Crusie Ships arrival / departure

Which port/location are you referring to?

Looking at your past posts, you arrived in Italy (Rome?) last week? Your trip is Rome>Siena> Venice so if you're already in Rome, I'll assume you mean Venice? Are you checking not just the Venice ports but Trieste and Ravenna as well? That's where some the bigger ships are docking.

We have sailed into/out of Venice, Civitavecchia and Ravenna (4 weeks ago). They are no where as large of cruise ports as there are in Florida. Expect the cruise lines to ration seating at check in--assigning times to incoming guests to be there. The ques will be ressonable.

Well, the good news is that with some planning you can minimize the impact of the cruise ship day trippers. They concentrate on a relatively small area. You can use the time they are in town to visit the areas they probably won't get to. Then, when they go back to the ship late afternoon, you can enjoy St. Marks Square and other more frequented areas. Early morning before they disembark is another good time to explore.

The first time I was in Venice was August 1966, while on a high school trip. I still have photos from the trip, including a very empty St. Mark's Square taken midday. Of course back then there was no air conditioning anywhere and I think helped keep American tourists at bay. By that point in the trip I was hanging out with this cute girl from our group. That cute girl and I are planning to visit Venice next year. We've been watching "A Discovery of Witches" and the parts filmed in Venice make us want to return.

We also watch Masterpiece Theater and I get mad every time they show the Viking promo with their hulking ocean ship behind St. Marks. The only cruise we've ever done was a VRC and we'll never give them another dime.

Doug, I don't think you have avoid Viking anymore because of those behemoth ships lurking behind St. Marks. As far as I'm aware, their two "ocean" ships which appear to be serving Venice - Viking Sky and Viking Sea - are now porting in Marghera, Chiaggio or Fusina, and not allowed to access San Marco Basin/Giudecca Canal. Same with other biggies.

https://www.cruisemapper.com/ships/Viking-Sky-972
https://www.cruisemapper.com/ships/Viking-Sea-1032

Happy to be corrected if in error but sure hope that's the case!

We did a Viking Ocean Cruise last month. Loved it. Ship docked at a port (forget the name) outside of Venice. We had to take an hour and a half boat ride to reach the island. It was still massively crowded.

Kathy,
I haven't seen that ad in a while. They now run gaslight ads with the owner being all homey and his adult daughter walking into a room. They also show a couple making pastry. Yeah, right, like that's the kind of experience you and 200 (VRC) or 2,000 (Viking Ocean) will get to have.

The closest we got was in the Black Forest with 100 other people at a cake demonstration before the herded us into their gift shop to try to sell us cuckoo clocks. No thanks.

LOL, I'm with you there, Doug. The ads they run on "Masterpiece" are/were a bit much.

LOL, I'm with you there, Doug. The ads they run on "Masterpiece" are/were a bit much.

Kathy, you should have seen what I wrote originally and then deleted!

I don't want to go too far afield of Steve's question. I hope he can work his visit in a way that will minimize the crowds. Cruisers aren't the only ones who add to the crowd. There's lots of day trippers as well. To me that's why staying in places like Venice and Siena is important to get a better feel for the charm of these destinations. We are very fortunate that we've been able to visit the big sites in the past, not only in Italy but also in other countries. In the future we can concentrate on more out of the way, less touristy spots. Still, we want to return to Venice for another look.

I am so glad Venice finally banned those huge cruise ships. It made me sick seeing them cruise through Venice, harming historical buildings.