Embarkation in Venice

[basor]

4 hours ago, welshfamily said:

Baby steps,

sorry can you explain a bit further. 
We use a UK TA who organises transfers to the ship. In Venice we usually use a hotel in Mestre as it’s by a large train station allowing us plenty of choice for the few days before the cruise. Transfer to the port usually takes about 15 mins max. Obviously this isn’t the case anymore. We are looking at the 14th of April ( amongst others ).
Are people going back to the airport and Oceania are organising transportation or do you have to have paid for a transfer to the ship ?

We really don’t like to fly in on the day. Too many things can go wrong especially now.
Debbyma has posted above that the 14th will depart from Trieste. Have you more information please?

We are in Education and have 14 days only at Easter. Now Italy are stopping Pre COVID tests for UK visitors from 1/3/2022 we are considering this cruise avidly.

Also has anyone stayed in Trieste? Is it worth finding a hotel there and exploring the area.

We departed Trieste on the Marina 09NOV 21 - we changed our stay from Venice to Trieste when we were notified of the change in embarkation port.  We kept our flight into the Venice airport and hired a private transfer from VCE to our hotel in Trieste.  We LOVED our stay in Trieste and spent 2 of our days on tours of Slovenia, Northern Croatia and the coast of Italy South of Trieste.  It was a 5 minute ride from our hotel to the port on the day of embarkation.

Edited February 26, 2022 by basor

[welshfamily]

Thanks. 
My TA is experienced in  cruise sales however freely admits they really don’t know which port Oceania are intending to sail from or to instead of Venice. We also have asked for a quote for the 18th of August which ends in Venice. Makes booking flights difficult. Lufthansa does fly into Trieste but TA would like to confirm Marina is def. sailing from here. He will ring me on Monday.

[debbyma]

The Oceania website now says the cruise is from Trieste to Rome.

[LHT28]

I think I read someplace here   that in the fall last year when the port was changed they were busing people from the airport or the train station in Venice  to Trieste 🤔

Maybe someone who was on one of those fall cruises will comment

 

I think the cruise lines have a lot of balls in the air at the moment

JMO

 

[su-arizona]

We just received notice that our 14-May itinerary will embark from Trieste.  I made independent air arrangements and we have booked a hotel for 3 days pre-cruise.  Our notice says that "complimentary transfers between your arrival airport and embarkation port will be provided", so DebbyMA's post is disappointing.  Until I hear otherwise, I am assuming that Oceania will provide me with transfers from the airport to Trieste on embarkation day - and that I am responsible for getting myself back to the airport at some designated time.  There are not nearly as many flights to Trieste as Venice, so I expect O will not reroute all their flights to Trieste.  

 

My TA and I will both follow up on this.   Not much point in asking this weekend...it will certainly take awhile for O to figure this out, especially as they are also rerouting all their Baltic and Black Sea itineraries.

 

If you are using O air, please post here what O has told you about your arrangements!

 

And BTW, I'm totally with JazzBeau on Ravenna.  I would have been thrilled with embarkation there, and the opportunity to see that city.  Trieste, not so much... If you've enjoyed Trieste, please enlighten me!   We've been to Venice many times (profile pic was taken near the San Basilio port departing on a Windstar cruise), but always enjoy it.

 

 

[su-arizona]

Oops, should have said our current hotel and flights are for Venice...

[welshfamily]

Thanks Debbyma

Yes For the 14th of April this afternoon Oceania website has started showing Trieste however the 18th of August  still shows Venice hence my TA wanting to check with Oceania before quoting for the cruises.

Going to do some research into Trieste and the surrounding area, husband has started wondering about Barcelona to Lisbon (12 days).

Plenty of choice around at the moment which is a nice problem to have.

[mauibabes]

All I can share is what transpired mid October on Riviera. Venice was swapped for Trieste but people stayed with their flights into Venice Marco Polo Airport. Oceania provided bus service from the airport to Trieste, about a 2 hour ride and everyone embarked there for that segment of our trip. Whether you have made your own reservations or using O air, IMO you will fly into Venice so you can book your own pre tour days to tour Venice and Verona and elsewhere. We found Trieste to be a very enjoyable city to tour, only wished there were additional tour options going into neighboring cities and nearby countries.  Don’t write it off as a “loser” swap. 
We also had a port call in Ravenna and enjoyed it. We made a 1.5 hour bust trip to Modena to see the Ferrari Museum and that was great.  We drove around Ravenna but I could not tell you what touring there would have been like. We did not see anything amazing in our bus ride going or returning. Modena is big for the Balsamic Vinegars we enjoy in Toscana. 
 

Ciao,

Mauibabes

 

 

[babysteps]

On 2/26/2022 at 5:00 PM, mauibabes said:

Venice was swapped for Trieste but people stayed with their flights into Venice Marco Polo Airport. Oceania provided bus service from the airport to Trieste, about a 2 hour ride and everyone embarked there for that segment of our trip.

This is also how November 2021 was handled. We did need to have your TA contact O to 'sign up for' the VCE-Trieste bus transfer, it was no extra cost even if O hadn't provided your air. Iirc starting in 2022 O's air includes airport transfers, not sure if that changes anything for bus transfer from VCE to new port arrangements.

 

O announced our port change in August 2021 and our TA wasn't able to make our transfer reservation until a few weeks before our cruise embarkation date. It was all a bit new and not-super-clear ahead of time - once we were on the bus and underway it worked out fine. As usual with travel these days, pack plenty of patience & flexibility 🙂 

 

Once the port change was announced we changed our flights to stay in Trieste before embarkation. Then our new air arrangements had a huge schedule change so we went back to staying in Venice before the cruise.

[babysteps]

On 2/26/2022 at 6:31 AM, welshfamily said:

Are people going back to the airport and Oceania are organising transportation or do you have to have paid for a transfer to the ship ?

In 2021 people went back to the Venice airport and took the Oceania-provided (no cost, did need to reserve a spot ahead of time) bus transport to Trieste. There wasn't really a clear announcement from O, we figured it out from CC and our TA.

[PhD-iva]

1 hour ago, babysteps said:

 

As usual with travel these days, pack plenty of patience & flexibility 🙂 

+1!

Edited February 28, 2022 by PhD-iva
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