Venice Cruiseport Ravenna

Just to clarify, Doreen, are you asking about getting from the port in Ravenna to the center of Ravenna or to Venice? If it's to central Ravenna, are you trying to get to the train station?

With the new changes of moving cruise ships outside Venice proper, it is confusing (some may say deceiving) to attach 'Venice' to a port that is 150Kms (93 miles) away.....which Ravenna is. But yes, we need to know what city centre you want.
Have you visited CruiseCritic website? It is a cruise focused forum (they call them boards). There is a section specifically about ports, but you can also ask on your cruise line forum for the travel advice. It may be more relevant to pool their experiences rather than from a more predominantly landlubber forum.
But as a general piece of info, if Venice is your city of interest, once you get out of the port to Ravenna centre, it is 2 trains and over 2 hours to get to Venice train station. Driving is about the same length of time. If y
The cruise ship offers transfers to Venice, I would take it...even if just for convenience and not dealing with luggage.

Thank you for the information. I did not realize Ravenna was that far from Venice. I will check the cruiseport website.

These questions make me sad, knowing that there will be many people either beginning or ending their cruise with such a negative experience because they didn’t ask this question ahead of time, having no idea that Ravenna being labeled “a Venice port” is inaccurate.

Doreen, I hope you have a nice time on your vacation!

I agree Jean.

I find it amazing that so many folks come on here asking about this- don’t the cruise companies clarify any of this for the customers? Don’t travel agents that book these cruises clarify it for their customers?
Ravenna is not even that close to Venice and it’s a process getting to /from Venice. Not just a simple train ride.
Cruises carry thousands of passengers and we are only seeing a tiny few asking about this. Hopefully they have it all figured out and don't get stranded in Ravenna- although Ravenna is definitely worth a visit for the mosaics alone.

Seems very dishonest or at least very misleading on the cruise company’s part. It’s not exactly “new” either. “Venice” cruises have been docking in Ravenna for almost a year I think.

I feel the same, Jean. The change of port can't be helped - and is a positive thing for overrun Venice - but the cruise lines need to be very clear that Ravenna is NOT Venice, and is in fact some distance away. Same with Trieste. Evidently that message is not always getting through.

Christine, I believe you're correct that this has been the situation for at least a year if not more.

A plus is that both Ravenna and Trieste are reported to offer some lovely sightseeing so with an extra night or so, one can either kick off or wrap up their cruise with some of that. :O)

Kathy, ChristineH, and Jean...I feel the same but looking at a map, unless you have air links from Bologna, Venice is the closest international Airport for North America. I checked in case Milan may be an option but it is also 3 hours and 2 or 3 trains away.
As a comparison, cruise lines have a port called 'Orlando' .....but it is actually Cape Canaveral. There is no public transport, so one has to rent a car and pay a possible one-way drop fee (twice), pay a private transfer service or the cruiseline's transfer....and sometimes they won't offer that unless you are also buying your flights from them. Transfers either ship or private set you back hundreds of dollars. There is no suitable major airport near the port, and I learned recently that ships are often delayed hours when there is a launch.
Too often cruisers don't do all the resesrch before putting a sizable non refundable deposit on a cruise.

I agree with all of you, Jean, ChristineH, Kathy and MariaF.

And… Since the cruise passengers think they’re ending their cruise in, “Venice”, they probably have no idea what Ravenna has to offer.

Doreen, I do hope you consider visiting Ravenna (if you have the time) and enjoy the magnificent mosaics!

Wishing you a wonderful cruise and trip!

Agreed, Maria: Venice or Bologna are the closest airports so that is what it is too. My beef is just calling either of those ports "Venice". It's misleading.

LOL, at least Trieste and Ravenna are pretty much ON a coast versus very definitely landlocked Orlando!!! Eeeesh.

they probably have no idea what Ravenna has to offer.

Lets hope it stays that way!
We made sure to visit Ravenna last fall before the cruisers figure out what a lovely town it is, the mosaics are incredible. It was delightfully uncrowded.

Let’s hope it stays that way!

Sounds good to me!

Even more confusing for people taking the boats that dock in Chioggia.
Not an easy place to get to Venice from.

I think the cruise lines are clear. What isn’t clear is passengers’ knowledge of Geography in Europe. Florence is listed as a cruise stop. Obviously, there is some travel between the port and the city there too!

hey hey doreenlcswr
this topic has been asked a few times which causing lots of confusion. took two cruise out of venice proper several years ago which was great.
now i see the ravenna, trieste, & chioggia and cruiseports labeled "venice". those towns are much further away and transportation back to venice airport can get so confusing.
i agree with MariaF registering with cruisecritic.com
we loved it, after registering, log in, click boards, then find roll calls. scroll down to find your ship and date. people post messages, ask questions, share tours instead of ship excursions, find a taxi to share to venice to cut down on costs. we organized a meet & greet night before at a restaurant to meet the people on cruise, cabin crawl to see different rooms on ship, even had snacks to share with a glass of wine we brought on board in luggage, slot pull: someone in charge collected $15 per person wanting to join, find a slot machine put in money and see how many pulls they have, sat at a bar for martini tasting bartendar would make, lots of fun things.
like others says about "florence" stop, could be la spezia, livorno couple hour train ride to florence. take a cruise excursion making sure you get back on ship or stay close by and enjoy the area. rome is the same way, it's port is civitavecchia, about 1 1/2hrs away from rome. my friend and i took taxi 140E later from rome to ship. it was crazy, but protest in town, roads closed and blocked by cops, lucky to find this driver. told us he's not really allowed to take to ship or pick up but he did and of course he goes back with empty car. many people missed ship's sailing and had to fly to next stop barcelona. had some "ugly" people.
always say go a few days before cruise, not day before or day of.
hope this info helps you out and all is good for the cruise. it's helps to research ahead of time, ask questions here or cruise critic so you are not surprised. don't know if cruise company informs people where port is, they don't research or don't listen/comprehend, so excited about cruising, needs to get a map of cruise port to port to port, if it's docked at pier or tendered out in bay and taking a "jetty" to shore.
aloha

Thank you everyone! I am looking forward to visiting Ravenna!

hey hey doreen
you're welcome, glad you are going to enjoy ravenna.
thetravelhack.com
search: reasons to visit ravenna
stokedtotravel.com
search: ravenna travel guide
artandfoodtours.com
click ravenna
tastebologna.net
click tours, ravenna food and mosaic tour
just a few things you can look at about ravenna
aloha