Norwegian Cruise Line has dropped Venice as a port of call from its Norwegian Pearl and Norwegian Dawn itineraries.
Instead, this summer’s cruises will call at Ravenna, which is two hours from Venice, or they will add an additional stop in Croatia.
For 2025, the stop in Venice has been replaced with a day at sea until a new port is confirmed.
In a letter sent to agency members of NCL’s President’s Club, reportedly seen by some news outlets, the decision is due to the recent ban on large ships entering the Venice lagoon. They must now anchor outside the lagoon and use tender boats to ferry customers to the port.
An NCL spokesperson told Travel Gossip: “While we have made every effort possible to maintain these calls to Venice, the tender operation and overall experience this provides our guests has fallen short of the standard we aim to deliver.
“As a result, we are modifying 2024 itineraries that call to Venice and replacing it with calls to one of the following ports: Ravenna, Italy; Rijeka and Zadar, Croatia; or Koper, Slovenia, based on port availability.
” In addition, 2025 calls to Venice will be cancelled and replaced with a day at sea until a new port is confirmed, based upon availability. Guests and travel partners will be notified of the modified itinerary. We recognize that Venice is one of the world’s greatest destinations, cherished by both our guests and crew, and as such acknowledge the inconvenience and frustration this disruption may cause. We appreciate the understanding of our loyal guests and travel agent partners.”
The affected cruises are on Norwegian Pearl from 27 May to 23 October 2024 and Norwegian Dawn’s 15 October 2024, plus Norwegian Pearl’s 2025 cruises from 31 May to 15 October and Norwegian Dawn’s 10 and 22 April cruises.
Norwegian Pearl’s cruises from May this year will see Venice replaced with Ravenna or Rijeka in Croatia and there have also been some other changes to stops in Croatia and Slovenia on some of the cruises.
On Norwegian Dawn’s cruises, Venice has been replaced with Zadar in Croatia and the scheduled stop in Messina in Sicily has been replaced with Catania in Sicily.