Mr. Mike Posted May 21, 2021 Report Share Posted May 21, 2021 Hi, I'm on a cruise in October with a stop n Key West. I'm getting mixed messages about Key West being open for large ships. Anybody know the real story? Thx Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChessE4 Posted May 25, 2021 Report Share Posted May 25, 2021 I think we are all waiting for confirmation when Royal will actually begin departures from US ports. Test cruises are first, then the real deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffB Posted May 25, 2021 Report Share Posted May 25, 2021 On 5/21/2021 at 1:23 PM, Mr. Mike said: Hi, I'm on a cruise in October with a stop n Key West. I'm getting mixed messages about Key West being open for large ships. Anybody know the real story? Thx Mike Not sure I know the "real story" but ........ the voters in key west passed 3 popular ballot initiatives that effectively banned large cruise ships from porting at Key West by limiting the number of cruise passengers allowed to enter through the cruise port to 1300 people. Cruise ships with 1300 or less passengers are welcome according to the mayor who wants to make Key West a small cruise ship destination. Good luck with that. On April 24th, the FL Senate passed Bill 426, known as the "State Preemption of Seaport Regulations", in a 24 to 14 vote. That legislation never advanced to the FL House as the authors withdrew it after state ports objected to it's unintended consequences. and it died. Proponents of limiting the authority of ports to close them to legitimate commerce attached an amendment to a Transportation Bill that did recently pass and is currently on the Governor's desk ..... but it is a political hot potato with environmentalists making their usual claims and FL conservatives arguing they are baseless. To my knowledge he hasn't singed it yet. So, right now, large cruise ships can't go there. Stay tuned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruiseGus Posted May 25, 2021 Report Share Posted May 25, 2021 This seems the most recent Florida Senate passes bill that would overrule Key West cruise ship ban https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2021/04/24/florida-senate-passes-bill-would-overrule-key-west-cruise-ship-ban Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruiseGus Posted May 25, 2021 Report Share Posted May 25, 2021 a little research show this as the most recent article on the subject https://floridapolitics.com/archives/424391-amendment-would-expand-scope-of-port-preemption-bill/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffB Posted May 25, 2021 Report Share Posted May 25, 2021 @CruiseGus, things have more recently changed since Matt posted that. I live in FL and have followed this pretty closely. Proponents of the ban site the envrionmental damage done to the FL keys by the cruise ship industry. Some of those claims are legit but, for the most part, environmentalists aren't able to show much solid data to support that claim. TBF, the initial ballot initiative passed by a 63% margin indicating residents there support the ban. I find it hard to believe that business owners love the idea of reduced traffic in their restaurants and stores. I did see one article that claimed cruise passengers don't spend much when in town. The article claimed cruise ship traffic accounted for just 7% of Key West's revenue. I find that hard to believe. Whatever. Proponents of the ban have accused Desantis of favoring a developer in Key West by muscling the legislation through to his desk as an amendment to a larger transportation bill that would over-rule the Key West ban because the developer contributed heavily to the Desantis gubernatorial campaign. Who knows. Like I said. Political hot potato. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted May 25, 2021 Report Share Posted May 25, 2021 I'm not even sure where things stand with Key West anymore. One minute the bill was "dead", and then it wasnt. I believe it's still in legal limbo, perhaps waiting approval from the Governor? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrB Posted May 25, 2021 Report Share Posted May 25, 2021 Someone was willing to give a $1 million donation to the Governor to influence this issue. It may have backfired in this round, but you can deduce that this is far from over and that sometime in the near future big cruise ships will magically appear in Key West. Too much money involved. If the citizenry of Key West doesn't want us there, and it voted 3 times to that effect, we should respect that. I say "thank you for your hospitality" and let's move on to another port of call. VACruiser 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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