River Cruise - strange question, maybe 😊

NoodleDoodleMan

Many cruise passengers go DIY in the ports they visit rather than pay the grossly overpriced ship organised excursions.

You also find experienced cruisers who organise non official tours at significantly lower prices than the ship's offers.

Any and all businesses that are visited by cruise tourists benefit financially, regardless of their being on the official or DIY trips.

maman

NoodleDoodleMan said:

Many cruise passengers go DIY in the ports they visit rather than pay the grossly overpriced ship organised excursions.

You also find experienced cruisers who organise non official tours at significantly lower prices than the ship's offers.

Any and all businesses that are visited by cruise tourists benefit financially, regardless of their being on the official or DIY trips.

I live in a cruise port and while the shore excursions do create work for local guides, attractions and coach companies we are noticing that an increasing number of cruise passengers stay local. That may be entirely DIY like visiting local museums, galleries and shops but also choosing the cheaper end of excursions like a guided walk of the city. We put it down to the cost of living crisis. 

Visiting Primark is very popular! 🤣

bagand96

Few years back in Dubrovnik the local airBNB owner gave me the best piece of advice..... "Thursdays there's 4 cruise ships in, get out of Dubrovnik"

martindow

I think the remarks about cruise passengers overwhelming ports with little benefit to local businesses apply more to sea cruises.  I can't imagine that river boat passengers have the same effect on Rhine towns like Cologne for instance.

Hoenir

martindow said:

I think the remarks about cruise passengers overwhelming ports with little benefit to local businesses apply more to sea cruises.  I can't imagine that river boat passengers have the same effect on Rhine towns like Cologne for instance.

Cologne is a City not a Town. 

Eldi_Dos

eskbanker said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Note that even UK law acknowledges that life working on a boat is not the same as working in the local coronership and so certain rules are less stringent 

Seems a pretty niche choice of sector against which to compare!

Opening all hours though.

hildasmuriel

martindow said:

I think the remarks about cruise passengers overwhelming ports with little benefit to local businesses apply more to sea cruises.  I can't imagine that river boat passengers have the same effect on Rhine towns like Cologne for instance.

Yes - should have clarified. I meant the huge behemoths that are the sea going cruises. The river cruises hold fewer than  200 passengers while the others disgorge literally thousands of people into a port. 

When we went to Lisbon this year, there was a definite different feel the day a cruise docked. 😕

NoodleDoodleMan

Although I'm not up to speed on specifics, the governments of the Canaries have reportedly indicated that over tourism is a major conern and are considering limiting the number of tourists that can holiday at any one period across the calendar.

I doubt cruise ship visitors would not be a significant factor in that scenario.

The number of tourists who fly into the Canaries will far exceed the amount of cruise ship day visitors.

The Balearics recognised a similar problem some years ago and introduced a tourist tax to help fund infrastructure projects - again I don't think cruise ships played a big part in the over tourism of the islands.