Venice Considers Building an Island and Ferrying in Cruise Visitors

Photo by Susan J. Young

Italian officials are apparently looking at the possibility of constructing a $152 million artificial jetty in the Adriatic for docking of up to five large cruise ships. Then passengers would ferried into the city via catamaran -- up to 800 at a time. 

A major U.K. newspaper, The Telegraph, has reported that Venice is studying the proposal, designed to lessen the impact of large cruise ships in the ecologically sensitive Venice lagoon. Agents can read that story here

Guests would disembark onto a 3,000-foot-long jetty, then board a fleet of catamarans for the journey to Venice. The entire trip would likely take about an hour, but preserve the iconic waterway entry view for cruisers as their catamaran sails into the Venetian Lagoon. 

Diverse Viewpoints 

Venetians have complained for years about big cruise ships damaging their ecosytem, yet a plethora of vessels also ply the waterways. While the claim is that the big cruise ships do great damage, that's up for debate. Most large ships enter slowly without creating major wakes. 

On one trip Travel Agent took last year on Carnival Sunshine, the ship's own wake was visibly negligible, yet a dozen smaller vessels speeding and turning at various angles created much larger waves that continually pounded against Venice's sea wall and buildings. 

In some ways, the debate over cruise ship traffic is also a philosophical tug-of-war. On one side are environmentalists and a vocal group of local residents who don't want any cruise ship traffic or, at least, no mass-market tourism; they also say the ships are an eyesore and an environmental threat. 

On the other are tourism and cruise industry officials who say the ships' slow movement within the Venetian lagoon isn't an issue. They also believe Venice's economy thrives on the services and goods purchases of thousands of travelers who arrive on each of the big ships. They're joined by many travelers who simply want to "sail in" the old-fashioned way down the Grand Canal.

Photo by Susan J. Young

While the catamaran proposal would satisfy that sail-in focus to some extent, it's not a perfect plan. One reason? Venice is a city popular for independent exploration, not just pre-set tours.

Now cruise guests love being able to simply wander, get lost and later take a water taxi ride or simply walk back to their vessel at the cruise pier on their own schedule. Under this proposal, they'd likely need to adhere to a set schedule of shuttle times for a return to the ship.  

The Italian government is expected to make a decision on the artificial jetty proposal within the next few months. Because Venice is a highly popular turn-around port as well as a port of call, there's a lot riding on the decision economically for the city, region and country. 

Increasingly, cruisers' feedback dictates cruise line actions. Today's cruisers absolutely want to get to a port directly, not go to a remote terminal and board a second vessel. They also dislike tendering operations. Both processes take time away from the relatively short period a cruiser might have for exploring a port destination.  

For its part, the cruise industry has said it would prefer -- given recent Italian legislation that will effectively ban large ships from the Grand Canal --- to have a new channel dredged in the Contorta-Sant'Angelo waterways within the Venetian Lagoon. That would allow these ships to still access the existing cruise terminal, yet avoid them sailing so close to Venice.

But the artificial jetty would avoid the need to dredge, which environmentalists believe would damage the ecosystem. 

Now, it's a waiting game to see what Italian officials decide; proponents of the new plan say they have garnered much support from the local community and government officials.