Windstar Cruises: Ports where “smaller is better”
More and more ports, famous cities and environmentally sensitive maritime areas are banning large and mega ships due to excessive tourism, limiting the number of ships or even the number of visitors.
Although still not very popular, there are cruise lines, such as Windstar Cruises, which have ships that accommodate about 350 guests, similar to yachts and nimble and unobtrusive enough to enter these ports and waterways, thus leaving a minimal footprint on the beaches, national parks and roads of these destinations.
Windstar Cruises launches new all-inclusive solutions
Ports where “smaller is better” but especially allowed are different.
Dubrovnik, has limited both the number of cruise ships and passengers to 8,000 per day. Venice, on the other hand, has limited the size of ships that can visit the harbor and thus pass through the Grand Canal. Bar Harbor has limited the number of monthly and daily guests that can visit the harbor. Key West has limited cruise ship visits and has also determined which port berths are available for use. French Polynesia has banned cruise ships with a capacity of more than 3,500 passengers. Ships with more than 2,500 passengers are allowed to dock in Tahiti and Moorea; while Bora Bora allows only 1,200 passengers per day. Santorini, Greece, has imposed a limit of 8,000 passengers per day. Juneau, finally, is moving to allow only five ships per day to dock and to avoid “hot berthing,” which is when two ships occupy the same berth at different times during the day.
mediterraneo en crucero
Bora Bora
Santorini
Mendenhall glacier national park, Juneau, Alaska, USA
Windstar Cruises, still manages to access these ports and then take its guests to these beautiful destinations due to the small size of its ships, such as Wind Surf, its largest 342-passenger all-suite yachts, Star Pride, Star Legend and Star Breeze with only 312 passengers, or even with one of its motorized sailing yachts, Wind Star and Wind Spirit, with 148 passengers.
Windstar Cruises‘ itineraries on these destinations include. Classic Italy & Dalmatian Coast with a stopover in Dubrovnik, Best of the Balkans with a stopover in Venice; Southeast Canadian Explorations with a stopover in Bar Harbor; Jungles and Jewels of the Central American Coast, with a stopover in Key West; Dreams of Tahiti where she has been sailing for more than 35 years; Treasures of the Greek Isles with a stopover in Santorini and finally Scenic Alaska which takes guests through the Gastineau Channel to and from Juneau.
Windstar-cruises
This is a very important move economically on the part of these destinations, given the significant revenue generated by the many passengers and staff on the large ships. But why is this happening? Some ports are docking up to eight mega-ships carrying tens of thousands of people a day, and because of this, many local destinations are being overwhelmed or the visitor experience is being compromised.
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