Monterey to stop providing port services to cruise ships

[Guest ldtr]

After a City Council vote last night the city will immediately stop providing port services necessary for passengers tendering to the harbor.

 

That will probably stop all future cruise ship visits, the first of which would have been the March visit of Discovery Princess

[startedwithamouse]

Monterey is easy to visit from a San Francisco stop. 

[Guest ldtr]

3 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

Monterey is easy to visit from a San Francisco stop. 

Sure with a one way over 2 hour long drive in good traffic.

 

However this does potentially eliminate one of the relatively few normal California Coastal ports and will require a change for the 19 planned cruise ship stops this year.  Pretty much leaving only Santa Barbara as the only potential port between LA and SF.

 

 

[startedwithamouse]

13 minutes ago, ldtr said:

Sure with a one way over 2 hour long drive in good traffic.

 

However this does potentially eliminate one of the relatively few normal California Coastal ports and will require a change for the 19 planned cruise ship stops this year.  Pretty much leaving only Santa Barbara as the only potential port between LA and SF.

 

 

But it's better for the locals.  They get lots of visitors, to the point Monterey is clogged with people. They don't need ships.

[Italy52]

We are on the 4/8 coastal cruise.  Wondering how long it will take Princess to notify us about our itinerary change.  We will have to cancel our ship sponsored Monterey excursion.  If we are stopping in Santa Barbara, wonder if there will be any excursions to purchase.  We live in Northern California and not really interested in Santa Barbara, but will make the best of the situation. 

Edited February 8, 2023 by Italy52

[cr8tiv1]

1 hour ago, ldtr said:

After a City Council vote last night the city will immediately stop providing port services necessary for passengers tendering to the harbor.

 

That will probably stop all future cruise ship visits, the first of which would have been the March visit of Discovery Princess

 

I am really sad to hear of this vote.  Monterey is such a lovely visit.  You are correct, a long drive from San Francisco.  Rental cars are expensive (not to mention overnight parking, if that is an option).  I do not care for Santa Barbara.  What happened to Santa Catalina stops?  

[Guest ldtr]

14 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

But it's better for the locals.  They get lots of visitors, to the point Monterey is clogged with people. They don't need ships.

They may not need them, but of all the cities that have dropped cruise ships Monterey had the weakest argument.  It was not about crowding after all the cruise ships tend to be there during the off season not during peak times.  Crowding was not mentioned once during the city council discussion.  The fact that cruise ship passengers primarily walk around and hit businesses close to the port was mentioned as a positive.  Monterey only gets 1 ship at a time unlike other ports that were getting several.  Not enough cruise ship passengers to impact the variety of services offered unlike other towns such as Key west where the impact of the cruse ship following businesses made a major impact.

 

Nope in this case pretty much the arguments was the potential of a spill in the future impacting the bay (the supporters pretty much ignored the much larger land based sewage spill involving millions of gallons that occurred just a couple of years ago) and that they did not like the cruise ships impacting the view during the 19 days ships would be in port.

 

Pretty weak points compared to Bar Harbor, or Key West, basically a we do not want them so lets find an excuse no matter how weak it is.

 

I live pretty close to Monterey so have a very good idea of the impact or lack of impact upon the town when a ship is there.

 

As the hospitality industry put it, it is not much, but they do contribute in the off season which helps us maintain employees and staffing that otherwise would not be needed during that time of the year.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 8, 2023 by ldtr

[Guest ldtr]

10 minutes ago, Italy52 said:

We are on the 2/20 coastal cruise.  Wondering how long it will take Princess to notify us about our itinerary change.  We will have to cancel our ship sponsored Monterey excursion.  If we are stopping in Santa Barbara, wonder if there will be any excursions to purchase.  We live in Northern California and not really interested in Santa Barbara, but will make the best of the situation. 

What is funny is the first scheduled stop for a cruise ship in Monterey in 2023 was the March 14 visit of the Discovery Princess.  Nothing was showing earlier than that even before the meeting.

[startedwithamouse]

5 minutes ago, ldtr said:

They may not need them, but of all the cities that have dropped cruise ships Monterey had the weakest argument.  It was not about crowding after all the cruise ships tend to be there during the off season not during peak times.  Crowding was not mentioned once during the city council discussion.  The fact that cruise ship passengers primarily walk around and hit businesses close to the port was mentioned as a positive.  Monterey only gets 1 ship at a time unlike other ports that were getting several.  Not enough cruise ship passengers to impact the variety of services offered unlike other towns such as Key west where the impact of the cruse ship following businesses made a major impact.

 

Nope in this case pretty much the arguments was the potential of a spill in the future impacting the bay (the supporters pretty much ignored the much larger land based sewage spill involving millions of gallons that occurred just a couple of years ago) and that they did not like the cruise ships impacting the view during the 19 days ships would be in port.

 

Pretty weak points compared to Bar Harbor, or Key West, basically a we do not want them so lets find an excuse no matter how weak it is.

 

 

 

 

As a former resident of Monterey, can fully understand why they would do this. 

 

Their sandbox, their rules.  

[startedwithamouse]

10 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

I am really sad to hear of this vote.  Monterey is such a lovely visit.  You are correct, a long drive from San Francisco.  Rental cars are expensive (not to mention overnight parking, if that is an option).  I do not care for Santa Barbara.  What happened to Santa Catalina stops?  

Avalon? Maybe they can revisit that.  Tenders are pricey (not local) as they have to come over from Long Beach. Additionally, they're US wages.

[startedwithamouse]

19 minutes ago, Italy52 said:

We are on the 4/8 coastal cruise.  Wondering how long it will take Princess to notify us about our itinerary change.  We will have to cancel our ship sponsored Monterey excursion.  If we are stopping in Santa Barbara, wonder if there will be any excursions to purchase.  We live in Northern California and not really interested in Santa Barbara, but will make the best of the situation. 

You'll probably have an overnight in San Francisco.  That is what the Ca Coastal cruise prior to yours is doing. 

[cr8tiv1]

5 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

Avalon? Maybe they can revisit that.  Tenders are pricey (not local) as they have to come over from Long Beach. Additionally, they're US wages.

 

I'd rather visit Avalon than Santa Barbara or San Diego.  Yes, they have to use local tenders, but I thought they were based out of Avalon.  AND Avalon could use the tourists.

 

Been there, done that....not that many more places to cruise to on the West Coast.  

[Rick&Jeannie]

25 minutes ago, Italy52 said:

 We will have to cancel our ship sponsored Monterey excursion.

You will not have to do anything...they will cancel it for you.

[Italy52]

@startedwithamouseLast year we sailed with Royal Caribbean and were not able to get into Catalina due to winds.  One of the reasons we booked the Coastal cruise was the fact that we would have a stop in Monterey.  Not happy but will deal with the situation.

[startedwithamouse]

7 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

I'd rather visit Avalon than Santa Barbara or San Diego.  Yes, they have to use local tenders, but I thought they were based out of Avalon.  AND Avalon could use the tourists.

 

Been there, done that....not that many more places to cruise to on the West Coast.  

 

Avalon has never had tenders based there.  They are from Long Beach. 

[Italy52]

3 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

You will not have to do anything...they will cancel it for you.

Aware of that.  Probably should have said that we will be disappointed that our excursion will be cancelled.

[sarellen8385]

We are on the March 11th Discovery sailing and we were notified several weeks ago that we would not be stopping in Monterey. Santa Barbara was added.

[LawDog61]

I expect to see more cities banning cruise ships in the future.  

[vivian02]

Sorry to hear this. I have been to Monterey many years ago with all of my family. In this case the smarter thing to do will be to enjoy a cruise out to those western ports in Hawaii where I can spend some retirement money there. Tim

[cruisingrob21]

1 hour ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

Been there, done that....not that many more places to cruise to on the West Coast.  

There isn't that much variety on the ports visited on Alaska voyages or Mexican Riviera voyages either.  But, this is still disappointing, although not unexpected.  I half expect Santa Barbara to follow suit.

 

There was a time when HAL (and maybe other lines) visited Eureka which is probably too far north for most California Coastal from LA/SD.  On the north side of the coast, Astoria is usually pretty welcoming but sometimes the timing from San Francisco can be challenging as well as the entry across the columbia river bar.  I think HAL also once stopped in Port Angeles, WA.  In the summer months, the Pacific northwest has typically excellent weather.  

 

A long time ago, the original Princess Carla ship did scenic cruising around some mexican islands west of Ensenada.  I also heard that 5 or so years ago Carnival LLC was in talks with the Mexican Government to acquire a portion of an island half way down Baja and turn it into a private island.  Not sure if that will ever happen, but since it was/is a partially functioning military base it seemed the most likely candidate location for such a venture in Baja.

[ebeluga]

Not a Monterey resident.  Given that the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary's presence, potential of ship spill and introducing other species to the bay, I would think it is a legitimate concern.

[SantaFeFan]

3 hours ago, startedwithamouse said:

Monterey is easy to visit from a San Francisco stop. 

 

Not ideal at all. Then people will have to decide between two ports to visit, one a four hour round trip, instead of having both available. Monterey is pretty much dead when ships visit. Overcrowding is NOT an issue. I visit Monterey often. The peak season is well outside the times when cruise ships visit. 

[startedwithamouse]

1 minute ago, SantaFeFan said:

 

Not ideal at all. Then people will have to decide between two ports to visit, one a four hour round trip, instead of having both available. Monterey is pretty much dead when ships visit. Overcrowding is NOT an issue. I visit Monterey often. The peak season is well outside the times when cruise ships visit. 

No, they wouldn't have to choose with a San Francisco overnight. They can visit both. 

[SantaFeFan]

6 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

No, they wouldn't have to choose with a San Francisco overnight. They can visit both. 

 

A San Francisco overnight is not guaranteed, so don't assume as much. Even with an overnight, four hours on a bus would deter many people from visiting.

 

Personally, it makes no difference to me as I can drive to Monterey anytime in a little over an hour, which I do a couple of times per year. Just disappointed for people who will probably visit this area once and will lose out on a beautiful stop. 

Edited February 8, 2023 by SantaFeFan

[startedwithamouse]

7 minutes ago, SantaFeFan said:

 

A San Francisco overnight is not guaranteed, so don't assume as much. Even with an overnight, four hours on a bus would deter many people from visiting.

 

Personally, it makes no difference to me as I can drive to Monterey anytime in a little over an hour, which I do a couple of times per year. Just disappointed for people who will probably visit this area once and will lose out on a beautiful stop. 

Ours was changed to overnight San Francisco, so I'm not assuming anything.