Sort of sad having to drive 5 hours round trip from the ship from these other two ports. I guess the best alternative is to either arrive a few days before the cruise, or stay a few days after the cruise to see Venice.
It's a shame cruises can no longer call in Venice. I get the impression a lot of locals don't fully understand just how much money cruises bring into the local economy. I agree they needed to cap the number of people and promote other attractions in the region for excursions. Venice having the airport, cruise port and ample hotel rooms made it a convenient starting or ending point for a cruise.
Thank goodness! As an Italian this is great news. Three years ago I went to visit a Venetian friend for a week, one day TWO mega cruise ship docked together, I even managed to take a video from her balcony, it was like a SPACESHIP moving just gigantic. Well, that day the city was packed, I mean you could not walk. I’ve never experienced anything like that. Also in other days there were cruise ships coming and going. Terrible
A good question and a helpful answer. Worth considering if we would want to spend several hours doing a return trip to Venice from Trieste or Ravenna — It reminds me of the "stay in or near Warnemunde, or travel two hours plus to Berlin and back?" question posed recently. Would it be better to spend time in Ravenna or Trieste? Thank you, Gary
Yup. We are going out of Ravenna in 45 days on Celebrity. While the advertising said “Venice”, on closer look it was Ravenna. We are flying into Bologna. We opted for a few extra days after the cruise to travel up to Venice for the day. One benefit, staying in Ravenna and Bologna is a lot cheaper than the Venice area.
What they should do is drop anchor outside the lagoon and tender people into Venice. To speed things up they could then add a dock, possibly even out at sea, allowing direct transfer from the cruise ships to the Venice water busses. Surely arriving in a smaller boat like that is the right way to get into Venice.
What a blessing that the monstrous ships are finally banned from Venice. It should have happened decades ago. The damage the massive water movements have caused is incalculable.
It costs about €25 to take the frequent train from Ravenna tonVenice, 3 hours. Is that such a lot to prevent the ongoing destruction of Venice by enormous ships damaging the canal?
Oh, I didn’t know there were rules that meant SOME could still dock in Venice. I was SO sad when they took the ships out of the city – sailing down the Grand Canal was on my bucket list from my very early days of cruising!
On my Viking Venus cruise October 21, we docked at Fusima, a horrid smelly industrial estate on the other side of the lagoon. We were bused to the now redundant cruise terminal for passport control then bused into central Venice. It was quite a lengthy and tedious journey. However, on the return to ship journey, Viking arranged a fleet of small attractive water taxis to speed us back to the redundant cruise terminal (all very exciting). Not the fab experience it once was. The cruise companies should be totally transparent about this but I guess marketing have their own agendas. The trick is now to book a pre or post cruise hotel in order to experience the wonders of Venice.
Thank you for telling us. I will NOT be booking any cruises into or out of Venice. Hell, …if the port is 3-4 hours away from the city, you'd spend 6-8 hours roundtrip on a bus commuting between, … which would leave VERY, VERY LITTLE time to see and visit Venice. Simple not worth it.
Basically, it's Venice's way of saying, we do not welcome or want any visitors. I will gladly oblige their request.
You didn’t mention Fusina. I recently cruised with Silversea out of Fusina which is only a 20/25 drive from Venice. This meant we were able to spend a few days in Venice before hand. We were then checked in at the Venice port and taken to Fusina by the cruise line.
Not quite true. The port of Fusina on Venice mainland or Chioggia are being used. It is about 30-40 mins by bus from the Venice Cruise Port. The cruise port is where they were all docking and is still used to process passengers and then they are bused to either of the ports. Make sure you confirm with your Cruise operator the exact details of the port process. It is still a relatively new process but until a new processing building (if ever) is built, this is what we have to put up with.. and sorry but I do have to correct your pronunciation of the town Marghera (where the Fusina port is). You said “Mongetta”. Quite wrong .. the pronunciation is Mar – g – hair – are.
Would love to see a comparison of Ravenna vs. Trieste. We did a Regent Med back2back in Sep/Oct which ported in Trieste, and found it exceptionally interesting (very informative walking tour). I would like to hear your (or others) impressions of Ravenna . . . and a comparison for those who've been to both Trieste & Ravenna.
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Our viking cruise ship docked in Venice in 2015.
Good
Sort of sad having to drive 5 hours round trip from the ship from these other two ports. I guess the best alternative is to either arrive a few days before the cruise, or stay a few days after the cruise to see Venice.
It's a shame cruises can no longer call in Venice. I get the impression a lot of locals don't fully understand just how much money cruises bring into the local economy. I agree they needed to cap the number of people and promote other attractions in the region for excursions. Venice having the airport, cruise port and ample hotel rooms made it a convenient starting or ending point for a cruise.
Thank goodness! As an Italian this is great news. Three years ago I went to visit a Venetian friend for a week, one day TWO mega cruise ship docked together, I even managed to take a video from her balcony, it was like a SPACESHIP moving just gigantic. Well, that day the city was packed, I mean you could not walk. I’ve never experienced anything like that. Also in other days there were cruise ships coming and going. Terrible
Give Venice a miss. It's not worth it.
A good question and a helpful answer.
Worth considering if we would want to spend several hours doing a return trip to Venice from Trieste or Ravenna —
It reminds me of the "stay in or near Warnemunde, or travel two hours plus to Berlin and back?" question posed recently.
Would it be better to spend time in Ravenna or Trieste?
Thank you, Gary
Yup. We are going out of Ravenna in 45 days on Celebrity. While the advertising said “Venice”, on closer look it was Ravenna. We are flying into Bologna. We opted for a few extra days after the cruise to travel up to Venice for the day. One benefit, staying in Ravenna and Bologna is a lot cheaper than the Venice area.
What they should do is drop anchor outside the lagoon and tender people into Venice. To speed things up they could then add a dock, possibly even out at sea, allowing direct transfer from the cruise ships to the Venice water busses. Surely arriving in a smaller boat like that is the right way to get into Venice.
What a blessing that the monstrous ships are finally banned from Venice. It should have happened decades ago. The damage the massive water movements have caused is incalculable.
It costs about €25 to take the frequent train from Ravenna tonVenice, 3 hours. Is that such a lot to prevent the ongoing destruction of Venice by enormous ships damaging the canal?
Oh, I didn’t know there were rules that meant SOME could still dock in Venice. I was SO sad when they took the ships out of the city – sailing down the Grand Canal was on my bucket list from my very early days of cruising!
On my Viking Venus cruise October 21, we docked at Fusima, a horrid smelly industrial estate on the other side of the lagoon. We were bused to the now redundant cruise terminal for passport control then bused into central Venice. It was quite a lengthy and tedious journey. However, on the return to ship journey, Viking arranged a fleet of small attractive water taxis to speed us back to the redundant cruise terminal (all very exciting). Not the fab experience it once was. The cruise companies should be totally transparent about this but I guess marketing have their own agendas. The trick is now to book a pre or post cruise hotel in order to experience the wonders of Venice.
About time! 👍
We are sailing on Silversea~ Silver Moon and docking in Venice. She’s a small vessel, however.
Bye Venice. I’ll look at pictures
Thank you for telling us. I will NOT be booking any cruises into or out of Venice. Hell, …if the port is 3-4 hours away from the city, you'd spend 6-8 hours roundtrip on a bus commuting between, … which would leave VERY, VERY LITTLE time to see and visit Venice. Simple not worth it.
Basically, it's Venice's way of saying, we do not welcome or want any visitors. I will gladly oblige their request.
Good info! Thank you!
I got lucky to go cruise in there in a large ship…this was a decade ago….
Thank you 😊
You didn’t mention Fusina. I recently cruised with Silversea out of Fusina which is only a 20/25 drive from Venice. This meant we were able to spend a few days in Venice before hand. We were then checked in at the Venice port and taken to Fusina by the cruise line.
can anyone tell me please where does the msc lirica dock in venice??…thinking of cruising in June 2023 …but not sure
Not quite true. The port of Fusina on Venice mainland or Chioggia are being used. It is about 30-40 mins by bus from the Venice Cruise Port. The cruise port is where they were all docking and is still used to process passengers and then they are bused to either of the ports. Make sure you confirm with your Cruise operator the exact details of the port process. It is still a relatively new process but until a new processing building (if ever) is built, this is what we have to put up with.. and sorry but I do have to correct your pronunciation of the town Marghera (where the Fusina port is). You said “Mongetta”. Quite wrong .. the pronunciation is Mar – g – hair – are.
Would love to see a comparison of Ravenna vs. Trieste. We did a Regent Med back2back in Sep/Oct which ported in Trieste, and found it exceptionally interesting (very informative walking tour). I would like to hear your (or others) impressions of Ravenna . . . and a comparison for those who've been to both Trieste & Ravenna.
My Azamara cruise will be departing from Chioggia, closer than Ravenna or Trieste but I believe the shuttle will still take about an hour.