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These 17 Ports Are About To Ruin Your Cruise Plans
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Oct 8, 2024
It feels to me like the world is getting smaller for cruise passengers. I keep seeing reports of yet another port banning, reducing how many ships or the size of ships that can call there. And even in ports without cruise restrictions, more locals seem to be protesting about cruise passengers being there once we get off the ship. As the news of these developments tends to be sporadic and not many are aware of the total picture, I decided to pull together what's happening so you can consider these when planning your upcoming and future cruises. For bonus & exclusive content (including videos, articles, eBooks and more) become a channel member or patron: --------------------------------------------------- * Patreon Patron: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers * YouTube Channel Member: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_qE-Obs2ocdmPXY0TIU-cw/join Check out my cruise-themed T-shirts and products: --------------------------------------------------- * T-Shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore * Mugs, notebooks, hoodies etc: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/tipsfortravellers?ref_id=22354 My social media: --------------------------------------------------- * Blog: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com * Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge * Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers * Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/garybembridge * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bembridge
View Video Transcript
0:00
It feels to me like the world is getting smaller for cruise passengers
0:02
I keep seeing reports of yet another port banning, reducing how many ships, or the size of ships
0:08
that can call there. And even in ports without cruise restrictions, more locals
0:12
seem to be protesting about cruise passengers being there once we get off the ship
0:17
Welcome aboard, I'm Gary Bemridge. And as the news of these developments tends to be sporadic
0:22
and not many people are aware of the total picture, and decided to pull together what's happening
0:27
so you can consider these when planning your upcoming and future cruises because they are
0:32
fairly significant. Some regions and ports are moving faster than others on restricting
0:38
our cruise port options with Europe and the Mediterranean the most dramatic. So I'm going to start
0:44
there. I feel the Mediterranean issue is blowing up even more due to the combination of a massive
0:50
land tourism business and also the fact that tourism is very concentrated in a few months
0:55
particularly in the July-August period, when Europe effectively closes and everyone goes on vacation
1:00
It's really important to understand that the way the people vacation in Europe is very different to say the United States
1:06
because many European countries pretty much close down. They close their factories, lots of businesses all closed at one time
1:13
and huge numbers go on vacation around Europe at the same time. So let's look at what's happening in the Mediterranean
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because of all of this to cruising. Barcelona is the busiest cruise port within Europe and a major embarkation
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Port. The Mayor, City Council and large numbers of locals are trying to slash tourism and the number of cruise ships calling there
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In fact, just before I recorded this, there was a really large protest by the Neighborhood Assembly for Tourism Degrowth
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It was focused on Las Ramblers. This is really close to the cruise port, it's a major tourist spot and it included the protesters spraying
1:47
cruise passengers and tourists who were sitting, eating in open-air restaurants with water pistols and chanting for them to go home
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The city mayor Joam Colobani, he supports their call to cut the number of cruise terminals and ship course
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Currently there are five terminals in Barcelona and two more are planned or under construction
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And there's lots of pressure to stop those and close some of them. So we're likely to see over the coming years a reduction in ships going into Barcelona and definitely one to watch
2:17
In other parts of Spain, there are absolutely similar moves. Valencia's mayor Maria Jose Catalana
2:25
has said that she plans to ban mega cruise ships from 2026 to reduce overcrowding and congestion
2:32
and will only allow smaller ships to call there. Further afield, popular Spanish territories are
2:38
also making moves. Parma Amioka is a key cruise port on western Mediterranean itineries
2:44
And as I made this, there have again also been well attended anti-tourist protests
2:50
organized by a group called Menis Tourism Mes Vida, which means less tourism more
2:55
life The mayor Jamie Martinez has told local media that he plans to bring in cruise ship limits and wants to ban also mega ships focus on smaller ships and give priority to ships that actually home port there The Canary Islands a group of Spanish
3:11
islands in the Atlantic, are a popular cruise destination, but are also seeing very recently
3:16
anti-tourism demonstrations under the banner of Canarias Tien and Lumete, the Canaries have a
3:22
limit, which claimed 57,000 people attended that one at the start of the summer season. Now the group of
3:30
currently focused on getting the state to limit land tourism numbers and clamp down on things
3:34
like Airbnb LETs. They're not really focusing on cruise ship limits yet, but they do seem to have
3:40
them on their target. Greece is another huge cruise area with around 7 million passengers every
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year with two famous islands that everyone wants to visit when they cruise there, Santorini and
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Mikanos, and they are rammed full with visitors in the season. Having experienced them, I can
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confirm they get really packed. Now the Greek Prime Minister, Piliakas Mitasakis told Bloomberg that, and as I was working on this, that he's looking
4:05
at placing restrictions on cruise ships, particularly calling on those two islands from next year
4:11
He hasn't yet confirmed what they are, but he suggested it will include limiting the number
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and the size of ships. So you definitely need to keep a look out for the specifics if you're
4:21
thinking of cruising Greece and wanting to go to those islands. Of course, there are other ports
4:25
that have had restrictions for some time, like Venice, who since 2021, banned
4:30
ships over 25,000 tons from entering the lagoon and to sail down past St Mark Square
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So only cruise lines with really small ships like Sea Dream, Windstar, UniWorld and Pondon can
4:40
actually still enter there. The big ships now have to call at ports like Trieste or Ravenna
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which are a couple of hours from Venice. Some small ship lines like Azamara can get into an
4:52
industrial zone of Moghererr or Fuzina which is on the mainland side. But any port stop
5:00
on your attenary that says Venice is likely to mean you're going to be docking many hours away
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Another place that has had restrictions in 2018 is the UNESCO World Heritage Site of
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Dubrovnik in Croatia. They cap the number of cruise ships to two per day with around
5:15
5,000, 8,000 passengers a day, which is why many cruise lines have shifted their call to
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other Croatian cities like Split. Let's move from the Mediterranean and look at the rest
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of Europe now. There are restrictions coming for Norway and the North
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Norwegian Fjords. In 2018, the Norwegian Parliament voted for zero emission requirements by
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2026. That would mean that any ship that wasn't electric wouldn't be allowed. Now this
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was recently pushed back to 2035. However, the current proposal is that from 2026, only
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ships that are powered by alternative fuels like say liquid and electrified gas or LNG will be
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allowed to visit the fjords. And this is going to rule out many major cruise lines because
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although many lines are introducing LNG ships, they are not all in service and aren't likely to be by then
6:04
So if you planning a fjords cruise from 2026 make sure you constantly checking the latest restrictions and be on the alert for that There also by the way been anti protests in several
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ports including Oslo, Zavanger, Bergen and Flam, with a protest group called Cruise Not Welcome
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putting up posters and handing out flyers, telling cruise passengers they absolutely were not welcome in Norway
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Norway is also putting restrictions on the Arctic island of Svalbart from 2025, where only ships have
6:35
to 200 passengers can call there. Are there other parts of Europe restricting cruises? Yes
6:41
there are. Amsterdam is trying to cut tourism. They've even been running ads, by the way, in some
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countries like the UK, asking people to stay away, and they are now focusing on cruising too
6:53
Amsterdam planned to cut cruise ships coming to the harbour by half from around 200 to 100 by 2026
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and they want to ban them outright by 2035. They originally spoke about moving cruise lines
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terminals way outside the city. And there are ports outside the city that I've been to
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like on Queen Mary 2, once and Viking cruises have also often called into industrial port
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city of Ijumugin, probably got that wrong, but it's about 80 miles from Amsterdam. Many cruise lines
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are already shifting from Amsterdam to the huge port city of Rotterdam, which is close enough to
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Amsterdam that they can still kind of run excursions to and from. The city of Bruges in Belgium
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has also reduced the number of cruise ships docking at Zebrugge, which is the port to get
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to Bruges from five to two per day, because they felt that Bruges was basically becoming
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a tourist trap centre with too many shops basically catering to cruise passengers selling just
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chocolate and beer, so it wasn't good for locals. Another growing cruise destination
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Iceland, has started to bring in restrictions on cruise ships too. Issafejorda, the third
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largest cruise port of Reykavik and Akirae, they now limit the number of cruise passengers
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to 5,000 a day, a dramatic reduction from what it was. Now, Grifel-Ulifson, chair of the Isfewother Council, said that the reason is they
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don't have the infrastructure and the town is too swamped by basically cruise
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passengers and is restricting it. But restrictions are not just building in Europe and the Mediterranean
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Another major cruise region, Alaska, is starting to see more and more restrictions too
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In Alaska, one of the most magnificent places to go is Glacier Bay
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However, the National Park Service that runs it has limited the number of cruise ships to two that can enter it each day since the 1980s
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Now, the most recent 10-year licenses to call into Glacier Bay came into effect from 2019 and only allowing seven cruise lines
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Princess Cruises, Holland America, Norwegian Cruise Line, Kuhnard, Seaborn, Viking and Royal Caribbean
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So if you want to go into Glacier Bay, which I highly recommend, you have to cruise on one of those cruise lines and make sure, of course, that it's included in the Titanic
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However, there's more going on in Alaska and more brewing. Juno the capital of Alaska gets busy
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I was there this season and there were five ships in and it was so busy Juno has reached an agreement with the cruise industry to restrict the number of passengers from 2026 to 16 per day
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and 12,000 on Saturday, so the locals basically have more space and things to do in their own town
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However, this could get stricter because at the time of recording, there is a proposal which is going to be voted on in a ballot
9:33
which proposes a ban on cruise ships with 250 or more passengers
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from visiting on. Saturdays and on July 4th. Now by the time you watch this that proposal may have been voted on
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and accepted or rejected but whatever the outcome they will be because of the original agreement
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fewer cruise passengers able to call on Juno on any day so watch how that affects your itinerary
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whilst in North America I want to talk about bar harbour in Maine held a voter-initiated ballot
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and as a result limited the amount of daily cruise passengers to 1,000 per day
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which basically reduced by half the amount of cruise ships that could go there
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So many cruise lines have changed their plans. At the time of recording some businesses and
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talk companies are suing the town, claiming that the restriction violates federal maritime law
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and the United States Constitution. So again another one to keep an eye on, but already, as I said, many
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the lines have dropped the port from future cruises. The Caribbean, the busiest cruise region in the world so far, is seeing limited new restrictions because many of the islands are so focused on cruise tourism. However
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There is an ongoing issue on many Caribbean itineries related to Key West, which of course is in the US
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Key West residents have had a really long battle around the number and the size of cruise ships that can dock there
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During the pandemic, they voted to limit cruise ships, banning cruise ships carrying more than 1,300 passengers and crew
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However, Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida overruled it. Then there was a less strict resolution which came in which allowed one ship per day to dock within the harbour
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That was then overruled, so there's kind of an ongoing battle around what happens with ships coming to Key West, so definitely one to keep an eye on
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Once we get to more exotic places, there are also restrictions in place
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Last year I went to French Polynesia, which is absolutely beautiful and
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totally magnificent. Since 2020, they have limited the type and size of ships that can go there, though
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Any ship based in the region selling year-round cannot carry more than 700 passengers
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Any ship over 3,500 cannot call into any of the islands at all, and those up to 3,500
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passengers can only call in Tahiti, Moria and Raiatia. Some islands like Boro Boro have additional restrictions, so for example only 1,200 passengers
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are allowed to disembark in Boro Bore in any one day. So as you can see, the cruise world is getting smaller and tighter, and I suspect there's
12:00
likely to be more and more pressure as this goes around the whole world
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the whole areas people challenge it. What do you think, leave a comment. And then join me over
12:10
in this video where I look at what cruise lines don't like to talk about when it comes to
12:15
cruise ship cabins. Donning with one thing people are shocked by when I tell them. See you over there
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