Celebrity no longer using Venice Port?

[lasekeye]

Earlier this month I spoke with Customer Service about a shuttle to/from Venice - to/from Ravenna.

I was told to call again after mid-January.

[pauldole]

6 hours ago, yogini06 said:

I will begin pricing Venice to ship transfer after the new year.  I'd prefer not to take two trains and a shuttle bus.  I am hopeful private tour companies will also offer a shared shuttle.

FYI, I check this option out for a different X cruise.  Treviso Car Service.  Price from Venice Airport to Ravenna is 330€ by car or 400€ by minivan (8 seats).  As an aside we decided to fly into Bologna (we were in Venice 3 yrs ago). I have a quote for a car service from the hotel in Bologna to the cruise port and its more than half less

[yogini06]

18 hours ago, pauldole said:

FYI, I check this option out for a different X cruise.  Treviso Car Service.  Price from Venice Airport to Ravenna is 330€ by car or 400€ by minivan (8 seats).  As an aside we decided to fly into Bologna (we were in Venice 3 yrs ago). I have a quote for a car service from the hotel in Bologna to the cruise port and its more than half less

Not bad.  If I can find 6 other people to fill the van, It's the same price per person as the Celebrity Shuttle.

 

[lasekeye]

If you do end up using a private shuttle, please post back your outcome…we are sailing from Ravenna in September.

[JL87]

1 hour ago, yogini06 said:

Not bad.  If I can find 6 other people to fill the van, It's the same price per person as the Celebrity Shuttle.

 

What's the advantage of using a private shuttle vs a Celebrity shuttle if the price is the same? Maybe no contact tracing? It's not an excursion where flexibility would be a big advantage. Just curious.

[yogini06]

3 minutes ago, JL87 said:

What's the advantage of using a private shuttle vs a Celebrity shuttle if the price is the same? Maybe no contact tracing? It's not an excursion where flexibility would be a big advantage. Just curious.

We will be staying in Venice for 4 nights prior to the cruise.  To use the Celebrity shuttle we would have to return to the airport and wait for the bus to fill before leaving for Ravenna.  We have previously used private shuttles in Italy to get from Rome to Civitavecchia.  They are door to door and very comfortable.

[JL87]

1 minute ago, yogini06 said:

We will be staying in Venice for 4 nights prior to the cruise.  To use the Celebrity shuttle we would have to return to the airport and wait for the bus to fill before leaving for Ravenna.  We have previously used private shuttles in Italy to get from Rome to Civitavecchia.  They are door to door and very comfortable.

Makes perfect sense. I guess it depends on where the private shuttle picks you up. They certainly can't pick you up at your hotel in Venice unless it's a combined boat ride then shuttle ride. I guess that depends on where you are staying though. They could provide shuttle transport with a short walk instead of a boat.

[LGW59]

18 minutes ago, JL87 said:

What's the advantage of using a private shuttle vs a Celebrity shuttle if the price is the same? Maybe no contact tracing? It's not an excursion where flexibility would be a big advantage. Just curious.

The number of people 

[JL87]

Just now, LGW59 said:

The number of people 

Why does that matter for transportation from one place to another?

[LGW59]

1 minute ago, JL87 said:

Why does that matter for transportation from one place to another?

Because I hate large jam packed shuttle buses and never use them 

[JL87]

1 minute ago, LGW59 said:

Because I hate large jam packed shuttle buses and never use them 

How about a jam packed small van? You would have less chance of running into a person with Covid but a higher chance of transmission if one of the people is positive. The lack of contact tracing may be beneficial if that's a good thing. I totally get small groups on excursions and that along with private or self guided trips is pretty much all we do. It seems to me that transport from one place to another is mostly a commodity. If it's easier and more efficient to do a small van then I would do that.

[LGW59]

7 minutes ago, JL87 said:

How about a jam packed small van? You would have less chance of running into a person with Covid but a higher chance of transmission if one of the people is positive. The lack of contact tracing may be beneficial if that's a good thing. I totally get small groups on excursions and that along with private or self guided trips is pretty much all we do. It seems to me that transport from one place to another is mostly a commodity. If it's easier and more efficient to do a small van then I would do that.

The van I will be in won’t be jam packed, will have 6 max.  And it has nothing to do with Covid, we are triple vaccinated and wear masks when if/needed, zero problem doing that.  It has to do with our personal dislike for large tour and shuttle buses.  Also always, like you we also hire a private driver when doing tours.

[Stem to Stern]

On 12/21/2021 at 10:01 PM, pauldole said:

FYI, I check this option out for a different X cruise.  Treviso Car Service.  Price from Venice Airport to Ravenna is 330€ by car or 400€ by minivan (8 seats).  As an aside we decided to fly into Bologna (we were in Venice 3 yrs ago). I have a quote for a car service from the hotel in Bologna to the cruise port and its more than half less

Thank you for this recommendation.  We are a party of four flying into Venice for a four-night stay pre-cruise, but not flying out of Venice.  400 euros for a private minivan divided by the four of us does not sound too horrid.  I wonder where exactly they would collect us?  I see several parking areas near Santa Lucia station, but I have no idea where a private car service would meet us.  Fortunately, the lodging we have booked is in San Polo and not too terrible of a walk toward the train station.

[Summer1961]

This is all news to me. I haven’t heard a thing about this from our travel agent or Celebrity.  

 

I haven’t really been following the cruiseship news but you would think our travel agent would have reached out to us.  I just thought I should start looking at our options for our Sept 15, 2022 out of Venice and noticed the roll call talking about Ravenna.  This cruise has already been moved three times due to Covid and Venice was the main reason we selected it.

 

I will be contacting my travel agent immediately.

[terrydtx]

16 minutes ago, Summer1961 said:

This is all news to me. I haven’t heard a thing about this from our travel agent or Celebrity.  

 

I haven’t really been following the cruiseship news but you would think our travel agent would have reached out to us.  I just thought I should start looking at our options for our Sept 15, 2022 out of Venice and noticed the roll call talking about Ravenna.  This cruise has already been moved three times due to Covid and Venice was the main reason we selected it.

 

I will be contacting my travel agent immediately.

The cruise ship ban for docking in Venice Island has been in the news for well over a year. I believe you are on the Constellation leaving Sept 15th, if you look at the Celebrity website you will see the itinerary evens says Ravenna is the departure port. Our HAL Oosterdam cruise has been moved to RT from the Venice industrial port on the mainland which is not great either. No more Sailaway's through the Grand Canal but at least for now we have a cruise. 

[Summer1961]

48 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

The cruise ship ban for docking in Venice Island has been in the news for well over a year. I believe you are on the Constellation leaving Sept 15th, if you look at the Celebrity website you will see the itinerary evens says Ravenna is the departure port. Our HAL Oosterdam cruise has been moved to RT from the Venice industrial port on the mainland which is not great either. No more Sailaway's through the Grand Canal but at least for now we have a cruise. 

I am still surprised I haven’t heard anything from my travel agent.  I’ve really not been keeping up on cruise news obviously.  I need to get back on this and have contacted my TA.  

 

Yes, at least for now we have a cruise. We can dream.

[terrydtx]

30 minutes ago, Summer1961 said:

I am still surprised I haven’t heard anything from my travel agent.  I’ve really not been keeping up on cruise news obviously.  I need to get back on this and have contacted my TA.  

 

Yes, at least for now we have a cruise. We can dream.

You might want to check your original booking; these changes were made back in 2020 which may be why you were not notified. 

[Summer1961]

Thanks for the tip.  My invoice dated June 9, 2021 doesn’t show anything other than Venice and there is no mention of the alternate port.  

 

I checked the prior booking from 2020 and there’s  there either.

 

Like others, I am disappointed.  It’s obvious there’s a change but it would have been nice to be informed by my TA since it will affect our travel plans.

 

 

[sydbarrett]

On 12/21/2021 at 3:17 AM, RoamanRyan said:

Has Celebrity identified the price for transfer to Venice Marco Polo airport on disembarkation day? Can anyone advise? 

Yes it is $60 per person each way. Right now you have to call to book.

[WonderMan3]

On 2/5/2022 at 7:51 AM, terrydtx said:

The cruise ship ban for docking in Venice Island has been in the news for well over a year. I believe you are on the Constellation leaving Sept 15th, if you look at the Celebrity website you will see the itinerary evens says Ravenna is the departure port. Our HAL Oosterdam cruise has been moved to RT from the Venice industrial port on the mainland which is not great either. No more Sailaway's through the Grand Canal but at least for now we have a cruise. 

And at least you are actually still in Venice instead of two hours away. I feel bad for those who had hoped to enjoy an easy visit to see Venice, especially on those sailings that have an overnight. I’m just glad I got to experience a sailaway from Venice  along the Grand Canal years ago. It is truly one of the most magnificent sailaways anywhere.

 

My only concern now is that while there appear to be a number of interesting places to visit within easy touring distance of Varenna there do not seem to really be any tour operators offering excursions from Varenna. There are lots going to Varenna from other cities and towns but not the reverse. I know that Varenna has not really been much of a cruise port prior to this Venice change so hopefully this will spur on some companies to start adding some tours here. My cruises are over a year away so plenty of time to figure something out.

[lasekeye]

3 hours ago, WonderMan3 said:

And at least you are actually still in Venice instead of two hours away. I feel bad for those who had hoped to enjoy an easy visit to see Venice, especially on those sailings that have an overnight. I’m just glad I got to experience a sailaway from Venice  along the Grand Canal years ago. It is truly one of the most magnificent sailaways anywhere.

 

My only concern now is that while there appear to be a number of interesting places to visit within easy touring distance of Varenna there do not seem to really be any tour operators offering excursions from Varenna. There are lots going to Varenna from other cities and towns but not the reverse. I know that Varenna has not really been much of a cruise port prior to this Venice change so hopefully this will spur on some companies to start adding some tours here. My cruises are over a year away so plenty of time to figure something out.

You are commenting about excursions to/from VARENNA…..you do mean RAVENNA…right?

[LGW59]

54 minutes ago, lasekeye said:

You are commenting about excursions to/from VARENNA…..you do mean RAVENNA…right?

Ships in Lake Cuomo, guess they have a new port

[terrydtx]

14 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

Ships in Lake Cuomo, guess they have a new port

Are they going to sail up and down the Po River? I am ready to book it now. LOL

Edited February 6, 2022 by terrydtx

[LGW59]

2 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

Are they going to sail up and down the Po River? I am ready to book it now. LOL

for all 52 days!

[WonderMan3]

4 hours ago, lasekeye said:

You are commenting about excursions to/from VARENNA…..you do mean RAVENNA…right?

Typo obviously. 🙄🙄