The complainant, who knew Ravenna was more than two hours away from Venice, challenged the way the line had described the location of the departure port.

In both of the adverts, seen in May 2023, Royal had written “Leaving from: Venice (Ravenna), Italy”, meaning passengers would embark the ship in Ravenna rather than in the iconic lagoon city. 

Upholding the complaint, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) warned the cruising giant the adverts “must not appear in the form complained of” again.

Royal responded to the ASA’s ruling, pointing out: “Cruise ships were banned from docking in Venice and therefore were required to use whatever alternative cruise port was available to provide reasonable access to Venice."

The line argued the use of qualifying words or place names was “common practice in the travel industry and was well understood by the average consumer". It proposed reversing the qualification to Ravenna (Venice). 

It also explained, since most of Royal passengers were US-based, many were familiar with Venice but not with Ravenna, itself – like Venice – a Unesco World Heritage site.

The ASA ruling read: “[Royal] suggested that consumer would be less likely to book the cruise unless Venice was featured prominently, while using Ravenna to qualify the docking port.

“They said they understood that there was a potential for consumer confusion, but they had always provided sufficient information to consumers regarding the departure point and itinerary before they booked the cruise.” 

But the ASA concluded: “Because consumers were likely to understand from the ad that the cruise would depart from Venice, and that was not the case, we concluded the ad was misleading.” 

The ASA ruling is likely to raise questions about the use of qualifying words in cruise advertising. Cruise lines commonly bracket the actual location of the departure port next to a prominent landmark port, such as London or Rome, but the distances can vary dramatically.

Civitavecchia is another Italian port commonly billed as Rome (Civitavecchia), despite being around a 90-minute, 70km drive away from the Italian capital.