Venice Cruise Ship Crash

Me, too.

Perhaps, just maybe, this will be the impetus for the long-needed move to the mainland for the big ships. At least no one was killed, though I haven't heard yet how serious the injuries were.

I am looking forward to the day the cruise ships are moved to the mainland.

Wouldn't they have to fit wheels on them? That would be a lot of wheels.

Or maybe use a large float-on trailer?

A new cruise port for large ships is being contructed in Mestre. That's the reference to the mainland. Smaller boats, such as catamarans from Croatia, will still be allowed to dock in Venice. I remember seeing a posting on this a while back, but no recent updates.

Here is video of the cruise ship collision.

https://youtu.be/Ic4TqFYiiHI

I get angry every time the Viking River Cruises commercial is shown before Masterpiece Theater. It's the one of their huge ship hulking over Venice. It looks like Godzilla in Tokyo.

I now choose to travel where cruise ships and their passengers can't reach.

Frank II,

IMO, I believe an incident of this type was inevitable and it was only a matter of time. Now that it's happened, perhaps some changes will be made to the cruise ship rules in Venice. One possibility would be to have ships anchor out in the lagoon and bring passengers to shore in tenders. That's done by cruise ships in many other locations, so not really too hard.

DougMac, I was going to post about that Viking ad as well. Every time I see that giant ship dwarfing the Piazza San Marco, I have to wince. A few years back, at a concert at the Chiesa Pieta, a string quartet was doing the Four Seasons, and right in the middle of a quiet passage with just solo violin, a giant cruise ship right outside sounded its horn. The violin player did not miss a beat, but we were close enough to witness his eye-roll.

Ken, there is a plan already in place to have cruise ships dock in Mestre and it's passengers ferried over to Venice. This is expected in 2021. However, it could be changed.

Ken, I have long thought the same thing. I do not understanding why they can't anchor in the lagoon and be ferried into Venice. It is fortunate that the ship didn't hit Giudecca itself or St. Mark's Square! Hopefully, this will serve as the impetus for real change.

Another thing about the new cruise ship port, I believe ships will enter the lagoon at a different point so that they're not passing St. Mark's Square. Something to look forward to.

Amazing that the MSC ship didn't have a fail safe way to shut down the engine stuck on go.