oceania Air so they are fully responsible to get you to Venice and the ship.
There are times when booking our own flights is a good decision but during this tumultuous travel time with flight changes and Covid requirements and cancellations coming at us from every direction, we all have to remember, We are not in control of virtually any step in this process.  If flights to Europe were not challenging enough, the airlines drop and modify flight schedules at will. The great flight connection option today may not even exist tomorrow and then we are left scrambling again to get to our destination. 

Gerry

[ORV]

13 hours ago, Jayne E said:

Was booked on 26 day cruise disembarking Venice 10/16. Oceania put us on a flight departing Venice at 6 AM followed by a 6 hour layover in Paris.  If 1.5-2 hrs to airport, we’d have to leave ship before 2 AM!!  Worse, it’s our 15th cruise (1st time using O air) and they wanted to charge air deviation fee for changing this horrible flight. With so much uncertainty surrounding entire cruise, we cancelled. 🙁

Being your 15th cruise you should get free deviation. You should have your TA look into this. Actually they should know it. 

[LHT28]

6 minutes ago, ORV said:

Being your 15th cruise you should get free deviation. You should have your TA look into this. Actually they should know it. 

to add to ORV's comment

you should be able to choose the times/flights you want  & see if O  can get them

 

[Eloise4Ever]

On 8/2/2021 at 7:17 PM, Earl Rosebery said:

Looks like Venice isn’t going to be much fun anymore. 2 hr bus ride to get there from port!

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/02/world/europe/italy-venice-tourism-cruise-ships.html?smid=url-share  

 

Would someone be kind enough to tell me what port was substituted for Venice according to that article please? The article is behind a paywall so I'm unable to access it.

[TFree]

17 minutes ago, Eloise4Ever said:

 

Would someone be kind enough to tell me what port was substituted for Venice according to that article please? The article is behind a paywall so I'm unable to access it.

I managed to get into the article once.  It did not state anything about Oceania.  It mentioned one line and one ship, the MSC Orchestra.  And it mentioned that they are using the industrial port of Monfalcone, which they described as being 2 hours east of Venice.  So, unfortunately, it doesn't really help us in figuring out what Oceania will do about the Venice ban.

 

Tom & Judy

[Eloise4Ever]

4 minutes ago, TFree said:

I managed to get into the article once.  It did not state anything about Oceania.  It mentioned one line and one ship, the MSC Orchestra.  And it mentioned that they are using the industrial port of Monfalcone, which they described as being 2 hours east of Venice.  So, unfortunately, it doesn't really help us in figuring out what Oceania will do about the Venice ban.

 

Tom & Judy

 

Thank you! Monfalcone is a name that I haven't seen mentioned as an alternative to Venice in discussions to date. As you say, it doesn't give us any insight into Oceania's plans but we now have a fourth possibility to add to Marghera, Trieste and Ravenna!

[Jayne E]

4 hours ago, LHT28 said:

to add to ORV's comment

you should be able to choose the times/flights you want  & see if O  can get them

Not true. Oceania and TA state you must have “completed” 15th cruise on the date your air is booked for free air deviation amenity. All other gold amenities are applied on the 15th cruise….not this one.  

 

[BarbaraM]

Someone on our roll call mentioned Maghera port.

[ORV]

28 minutes ago, Jayne E said:

 

That's an interesting wrinkle and the first I have heard to that exception on the 15th. I looked it up and we did miles on our 15th so we didn't use it then. I was basing that on the policy of getting the rewards on the keystone, not the next one like most cruise lines. 

 

I did check my 10th and got grats on it. 

 

 

[LHT28]

Jayne

 I think your TA is confused

 Maybe other lines require you to complete the cruise

 Our 15th cruise  we  did not pay the deviation fee & I chose  the flights/times I wanted

 

Maybe your TA can check with their Oceania rep

Unless things  have changed  in the past 2 yrs  ?

[Jayne E]

1 hour ago, LHT28 said:

Jayne

 I think your TA is confused

 Maybe other lines require you to complete the cruise

 Our 15th cruise  we  did not pay the deviation fee & I chose  the flights/times I wanted

 

Maybe your TA can check with their Oceania rep

Unless things  have changed  in the past 2 yrs  ?

I was very insistent and TA spoke with air management several times.  They were adamant. Our TA is one of the largest booking agents of Oceania and not confused. Air reservation date was before 15th cruise (of course) and no free air deviation.  The date of air reservation must be after the 15th cruise. Needless to say, I found this very petty, as my SBC and Spa credits were already added to the cruise “before” sail date. All good, as we cancelled the cruise. I will say that O’s fares were better than booking airlines direct but scheduling any passenger for a 6:00 AM flight is “passenger abuse”!  😩

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, Jayne E said:

I was very insistent and TA spoke with air management several times.  They were adamant. Our TA is one of the largest booking agents of Oceania and not confused. Air reservation date was before 15th cruise (of course) and no free air deviation. 

That is very strange 

 

[ORV]

22 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

That is very strange 

 

I guess your TA just has more clout. 😃

[TFree]

We are on the October 16, 2021 sailing on Marina out of Venice.  I had a few extra minutes today, so I thought I would see if I could get any update on the Venice situation through the Oceania chat function.  Still really nothing to report, more than 3 weeks after the ban was announced.  Here are the key paragraphs from the chat representative:

 

We have not made any changes to our itineraries in regards to Venice. We continue to work closely with local and national maritime and port authorities in Italy. There are no changes to our published itineraries at this time. Should itineraries need to be amended, we will send out official notifications. In the absence of an official itinerary change notice, you can be confident that there are no changes at this time.

 

We are working closing with Port Authorities in Italy and as soon as we have come to an agreement or any decision made. We will let all of our guests and travel advisors know with ample time.

 

I will post this on the roll call for our sailing, as well.

 

Tom & Judy

[Kate-AHF]

49 minutes ago, TFree said:

We are on the October 16, 2021 sailing on Marina out of Venice.  I had a few extra minutes today, so I thought I would see if I could get any update on the Venice situation through the Oceania chat function.  Still really nothing to report, more than 3 weeks after the ban was announced.  Here are the key paragraphs from the chat representative:

 

We have not made any changes to our itineraries in regards to Venice. We continue to work closely with local and national maritime and port authorities in Italy. There are no changes to our published itineraries at this time. Should itineraries need to be amended, we will send out official notifications. In the absence of an official itinerary change notice, you can be confident that there are no changes at this time.

 

We are working closing with Port Authorities in Italy and as soon as we have come to an agreement or any decision made. We will let all of our guests and travel advisors know with ample time.

 

I will post this on the roll call for our sailing, as well.

 

Tom & Judy

 

I wonder that they consider to be "ample time"...

 

[ORV]

49 minutes ago, TFree said:

We are on the October 16, 2021 sailing on Marina out of Venice.  I had a few extra minutes today, so I thought I would see if I could get any update on the Venice situation through the Oceania chat function.  Still really nothing to report, more than 3 weeks after the ban was announced.  Here are the key paragraphs from the chat representative:

 

We have not made any changes to our itineraries in regards to Venice. We continue to work closely with local and national maritime and port authorities in Italy. There are no changes to our published itineraries at this time. Should itineraries need to be amended, we will send out official notifications. In the absence of an official itinerary change notice, you can be confident that there are no changes at this time.

 

We are working closing with Port Authorities in Italy and as soon as we have come to an agreement or any decision made. We will let all of our guests and travel advisors know with ample time.

 

I will post this on the roll call for our sailing, as well.

 

Tom & Judy

Well it should be interesting to see how this plays out. Hopefully in you guys favor, but I have a feeling things might not be what everyone is hoping for. 

[Kate-AHF]

3 minutes ago, ORV said:

Well it should be interesting to see how this plays out. Hopefully in you guys favor, but I have a feeling things might not be what everyone is hoping for. 

 

I just made it easy on ourselves.  I scrapped our Oct 2021 Regent cruise, VCE to IST because of travel restrictions leaving Istanbul.  As in, other than repatriation, you can't go anywhere else as a tourist in Europe.

 

So I just booked us on Marina from 11/2/2021 ROM - MIA.  We will keep our pre-cruise in Venice, take the high-speed train to Rome, spend the night, board Marina. Use Luggage Forward to the ship, so nothing on the train but small cases.  Now we just have to pray that we can mask-up and avoid a breakthrough infection while in Venice- and the weather is decent so we can eat outside as much as possible.  Our go-to hotel told us that we can get free antigen tests in front of the Venice train station every morning.

[Kate-AHF]

Also, meant to add that I think  Orv is right - we are very mentally prepared for things to go way-bad-wrong.  It's worth the risk to us right now.

[clairol]

6 minutes ago, Kate-AHF said:

because of travel restrictions leaving Istanbul.  As in, other than repatriation, you can't go anywhere else as a tourist in Europe.

Where are you seeing this? We are on a IST to VEN cruise in October and plan to fly back to IST at the end of the cruise. We have not heard of any restrictions or barriers to that plan.

[TFree]

29 minutes ago, ORV said:

Well it should be interesting to see how this plays out. Hopefully in you guys favor, but I have a feeling things might not be what everyone is hoping for. 

 

11 minutes ago, Kate-AHF said:

Also, meant to add that I think  Orv is right - we are very mentally prepared for things to go way-bad-wrong.  It's worth the risk to us right now.

Well, I think ORV is right, too.  Because we will be in Venice anyway at the end of a land tour, we are prepared to roll with most punches they might throw at us.  Take a water taxi to the ship?  OK.  Take a shuttle bus to a different port from Venice?  OK.  Change the port of origin to Trieste, or Ravenna, or wherever?  OK, and by the way, more notice is better than less notice.  I just hope that they don't cancel the cruise altogether, as that would be a really monkey wrench in the trip planning.

 

Tom & Judy

[LHT28]

Seriously

I cannot see Oceania  using  a port  2hrs ride from Venice   if that happens they will probably just drop Venice

The port at  Marghera  is  not that far from Venice proper  About 20 min

 

JMO