Amsterdam to ban Cruise Ships

[castle25]

All over the various news outlets here.  Will be a problem for RCI as Jewel OTS homeports for part of the summer.

[JasonOasis]

This decision here also comes on the heels of the government winning a case in court that will allow them to restrict the number of movements (takeoffs/landings) at Amsterdam Schiphol International Airport (AMS).  The government has already restricted AMS to 460,000 movements per year this restriction prompted KLM Dutch Airlines and I think the airport itself to file a lawsuit which they lost.  Now starting in later this fall (IATA winter season 2023-2024) the government will further reduce AMS's movements down to 440,000 per year with no plans to increase it.   For a point of reference back in 2019 AMS had around 496,000 movements for the entire year that number beginning October 31 2023 will be capped at 440,000. The whole point of this according to the local government is to reduce both noice and air pollution but also limit the  number of tourist coming into Amsterdam.  According to local officials Amsterdam averages over 1 million visitors (tourist) each month, which surpasses the cities local population of 800,000 residents they are looking to rein that in.  If the government can win it case against KLM and AMS airport they for sure can shut down the cruise terminal and depending on the speed at which they move this could impact multiple cruise lines starting next summer or at the latest 2025.

I'm in Rome right now on vacation and I've avoided all the tourist hotspots mainly because I've seen them as I was here last in 2018 and was even here in 2010, even still with avoiding all the hotspots Rome is crowded.  But talking to locals both in the city and we've ventured outside the city they all seem to enjoy the money tourist like myself bring in but just wish there were less of a crowd especially during the summer months. 

[smokeybandit]

Here's a different article that paints a different picture.

“There is no immediate closing of the terminal. The council’s call is to relocate the terminal – and we await a follow up from the alderman on investigations,” he wrote in an email response.

 

https://apnews.com/article/amsterdam-overtourism-cruise-ban-pollution-a810a19f5ef93e8da172ead35ee26c8f

 

But this is the same country that is forcing 3000 farms to close.

[Ray]

An Article i read stated that the council want to build a new bridge but to do so they must relocate cruise terminal.

 

 

[steverk]

I'm not sure exactly what this will mean, or what changes will come, but suddenly my 2024 cruise looks dicey.

Amsterdam to Bar Cruise Ships From Central Terminal - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

 

[smokeybandit]

I wouldn't spend a single brain cell worrying about your 2024 cruise.  It'll be a couple years before anything changes. And when (or even if) they make changes, you'll just go to a different terminal outside of the city center.

[karl_nj]

They claim it has to do with the environment, but this is actually going to be worse for the environment. If they cared about the environment, they would keep the cruise port where it is but mandate that the ships connect to land power when docked. Instead, what is going to happen is the ships will end up docking 30 minutes away, and then in addition to the cruise ship emissions, there will also be all the bus emissions and extra traffic to move cruise passengers from the nearby port to the city center.

They actually just want to build a new bridge, but they don't want to spend the money to build it high enough so cruise ships can pass under.

 

[Phillip Diamond Plus]

With a potential closing of the Amsterdam cruise port at the Central Train Station, are there any alternate cruise ports outside of central Amsterdam?  If so, where are they?

[Phillip Diamond Plus]

To maybe answer my question:  It looks like Rotterdam is only about a 35-40 minute drive from the Amsterdam airport.  Rotterdam has a huge industrial port and could maybe support several cruise ships home-ported there. 

  Also Zeebrugge is another very large industrial port and It looks like it's only about 1 :10  from the Brussels airport.  

 It seems that Industrial ports would not mind the added pollution.     What do you think?

[Ray]

18 hours ago, Phillip Diamond Plus said:

With a potential closing of the Amsterdam cruise port at the Central Train Station, are there any alternate cruise ports outside of central Amsterdam?  If so, where are they?

Not yet but there will be once they build it.

[JasonOasis]

https://www.cruisehive.com/amsterdam-makes-huge-move-and-bans-cruise-ships/107115

Above is a link to an article that state Amsterdam's city counsel did in fact pass a resolution that would in fact ban all ocean bound cruise ships from docking at Amsterdams cruise port.  The ban would not affect any of the numerous river cruises they would still be welcomed with open arms into Amsterdam. According to one city counsel women she called cruise ship passengers locust who only go visit the Red Light District.  She voted for a straight out ban while others voted for a ban but would like to see the port moved so cruise ship passengers can still visit Amsterdam.

 However this is where things get interesting although the City Counsel has voted to ban cruise ships they don't have the actual power to actually ban cruise ships because the port is owned by the municipality and they can't move the port either as others in counsel have suggested because that involves other municipalities.  To completely shut down the port in Amsterdam city center city council would need the municipality to take their motion and translate it into an actual law.  Creating, drafting, and passing new laws takes years (just like it does here in the US) and without a new law this resolution has no power and City Counsel has no authority to shut down the port.  What seems like a more plausible solution is instead of shutting down the port completely they may just reduce the number of calls at the port, which is something the municipality did back in 2016 when they reduced the number of calls from 300 down to 190. 

[rjweber3]

On 7/21/2023 at 5:15 PM, Phillip Diamond Plus said:

With a potential closing of the Amsterdam cruise port at the Central Train Station, are there any alternate cruise ports outside of central Amsterdam?  If so, where are they?

We cruised from Amsterdam in May on the X line. We disembarked in Rotterdam. The next cruises seemed to be using Rotterdam also. 

No big deal. 30-45 minute bus ride to AMS Schiphol. Actually better scenery also. As another poster said, above, it's very industrial. But if you can cruise from Newark or LA, you can do so from Rotterdam.

[Fuzzywuzzy]

"Locust who only go to the red light district" 

Aren't they concerned about how this ban will financially affect these essential workers?

Geez.

[teddy]

Quote

Locust who only go to the red light district

“If you build it, they will come”

 

 

[RafaellaCG]

I think Jewel is moving to Haifa next summer anyway.

[Ray]

On 7/27/2023 at 10:52 PM, Fuzzywuzzy said:

"Locust who only go to the red light district" 

Aren't they concerned about how this ban will financially affect these essential workers?

Geez.

These jobs have their ups and downs just like any other job  

[Mr.Cruiser]

58 minutes ago, RafaellaCG said:

I think Jewel is moving to Haifa next summer anyway.

There are still cruises on Jewel starting in Amsterdam next summer so I hope they can stick to the plan.

[Ditchdoc]

As cruise ships get bigger and bigger with thousands of passengers and sometimes 2 and 3 ships in port at the same time, the sudden influx of 10, 15 thousand or more passengers puts a tremendous strain on port city'. Infrastructure, traffic, embark/debark hotels, restaurants, public transportation and so on. Amsterdam, Venice, Vancouver, Key West and others have had issues. Having lived in vacation resort town, I can sympathize with all the above not to mention high prices year round.

[Ray]

4 hours ago, Ditchdoc said:

As cruise ships get bigger and bigger with thousands of passengers and sometimes 2 and 3 ships in port at the same time, the sudden influx of 10, 15 thousand or more passengers puts a tremendous strain on port city'. Infrastructure, traffic, embark/debark hotels, restaurants, public transportation and so on. Amsterdam, Venice, Vancouver, Key West and others have had issues. Having lived in vacation resort town, I can sympathize with all the above not to mention high prices year round.

I'm patiently waiting for the Amsterdam City council to inform Eufa that they no longer wish to hold finals of football competitions in the City. 

4 cruise ships with 4000 passengers each = 16k tourists for  day.

Champions league final = 50-60k tourists for up to 4 days.

 

[Crown&AnchorEsq]

Amsterdam/Netherlands at large are trying to get away from the tourist/party culture that made Amsterdam what we think of today.  They ran a big campaign about six months ago to discourage stag party/hen party/bacherlor(ette) parties and cruise ships are the next target.  There's an ebb and flow to all things, Amsterdam is just finding that they were too successful in attracting tourists and are trying to discourage it now.

As discussed, ships will still go the the Netherlands, most likely via Rotterdam.  Not as nice, but its no different than the lines moving to Ravenna when Venice banned cruise ships a few years ago.