Venice Bans Cruise Ships From Entering City!!

*Just a quick update to my previous blog, and its GOOD NEWS!!!

The ban on cruise ships weighing over 96,000 tons in Venice has been pushed back! with plans to implement the policy from January 1st 2015.  Talks are ongoing, so fingers crossed for a good result!

The Venetian powers that be have declared that all cruise ships weighing in excess of 96,000 tonnes will no longer be able to enter the city via the Giudecca Canal. Venice Port, effective November 2014.  City officials say that—pending canal dredging—most ships will now transit the Contorta Sant’Angelo Canal.

Also the city is clamping down on the size of ships that can visit Venice, as well as the total number of vessels that call on it on a daily basis, capping the number of ships that can enter to just 5 per day.

This means that the majority of cruise ships which traditionally dock in Venice, will be denied access unless they can satisfy the strict tonnage criteria being enforced.

Why?

Well, this decision comes after years of debate regarding the effects of increasingly larger cruise ships entering the city and the incident last summer involving the Carnival Sunshine (owned by the same parent company as Costa Concordia).  She weighs 110,000 tonnes and allegedly passed within 20 metres of the shoreline, squeezing a Vaporetto Water Taxi and other boats between the ship and the bank.  Whoops!

This seems to have been the last straw, and caused a furious reaction from the Venetians, who argue that they are trying to protect the most vulnerable parts of the city. That is the wooden piles, which prop up the city underwater.  They are concerned that they will buckle under the weight of the larger, heavier ships, and will cause them to crumble like toothpicks!

In September last year, protesters jumped into the Canal to try and stop the Cruise Ships entering the city.

You can see why, when you compare the size of the cruise ships against the shoreline:

However, all is not lost, Venice will still be a big part of an Adriatic cruise!

A vast number of ships still plan to call on Venice in 2014 and 2015, including Ocean Princess from Princess Cruises; Preziosa, Fantasia, and Fascinosa from MSC; Royal Caribbean’s Splendour of the Seas;Norwegian Spirit; Costa Magica and Diadema; Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth; the new Viking Star; Regent Mariner; Silversea’s Silver Cloud, Silver Wind, and Silver Spirit; Azamara Journey; Crystal Serenity; and many others.

The Cruise Line affected want their passengers to know that Venice will remain a regular port of call. It may mean that cruise lines deploy their smaller ships for itineraries that include a stay in Venice.

I’m off to Venice in May on Ventura, and will definitely be taking a closer look at those foundations!

Written by Gina