How much do you spend during your cruise ship port stops?

[Mike B Landlubber]

I bumped into the cruise ship resentment thing big time this year—I’ve never been to Norway, and when I heard Norway was proposing cruise ship restrictions for many areas in 2025, I immediately (Literally within minutes) booked a cruise for 2024 that contained many of the controversial ports. I thought I slipped in at the last second, but HAL has since changed the controversial ports to others! GRRR

 

To be on topic, I am one of those scaredy cats who insists on arriving two or more days early, and I often take time to explore the last port afterwards. When I took a cruise in Australia last year I spent a week before the cruise in two different cities, and a week after the cruise in Sydney. But at ports during the cruise, I usually book a shore excursion but otherwise am a Scrooge. I’ve visited many ports and literally spent nothing except for the shore excursion cost.

 

 

 

Edited January 20 by Mike B Landlubber

[Bill B]

43 minutes ago, Tampa Girl said:

 

What persentage, if any, does the city get from port charges?

 

There is no universal percentage. 

Edited January 20 by Bill B

[*Miss G*]

Our last port stop in Bar Harbor was a nightmare.  Although we were the only ship in port, it was a Sunday of a long weekend and there were five tourist coaches and myriad day-trippers all visiting the area along with us.  Sidewalks, shops, and restaurants were jam packed.  I lasted long enough for my husband to get his lobster roll (a half hour wait) before beating it back to the ship.

 

The Zaandam has a max passenger capacity of 1432, however I would say that the majority of those passengers were out of town on various tours.  I haven’t read of anyone wanting to limit the number of tour busses so I guess they’re not as seductive as angst against the cruise ships.

[TRLD]

5 hours ago, Real NHDOC said:

I have never understood the argument against cruise guests that we don’t spend as much as land tourists therefore the cruise ships should be banned. It’s not like most of us would go to most of these ports as land tourists so any money we spend is found money for the locals. I’ve been to Key West many times on cruises and there’s always plenty of space on the sidewalks to walk around. More often than not we’ll eat in a local restaurant or buy some things at Kermit’s that they would not have otherwise sold. But if they would prefer us not to come and spend our money we can always spend it elsewhere. 

The argument is mostly about the the size and number of cruise ships and the fairly massive number of passengers they dump into some of the ports at one time.  These numbers negatively impacting the experience for cruise ship passengers, locals and other tourists.  As some towns have found the numbers of cruise ship passengers are negatively impacting the community to the point that many of the higher spending land tourists stop visiting.

 

Take the impact on Alaska ports.  When I first started cruising their might be two ships in port and may 5000 passengers on a busy day.  You could easily get around town, most of the businesses were locally owned.  Today you have 4 or more ships in port.  You have some days with 15000 to 20000 passengers in port.  Many of the business are now duplicates of the shops in the Caribbean ports that shift merchandise to Alaska during the summer and to the Caribbean in the winter. They are owned by non-residents and staffed by people that only come to work during the cruise season.  The main exception is those shops and businesses owned by the native corporations.  

 

In Alaska and the Caribbean the ports may not have much choice because they have gotten used to that business.  In other, more interesting locations, such as Key West, Bar Harbor,  Bora Bora, etc. They have a choice and as a result they are putting in restrictions designed to limit the number of passengers.

 

You also have some locations such as Monterey where the issue was not crowding, only 1 ship at a time, during the off season when the town is pretty empty, but was instead an environmental decision.  Which is pretty funny, considering that the last problem with a cruise ship was 20 years ago, and the worst dumping in the bay was a massive release with a land based sewage processing plant.

[cruisemom42]

Some of you may have seen this video elsewhere but it illustrates the point well without saying a word -- shows "giant" cruise ships visiting Stavanger, Norway:

 

 

[3rdGenCunarder]

5 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

Some of you may have seen this video elsewhere but it illustrates the point well without saying a word -- shows "giant" cruise ships visiting Stavanger, Norway:

 

 

 

Yes, I've seen this. It almost looks photoshopped, it's so ridiculous. When I was there 15 years ago, our ship was the only one, much smaller than that thing, and we did not dock on top of this lovely part of the town. I remember how charming it was to stroll around there on our way to the sardine museum. 

[TRLD]

4 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

I don't know if I'm unusual in this aspect, but one of the things I like about a variety of ports on a cruise is finding places I want to return to for more than just a day. I wonder how many people do come back for longer (and more expenditures) after a sample visit.

We are similar.  We have visited many smaller locations both on cruise ship and land based visits.  It used to be that while there was some impact when ships were in town the impact was not excessive.  Then cruising boomed, both the number and the size of cruise ships grew dramatically, but the number of ports did not.  Especially over the last 10 years (except for the Covid years) the impact has gotten much worse.  Ports that used to get maybe 1 3000 or less ship per day max, now is dealing with multiple ships in the 4000 to 5000 range.  Even Icy Strait had three ships in port on my last visit.

 

Key West and  Bar Harbor are both ports that we have visited.   Most people come to Bar Harbor as part of a visit to Acadia National Park.  As with most tourist spots they can be busy even when cruise ships are not in town, but the difference (not for the better) is noticeable when cruise ships drop  their passengers  into the relatively small down town areas.  So when it comes down to it if a town can select which tourists they would rather have would they rather have them be the 50% that contributes 80-90% of the tourist revenue or the 50% that contributes 10 to 20% (Key West numbers).

 

This is even more of an issue since the restart because of the dramatic increase in travel.  In Europe you have locations such as Venice that are charging all visitors a fee.

Edited January 20 by TRLD

[TRLD]

2 hours ago, OlsSalt said:

 

Our recent next door neighbors visited our town for the first time on a cruise ship, and then came back a month later to buy a house.  Put  that amount into the "average" amount a cruise passenger spends locally. 🤑

A couple of years from now they will probably be complaining about cruise ship passengers in town as well.😜

 

Santa Barbara is not even impacted that much, after all Santa Barbara has a population of 88,000, and has relatively few visits, largely during the off season.  Pretty much the same as Monterey, even though Monterey is about half of the size.

 

The only real impact in Santa Barbara is the lane getting blocked on along Cabrillo Blvd.  Even Stearns Wharf does not get that crowded.

 

I expect that the anti cruise ship folks are more the environmental crowd, just like in Monterey, not the crowd impact folks. 

 

I must admit that I am happy that cruise ships do not have any way to come into my area (Pismo Beach and Avila Beach).  The towns get crowded enough.

 

 

[TRLD]

5 hours ago, Real NHDOC said:

Bar Harbor has such a limited supply of hotel rooms it’s unfathomable to believe that enough land tourists would boycott it because of cruise ships to create vacancies. Rather than ban them entirely limiting them to one large ship in port per day makes sense. But some ports have taken the extreme position that no cruise ships should be allowed. I just think that’s an overreaction to the situation. 

Here is an interesting study of Bar Harbor that indicates the attitudes in the local community.

 

https://www.barharbormaine.gov/DocumentCenter/View/5156/Cruise-Ship-Survey-results-from-Pan-Atlantic-Research

[OlsSalt]

43 minutes ago, TRLD said:

 

 

I must admit that I am happy that cruise ships do not have any way to come into my area (Pismo Beach and Avila Beach).  The towns get crowded enough.

 

 

 

 

Aha, I have been pushing to turn Port San Luis back into a passenger ship port.  Perfect location to explore Central California.  What do think.  Can it absorb the onslaught? What would it take to turn that long pier into a tender dock? 

 

Just like I keep suggesting turning  deep channel Port Hueneme into a cruise port too, but apparently  can't happen as long as it is a  liquified natural gas cargo port - too much hazard to co-exist with passenger traffic.

 

BTW: Please have some Mo's Philthy Phil pork ribs for us, where "Bakersfield comes to play". Very nice improvements to the Pismo waterfront of late - we day trip up that way occasionally. One can dine very well today around the Central Coast - California the way it used to be. 

[TRLD]

21 minutes ago, OlsSalt said:

 

 

Aha, I have been pushing to turn Port San Luis back into a passenger ship port.  Perfect location to explore Central California.  What do think.  Can it absorb the onslaught? What would it take to turn that long pier into a tender dock? 

 

Just like I keep suggesting turning  deep channel Port Hueneme into a cruise port too, but apparently  can't happen as long as it is a  liquified natural gas cargo port - too much hazard to co-exist with passenger traffic.

 

BTW: Please have some Mo's Philthy Phil pork ribs for us, where "Bakersfield comes to play". Very nice improvements to the Pismo waterfront of late - we day trip up that way occasionally. One can dine very well today around the Central Coast - California the way it used to be. 

No place for the tenders to dock. Port San Luis, Cal Poly and Avila Beach piers are all high piers. There are some places for small boats to tie off at, and then climb up to the pier using ladders or narrow stairs in some places.  Nothing that could handle tenders without building all new infrastructure.

 

The closest one could get is a small dock used for paddle sports as well as for some small dinghies for boat owners going back and forth to their bigger boats.  Doubt enough space for even getting a tender in to it.

[TRLD]

31 minutes ago, OlsSalt said:

 

 

Aha, I have been pushing to turn Port San Luis back into a passenger ship port.  Perfect location to explore Central California.  What do think.  Can it absorb the onslaught? What would it take to turn that long pier into a tender dock? 

 

Just like I keep suggesting turning  deep channel Port Hueneme into a cruise port too, but apparently  can't happen as long as it is a  liquified natural gas cargo port - too much hazard to co-exist with passenger traffic.

 

BTW: Please have some Mo's Philthy Phil pork ribs for us, where "Bakersfield comes to play". Very nice improvements to the Pismo waterfront of late - we day trip up that way occasionally. One can dine very well today around the Central Coast - California the way it used to be. 

Only problem is that they cut the amount of parking when they did some of the changes to the Pismo Waterfront.

[kazu]

6 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

I don't know if I'm unusual in this aspect, but one of the things I like about a variety of ports on a cruise is finding places I want to return to for more than just a day. I wonder how many people do come back for longer (and more expenditures) after a sample visit.

 

You are not unusual at all in this.  DD DH and I did this as well.  Often we would combine a land trip with a cruise to make the most out of the airfare costs / points. 😉 

[kazu]

5 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Quite a few people who post on CC say that they do this, but I'm not sure how many actually do. It seems to me that a high percentage of CC posters are retirees who've not traveled much before (with exception of the Caribbean/Mexico perhaps) and who look at cruising as an easy way to get to those places they've always wanted to see with a minimum of fuss and planning on their part.

 

I can’t speak to the percentages but I know of a number of roll call members from past cruises who were NOT retired and travelling.  Heavens, if we had waited until DD DH retired he would never have had the chance to travel.  We decided long ago that we would travel as long as we were healthy and could enjoy things to the maximum.  I am so glad we did and he got to see as much as he did before he passed away all too soon. 💔 

 

 

[cruisemom42]

33 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

I can’t speak to the percentages but I know of a number of roll call members from past cruises who were NOT retired and travelling.  Heavens, if we had waited until DD DH retired he would never have had the chance to travel.  We decided long ago that we would travel as long as we were healthy and could enjoy things to the maximum.  I am so glad we did and he got to see as much as he did before he passed away all too soon. 💔 

 

 

 

I think we could safely except most if not all of the respondents in this discussion. But that leaves an awful lot of CC members, not even counting those who don't use CC.

 

As you know I lurk mostly on the European ports of call boards and if I had a dime for every poster who has said their cruise to those parts was a "trip of a lifetime" or "one time event" -- well, I could've retired earlier. 😉

 

 

[OlsSalt]

Reminds me of a poll once taken - what would you do if you learned you only had 6 months to live? Top response was - I would travel around the world. Yet in fact, few ever did.

 

Some of us were lucky or cursed to be born with inherent wanderlust, but have also been lucky enough to carry out much on this list of must sees and do's, before it became a final bucket list. 

 

I believe there is a word for  this in the German language (Frenweh????) - something like a "travel sickness" but not the kind one gets from drinking bad water. Just a part of the soul that needs to see what is around  the next corner. While other get blessed or cursed with the opposite - "home sickness" and never need to leave.

 

Kazu, lots here share your untimely loss since the two of you took us all along on so many of your travels. DH and I never would have jumped at the last minute upgrade offer to the Amundsen's Suite on the Prinsendam, without your timely and knowledgeable advice, about 48 hours before we were ready to depart. 

 

 

Edited January 20 by OlsSalt

[ontheweb]

14 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

I think we could safely except most if not all of the respondents in this discussion. But that leaves an awful lot of CC members, not even counting those who don't use CC.

 

As you know I lurk mostly on the European ports of call boards and if I had a dime for every poster who has said their cruise to those parts was a "trip of a lifetime" or "one time event" -- well, I could've retired earlier. 😉

 

 

We thought our first cruise, a Western Mediterranean cruise for our 25th anniversary would be the trip of our lifetime. But now we are up to 13 cruises, with our first river cruise now coming up. The river cruise will be our 7th to Europe, and we have also been to Europe a few more times with land travel.

 

So that "trip of a lifetime" often adds up to more travel. 😊

[cruisemom42]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

We thought our first cruise, a Western Mediterranean cruise for our 25th anniversary would be the trip of our lifetime. But now we are up to 13 cruises, with our first river cruise now coming up. The river cruise will be our 7th to Europe, and we have also been to Europe a few more times with land travel.

 

So that "trip of a lifetime" often adds up to more travel. 😊

 

Happy to hear it!

 

[3rdGenCunarder]

16 hours ago, kazu said:

 

I can’t speak to the percentages but I know of a number of roll call members from past cruises who were NOT retired and travelling.  Heavens, if we had waited until DD DH retired he would never have had the chance to travel.  We decided long ago that we would travel as long as we were healthy and could enjoy things to the maximum.  I am so glad we did and he got to see as much as he did before he passed away all too soon. 💔 

 

 

 

You and Jose had so many wonderful trips, building happy memories. Thank goodness you traveled when you did! Years ago, there was a commercial for an investment company selling retirement programs, like annuities. They showed a couple in their 60s and the voiceover said "Instead of cruises, we took long walks. Instead of champagne, we drank coffee." Sure, you have to plan for your future. But I hated that commercial because it gave no importance to the present. 

[daisy-mae]

18 hours ago, TRLD said:

 

 

Take the impact on Alaska ports...Many of the business are now duplicates of the shops in the Caribbean ports that shift merchandise to Alaska during the summer and to the Caribbean in the winter. They are owned by non-residents and staffed by people that only come to work during the cruise season.  The main exception is those shops and businesses owned by the native corporations.  

 

 

On our first (and most likely only) Alaska cruise last fall. I had to give my head a shake when visiting some of the ports. I was expecting souvenir shops, but the sheer number of jewelry stores had me wondering how some of the small towns could sustain that type of retail establishment. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I know that it wasn't a replication of the Caribbean ports, where Diamond International is a staple.

[3rdGenCunarder]

35 minutes ago, daisy-mae said:

On our first (and most likely only) Alaska cruise last fall. I had to give my head a shake when visiting some of the ports. I was expecting souvenir shops, but the sheer number of jewelry stores had me wondering how some of the small towns could sustain that type of retail establishment. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I know that it wasn't a replication of the Caribbean ports, where Diamond International is a staple.

 

I thought my first Alaska cruise would be the only one, but I'm going for the fifth time this summer.

 

A lot of people shop for jewelry when they cruise. I don't, but the stores seem to be doing fine without me. I remember being in line at the "shore expert" desk to ask a question when the woman in front of me asked if she would have time to go to Diamonds International after her tour. I said, "Don't worry, there will be one in every port." She replied, "But I don't want to miss any of them!" 

 

Cruises have been going to Alaska for 50+ years, so the independents were serving passengers long before the big Caribbean stores showed up. Ketchikan, in particular, has lots of small jewelry stores. Somehow, they've survived the big competitors.  They lure people in with free gifts. I did go into one of them about 5 years ago. I talked to a guy for a few minutes--I looked at emeralds and alexandrite with no intention of buying, but I got my "sapphire" forget-me-not charm. 

[TRLD]

1 hour ago, daisy-mae said:

On our first (and most likely only) Alaska cruise last fall. I had to give my head a shake when visiting some of the ports. I was expecting souvenir shops, but the sheer number of jewelry stores had me wondering how some of the small towns could sustain that type of retail establishment. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I know that it wasn't a replication of the Caribbean ports, where Diamond International is a staple.

There are diamond internationals in several of the Alaskian ports (as well as Key West), as well as other stores that are prominent in Caribbean ports. Icy Strait, Whittier and Sitka tend to still be exceptions.  

Edited January 21 by TRLD

[TRLD]

59 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

I thought my first Alaska cruise would be the only one, but I'm going for the fifth time this summer.

 

A lot of people shop for jewelry when they cruise. I don't, but the stores seem to be doing fine without me. I remember being in line at the "shore expert" desk to ask a question when the woman in front of me asked if she would have time to go to Diamonds International after her tour. I said, "Don't worry, there will be one in every port." She replied, "But I don't want to miss any of them!" 

 

Cruises have been going to Alaska for 50+ years, so the independents were serving passengers long before the big Caribbean stores showed up. Ketchikan, in particular, has lots of small jewelry stores. Somehow, they've survived the big competitors.  They lure people in with free gifts. I did go into one of them about 5 years ago. I talked to a guy for a few minutes--I looked at emeralds and alexandrite with no intention of buying, but I got my "sapphire" forget-me-not charm. 

We have done 12 Alaskian cruises as will as several land tours. We have relatives there.

[TRLD]

1 hour ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

I thought my first Alaska cruise would be the only one, but I'm going for the fifth time this summer.

 

A lot of people shop for jewelry when they cruise. I don't, but the stores seem to be doing fine without me. I remember being in line at the "shore expert" desk to ask a question when the woman in front of me asked if she would have time to go to Diamonds International after her tour. I said, "Don't worry, there will be one in every port." She replied, "But I don't want to miss any of them!" 

 

Cruises have been going to Alaska for 50+ years, so the independents were serving passengers long before the big Caribbean stores showed up. Ketchikan, in particular, has lots of small jewelry stores. Somehow, they've survived the big competitors.  They lure people in with free gifts. I did go into one of them about 5 years ago. I talked to a guy for a few minutes--I looked at emeralds and alexandrite with no intention of buying, but I got my "sapphire" forget-me-not charm. 

If you look at business records or talk with the store managers many of the stores in Ketchikan are owned by the same companies that run stores in the Caribbean. They try to keep an Alaskian appearance for competitive reasons, though much of their merchandise gets shipped back and forth when the season end in one area. Few have local owners, some but not many. The main exception is the native corporation owned stores. They have stepped in and started expanding their retail foot print a few years ago.

Edited January 21 by TRLD

[Mary229]

7 minutes ago, TRLD said:

If you look at business records or talk with the store managers many of the stores in Ketchikan are owned by the same companies that run stores in the Caribbean. They try to keep an Alaskian appearance for competitive reasons, though much of their merchandise gets shipped back and forth when the season end in one area. Few have local owners, some but not many. The main exception is the native corporation owned stores. They have stepped in and started expanding their retail foot print a few years ago.

That is true only if you stay on the”strip”. Ketchikan has its own homegrown economy if you step off the strip.  Even some of Creek street is locally owned