Ciao, Crociera ciao!
Will coronavirus really change the cruise industry in the long term and lead to a rethink among shipping companies and passengers?
It is not yet possible to say for sure. It may well be that the days of megaliners with thousands of passengers on board are indeed over. But it is also possible that the floating giants will become even more popular because they feel like a "safe haven" that you don't have to leave for your entire vacation ... At least this is the direction that the "Blue Voyages" currently offered by some shipping companies are heading in. This means getting on the ship, out to sea and a few days later back on the quay - all without even a single shore leave.
An announcement from Royal Caribbean, the world's second-largest cruise line, has certainly raised eyebrows. From summer 2021, the Rhapsody of the Seas, designed for 2,000 passengers, will no longer be calling at the port of Venice! The official reason: "increasing concerns about the future of cruising in the lagoon city". Passengers who have already booked have now been informed in writing that embarkation and disembarkation will take place in Ravenna instead.
The background to this decision can only be speculated at present: Is it really expected that the Venetian city government will finally announce a ban on megaliners? Given the opaque relationships between politics and business, this is rather unlikely ... Is this a deliberate signal against overtourism? Hardly, because that would mean that the entire fleet - with the 6,870-passenger "Symphony of the Seas" as the flagship - would have to be called into question. Or are they simply reacting to the increasingly loud and self-confident criticism from the few Venetians still living in the city, who have suddenly realized during the lockdown that they can get by very well with far fewer tourists? "We demand to see the horizon": I discovered and photographed this graffiti on a wall somewhere in the maze of alleyways in Venice last year, even before coronavirus. It would be great if this demand were finally put into action and other shipping companies apart from Royal Caribbean gave the lagoon a wide berth ...
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