Cruise Liners Banned, Still Ships Head To Venice

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  • Departing June 5, the sumptuous MSC Orchestra will take a week-long trip around the Adriatic and the Mediterranean, taking in Italy, Croatia and Greece.
  • Its journey will begin and end with one of the world’s most classic cruise experiences.
  • Gliding past the iconic center of Venice, Italy, as it passes St Mark’s Square and continues up the Giudecca Canal.
  • This might come as a surprise for those who heard the news, just 15 days ago, that the Italian government had ruled that cruise ships should be banned from the Venice lagoon.
A CNN travel news report by Julia Buckley highlights that cruise ships head back to Venice despite ban.  The site of the enormous ships looming over the floating city is set to be a thing of the past, if the government continues with its plans.

Tender process to review plans

But as a tender process to review plans for potential new ports outside the lagoon gears up, the temporary solution of docking at Marghera — within the lagoon, but on the Italian mainland — is not yet ready.
Which means that ships taking off this summer look set to dock in the city as they always have.

Two ships instead of five

The company will use Venice as a homeport for two ships this summer — a far cry from the five they had weekly in 2019, but two more than the most vociferous cruise critics were expecting.

The MSC Orchestra will be joined by the MSC Magnifica from June 20, embarking at Venice and going on to Bari, Athens, Mykonos and Split in Croatia.

Both local and regional authorities welcomed the news, and confirmed that until further notice, the ships will dock in the city port, as they have until now.

President of the Veneto region Luca Zaia heralded it as a “great sign of a new start.”

Speaking at a press conference, he added that the aim was to send them to the new docks at Marghera, “but in the meantime, we’re starting with two ships, and this allows us to think that the world hasn’t stopped.”

What the rivals plan

It is not yet clear what other cruise lines intend to do. Royal Caribbean had already announced it was moving its homeport to Ravenna, 90 minutes away, citing “increased concerns regarding the future of cruising in Venice.”

Costa and Holland America are both advertising cruises from Trieste, two hours away, as well as Venice.

Celebrity and Azamara are still advertising cruises from Venice. None replied to a request for confirmation from CNN.

However, the spokesperson for MSC told CNN that the cruise lines were in the hands of the authorities:

“Exactly from which terminal our ships will serve Venice (and how they will get there) now and over the longer term, will be determined by the local and national authorities and we will follow their instructions as we always have.”

“This of course applies also to the upcoming and shortened season and the much reduced number of MSC Cruises ships — two — that are scheduled to visit and embark guests from Venice.”

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Source: CNN