What's up with Key West?

[FWRR3]

It seems the Magic is dropping Key West stops, but they are still on the Wonder intineraries in December.

 

[JWelch62]

DCL still has to work through all the issues with the Wonder in San Diego (modified itineraries, new cruises, etc). It seems they are trying to avoid the Key West legal battles and I suspect that after the SD cruises are managed they will update the Galveston cruise itineraries.

 

[FWRR3]

DCL still has to work through all the issues with the Wonder in San Diego (modified itineraries, new cruises, etc). It seems they are trying to avoid the Key West legal battles and I suspect that after the SD cruises are managed they will update the Galveston cruise itineraries.

Thanks. I'm really sad to see Key West dropped. I was a fun stop on the Magic.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

The commissioners of Key West (and their lawyers) interpret the current bill passed/signed at the state level as prohibiting ballot measures and doesn’t prevent port authorities from regulating their facilities. So the commissioners are drafting ordinances that support the will of the people as expressed in the ballot measure.

The private owner/operator of Pier B also likely will be suing.

 

[Cheburashka]

Thanks. I'm really sad to see Key West dropped. I was a fun stop on the Magic.

Yes, that was a port I always wanted to try, but just didn't get around to it. Now it looks inaccessible via DCL for the foreseeable future. Oh well.

 

[insureman]

This is an interesting article.
https://keysweekly.com/42/will-key-west-accept-5m-for-port-revenue-while-turning-away-cruise-ships/

 

[meryll83]

Unfortunately our Disney Magic itinerary next year will no longer be stopping in Key West, but Nassau instead… I do wonder what ships are going to be permitted to port there still…

The alternative for us may be to the cancel the cruise and drive down to Key West ourselves… we’d booked this one specifically to do Key West, having done Nassau many times already… time to do some more research and planning!

Would love to hear thoughts/ideas from anyone else in a similar situation…

 

[Cruising Engineer]

This is an interesting article.
https://keysweekly.com/42/will-key-west-accept-5m-for-port-revenue-while-turning-away-cruise-ships/

This is a very interesting article in that the City admits the cruise ships added nothing to the local economy. Obviously, the dockworkers/port authorities are not affected by the cruise ship ban and are seeing the economic benefits from tourists arriving by car like the BnBs and shopkeepers. Interesting.

 

[HiStitch626]

Unfortunately our Disney Magic itinerary next year will no longer be stopping in Key West, but Nassau instead… I do wonder what ships are going to be permitted to port there still

Ships cannot carry more than 1300 passengers and there cannot be more than 1500 total in a day from all ships.

The Viking, Crystal, and Regent lines would all fit. Celebrity has a few small ships and perhaps the smallest HAL ships. Princess, Royal, NCL, Carnival, DCL have no ships that will fit now.

 

[ngl]

Unfortunately our Disney Magic itinerary next year will no longer be stopping in Key West, but Nassau instead… I do wonder what ships are going to be permitted to port there still…

The alternative for us may be to the cancel the cruise and drive down to Key West ourselves… we’d booked this one specifically to do Key West, having done Nassau many times already… time to do some more research and planning!

Would love to hear thoughts/ideas from anyone else in a similar situation…

We live on the West Coast of FL and have taken the past 18 months or so to do the driving trips we always said we would do *someday* but other trips, like cruises, always seemed to prevail! Last summer we visited Disney Hilton Head for the first time (we are DVC) and really enjoyed it! For Spring Break, we drove down to Disney Vero Beach (DVC as well) for a few days to break up the drive and then went on to Key Largo for a night (mainly to dolphin rescue place) and then the majority of time in Key West. We have 12 and 10 yr olds so thought it would be a great time to show them KW when the thousands of cruise ship passengers are not around! We had only been to KW as adults before and were a little nervous taking the kids there but it turned out to be amazing and definitely can find family fun. As I mentioned we broke up the drive down by stopping in Vero but did the full 7 hours on the way back. It was long but doable and we are people who always opt to fly if it over 4 hr drive!

 

[chamberlain]

We were supposed to stop in Key West on our Royal Caribbean cruise last January that was cancelled. So I booked an airbnb for 6 days this January. I think we will actually like it better than just a port stop and will get to explore Key West area more extensively. I was nervous about airfare flying into Key West but it actually wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be.

 

[FWRR3]

Unfortunately our Disney Magic itinerary next year will no longer be stopping in Key West, but Nassau instead… I do wonder what ships are going to be permitted to port there still…

The alternative for us may be to the cancel the cruise and drive down to Key West ourselves… we’d booked this one specifically to do Key West, having done Nassau many times already… time to do some more research and planning!

Would love to hear thoughts/ideas from anyone else in a similar situation…

I've driven to Key West a number of times over the years. I've always enjoyed it. I did one Magic cruise that stopped there, and I would take it over Nassau for sure. There are several Wonder cruises coming up in the next six months that are (were?) supposed to port in Key West. I hope they don't substitute Nassau for those.

 

[Ikaikalani]

I used to live in Key West in the 90's. It was such a unique and fun time to be there. Later, when cruise ships arrived, the entire island vibe changed completely. The change was so sudden and so drastic it was almost head spinning. Change is inevitable of course, but this change wasn't for me, so I moved back to Hawaii. It looks like with the new rules now, perhaps Hemingway's 'ol stompin' grounds are gearing up to change once again!

 

[insureman]

I used to live in Key West in the 90's. It was such a unique and fun time to be there. Later, when cruise ships arrived, the entire island vibe changed completely. The change was so sudden and so drastic it was almost head spinning. Change is inevitable of course, but this change wasn't for me, so I moved back to Hawaii. It looks like with the new rules now, perhaps Hemingway's 'ol stompin' grounds are gearing up to change once again!

Hawaii's not so bad.