French mayor’s major compromises on cruise ban – some cruise lines will still be locked out

• The mayor of Nice, capitol of the French Riviera, has backflipped on his proposal for new regulations for cruise lines in the city.
• Rather than limit ships that carry more than 900 passengers, it will now allow ships that carry up to 2500 passengers.
• This allows many more ships than the previous plan but still locks out some cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean.

The new cruise regulations for the French town of Nice will still be going ahead but with major concessions for the cruise industry.

The mayor had previously signed a decree that would limit cruise ship access to only ships that carry 900 or fewer passengers, which would affect all large commercial vessels, allowing only for smaller luxury and expedition ships to enter the port.

The cruise industry quickly issued a plea to reconsider, and it appears their pleas have been heard as Christian Estrosi, the mayor, has announced a significant change to the new regulations. The new plan will allow for ships carrying up to 2500 passengers at a time to visit. 

However, it should be noted that these ships have permission to visit the nearby bay of Villefranche-sur-mer, not the city centre of Nice. Furthermore, only one ship will be allowed at a time. 

This will still affect many ships, with about 25 ships of more than 2500 passengers set to dock at the port this year, but does at least loosen the restrictions that were previously decided on. Therefore, cruisers should still be expecting plenty of reshuffles across European itineraries.

Cruise lines that have larger ships in the region such as Royal Caribbean or Celebrity Cruises will still have vessels too large to visit the port, even after the revised conditions, meaning their future itineraries won’t be visiting Nice anymore. 

Estrosi says this plan looks to strike a balance between “public health interests and supporting the local economy”. 

The new plan also allows for smaller ships, of less than 450 passengers to still call in the centre of Nice.

It should also be noted that it’s not exactly clear if the mayor of Nice has the authority to make these changes. In fact, the mayor of Villefranche has spoken out against the ban and questioned Estori’s authority to make the decision.  

The complexity is that where the ships dock in Villefranche is technically in federal waters, where tender boats will then be used to bring passengers into Nice, creating the confusion as to whether Estori has the authority to limit visitors, and whether the mayor of Villefranche would have any authority to stop it. 

The cruise industry warned Nice after the initial announcements that the suggest regulations would have potential losses of $10USD million locally and up to $600USD regionally.

The final decision shows that the cruise industry still appears to some way over the decision making of European cities, but also highlights the crucial industry challenge of Europe wanting to look towards smaller cruise ships, meanwhile lines like Royal Caribbean keep building bigger and bigger.