Badenoch

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48568396

A story on the crash

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48496412

satman40

rickg523

I think the objection is mainly to floating behemoths on the Guidecca. For a variety of reasons - environmental, potential danger (this case), even aesthetic.
A simple anecdote. I'm strolling the Riva and a huge cruise ship floats by. Of course it's totally out of place visually, but that wasn't the worst of it. This ship decided it would be "romantic" to blare Andrea Bocelli's "Con te Partiro" - out of the on deck tannoys, fercrisakes! And I mean BLARING!
That's not only unaesthetic, it was as if they were flipping the city an audio two finger salute. Not to mention totally disrespectful to Bocelli's performance. I mean they're playing it through the kind of public address speaker that's so distorted it has you straining to hear announcements in the railroad station. Come on!
And yes there are objections to the 20 thousand 4-hour day trippers that just five of these monstrosities spew onto Pza. San Marco each day because their rather paltry spending can not make up for the more harm they do to the city. They take their meals and sleep on the boat, and buy some Chinese souvenirs on the front, while tossing their trash into the canals, squatting on every doorstep in the tourist zone eating their pizza (from frozen) and fake gelato.
And then, talk to cruisers who have "done Venice". They end up totally underwhelmed. They can't understand it's popularity or why people find it among the most charming cities in Europe. Can't imagine why....

satman40

milepig

There are still places where the real Venice exists, but they're getting harder and harder to find. A couple years ago we bought something called, I think, the Chorus pass that gave admission to all the churches. They were flung all over the city and we decided on a whim to visit all of them. It took us into parts of Venice where we were pretty much the only tourists, and at some of them the person on duty seemed surprised to see someone show up. We discovered great local places serving real food for lunch and didn't see a fake glass shop for miles. We got turned around and lost, but had a total blast exploring the city. Even though we were clearly tourists and were carrying and consulting a map, we were respectful and were treated so in return. Those 4 four hour cruise ship tourists don't know what they're missing and leave Venice disappointed since they didn't experience it. Venice is all about: getting up early for a run when you have the city to yourself, and before waves of day trippers who descend later each moment, and then breathing a sigh of relief when they depart and you have the city back again. If you stay at a small hotel repeatedly and get to know them they'll direct you to the real restaurants that still exist. We admired the water glasses in one restaurant and the owner directed us to a local shop we'd never have found which sold them. Our best night was going to the Opera - enjoying the opera, but also observing the perfectly dressed locals speaking Venetian, and sipping your glass of Champagne in the grand lobby between acts. All things a day tripper doesn't experience. Venice is still alive, you just need to dig a little to find it.

So - the cruise whales don't belong there, they just don't. I'm sad that all those people never get to experience the transcendent moment of taking the water taxi from the airport and gasping when Venice just sort of appears out of the water like a mirage.

theflyingguyblog

Read an interesting article about how day-trippers (of which cruise ship passengers are included) actually provide relatively little economic value to the city. They rarely patronize shops owned by locals and instead opt for quick-service chain restaurants and junky souvenir stands in order to maximize their little time in Venice. As part of this, they don't pay taxes for hotels and legitimate restaurants and then leave before they have contributed significantly to the economy. Day-trippers/cruise ship passengers should definitely be banned or at least pay a steep entry fee.

Brighton Line

I'm sure the cruise ships or their passengers are paying port taxes. I wonder if they are as much as what Bermuda charges, per ship, per cabin on the ship (if staying overnight) and per passenger.

slawecki

we were staying in a hotel with a suite overlooking the lagoon. woke up, and for a while could not figure out what was blocking our view. and, there were people running around in their undewware and the like. it was a a thousand footer that had been parked at our end of venice, which i thought was our secret place to hide out and avoid the unwashed masses.

s0ssos

I don't think most people here like cruise passengers in general, as a rule.