Gem Aug 14 sailing skipping venice

[davencl]

Just received updated itinerary for Gem Aug 14 sailing. Skipping Venice which is OK by me as I'm spending 2 days in Venice before. Apologies in advance for the formatting if it doesn't fit screen....

Original Day Destination Arrive Depart   Mon VENICE (TRIESTE), ITALY   10:00 pm   Tue VENICE, ITALY 6:30 am 11:00 pm   Wed VENICE (RAVENNA), ITALY 6:30 am 6:00 pm   Thu DUBROVNIK, CROATIA 10:00 am 8:00 pm   Fri KOTOR, MONTENEGRO 6:30 am 4:30 pm   Sat CORFU, GREECE 6:30 am 3:00 pm   Sun SANTORINI ISLAND, GREECE 1:30 pm 10:00 pm   Mon PIRAEUS (ATHENS), GREECE 7:00 am 7:00 pm   Tue MYKONOS, GREECE 7:00 am 4:00 pm   Wed ZAKYNTHOS, GREECE 9:00 am 4:00 pm   Thu CATANIA, ITALY 8:00 am 3:30 pm   Fri NAPLES/POMPEII, ITALY 7:00 am 4:00 pm   Sat LIVORNO (FLORENCE/PISA), ITALY 8:30 am 8:30 pm   Sun CIVITAVECCHIA (ROME), ITALY 6:00 am

Revised Day Destination Arrive Depart   Mon VENICE (TRIESTE), ITALY   10:00 pm   Tue VENICE (RAVENNA), ITALY 6:30 am 11:00 pm   Wed SPLIT, CROATIA 10:30 am 9:00 pm   Thu DUBROVNIK, CROATIA 8:00 am 8:00 pm   Fri KOTOR, MONTENEGRO 6:30 am 4:30 pm   Sat CORFU, GREECE 6:30 am 3:00 pm   Sun SANTORINI ISLAND, GREECE 1:30 pm 10:00 pm   Mon PIRAEUS (ATHENS), GREECE 7:00 am 7:00 pm   Tue MYKONOS, GREECE 7:00 am 4:00 pm   Wed ZAKYNTHOS, GREECE 9:00 am 4:00 pm   Thu CATANIA, ITALY 8:00 am 3:30 pm   Fri NAPLES/POMPEII, ITALY 7:00 am 4:00 pm   Sat LIVORNO (FLORENCE/PISA), ITALY 8:30 am 8:30 pm   Sun CIVITAVECCHIA (ROME), ITALY 6:00 am

Edited June 28, 2023 by davencl

[omahabob]

Yep. This was posted elsewhere. Venice is restricting cruise ship visits, so the itineraries change to Ravenna, where you can get a bus to Vienna. That doesn't allow much time in Venice though. Some say it isn't worth it.

[AstoriaPreppy]

5 minutes ago, omahabob said:

Yep. This was posted elsewhere. Venice is restricting cruise ship visits, so the itineraries change to Ravenna, where you can get a bus to Vienna. That doesn't allow much time in Venice though. Some say it isn't worth it.

 

What NCL said they were doing was anchoring in the lagoon, then tendering people into Venice... not docking in Venice, where ships have been prohibited. They tested the tender into Venice once in 2022, then added it to the 2023 sailings... and then haven't attempted it once this season. 

 

As a passengers on the 14 August sailing, I'm just glad this got changed prior to boarding, instead of the typical NCL "oh, we had no idea that port we haven't been going to all season wasn't going to be on your itinerary" ridiculousness. 

[omahabob]

I haven't been to that cruise destination personally. I was only relating what other people who have had said in other threads here. As is typical with NCL, the information is not consistent, timely, or fully forthcoming.

[yakcruiser]

On 6/28/2023 at 11:28 AM, AstoriaPreppy said:

 

What NCL said they were doing was anchoring in the lagoon, then tendering people into Venice... not docking in Venice, where ships have been prohibited. They tested the tender into Venice once in 2022, then added it to the 2023 sailings... and then haven't attempted it once this season. 

 

As a passengers on the 14 August sailing, I'm just glad this got changed prior to boarding, instead of the typical NCL "oh, we had no idea that port we haven't been going to all season wasn't going to be on your itinerary" ridiculousness. 

Actually they did try it once. I was on a cruise on the Star in mid April that tendered.  It did not go so well.

[AstoriaPreppy]

17 minutes ago, yakcruiser said:

Actually they did try it once. I was on a cruise on the Star in mid April that tendered.  It did not go so well.

 
Can you share a bit more about your experience? Very curious to know what happened to get the line to back off the plan so dramatically. 

[yakcruiser]

2 hours ago, AstoriaPreppy said:

 
Can you share a bit more about your experience? Very curious to know what happened to get the line to back off the plan so dramatically. 

They only had three tenders provided by the port. It was a 90 minute tender to the old cruise port and you still had to make your way to town. Those of us that got off on the first wave at 6:30AM did okay but those that were scheduled for the second wave at 10:00AM didn't get off the Star until after noon. And then when we returned to the port we waited at least 90 minutes to get on a tender for another 90 minute ride. Most people only got 3 or 4 hours before having to return to ship. There were many unhappy people. I had been to Venice once before and had an idea of what to expect but for the majority of people who had never been to Venice before NCL provided no assistance of any kind. They just dropped them off at the cruise port and told them they were on their own. I believe NCL didn't think it was worth the hassle to tender. That's only my opinion.

[Ozmodiar]

Some additional info: For the April Star cruise, those on tours through NCL got last minute meeting time changes that were much earlier - just a day after the initial tickets were distributed. I believe they were redirected at the last minute from having the tenders dock at St Marks (as that was the original plan from 2022) to the cruise terminal, which added at least 30 minutes of transit time each way.

 

So instead of one tender maybe doing 3 round trips in say a 9 hour period to St Marks, it could only complete 2 round trips to the cruise terminal in that time. Meaning that in the future they'd need to hire additional tenders for what was probably already a very expensive process to provide what became a less-than-optimal experience for many. 

 

They have a lot more flexibility to get people to Venice from Ravenna or Trieste and can do so in almost the same amount of time (once you factor in loading the tender vs a bus, and the time needied to get from the cruise terminal to the transportation hub where the buses can go directly) with less cost and risk of weather issues and so on.

[AstoriaPreppy]

9 hours ago, yakcruiser said:

They only had three tenders provided by the port. It was a 90 minute tender to the old cruise port and you still had to make your way to town. Those of us that got off on the first wave at 6:30AM did okay but those that were scheduled for the second wave at 10:00AM didn't get off the Star until after noon. And then when we returned to the port we waited at least 90 minutes to get on a tender for another 90 minute ride. Most people only got 3 or 4 hours before having to return to ship. There were many unhappy people. I had been to Venice once before and had an idea of what to expect but for the majority of people who had never been to Venice before NCL provided no assistance of any kind. They just dropped them off at the cruise port and told them they were on their own. I believe NCL didn't think it was worth the hassle to tender. That's only my opinion.

 

3 hours ago, Ozmodiar said:

Some additional info: For the April Star cruise, those on tours through NCL got last minute meeting time changes that were much earlier - just a day after the initial tickets were distributed. I believe they were redirected at the last minute from having the tenders dock at St Marks (as that was the original plan from 2022) to the cruise terminal, which added at least 30 minutes of transit time each way.

 

So instead of one tender maybe doing 3 round trips in say a 9 hour period to St Marks, it could only complete 2 round trips to the cruise terminal in that time. Meaning that in the future they'd need to hire additional tenders for what was probably already a very expensive process to provide what became a less-than-optimal experience for many. 

 

They have a lot more flexibility to get people to Venice from Ravenna or Trieste and can do so in almost the same amount of time (once you factor in loading the tender vs a bus, and the time needied to get from the cruise terminal to the transportation hub where the buses can go directly) with less cost and risk of weather issues and so on.

 

Yikes and double yikes.

 

I was aware of the 90 minute tender, but not the change from St. Marks to the old cruise pier. I'm also aware that NCL isn't a line that typically does port guides for passengers not on excursions, so I can only imagine the confusion getting off and seeing the monorail instead of the Doge's Palace. 

 

I will say that NCL is actually handling this much better than expected (based on our past experience with the line). They've notified us of the change far in advance and are coordinating complimentary bus transfers from Ravena to the bus terminal in Venice. We're arriving in Venice a few nights before the cruise and won't be going back, but I assume a lot of passengers are going to take advantage of the shuttles.