Explorer and Splendor Banned From Venice

[mrlevin]

Here is sea trade article:

 

https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/ports-destinations/larger-cruise-ships-banned-entering-venetian-lagoon-august-1

 

I assume they will use Trieste but who knows.

[Dwtlion]

I believe all Regent ships will be banned as they are over 25k gross tons. Same for all Oceania's ships.

[mrlevin]

Explorer and Splendor only Regent ships going in 2021; hopefully by 2022 Marghera is up and running.

[Kate-AHF]

I seriously can't believe they did this with two weeks notice - on a major turnaround port.  This isn't a situation of "Oops!  Bad weather prevents us from calling at Portofino!"

 

Trieste and Ravenna are both two hours away from VCE by train.  While this will not change our plans to spend 5 days in Venice prior to our Splendor cruise in October, (nothing is going to stop us from spending time in Venice again - it's half the reason we are going on this cruise)... there will  be a ton of people who will not care to make that journey.  If we hadn't planned  and budgeted for Luggage Forward to have our big case waiting for us - I would be dreading making the train trip.

 

The unintended consequences that are revealed will be interesting.  While I understand and support the concept behind both the overtourism issue and the environmental impact, and the switch to Marghera as the cruise port for Venice, I'm not convinced that the impact to Venetian hotels, restaurants, etc. won't be far more impactful than thought.  Those cruise ships that spewed 10k people per day into Venice were not just daytrippers.  Many of them  were turnaround customers that spent $ at pre- and post-cruise hotels and restaurants.  Those young people I see pouring out of the Venice train station with their backpacks, water bottles and snacks are not.

[JVNYC]

Congrats to the city of Venice!  This is good news and will help protect this amazing city for years to come.   

[flossie009]

Déjà vu

 

[GOARMY]

Yes--that was a magical early-morning April, 2017 sail-in aboard Explorer.  Coasting past St. Marks' Square at about 2 knots (no wake) at 0730H en route to Dock about 3 kilometers from city center.  Silence aboard ship and onshore.  Glad we had that experience--and video-taped same. 

 

GOARMY!

 

[ronrick1943]

When your on a vacation you want to experience everything you can—however it’s more important that Venice is protected.  A few hours non an train is no big deal……..

[SireDoime]

Hmmm, well having never been to Venice I could still fly there.

I do have a reservation for RSS Explorer for August 2022 (Venice to Istanbul).

I assume they will just embark from somewhere else close by, then?

[jjs217]

15 hours ago, SireDoime said:

Hmmm, well having never been to Venice I could still fly there.

I do have a reservation for RSS Explorer for August 2022 (Venice to Istanbul).

I assume they will just embark from somewhere else close by, then?

It's only 8 miles from the center of Venice or from the airport to the Port of Marghera (if that is the port they will be using).  Easy, peasy.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

23 minutes ago, jjs217 said:

It's only 8 miles from the center of Venice or from the airport to the Port of Marghera (if that is the port they will be using).  Easy, peasy.

I don't believe they're going to use Marghera until after building some new berths?

[Pcardad]

On 7/14/2021 at 12:04 PM, Kate-AHF said:

I seriously can't believe they did this with two weeks notice - on a major turnaround port.  This isn't a situation of "Oops!  Bad weather prevents us from calling at Portofino!"

 

Trieste and Ravenna are both two hours away from VCE by train.  While this will not change our plans to spend 5 days in Venice prior to our Splendor cruise in October, (nothing is going to stop us from spending time in Venice again - it's half the reason we are going on this cruise)... there will  be a ton of people who will not care to make that journey.  If we hadn't planned  and budgeted for Luggage Forward to have our big case waiting for us - I would be dreading making the train trip.

 

The unintended consequences that are revealed will be interesting.  While I understand and support the concept behind both the overtourism issue and the environmental impact, and the switch to Marghera as the cruise port for Venice, I'm not convinced that the impact to Venetian hotels, restaurants, etc. won't be far more impactful than thought.  Those cruise ships that spewed 10k people per day into Venice were not just daytrippers.  Many of them  were turnaround customers that spent $ at pre- and post-cruise hotels and restaurants.  Those young people I see pouring out of the Venice train station with their backpacks, water bottles and snacks are not.

FYI - Don't assume a backpacker is broke or that a young person is either. I have backpacked all over the place and, at the same time, accrued 500 nights on Regent, 200 on HA, etc. I have a 26 year old client who made $400 million in Bitcoin over the past 5 years by churning out microtransactions...Don't judge a book by its cover.

[LynnRuns]

This is a bummer. My son's graduation trip next summer and he will be very disappointed! we planned a few days in Venice before boarding and extra travel to a port that far away is likely not the in the cards for my in-laws. We may need a new plan.

[LvnCruisin]

Will be curious to see what things will be like by next April when we sail. We chose the trip we are taking by being able to go back to Venice "one more time", ok my husband wants to go to Harrys Bar again, I want to go to Amalfi again! lol A two hour train trip won't change things, but will make us more inclined to stick with Regent travel instead of doing our own thing like we usually do. 

[Gpilon]

We have a hold on an Explorer cruise next April, Rome to Venice with the last 2 days spent there. We love the city (and yes, Harry's) and would love to go back, but with this uncertainty we may not commit to the cruise now. Our last cruise out of Venice on  Silversea was a few years ago and I can certainly understand the thinking of Venetians to want to ban large ships from the waterways so close by. 

[Dwtlion]

I wonder how long it will take NCLH to revise ports or terminals for the cruises with Venice on their

itineraries? Courtesy of VTG, here are the first ships next year with Venice stops:

Regent Explorer-April 10

Oceania Marina- March 19

Norwegian Star-April 3

Air arrangements will become an issue in another 30-60 days.

[spindrift]

My daughter and I are booked on the October 18 cruise Venice to Istanbul.  I wonder if the ships will be sailing in and out of Venice then

[mrlevin]

2 minutes ago, spindrift said:

My daughter and I are booked on the October 18 cruise Venice to Istanbul.  I wonder if the ships will be sailing in and out of Venice then

Regent hasn't contacted you yet?!?!

[spindrift]

My daughter and I are booked on the October 18 cruise Venice to Istanbul.  I wonder if the ships will be sailing in and out of Venice then

Mmmmm. No???  

 

[spindrift]

Mmmmm. No???  

[spindrift]

So what are you hearing mrlevin?

[mrlevin]

I am not on one of the cruises so I have heard nothing.  I just checked port schedules for Venice, Trieste, and Ravenna and none of the October cruise visits have been updated.  That is not surprising if Regent, and the others, plan on embarking guests in Venice by putting them on busses to Trieste or Ravenna (and doing the reverse for debarkation).  However, the actual port schedules should show where the ship physically is to be located; so far, I don't show the ships to be in Trieste or Ravenna.  

 

I guess if Regent is planning on picking up the passengers and bussing them to the ship maybe they feel that they don't have to tell anyone in advance.  Regardless, I would think passengers (and their TAs) would be first to know.

 

Marc

[spindrift]

Well, we’ll just have to roll with the punches. Checking port schedules is a great idea. Anyway, thanks for your input. 

 

[Gpilon]

Had 2 April 2022 Explorer cruises on hold, Rome to Venice then Venice to Barcelona. With so much uncertainty about Venice, and not wanting to add flight times if other ports are designated in lieu of, we pulled both holds. Cruising will continue to be somewhat disrupted for a while yet, in my opinion, so we don't want any other possible issues interfering with what should be great holidays.

[spindrift]

Got my air into Venice yesterday. That is encouraging.