The European Directive 2002/49/CE suggests to map noise in harbour areas with methods mainly used for industrial noise, in accordance with ISO standards. Nevertheless, in many cases these methods do not seem suitable to describe the effects of noise due to moored cruise ships. For noise measurements of ships it is possible to refer to ISO 2922 standard, but it results ineffective for the estimation of noise levels at distances bigger than 25 meters from the sound source and to obtain reliable information about sound power level of big vessels. The aim of this study, performed by the University of Padova on behalf of Venice Port Authority, is to improve a procedure for predicting noise of moored ships in the harbour area by the means of measures and reverse analysis with numerical models.