An alternative headline on Symphony of the Seas

[sammy sun 1084]

Hi all, 

I haven't been on the forum for a while, in fact I've not been doing a lot of things for a while due to ill health but I'm starting to get back on my feet so thought would drop in and see what's what.

Actually noticed this article on another forum this afternoon and thought it was quite interesting. It's certainly an alternative headline to the majority of articles I've read on Symphony of the Seas. Instead of discussing the tallest slides at sea this one opts for an environmental approach from the Express - https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/938802/Majorca-tourist-protests-spain-anti-tourism-cruise-ship-british-tourists

I'm sure opinions on this will vary but I guess it depends on your perspective. I do sympathise a little with locals when such humungous ships arrive, however, such visits must surely be boosting the local economy so swings and roundabouts. Are they are truly representative of the vast majority of the population? I'm not to sure but an interesting article nonetheless.

[*Dancing Queen* 394]

Best wishes for your continued recovery back to good health sammy sun.

I too sympathise with the locals but at the end of the day it is the tourist boosting the local economy so they should be careful what they wish for, with more hotels becoming 'all inclusive' they are the kind of tourist who probably won't be spending elsewhere so they might welcome the cruise ships in years to come. 

 

[sammy sun 1084]

Many thanks Dancing Queen, much appreciated.

I tend to agree and do air on the side that it is a minority holding such protests rather than a full representation of the population that benefit so greatly from cruise tourism in the area. Another comment on that thread claimed to have found details that the overall revenue estimated to be achieved from cruise tourism in Majorca last year was 128 million euros. They go on to say that this includes embarkation/disembarkation itineraries but nonetheless, it's an incredible amount.

[2torts 345]

Welcome back sammy sun. I'd have thought that they needed the economic boost from cruise ships & it isn't as though the really huge ones dock there every day. I can see that they might feel as if their town was being invaded by so many people arriving at once but the passengers do scatter themselves around the countryside on various excursions which themselves provide employment for the local people.

[Oldworldtraveller 2225]

Welcome back sammy sun and may your health improvement continue.

[cruise chef 866]

I'm sure they would be moaning even more if the resort suddenly became a ghost town. I appreciate it will be manic for the time the ships are in port but it soon returns to normality when the passengers re-embark (Dubrovnik is another great example), I cant for 1 minute think the local taxis, shops & tour companies have a issue with increased sales

[afcandrew 369]

Welcome back Sammy and thanks for starting an interesting thread.  There is indeed an element of 'don't bite the hand that feeds you' certainly.  Travel and tourism as a whole is however an environmental issue.  Like most of us on this forum, I travel regularly by one means or another so certainly cannot take the high moral ground but sort of understand where these groups are coming from.  Personally, I prefer not to travel on a ship with more than 2000 pax but am surprised how easily many small islands etc seem to absorb 15,000 plus cruise pax.  Perhaps more of an issue environmentally is air travel.  If you ever look at one of the tracker websites (Flightradar for instance) it is truly scary when you see the number of aircraft in a relatively small space of sky at one time!  People the world over want to travel now and I agree that many cities and resorts would lose a huge amount of vital income if they had no tourism at all. 

[smtcan 274]

I wonder what the environmental impact of one mega ship around 5,000 passengers  is compared with two 2,500 passenger ships or five with 1,000 passengers?   This would of course impact the oceans more than the ports because I doubt if they would be in a port at the same time.

i am not advocating for huge ships since one voyage on Quantum of the Seas satisfied my curiosity about mega ships.

Sheila

[mitch 325]

the thing that concerns me about these protests is that the majority of the protesters are not actually locals most of the time.

and the outsiders should leave it to the locals to decide and if they want to restrict numbers etc then their decision must be respected.

that said i do feel that in some cases restrictions do need to be put in place as tourism is having a detrimental effect on some fragile ecosystems.

i think overall we need to consider the good of the planet far more and that needs to be remembered by the nimby's protesting windfarms etc because it spoils their view.

we need far more wind/wave/solar etc to replace fossil fuels. but as with all these things it needs to be done at the top level.

[sammy sun 1084]

On 11 April 2018 at 7:25 PM, Oldworldtraveller said:

Welcome back sammy sun and may your health improvement continue.

Many thanks OWT, hopefully it will continue to do so from now on.

[sammy sun 1084]

On 11 April 2018 at 6:46 PM, 2torts said:

Welcome back sammy sun. I'd have thought that they needed the economic boost from cruise ships & it isn't as though the really huge ones dock there every day. I can see that they might feel as if their town was being invaded by so many people arriving at once but the passengers do scatter themselves around the countryside on various excursions which themselves provide employment for the local people.

Thanks 2torts 

[sammy sun 1084]

On 12 April 2018 at 12:12 PM, afcandrew said:

Welcome back Sammy and thanks for starting an interesting thread.  There is indeed an element of 'don't bite the hand that feeds you' certainly.  Travel and tourism as a whole is however an environmental issue.  Like most of us on this forum, I travel regularly by one means or another so certainly cannot take the high moral ground but sort of understand where these groups are coming from.  Personally, I prefer not to travel on a ship with more than 2000 pax but am surprised how easily many small islands etc seem to absorb 15,000 plus cruise pax.  Perhaps more of an issue environmentally is air travel.  If you ever look at one of the tracker websites (Flightradar for instance) it is truly scary when you see the number of aircraft in a relatively small space of sky at one time!  People the world over want to travel now and I agree that many cities and resorts would lose a huge amount of vital income if they had no tourism at all. 

Thanks afcandrew, nice to be back on my feet again. 

I agree particularly with the final point you make as I just cannot comprehend how many of the world's cities/resorts would go on without the continued revenue they receive from tourism. It's of paramount importance to so many places now that to remove such revenue streams simply wouldn't make sense. I can understand the frustrations of the protestors but I believe it will always come down to business and margins, therefore the money will always come first. Whilst cruise lines continue to bring in major revenue, I cannot see many changes being made. 

[sammy sun 1084]

That said, I do believe there may be further developments on port locations within certain popular travel destinations. The environmental impact on cruise ports such as Venice has raised many eyebrows in the past and a whole host of protests. When such huge ships continue to enter the market, a line has to be drawn somewhere to protect many treasurable destinations that we've visited and loved. How they'll make this work, I do not know but it will be interesting to follow.

[Jenjen 232]

 A few years ago one port was Corfu which I know quite well, in a handbag shop I have visited befor I was talking to owner, he said it was madness that every Tuesday six. Cruise came into port 8000 passengers flood into the town everything very busy, the rest of week very quiet and why could they not make the destionation a port for two ships at a lime.

I did think he had a point, the planners must know the schedule of other ships.

So can understand some unrest, but all the ports like the revenue the ships bring

[mitch 325]

as jenjen says a lot of the time i think its a scheduling matter between the various cruiselines they need to talk to each other or the ports themselves need to say that theres a max no of ships per day. 6 in at the same time in a relatively small port is crazy.

[sammy sun 1084]

This I do completely agree with. The scheduling is an issue, I've seen it many times in the past. Spreading the passenger numbers over various days rather than one lump sum on one day would surely benefit the areas more. People are more likely to spend more time in shops when not overcrowded. Shopkeepers and locals also have more time for people rather than having to flit between so many people. I'd imagine the tourism revenue on the whole would be even greater.

I know it's much easier said than done and scheduling is not a simple matter but I have often wondered how they've got it so wrong in the past. There are so many cruise lines and ships these days, which is great for us in one way as we have so much choice to decide between for each voyage we take. On the other hand, it makes ports so heavily occupied that scheduling must be a logistical nightmare for the port authorities and the cruise lines themselves.

Using your example Jenjen, if the ships were spread out rather than having all on one day, everyone would benefit. The locals re the points I made above, the passengers to feel a more exclusive feel to each destination rather than everyone being there at once, and finally the cruise lines as surely the passenger feedback would be better and the battle for berthing vs tender would more manageable for all parties involved.

Of course, this is just an outsider looking in on an industry that I'm sure is far more complicated than I'm making out but we can but hope.