Invasion of cruise ships and riverboats

I’ve never been on a river cruise but I have always wanted too. It’s on the list when we’re older and less mobile. I’m not a cruise ship guy but have done one. Now I can complain. [wow.gif]

The last couple of trips to Europe we’ve seen a tremendous increase in the number of people in the “off season” which is normally much less busy. We were in Florence last year and couldn’t get into the Domo because two cruise ships had booked all the tickets for 3 days. The place was PACKED in April…

Then we were in Cinque Terre in October of this year, love the place, for our second visit. We were here 7 years ago at the same time. Wow, easily twice as many people visiting the little villages on the seaside and there’s no way they’re all staying in the towns, they were on tours but from where? When we left we headed south and saw two cruise ships parked in La Spieza. Ahh… They day trip to Cinque, Lucca, and Pisa on the train. Super easy.

In Budapest I saw a nice Viking river cruise boat and went down to look it over. Very nice. Then we took the trolley along the river and saw 3 Viking and 2 Uniworld ships docked. Oh my, and the buses. There were 20 high end Viking buses running contantly around town or lined up near the ship.

Then we’re in Prague and I thought it was August. I couldn’t believe how crowded it was on the weekend between euros which only takes them an hour flight and huge tours of American, Korean, and Chinese. It was amazing.

I even saw a Viking Cruise tour bus in Prague, WTF? LOL

The world is getting smaller.

Economy is strong more people traveling. Cruises are an easy way to do this.

Most ports have searchable calendars so you can see how many ships and how many people are in port on a given day. Always worth a look when making plans where there is going to be a high concentration of tourists.

George

One of several reasons we are likely going to skip Dubrovnik on a trip to the Balkans next summer.

Really liked Dubrovnik. I wouldn’t skip it but maybe see if you can find a day where Cruise ship traffic is low.

George

The local merchants hate them, I’m told, especially in smaller ports like Orkney. The tourists from the cruise ships come ashore for their excursions, but in general spend almost nothing in local businesses. So the tourists who might keep local shops and restaurants thriving are pushed out by patrons who contribute nothing. It’s tough.

While in Prague, drinking a beer overlooking the city from a monastery, we met a couple from Pittsburgh that had just left Dubrovnik where they spent two weeks. Said they didn’t leave the apartment when the cruise ships were in port. Crushing.

Yes, but the pesky tourists return to their ships at night. We spent 4 days in Dubrovnik. It’s a very beautiful place.

Juan wanted to do a River Cruise…

The Rhine is still a bucket list item, as was the Cinque Terre. Sounds like one might be now unworthy.

Brig, Florence can be pretty darned nice in April. Went there in February and the crowds were minimal. No problem with tourist sites or museums. And the Arno is navigable? [wink.gif]

Interesting NY Times piece on “over-tourism in Europe

“At the end, this story is just a numbers problem,” Mr. Tourtellot said. He noted that in 1960, when the jet age began, around 25 million international trips were taken. Last year, the number was 1.3 billion. As for the cities that are the major destinations? They are “the same size they were back in 1959, and they’ll probably stay that way,”

I just visited Barcelona in September. Two large cruise ships in the harbor. The old city was over-run with several thousand Americans. The Rambla almost resembled Bourbon Street. The Boqueria was mobbed. By dinner, I guess they were all back on the boats because restaurant reservations weren’t that hard to come by.

RT

You might not be able to view this in the US, but on the offchance, it’s a small article about the cruise ships and mass tourism’s effect on Venice

Most striking was the film comparison of tourist volumes now vs. times gone by.

Wider than this…

I love planning holidays. It generates anticipation and even excitement, plus it makes the place seem more familiar and less imposing than without such planning. That planning isn’t a tightly scheduled itinerary, quite the opposite. It’s more like a crib sheet so I have ideas at every turn, so we can either follow our noses to somewhere we stumble across that looks interesting, or head towards other nearby alternatives.

That feels like the opposite to those that enjoy cruises (or the coach tour alternatives). Turn up for the departure, then on arrival take a choice amongst the pre-planned / organised options. Rinse and repeat. I can see that appeal, of seeing lots of different (and famous) places, but without having to give anything any great thought. In the same way I can see the appeal of just turning up at a beach resort and switching off completely. It’s simple. Neither approach holds any interest to me, but I do see why they are popular.

I’m rather torn. If those same tourists split away from the big tourist destinations, and visited the places I like, then they’d start feeling more like the disneyland that the big tourist sites have become. I’m torn because a part of me is happy to ‘sacrifice’ Rome, Venice, Florence and even the likes of San Gimignano, Verona and Cinque Terre to mass tourism. I love Italian culture (with its many failings accepted as a part of the whole) and this is best experienced away from the menus in 5 languages offering spaghetti bolognese. Maybe that is wrong of me to consign such places to the rubbish bin that mass tourism inflicts. I do feel some guilt in thinking them as a necessary evil to protect what I love.

Coming back to the cruise ships, what is absolutely unacceptable, is the effect of their huge bulk in causing wake-related erosion to the city. They are destroying what they are bringing people to see. It is ludicrous they have been allowed so close for so long.

Stay away from the travel brochure destinations. If its on the cover of a big travel consolidator’s catalog, you probably can find someplace as nice or better with less crowds.

For every Cinque Terre, there is a Ravello.
For every Venice, there is an Isle Sur la Sorgue

We just got back from two weeks in Provence. Aside from Avignon, a docking port on the Rhone, we saw no river boats and the trip was wonderful without crowds.

Stopped vacationing in Key West for this reason. Place became a daytime zoo. Many locals loved it for the business traffic it brought.

I visited retired friends on Key West this past Winter. First time there. 2 Cruise Ships landed. My friends are fairly insulated, living on the opposite side of the island. The west side was insanity. 30 minute line to take a photo at the southernmost point buoy?

RT

After 9 summers visiting Santorini, we will likely move on next year because the daily influx of cruise passengers during summer has grown so much as to make the island intolerable. The infrastructure is crumbling from overuse. Roads are jammed with tour busses and idiots on 4 wheelers. The government recognizes the problem, but the merchants are pushing back at proposals to limit cruise ship traffic.

It is interesting to me how most of you think you are not tourists contributing to an overcrowding problem. I guess your sh*t does not smell.

I think folks are talking about bulk deliveries. Cruises, bus lines, river boats with that mass of baggy khaki pants and fanny pack wearing hoard with big hats stumbles on shore in search of gelato.

What a horrible post. Can you next give us your stereotypes of Blacks and Hispanics.

You make my point - somehow you think that you are above and better than these people. You are just another tourist that make the place more crowded and that wears tacky clothing, etc. I guess you have never purchased gelato anywhere? I guess you somehow believe that if people did not travel by cruise ship, they would stop traveling. If there were no cruise ships, you would be complaining about how hard it is to find a hotel or a restaurant reservation in these place because these people have money and would be traveling in a different way.

You may not realize it, but your sht stinks also, although you obviously think you are hot sht.

Don’t let the stock market get you down Howie.

Could you possibly be any more self absorbed?