These 15 European cities with cruise fees and bans: How will it affect your 2025 voyage

• As Europe prepares for its wave season, how will your cruise look like with the growing number of cities petitioning against the industry?
• Many of these cities have instituted or plan to institute, bans or caps on cruise ships.
• We highlight 15 destinations that are pushing back against cruising.

Europe remains one of the most popular international destinations for Australians to cruise with the Mediterranean and Northern Europe high on our list to visit.

Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, France, Greece, Croatia and Belgium are enforcing new cruise fees and bans in 2025.

But how will this affect your cruise this year?

15 the destinations that are pushing back against cruise

• Venice has banned large cruise ships to the city centre.
• Norway will be banning all non-fuel-efficient ships from visiting its waters. 
• Iceland has seen ships cancel visits due to a significant new tax on cruise ships.
• Nice and Cannes are looking to ban cruises from 2025. 
• Bordeaux in France has begun reducing cruise calls and local officials want to move docking facilities completely out of the city centre. 
• Another French city,  Marseille, is seeing significant demonstrations and protests against cruise ships. 
• Barcelona is instituting new taxes on cruise passengers, as well as discussing cruise caps. 
• Also in Spain, Mallorca is reintroducing cruise caps. 
• Another key Spanish port, Valencia, is planning to ban large cruise ships from 2026.
• The famous destination of Ibiza now has a limit of two ships per day.
• Dubrovnik in Croatia has been steadily tightening cruise caps over recent years. 
• Amsterdam has pushed back on cruise with new caps and potentially moving the port out of the centre of the city.
• Cruise passengers will now need to pay a special tax to visit Santorini and Mykonos.
• The city of Bruges in Belgium has pushed back against cruise, instituting a two-ship limit per day.

How will cruise fees and bans your 2025 cruise?

• If you have a cruise booked that visits Iceland, make sure you check your cruise hasn’t been redirected, as several have.
• For cruises to destinations that have recently put in a cruise or tourist tax, if you’ve already booked your cruise fare, you won’t have to worry about this as the cruise line will cover it. However, if you’re looking for a last-minute cruise to one of those destinations you might notice a slight jump in price as the fee will be built into your fare.
• There are more reports of last-minute cruise itinerary changes as cruise lines shuffle around their port bookings to meet the new caps and limits. This means you might be more likely to experience itinerary changes than in previous seasons.
• While it’s not likely, if protests continue, there is a chance you will encounter protesters outside of your cruise, which could delay disembarkation.
• If your cruise itinerary lists Venice, remember that the port is about an hour outside of the city centre.
• However, overall it’s worth remembering that your cruise experience is unlikely to be overly affected in the short-term, depending on how the opinions and laws of European cities progress, it is impossible cruising itineraries will be more affected in the coming seasons.

Overtourism in Europe

The city of Venice was the first city to ban cruise ships from its city centre.

Other cities like Barcelona in Spain, Amsterdam in the Netherlands and Santorini in Greece soon followed suit. Countries in Scandinavia, now have recently started imposing restrictions, citing concerns of environmental pollution.

A new cruise tax in Iceland, in only a matter of weeks, has already led to a drop of 17% in port bookings in some locations.

With cruise ships looking more and more towards the Caribbean and away from Europe, is cruise really the cause of overtourism in Europe?

Is the cruise industry to blame?

A Cruise Passenger investigation revealed that in cities such as Amsterdam, which is currently putting up a front to cruising, visitors from cruise ships represent less than 2% of their total visitors. 

However, other cities such as Barcelona or Mallorca see higher visitation numbers, with cruises accounting for 32% and 20%, respectively of their total tourist figures.

Many cities view cruise tourists as low-value visitors due to the number of hours they spend in port. But is not reflective of the long-term investment.

Around 63% of those who have taken a cruise say they would return to a destination they first visited via cruise ship. 

Additionally, many cruisers opt to book pre and post-cruise holidays, resulting in longer time spent in port cities and their surrounds.