It is now official - the port of TRIESTE is the NEW "Venice port" for NCL

[phillygwm]

8 hours ago, CruiseMH said:

Trieste is not completely free of tourists,in summer there are also a lot of them but much less than in Venice or Dubrovnik.

 

TBH, Santorini was the worst, hands down.  3 or 4 cruise ships dropping people off so everything was mobbed and the line to get the cable car down to the ship was over an hour long.  I was so stressed I swore I'd stay on the ship if I ever went back.

[bluesea777]

2 hours ago, phillygwm said:

TBH, Santorini was the worst, hands down.  3 or 4 cruise ships dropping people off so everything was mobbed and the line to get the cable car down to the ship was over an hour long.  I was so stressed I swore I'd stay on the ship if I ever went back.

 

Sad but true. We were very fortunate to visit Santorini in Oct 2014 on the Jade and there was one other ship there. That ship was there morning to mid-afternoon and we were there early afternoon to late evening. We had a great visit there. Not anymore now - too many ships.

 

 

[milolii]

Thanks for the information.  Trieste sounds fascinating. 

[CruiseMH]

15 hours ago, phillygwm said:

TBH, Santorini was the worst, hands down.  3 or 4 cruise ships dropping people off so everything was mobbed and the line to get the cable car down to the ship was over an hour long.  I was so stressed I swore I'd stay on the ship if I ever went back.

OK,Santorini is also a mess in summer,thats right.

When we were there it was also very full(at least in the village of Thira).But on they way down we used the stairs cause the line for the cable car was extremely long.

You had to take care about the animals and when arriving at the bottom my knees were glowing.

[phillygwm]

38 minutes ago, CruiseMH said:

OK,Santorini is also a mess in summer,thats right.

When we were there it was also very full(at least in the village of Thira).But on they way down we used the stairs cause the line for the cable car was extremely long.

You had to take care about the animals and when arriving at the bottom my knees were glowing.

Yes, my niece and her friend hiked a dormant volcano, whilst uncle went solo on the winery tour and Thira.  They had no problems and were back on the ship with time to spare. 

 

The winery was picturesque (wine wasn't great) but Thira was absolutely mobbed and completely unenjoyable.  I thought about the steps but was concerned I'd get halfway down and have issues.  I probably would have been OK and, in retrospect, should have gone with that option. 

 

I remember being in line, on the phone with my niece, walking her through rescheduling our dinner reservations.  Now that I'm remembering it, the staff at Le Bistro were amazing and it was a memorable meal.  I'm one of those Type A people who get super stressed when late for anything.  I finally arrived at the table -- an hour after our scheduled reservation -- and they promptly got me liquored up.  Meanwhile, I was with a couple finicky eaters, in a French restaurant.  I told them they didn't need to eat if they didn't want; they could watch me for the next 90 minutes and hit the buffet after.  So, to the amazement of my sister, they actually tried stuff.  Turns out, I (mostly) expanded their horizons, with the exception of scallops!  The servers earned their tip that night 🤣

 

 

Edited January 15, 2022 by phillygwm

[RD64]

Correction - I thought Prima / Viva were being built at Monfalcone. Instead it is Marghera. Therefore sit on the left side of the train and look out the window after leaving Venezia / Mestre for a view of the shipyard.

[Tys Mom]

Does anyone know... for those of us in the US who are using NCL's airfare included promotion, will we be flown into Marco Polo or Triste?  We are cruising in September, plan to arrive 2 days early and would like to book our hotel stay.  TIA

[TrumpyNor]

8 hours ago, Tys Mom said:

Does anyone know... for those of us in the US who are using NCL's airfare included promotion, will we be flown into Marco Polo or Triste?  We are cruising in September, plan to arrive 2 days early and would like to book our hotel stay.  TIA

As Trieste has a smaller and more "domestic" airport, with not that many international arrivals (just a few exceptions like Ryanair from London and Lufthansa Cityline from Frankfurt). My bet is that you will be arriving at Marco Polo Airport just outside Venice.

[DCGuy64]

On 1/14/2022 at 3:00 AM, TrumpyNor said:

 

Thank you to all of you who have taken your time to write som descriptions about Trieste, it is highly appreciated!

 

I actually booked a night at the Savoia Excelsior purely because of its location, that it is a luxury hotel comes as an extra bonus. Only downside for us is that we booked our flight to Venice several months ago, at a very good price. With arriving at Venice airport at 4.00 PM, then getting luggage, transport to train station, and the train itself, it is very possible that we will not arrive in Trieste until 8.00 PM or even later... Even though I can cancel our current plane tickets without a penalty, the price to purchase new tickets (either for arriving in Venice two days before the cruise and then have more time to get to Trieste without stressing too much, or for flights to Trieste) are much higher than then what I have paid for our current tickets).

 

So allthough would be nice to explore a new Italian city instead of Venice, will arrive there after dark and the cruise is the next day. 

 

 

I think 4 hours from the Venice airport to Trieste is unlikely. I use this site all the time and it's showing less than 1 1/2 hours by bus and about 2 1/2 by train.

https://www.rome2rio.com/map/Venice-Airport-VCE/Trieste-(TRS)(45.82096,13.48533)

Besides, even if you didn't get to Trieste until 7, that's plenty of time to have a nice dinner. My wife and I ate at this amazing place called Al Barattolo https://albarattolo.it/. Since we hadn't been to Italy since 2018, having dinner there again last August was simply unforgettable. The moment I tasted a slice of pizza, I knew I was back in Italy. If the Excelsior is across from the cruise port, it should take you about 15 seconds to get there. Trieste is very walkable around that area. I just checked and the hotel is literally in front of the Molo dei Bersaglieri, which is the pier we used for our MSC cruise. Great location. I'd strongly recommend going for dinner and then strolling around afterwards just like the Italians do.

 

[mapleleaves]

1 hour ago, DCGuy64 said:

I think 4 hours from the Venice airport to Trieste is unlikely. I use this site all the time and it's showing less than 1 1/2 hours by bus and about 2 1/2 by train.

 

 

 

4 hrs is a very reasonable estimate ..... the OP had included time waiting for luggage, transportation to a Venice train station (probably Mestre), plus train travel which can be 2 - 3 hrs depending on which train they catch. 

If the flight arrives at 4pm, they would be lucky to be at Mestre depot by 5:30. 

 

 

 

 

[TrumpyNor]

2 hours ago, DCGuy64 said:

I think 4 hours from the Venice airport to Trieste is unlikely. I use this site all the time and it's showing less than 1 1/2 hours by bus and about 2 1/2 by train.

https://www.rome2rio.com/map/Venice-Airport-VCE/Trieste-(TRS)(45.82096,13.48533)

Besides, even if you didn't get to Trieste until 7, that's plenty of time to have a nice dinner. My wife and I ate at this amazing place called Al Barattolo https://albarattolo.it/. Since we hadn't been to Italy since 2018, having dinner there again last August was simply unforgettable. The moment I tasted a slice of pizza, I knew I was back in Italy. If the Excelsior is across from the cruise port, it should take you about 15 seconds to get there. Trieste is very walkable around that area. I just checked and the hotel is literally in front of the Molo dei Bersaglieri, which is the pier we used for our MSC cruise. Great location. I'd strongly recommend going for dinner and then strolling around afterwards just like the Italians do.

 

I think you may be misunderstanding me. I never expected it to take me 4 hours travel time to get to Trieste from Marco Polo airport. 😊

My "time calculations" are just loosely based on previous experiences when travelling in Italy numerous times in the past (things always takes longer than estimated when doing it «the Italian way» 😉 ) – and I am very familiar with the Rome2Rio website, as I use it myself all the time as well.

Our flight (if no delays) will "touch ground" at 16.00 (4.00 pm). Will then need to get our luggage, and as Marco Polo is a large airport often with many international flights arriving at the same time - I find it highly unlikely that we will have our luggage before 16.30 (4.30) at the earliest. For medical reasons that I don't want to get in to here, a public bus is not an alternative for us, so that leaves taxi and/or train or a private shuttle.

Transportation between Marco Polo airport and the Mestre station is about 20 min. drive depending on traffic, and between Marco Polo airport and Venice Santa Lucia station (Piazzale Roma) is also situated about 20 min from the airport. So lets say everything goes smoothly and we can be at a train station around 17.00 (5.00 PM). Compared to current timetables for that distance the train would then leave the station in direction Trieste some time between 17.30-18.00/5.30-6.00 PM, and then arrive at the train station in Trieste around 2 1/2 hours later. The distance from Trieste Centrale to our hotel is only about 1 mile, but I do not see us walking that distance with luggage after we have been travelling for more than 12 hours, so there will be another taxitrip – allthough a short one.

 

Will then be checking in to the hotel and THEN finally be ready to head out for dinner in a place we have never been to before, So probably not ready for dinner until 21.00/9.00 PM. 

 

So yes; I do prefer then to «spludge» on a private shuttle and then arrive at the hotel in Trieste if lucky sometime between 18.00-18.30&6.00/6.30 PM.

 

EDIT: Just wanted to add that until not that long ago I expected the transfertime from the airport to our hotel near Piazzale Roma in Venice with a regular taxi (as our hotel would be located just a couple of minutes walk from Piazzale Roma) to be just around 20 minutes, and then just 5 minutes taxi down to the cruise port the next morning ad we have done so many times in the pst. So yes, it is allowed to be a little "annoyed" about the cruise starting in Trieste instead of Venice (of course nobody's fault, but still annoying). 😊 But however, still smiling, will after all in all likelyness be on a cruise this summer!!! (or actually two - as we have a cruise on the Escape from Rome booked just three days after our first roundtrip cruise from Trieste.)

 

Edited January 18, 2022 by TrumpyNor
Additions.

[chengkp75]

On 1/13/2022 at 1:57 PM, SliderNc said:

There was some talk that they were going to build a new channel that would not go through the city center of Venice so that the larger ships could use the port in the future.  Just don't know the timeline on that or if/when it will happen.

Larger ships, from other lines, are using the port of Marghera, which is the industrial port of Venice, on the mainland.  The channel for this port enters the lagoon at the south end, and does not impact the fragile ecosystems of the lagoon, and is dredged deep enough already to allow large tankers and container ships in.  There is the old Vittorio Emmanuel channel that connects Marghera to the city of Venice, but that has been unused for decades, and would require dredging, which is one thing they don't want to do in the lagoon.  Nothing but small expedition type cruise ships will use Venice proper in the future.

[TrumpyNor]

3 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

Larger ships, from other lines, are using the port of Marghera, which is the industrial port of Venice, on the mainland.  The channel for this port enters the lagoon at the south end, and does not impact the fragile ecosystems of the lagoon, and is dredged deep enough already to allow large tankers and container ships in.  There is the old Vittorio Emmanuel channel that connects Marghera to the city of Venice, but that has been unused for decades, and would require dredging, which is one thing they don't want to do in the lagoon.  Nothing but small expedition type cruise ships will use Venice proper in the future.

Plus; I saw a documentary on TV about Venice a couple of year ago, where they actually stated that the majority of Port of Venice is considered a "private business" with private owners, and do not revenu much earnings for the city itself. Which also probably means that any changes done to the port would depend on high investments from the owners with not that much to gain by doing that...

[chengkp75]

What many folks don't understand, seeing the crowds in Venice, is that tourism as a whole (not just cruise ships), only accounts for about 14% of Venice's GDP.  Venice has a lot of land area on the mainland, where heavy industry contributes the vast majority of GDP.

 

Regardless of who owns the port of Venice, the large ships create havoc from hydraulic "canal effect", where you shove a large ship through a shallow, narrow channel, and the water displaced creates erosion, not only to the marshes of the lagoon, but also the underpinnings of the buildings in Venice.

[DCGuy64]

1 hour ago, mapleleaves said:

 

4 hrs is a very reasonable estimate ..... the OP had included time waiting for luggage, transportation to a Venice train station (probably Mestre), plus train travel which can be 2 - 3 hrs depending on which train they catch. 

If the flight arrives at 4pm, they would be lucky to be at Mestre depot by 5:30. 

 

 

 

 

The website I referenced was point to point, i.e. Venice airport to Trieste central station. If the website is in error, that's another issue, but it doesn't have to take 4 hours. That was my point.

1 hour ago, TrumpyNor said:

My "time calculations" are just loosely based on previous experiences when travelling in Italy numerous times in the past (things always takes longer than estimated when doing it «the Italian way» 😉 ) – and I am very familiar with the Rome2Rio website, as I use it myself all the time as well.

You may be right, but let me just point this out to you:

When my wife and I went to Italy last August, we flew into Milan Malpensa airport, which is a pretty big one. We needed to get from there to Trieste and had to first take a train from the airport to Milano Centrale and then another train to Trieste. Based on my experience in Italy, I assumed it would be a madhouse and that getting our luggage and going through passport control would take forever. I booked our train tickets online and allowed for about 1 1/2 hours to do all that. Do you know how much time it actually took? About 10 minutes. Our luggage was already waiting for us at the baggage claim and (I'm not making this up) it took about 60 seconds to do passport control. No lines, no fuss, nothing. I was almost in shock (this was my 26th time to Italy and I've NEVER gotten through that fast). We got there so early, I ended up having to switch out our train tickets and we left earlier than scheduled. So while I would agree that based on past experiences, you may encounter delays, right now is anything but normal. Obviously I cannot guarantee your arrival will be as carefree and expeditious as ours was, but I don't think it'll be 9 pm by the time you get to Trieste. At any rate, I hope you have a wonderful time over there. We certainly did!

[TrumpyNor]

9 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

The website I referenced was point to point, i.e. Venice airport to Trieste central station. If the website is in error, that's another issue, but it doesn't have to take 4 hours. That was my point.

You may be right, but let me just point this out to you:

When my wife and I went to Italy last August, we flew into Milan Malpensa airport, which is a pretty big one. We needed to get from there to Trieste and had to first take a train from the airport to Milano Centrale and then another train to Trieste. Based on my experience in Italy, I assumed it would be a madhouse and that getting our luggage and going through passport control would take forever. I booked our train tickets online and allowed for about 1 1/2 hours to do all that. Do you know how much time it actually took? About 10 minutes. Our luggage was already waiting for us at the baggage claim and (I'm not making this up) it took about 60 seconds to do passport control. No lines, no fuss, nothing. I was almost in shock (this was my 26th time to Italy and I've NEVER gotten through that fast). We got there so early, I ended up having to switch out our train tickets and we left earlier than scheduled. So while I would agree that based on past experiences, you may encounter delays, right now is anything but normal. Obviously I cannot guarantee your arrival will be as carefree and expeditious as ours was, but I don't think it'll be 9 pm by the time you get to Trieste. At any rate, I hope you have a wonderful time over there. We certainly did!

I give up - you are still missing my point or not reading what I actually wrote  (9 pm would be the time I was ready to eat my dinner, after arriving at the hotel, checking in, have a quick shower, finding a restaurant and walk over to it. ..).. I hereby rest my case as I do not wish to spend any more time explaining my reasons...

Have a nice day.

 

Edited January 18, 2022 by TrumpyNor

[sbsmutoni]

On 1/13/2022 at 11:56 AM, TrumpyNor said:

As we have a 7 days roundtrip cruise from Venice, Italy booked for July 2022, and no cruiseships except the very tiny ones are allowed in to Venice port since summer 2021,  I have been trying to do some research to find out the likely alternative ports we would be sailing from, and there were three different alternative options that were likely to be the replacement port:

• Port of Ravenna
• Port of Trieste
• Port of Monfalcone

 

Until today my research had retulted in absolutely no clear answers, just guesses everywhere - not even my PCC at NCL could find out anything a couple of weeks ago. But today I was just checking my online cruise summary as I am waiting for a Latitudes Diamond upgrade to be activated on our Venice-cruise, and then I noticed this:

 

 

So the city of Trieste, located in Italy’s extreme northeast  (kind of surrounded by the country of Slovenia), will be the starting point for all cruises offered to/from "Venice" by NCL. Instead of the cruise ship (and city) being as little as 14 km/9 miles) from Venice Marco Polo Airport, Port of Trieste is located about 152 km/95 miles from Venice Marco Polo Airport. That is some distance..... 

 

For those who may have no idea what I am talking about, here is some information:
https://europeforvisitors.com/venice/articles/venice-cruising-changes.htm

 

Personally my husband and I have been on several cruises to/from Venice in the past, and was looking forward to spending a night there pre-cruise. Well, I guess not - will instead plan on finding a hotel in Trieste for the night before the cruise, as I do NOT want to travel for several hours just to get to the port on embarkation day... 

If you do go out of Trieste, make the most of it.  We sailed out of that port in November on an Oceania cruise.  We flew in to Venice and because we had done Venice so many times before, we arranged for a pickup at the Venice airport to take us directly to Trieste.  We booked the Savoia Excelsior Hotel, which is literally right across the street from the cruise port.  The Savoia was a WONDERFUL hotel and I would highly recommend it!!

 

We spent 3 days in town.  It was a really nice little town to wonder around, have some nice meals, do a little shopping, etc.  And the day of our cruise was so stress free....we just checked out of our hotel and walked across the street to the port at boarding time.

 

Enjoy!!

[TrumpyNor]

1 minute ago, sbsmutoni said:

If you do go out of Trieste, make the most of it.  We sailed out of that port in November on an Oceania cruise.  We flew in to Venice and because we had done Venice so many times before, we arranged for a pickup at the Venice airport to take us directly to Trieste.  We booked the Savoia Excelsior Hotel, which is literally right across the street from the cruise port.  The Savoia was a WONDERFUL hotel and I would highly recommend it!!

 

We spent 3 days in town.  It was a really nice little town to wonder around, have some nice meals, do a little shopping, etc.  And the day of our cruise was so stress free....we just checked out of our hotel and walked across the street to the port at boarding time.

 

Enjoy!!

Thank you! We are actually already booked at the Savoia Excelsior hotel for the night before the cruise because others have recommended it here on CC. 🙂 At the time of booking the cruise, didn't know that it would be from Trieste and not from Venice - and since we had done many cruises out of Venice before, we booked a flight for arrival late afternoon the day before the cruise. I have checked regarding changing flights to arrive one day earlier (giving us two nights plus one full day in Trieste), but the price for a change would be very expensive compared to what I paid when I booked my flights almost one year in advance... 😊

[AmazedByCruising]

1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

What many folks don't understand, seeing the crowds in Venice, is that tourism as a whole (not just cruise ships), only accounts for about 14% of Venice's GDP.  Venice has a lot of land area on the mainland, where heavy industry contributes the vast majority of GDP.

 

True, but aren't the percentages different for people living in Venice itself instead of Veneto as a whole? Those are the ones who have the burden of the ships, and the income from tourism. Norway probably doesn't care much about cruise ships as they add a tiny bit to the GDP of Norway, but the population of Geiranger whose income is selling beer and trinkets instead of working in the oil industry would disagree.

[chengkp75]

4 minutes ago, AmazedByCruising said:

 

True, but aren't the percentages different for people living in Venice itself instead of Veneto as a whole? Those are the ones who have the burden of the ships, and the income from tourism. Norway probably doesn't care much about cruise ships as they add a tiny bit to the GDP of Norway, but the population of Geiranger whose income is selling beer and trinkets instead of working in the oil industry would disagree.

Actually, the population of Venice has been declining for decades, so most of the people, and many who work in the tourist industry in Venice proper, live elsewhere.  Of course, some people will be affected, change always does that, but what is more important, saving the environment, or changing the employment of a few thousand residents.

[TrumpyNor]

8 minutes ago, AmazedByCruising said:

 

True, but aren't the percentages different for people living in Venice itself instead of Veneto as a whole? Those are the ones who have the burden of the ships, and the income from tourism. Norway probably doesn't care much about cruise ships as they add a tiny bit to the GDP of Norway, but the population of Geiranger whose income is selling beer and trinkets instead of working in the oil industry would disagree.

Allthough this is a "sidetrack" from the original topic, but since you are mentioning cruise ships in Geiranger I feel I need to correct you as you are very wrong in your assumptions about Norway's standpoint in that case: Norway will actually be banning all diesel cruise ships from sailing in the Geiranger fjord and "other world heritage fjords" in just a few years.

https://www.dnv.com/expert-story/maritime-impact/Norway-challenges-the-cruise-industry-to-operate-emission-free.html

Edited January 18, 2022 by TrumpyNor

[AmazedByCruising]

24 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

Of course, some people will be affected, change always does that, but what is more important, saving the environment, or changing the employment of a few thousand residents.

 

It's not up to me to decide. If all decisions are made by having "what's best for the environment, ignore all other arguments", there wouldn't be any heavy industry in Veneto either.

[chengkp75]

5 minutes ago, AmazedByCruising said:

It's not up to me to decide.

You're right, its up to the residents of Venice, and they were the ones who called for the original ban.

[AmazedByCruising]

44 minutes ago, TrumpyNor said:

Allthough this is a "sidetrack" from the original topic, but since you are mentioning cruise ships in Geiranger I feel I need to correct you as you are very wrong in your assumptions about Norway's standpoint in that case: Norway will actually be banning all diesel cruise ships from sailing in the Geiranger fjord and "other world heritage fjords" in just a few years.

 

How am I wrong? I said Norway as a whole doesn't mind losing the business, but the few people in Geiranger do? Or are you saying that the population of Geiranger welcomes the ban just as much as Parliament?

[TrumpyNor]

6 minutes ago, AmazedByCruising said:

 

How am I wrong? I said Norway as a whole doesn't mind losing the business, but the few people in Geiranger do? Or are you saying that the population of Geiranger welcomes the ban just as much as Parliament?

Sorry, totally misread/misunderstood your post.