Will the growing anti-tourism lead to problems for Cunard at ports?

[ShipboardSteve]

I am sure we have all seen the various news stories about changes to welcoming cruises in various locations in recent months - Alaska restricting the number of cruise ships and passengers, the changes to limit cruise ships in Venice, the new Spanish anti-tourist and anti-cruise protests, the news today that the tax on cruise passengers in Barcelona will rise substantially, and the protests in the Canary Islands, as well as restrictions in Amsterdam.  All this may lead to changes in cruise itineraries for Cunard in the near future and I wonder what impact it will have on choice of voyages?  Itineraries two years away are published, and many have booked for 2026. 

All this will no doubt lead to careful thinking about the cruises we book, and those we don't. Have these changes affected other forum members in their choices?

[D&N]

44 minutes ago, ShipboardSteve said:

I am sure we have all seen the various news stories about changes to welcoming cruises in various locations in recent months - Alaska restricting the number of cruise ships and passengers, the changes to limit cruise ships in Venice, the new Spanish anti-tourist and anti-cruise protests, the news today that the tax on cruise passengers in Barcelona will rise substantially, and the protests in the Canary Islands, as well as restrictions in Amsterdam.  All this may lead to changes in cruise itineraries for Cunard in the near future and I wonder what impact it will have on choice of voyages?  Itineraries two years away are published, and many have booked for 2026. 

All this will no doubt lead to careful thinking about the cruises we book, and those we don't. Have these changes affected other forum members in their choices?

I read some time ago in the local press that Monaco have a policy of encouraging high value tourism. That means they only want small ships carrying high nett worth passengers that might spend vast sums in their boutiques. They're quite open about not wanting thousands of folk who only want to look at stuff and maybe buy a pizza and drink.

 

Residents around Nice Port don't want any large vessels calling that might deposit soot on their balconies. Other activists want to stop cruise visits at Nice and Villefranche.

 

Further afield similar things are going on at Toulon and Marseilles.

 

Perhaps folk need to think of the ship as their destination.

[MCC retired]

If you look around at all the new ships being built , they are the destination for many cruisers . Itinerary less important to them. 

[NE John]

Don’t forget about the Norway bans and the additional rules that cruise ships must hook up to port electricity while not using polluting engines.  
I believe Cunard ships use port electricity pretty well and are not mega ships in the bullseye of anti-tourist movements.
As mentioned above, the mega-ships are building up and using “private” islands as the main itinerary. The price of going on a mega cruise ship for a family is compelling vs a very expensive Disney visit or a Caribbean resort so those big ships will have their market. 
Also, geopolitical issues have adversely impacted cruise ship itineraries. The Red Sea situation looks dismal. 
Let’s hope Cunard continues to carve out  their market for us to enjoy. 
 

 

Edited July 21 by NE John

[*Miss G*]

I guess I don’t book far enough in advance where this enters into my consciousness to be a consideration. It also helps that I have already been to the ports where the protests are emerging. (And I don’t disagree with their reasoning.)

 

Most of my travels have been on land and cruising, now, just seems to be a way to get where I’m going without having to deal with airports and flights.

 

I do feel blessed that I was able to experience these ports prior to the restrictions and protests. There’s no easy answer but I have confidence that things will settle into their rightful place, and it will become a new normal.

[Germancruiser]

I, too am feeling blessed to have experienced all these ports in the years before- with sometimes only one ship in port. That´s the downside of the cruise boom- every coin has two sides- every year cruise lines cough up another vessel carrying up 7000 pax- well overtourism is the logical follow up.

So if I want to go back to one of those cities I will go before or after season. I, too prefer nowadays many sea days - preferably Transatlantics.

[david63]

A lot of this problem has been self created by the countries themselves by creating the facilities for cruise ships to visit.

 

Take Barcelona for example - they started to build the new massive cruise port around 10 years ago with the final terminal (RCCL) due to open in 2027.

[exlondoner]

In Europe, a lot of the aversion to tourists seems to be against people who stay in accommodation, which is then not available to the local housing market, rather than against cruise passengers, who merely clutter up the place for several hours a day.

[Clewgarnet]

13 hours ago, MCC retired said:

If you look around at all the new ships being built , they are the destination for many cruisers . Itinerary less important to them. 

 

That's certainly the case for me. When I'm booking, I look first for my preferred dates, then my preferred weather, and then for the most sea days. I'm essentially booking a very posh Butlins that occasionally makes a stop somewhere.

 

My QA cruise in a couple of weeks is pretty much my ideal - six nights, with two stops at places that are interesting enough for a day visit but wouldn't tempt me to stay any longer, and allowing me to spend a long weekend somewhere that does interest me enough to stay longer.

[NE John]

3 hours ago, Clewgarnet said:

 

That's certainly the case for me. When I'm booking, I look first for my preferred dates, then my preferred weather, and then for the most sea days. I'm essentially booking a very posh Butlins that occasionally makes a stop somewhere.

 

My QA cruise in a couple of weeks is pretty much my ideal - six nights, with two stops at places that are interesting enough for a day visit but wouldn't tempt me to stay any longer, and allowing me to spend a long weekend somewhere that does interest me enough to stay longer.

That’s why I liked Alaska: 10 nights, four days onboard via sea days and scenic cruising, and interesting ports that are perfect for one day visits. 
A busy itinerary of one stop after another is too busy for me. 
 

 

Edited July 22 by NE John

[foodsvcmgr]

Agree that Cunard ships are somewhat lower capacity than those incurring the most wrath.

Fortunately ships are mobile and itineraries can be adjusted.

Ports unfortunately may have to be dropped at the last minute for protests much like weather conditions.

As one locale wishes to eliminate cruise calls perhaps an opportunity exists for a new and different port to develop and attract tourism, though clearly options are  limited.

[WantedOnVoyage]

One can but hope that these "protesters" never travel or leave home but you might think so, but I could not possibly comment...

 

Then again, we are increasingly "against" cruising whilst were are... cruising.  And increasingly content not to join the 10,000 streaming down the gangway from 4-5 big ships at places we have fond memories of. There are plenty of destinations we can be content to say "I'm glad we saw it when..."  I far more preferred Barcelona c. June 1975 than today for example. And yes, they (and no one else) turned it into a theme park after the Olympics.  Not cruise lines or tour companies. 

 

Greed and economy of scale have wrought the Monster Cruise Liners and they seem to be the final straw for many... both ashore and increasingly afloat, too.

 

The Cruise to Nowhere seems the ultimate resort in every sense of the phrase.  The S.S. FLYING DUTCHMAN might be the newest RCCL behemoth. 

[Victoria2]

Interestingly, our present port Isafjordur is building their cruise dock and will be ‘limiting' number of visitors to 5000 a day, which is up from present numbers.

 

 Area is outstandingly stark and beautiful. Hopefully, by recognising potential issues, the area will remain so.

[david63]

35 minutes ago, WantedOnVoyage said:

The Cruise to Nowhere seems the ultimate resort in every sense of the phrase.

Taking that to it's next logical conclusion is that the ship does not move out of port or, just to save port fees, drops anchor a few miles out to sea for a couple of weeks.

[Clewgarnet]

At least one Virgin cruise has done just that - sailed out of, I think, Portsmouth, went in circles for a day or two, then came back in.

[WantedOnVoyage]

Well... Cunard helped to invent the "cruise to nowhere" in the late 1920s-30s out of New York when they sent their big liners on 2-night "booze cruises" during American prohibition and the "destination" was the bar when the 3-mile limit was crossed.  

 

But, sorry, I know in the QA Era, we are not supposed to talk Cunard history....

[Jim_P]

Who knows, with all this anti cruise ship tourist stuff, perhaps the age of the ocean liner might return where people will go on cruises that have no shore days to travel to destinations. I'd love to be able to travel by cruise ship rather than flying. Given how increasingly horrible flying is, as well as increasingly expensive, is I could see that being an emerging market. Cunard's TA crossings only seem to be getting more popular and selling out much faster.

[Victoria2]

I know the post Covid back to cruising 'sunshine cruises' summer '21 on QE were dictated by the time, but they sold out pretty quickly.

Maybe there is a Cunard market for such. We would sign up for one. 👍

[ShipboardSteve]

This appeared in one of the main news media in the UK a short time ago from Barcelona quoting local newspaper: "

El Pais newspaper: "We are going to propose... substantially increasing the tax for stopover cruise passengers.

"In the case of stopover cruise passengers (less than 12 hours) there is intensive use of public space without any benefit for the city and a feeling of occupation and saturation. We want to have tourism that is respectful of the destination."

[john watson]

10 hours ago, david63 said:

A lot of this problem has been self created by the countries themselves by creating the facilities for cruise ships to visit.

 

Take Barcelona for example - they started to build the new massive cruise port around 10 years ago with the final terminal (RCCL) due to open in 2027.

 

Cruisers have been identified as the villains in these protests but I think cruisers are not a big problem to locals.  The biggest concern local young people have is the increasing prices of local houses.  Often these have been bought up by people to rent out as holiday accommodation thus the supply of local houses available is reduced as the prices get forced up.  The purchasers of local houses could be foreign investors and this also goes against the grain.  Realistically these people are hard to identify however people getting off a ship can be readily identified. Even though they are not really a problem. Tourism authorities need to spread the business deeper into the countries so local cities are not as stressed. I saw a documentary on Venice and the big concern for locals was that when small local shops or businesses came up for sale they were converted to holiday accommodation denying locals of basic needs like a corner shop shoe menders etc. . Another factor which makes things worse is where the tourist season is long.  If the season lasted three months only then making a house a tourist let will be difficult to justify.

 

Regards John

Edited July 22 by john watson

[NE John]

From CNN in the US today:

https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/22/travel/mass-protest-on-spanish-island-mallorca-calls-for-limits-on-tourism/index.html
 

Mix of complaints about cruise ships and vacation homes. 

[Winifred 22]

4 hours ago, Victoria2 said:

I know the post Covid back to cruising 'sunshine cruises' summer '21 on QE were dictated by the time, but they sold out pretty quickly.

Maybe there is a Cunard market for such. We would sign up for one. 👍

I really enjoyed those cruises as someone who loves sea days they ticked all the boxes for me. Did 1 Cunard and 3 P &O went up the West coast to Scotland and Isles  three times. Even did one the following year on QV  for 4 nights. Have booked one on QM for 2026 too. 

[TowandaUK]

18 hours ago, Clewgarnet said:

At least one Virgin cruise has done just that - sailed out of, I think, Portsmouth, went in circles for a day or two, then came back in.

We have a 2 nighter booked on QM2 in 2026. It just cruises along the Jurassic coast for a couple of days and returns to Southampton. We are using it as a taster for QM2. It is immediately after a dry dock so we are aware that it could be cancelled if the dry dock over runs. 

Prior to a voyage to Norway last year I was most concerned about anti tourist protests and posters reported in the news. We never had any problems whatsoever, and never saw a single poster despite prior warnings that they would be plastered everywhere in the ports. 

[exlondoner]

5 minutes ago, TowandaUK said:

We have a 2 nighter booked on QM2 in 2026. It just cruises along the Jurassic coast for a couple of days and returns to Southampton. We are using it as a taster for QM2. It is immediately after a dry dock so we are aware that it could be cancelled if the dry dock over runs. 

Prior to a voyage to Norway last year I was most concerned about anti tourist protests and posters reported in the news. We never had any problems whatsoever, and never saw a single poster despite prior warnings that they would be plastered everywhere in the ports. 

I wonder how close in you will come. Perhaps I’ll be able to wave from the cliff top.

[TowandaUK]

6 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

I wonder how close in you will come. Perhaps I’ll be able to wave from the cliff top.

We live 30 mins from the Jurassic coast so know it well shoreside. It would be good to see it from the sea, but the main reason for going is to try out QM2, we’ve been on Anne, and have Victoria booked, but would like to try QM2.