Cruise ship rage as activists campaign for restrictions – ‘The Mediterranean is dying’

Groove Cruise: Ultimate party cruise holiday returns after six years

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Cruise holidays can be controversial. While many tourists relish the chance to explore multiple destinations on one trip, local residents often become fed up with the huge ships dominating the skyline.

In Marseille, France’s second largest city, almost 50,000 people have signed a petition against cruise ships.

The city’s mayor, Benoît Payan, launched the petition in July. It calls for an end to pollution in Marseille’s ports.

At the start of August, Payan tweeted: “The Mediterranean is slowly dying but the giant cruise ship lobbyists want to continue to defile it.

“In Marseille, whether they like it or not, we will continue to fight.”

The mayor has also asked the Minister of Transport to increase and speed up checks on the most polluting ships in Marseille.

In 2018, an air quality monitoring group showed that emissions from maritime sources had surpassed road emissions in Marseille.

Earlier this summer in June, protestors attempted to blockade Marseille’s port to stop the world’s biggest cruise ship entering.

Wonder of the Seas, a Royal Caribbean cruise ship, is longer than The Shard in length and has over 15 restaurants.

Some local residents complain that cruise tourists don’t spend money in their holiday destinations.

As cruise ships have so many restaurants, bars and shops onboard, tourists are less inclined to spend money in the cities they visit.

Laurent Lhardit, a Marseille official in charge of tourism, said that cruise ships bring poor economic benefits.

Lhardit said: “[They] bring poor economic benefits as the stopovers are too short and most cruise passengers stay onboard.

“The Marseille stopover must cease to be considered by the ship owners as a balcony with an unrestricted view of the city.”

Local residents have also expressed anger in Barcelona and cruise tourists are due to be charged higher taxes to visit the Spanish city.

Cruise tourists already pay a tourist tax to visit Barcelona but are set to be charged more under a new initiative.

Activists in Norway have also reacted with anger to the number of cruise ships visiting port cities.

Venice has already enacted a ban on cruise ships, stopping the mega vessels from entering the city’s historic port.

However, some cruise lines have already found a way around the strict rules and have used small motorboats to bring tourists into the city.

Palma in Majorca has also introduced limits to decrease the number of mega ships visiting the Balearic port.

Despite the opposition, cruise holidays remain a popular choice and many British tourists are set to hit the seas this year.

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