Ah, Venice.
Delicious Italian food, romantic gondola rides through the canals that take the place of roadways, magnificent palaces that seem to float on water… and cruise ships.
A friend of mine, Dan from King Webmaster, is vacationing in Italy with his lovely wife. They were enjoying dinner al fresco at the Hilton Molino Stucky which sits alongside the Giudecca Canal of Venice, when the Holland America Line cruise ship ms Nieuw Amsterdam sailed by.
He was kind enough to send me some photos and a video of the ship passing by:
It may seem odd to see a ship the size of the Nieuw Amsterdam cruise the historical canals that make up the city, but they do and it’s not without controversy.
Earlier this year, the city’s regional court of appeals tossed a limit on the size of ships that could transit through the canal that was put into place just a few months earlier. The ban restricted ships over 96,000 gross tons to sail the Giudecca Canal and St Mark’s basin on their journey to the cruise terminal. It also limited the number of ships that took the route to five per day.
Why was the ban put into place?
Well, remember the palaces I mentioned above? They’re old and fragile and the ban was meant to preserve them and also limit the environmental impact some claim the large ships leave behind. On the other side of the coin, the economic impact the ban would bring spurred many to push to have the ban lifted. The Nieuw Amsterdam alone carries around 2,000 passengers, most of which want to get off the ship and spend money in the city’s cafes, shops and tourist destinations.
Whether or not you agree with the ban, it’s always awesome to be sitting shoreside as a stately cruise ship sails by just feet from where you’re at.
Then there’s that feeling you get as it slowly drifts by, leaving you behind wishing you were on it.
I’m kind of feeling that right now!
Thanks for sending the photos and video along Dan, and enjoy the rest of your vacation!
P.S. I’ve sailed on the Nieuw Amsterdam on a 7-day western Caribbean cruise in December 2010. Check out my day-by-day cruise review.