Louisiana Cruise Passengers Bracing For Limits on Future Trips
When it comes to traveling the world via cruise ship Louisiana is legendary. In my time on the planet, I have been blessed to travel thousands of miles on cruise ships and I can tell you from New Zealand to Norway and Luxor to Lima cruise passengers from Louisiana have a reputation among the crews that man those large ocean-going cities.
Apparently, the cruise industry knows that when people from Louisiana go on a cruise, they go to have a good time all the time. In fact, there are more than a few tales of Mexican cruises sailing from the Port of New Orleans actually running out of beer before the ship was halfway across the Gulf of Mexico. But alcohol is not what the cruise lines are contemplating limiting.
In fact, it's not the cruise lines that are looking to curtail anything. It's the ports of call. Many ports of call are now contemplating limiting the number of tourists that can visit their cities when cruise ships come to town. Let me put this in perspective for you. The town of Juneau Alaska has a population of 32,000 residents. That town will see more than 1.7 million visitors coming from cruise ships before 2023 is over.
Because of the overcrowding, the town of Juneau is going to limit the number of vessels that can disembark in their city. The current plan is to limit visitors by curtailing the number of large cruise ships that may dock in the city. So, before you book and finalize that Alaskan cruise, make sure you're going to get to stop at the places you think you're going to get to stop.
On the eastern seaboard, there is a similar issue in ports of call like Bar Harbor Maine. That port will be brimming with activity over the next few weeks as tourists flock to the area to see the fall foliage. Bar Harbor actually has an initiative that limits cruise passengers to 1,000 per day. But that action is currently held up in court.
In Europe cities like Barcelona and Amsterdam are considering moving their cruise ports away from the city center to ease congestion. And I can tell you from previous experience, those ports are very busy in both of those towns and yes, they are right in the middle of all the action.
Personally, I think we just need to develop more cruise destinations. How about this for an idea? Sail from New Orleans to Tampa Bay. Then sail from Tampa Bay to Key West. Then take a day at sea to cross the Gulf and pull in at Galveston. Next, take a visit to Cajun Country with a visit to the Port of New Iberia. Finally, they return to New Orleans.
That's a good four or five-night itinerary right there and yes I do have excursions for your New Iberia port of call already planned out, want to see what you could do?
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Gallery Credit: Bruce Mikells