Awful cruise ships in Venice
 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...s-cruise-ships

Good luck to them. About time.

Now, if we could just get Cafe Florian to start charging what that coffee is actually WORTH.

Dubrovnik has limited the number of ships allowed to visit. Venice needs to do the same.

I'm surprised there are not more comments on this. Is it that Americans (who are the majority on this forum) don't really care? Or maybe they are the ones on the cruise ships?

I care! Venice was the one place that I have visited that made my heart pound.....I am in love with a city! I like the idea that HappyTrvlr has. In regards to the Cafe Florian, the chance to sit there in the evening and watch my sweet mother dance with my husband (after all the cruise ship crowds were gone) was just magical and I did not mind the charge when weighed against the experience. In fact, we returned the next night for more of the same. I do think that spending 3 nights of our trip to Italy in Venice was the right move for our party of travelers even though I would have stayed there the entire time. There is definitely a different vibe at night and early morning. Magical. Just magical.

Yes, that MUST be it, only us Americans cruise into Venice, and don't really care. gertie3751, your claws are showing.

I care. I have never been to Venice and am unlikely to ever go but I do think it is time something was done, not only in Venice but in many other places too, such as the Masaai Mara, to stop tourism destroying the very thing they want to see.
The sheer number of visitors is destroying special places.
Barcelona is overrun and a miserable place for it's permanent residents.
I am glad Venetians are protesting. I hope the value of the city as a whole wins over the quick buck.

I care. I hate giant cruise ships and don't want to see them. Just got back from Venice, and there were more than ever.

I will try to ignore the American comment.

We plan our trips to coastal areas with cruise ship avoidance in mind. Those huge ships and the passengers they drop off ruin it for many others, both locals and visitors.

I am an American, have never been on a cruise, and don't intend to. There are many travelers who do not want to be herded on and off ships, who care about the environmental impact of our actions, and who would rather explore a city with respect for its history, landscape and people.

Love Venice and think cruise ships should be prohibited from the Lagoon.

@Gertie, I am a Floridian who has seen the damage cruise ships do to the reefs, water and ports. Key West is fighting the industry right now. I hate the days the ships are all in. We joke that if they all flush a toilet at the same time we will sink. They do have to be out of port by sunset so not to ruin the view from the square. Yes they eat and drink and buy things but the ships bellow all that smoke and pollution out of the stacks and I know the water is suffering from them along with the sealife

http://thebluepaper.com/article/gree...redging-facts/

This is what is facing Key West right now. Same for Venice and other beautiful ports.

I don't like the cruise ships either, but they bring lots of money into Venice.

In the past, Venetian sailors went out into the world to trade and bring back commodities to the city. Now, tourists come to Venice with money.

Venice wouldn't have an economy without tourism.

There are very few people living in Venice. Most Venetians have moved to the mainland.

I have been to Venice many times. My late sister lived in Venice and her son keeps her old apartment there.


Thin

>>I'm surprised there are not more comments on this. Is it that Americans (who are the majority on this forum) don't really care? Or maybe they are the ones on the cruise ships?<<

First of all it was a post that doesn't really require response. You just posted a link a news article. What is there to say? It is what it is.

and second - that was a really nasty comment. Why would even think such a thing?

I don't think it's really up to the "Americans" to decide this question. It's up to the people of Venice to determine their issues with travel and cruise ships into their city. Why would America be involved? Why not England, or Australia, or Russia deciding for them? Silly IMHO.

I can't see why they can't build a cruise terminal out on the seaward side and then ferry people in a less disruptive way (and whatever happened to the flood defence scheme?). And maybe things are getting to the point where some places will just have to ration tourist access.

I get it. Many have mixed feelings on cruises as a way of travel. But leaving that aside, I did a cruise this past summer that ended in Venice and our ship was one of three in port and the way it was set up, most of them overnight in Venice where one cruises finishes and the next one for the line starts although that's a generalization.

What got me and made me say never again was...departing the next day which was a Sunday from Marco Polo airport. I have never been in such a zoo in my life. Queues were sixteen miles long, you couldn't turn around just trying to figure out where you checked in. That wa the thing that made me say never again will I finish or start a cruise in Venice.

I can imagine how wonderful it would be to cruise into the lagoon and see the city from a high vantage point on a ship. I can see the appeal of a cruise stop in Venice (though I agree 100% with xyz what a zoo VCE is).

It is just too damaging to the lagoon. I agree about setting up some kind of terminal elsewhere, though that would eliminate that wonderful for them, terrible for the lagoon entry into town.

Tourism is such a mixed bag; not sure disgorging tens of thousands into town for a day to buy Chinese masks and glass is really helping, but not for me to say.

I can see Venice the way I like to, which is to stay over and spend several days there and to purchase materials made in Venice (like the mosaic glass I buy directly from the factory).

But I do wish the regional and national authorities would take the long view here. All I can do as a traveler/tourist is not contribute to the problem as best I can.

I posted an article from the New York Review of books about the cruise ships in Venice on May 31.

Here it is again for those who might want to read "The Coming Death of Venice?"

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/arch...-death-venice/

My post got 18 responses, the same number — so far — as this one. Some of you contributed to the earlier post.