According to a report by Reuters, Venetian officials have announced a ban on all cruise ships over 96,000 GRT from operating in Venice’s main lagoon. The ban on large cruise ships will become effective beginning November 2014.
This new ban on larger cruise ships comes after months of protests from local Venetians and government officials voicing concerns over the impact of cruise ships on the city of Venice. “Finally the trend towards gigantic ships in the lagoon has been turned around,” the mayor of Venice, Giorgio Orsoni, said in a statement. “We’ve had enough of these mega cruise ships just meters away from San Marco, from now on there will be clear limits on the size of ships that can enter Venice.”
In addition, local officials announced that the total number of cruise ships allowed to sail in front of the Piazza San Marco will be cut by 20% beginning in January 2014.
A new, alternative route to the cruise terminal is currently being researched by city officials.
3 replies on “Venice Bans Large Cruise Ships From Main Lagoon”
Which ships are they talking about? The 6000 passenger mega ships? We’ve planned to sail out of Venice next October on what will be the new Regal Princess. I wonder if it will be considered too large?
Karen, the Regal Princess will weigh 141,000 GRT according to Wikipedia, unfortunately that will be well over the new 95,000 GRT limit =( Sounds like though that the mega liners will be able to get to and from the terminal a different way.
The article above says that the new regulations will commence in November 2014, so you might still be OK in October … all depends on which route Princess will take.