Another booming destination is talking openly about creating new restrictions for cruise ships. This time, it's Greece.
Saying both Santorini and Mykonos are stressed by tourism, Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said he wants to restrict cruise ship berths or create a bidding process for ships to call at its popular islands.
Both Santorini and Mykonos are "clearly suffering," Mitsotakis said, adding the decision to cap cruise visits can come as early as next year.
"There are people spending a lot of money to be on Santorini, and they don't want the island to be swamped," Mitsotakis said in the report. "Plus the island can't afford it, even in terms of security."
Greece is the second major destination in a month to voice a desire to restrict cruise traffic. Officials in Juneau announced a plan in early June to cap lower berths beginning in 2026, making it the latest in a spate of destinations to restrict or reshape how cruise ships visit their cities, ranging from Venice and Barcelona to Bar Harbor, Maine.
Carnival Corp. CEO Josh Weinstein responded to Mitsotakis' comments, saying his company will work with any regulations Greek officials decide on, just as the company has with other restrictions over the years.
"I don't expect anything incredibly disruptive," Weinstein told investors during the company's Q2 earnings call. "Unfortunately for us, this is just par for the course."
Carnival Corp.'s presence in Greece represents a low-single-digit percentage of the company's product mix, Weinstein said. Despite the small number, Greece is an important destination, he said, adding that the company will continue to work with the country to figure out how to coincide with their needs.
"We do this all the time in lots of places," Weinstein said, pointing to Dubrovnik as an example of the cruise industry and local officials reaching agreement on how to manage cruise traffic.
Carnival Corp., he added, "will continue to partner with local communities who want our economic benefit."
Chris Theophilides, CEO of Celestyal, a Greek cruise line headquartered in Piraeus, applauded the prime minister's stance to manage cruise tourism and made his own suggestions to address overcrowding.
"Increasing measures such as enhanced berth-request systems and scheduled visit times to popular landmarks, such as the Acropolis, will ensure tourists can enjoy marquee destinations responsibly, with fewer crowds and fewer pressures on the local communities," he said.
CLIA has been busy working with communities and cruise lines worldwide to find solutions as concerns about overtourism have increased in recent years.
For instance, CLIA worked with Juneau to develop an agreement between the local government and cruise lines to cap capacity in order to keep passenger growth relatively flat as the community adjusts to record-breaking numbers of cruise visitors.
For Greece, CLIA introduced a five-year action plan to the Greek government last fall that included extending the cruise season, developing a berth-allocation system and destination-management plans.
CLIA did not comment on the prime minister's suggestion that cruise ships should be restricted or that a bidding process be used to dictate berths. However, the association said it supports developing a berth-management system in Mykonos to better distribute cruise ship arrivals with the capacity of the port and the destination in mind.
CLIA did not comment on what could be done in Santorini other than to note that the island introduced a daily 8,000-passenger limit in 2018. Some 800 ships called in Santorini last year carrying 1.3 million people, a 17% increase over 2022, according to the Hellenic Ports Association.
Travel advisors said they can't blame the prime minister for jumping on the bandwagon with other officials who want to restrict cruising.
"The beauty of the islands are just being compromised by how many tourists there are, all coming at once on these big megaships," said Lainey Melnick of Dream Vacations in Austin, Texas, who favors more regulation.
Robin Leonard, owner of Polaris Travel Advisors in Clayton, Mo., said she is encouraged by the work CLIA is doing with destinations to put in guardrails. She expects calls for regulation will become more common in the next few years as cruise capacity increases an estimated 10% between this year and 2028.
"I completely understand where the local governments are coming from in wanting to get a handle on the crowds," she said. "It's a double-edged sword for many of these countries where their economies are dependent on tourism."
Greece has been "extremely" popular among her clients the past few summers. But the overcrowding there has led her to encourage guests to visit in the shoulder season to avoid the largest crowds and heat of the summer, she added.
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Disney World is revamping its Genie Plus skip-the-line service, enabling theme park guests to pay for the attractions they would like to reserve up to seven days in advance if they're staying at a Disney hotel.
Currently, Disney requires guests to make Genie Plus purchases the same day they are attending the park.
Genie Plus will be renamed Lightning Lane Multi Pass. It is also renaming its Individual Lightning Lane service to Lightning Lane Single Pass.
With Lightning Lane Multi Pass, guests can make up to three selections at a theme park prior to their visit. For Disney's most popular park attractions, guests can also reserve Lightning Lane Single Pass attractions in advance.
"We enjoy hearing from guests about all the things they love, as well as how we can make their experience even better the next time," Disney said in a post on the Disney Parks Blog. "At Walt Disney World, guests have told us they would prefer to have the option to do more of their planning before their theme park day."
enie Plus enables guests to access a separate queue, which usually results in a shorter wait than they would experience in the attraction's main queue. The price varies by day and park. The service can be purchased for multiple parks.
Prior to Genie Plus, Disney had employed FastPass, which was a free service that enabled guests to reserve experience times in advance.
When the new system launches July 24, guests will be able to see the experiences and times available prior to purchasing Lightning Lane Multi Pass. They will be able to make three Lightning Lane selections in advance, choosing from available times.
Customers staying at a Disney resort will have first dibs on selections: they can plan Lightning Lane passes up to a week before their visit and for their entire stay, up to 14 days. Other guests can plan up to three days in advance. Selections can be modified, subject to availability.
Similar to the old FastPass system, guests will be able to select one attraction from a group of popular attractions, and two from a secondary grouping of available attractions.
For instance, in the Magic Kingdom, the first group of attractions includes Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Jungle Cruise, Peter Pan's Flight, Space Mountain and Tiana's Bayou Adventure; the second group includes Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Mickey's Philharmagic and the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. On the day of their visit, they can make additional selections via the My Disney Experience app.
Guests with Park Hopper tickets (enabling them to visit more than one theme park per day) can make Lightning Lane Multi Pass selections in advance only for one park. Additional selections can be made at any park subject to availability.
Disney said its app will be updated, making it easier, and faster, to purchase Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Lightning Lane Single Pass. Guests will be able to make the purchases in one transaction, a new feature.
While Lightning Lane Single Pass has a new name from its current iteration, it will function much like it does today, Disney said. Guests can purchase the service to secure a time to ride the most popular attractions at Disney World.
Currently, Individual Lightning Lane is offered for the Magic Kingdom's Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Tron Lightcycle/Run, Epcot's Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, Hollywood Studios' Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, and Animal Kingdom's Avatar Flight of Passage.
Currently, guests staying at a Disney hotel can purchase their first Individual Lightning Lane at 7 a.m. Other guests can make a purchase when the park opens. Starting July 24, guests staying at Disney hotels will be able to purchase Lightning Lane Single Pass up to seven days in advance. Other guests will be able to make a purchase three days in advance.
Prices will continue to vary by date and theme park.
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JetBlue will allow passengers who buy a basic economy fare to stow a carry-on bag in the overhead bin, starting
Sept. 6.
The airline currently allows only an item that can fit under the seat for passengers who purchase its Blue Basic fare.
"The change makes JetBlue's basic economy offering one of the industry's best values for price-conscious consumers," the airline said.
JetBlue also recently announced it will launch service for the first time from Long Island MacArthur Airport (ISP) with tickets on sale now. Starting this October, JetBlue will begin offering flights to Orlando International Airport (MCO), Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) and Palm Beach International Airport (PBI). This new service aims to help better serve the many loyal JetBlue customers living on Long Island, providing them with more convenient travel options to popular destinations in Florida.
