Cannes Bans Port Calls by Large Cruise Ships

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cannes, famous for its annual film festival, wants to see cruise ship port calls become “less numerous, less big, less polluting and more aesthetic,” according to a resolution passed by city council members, who are set to ban cruise ships with more than 1,000 passengers from visiting the French Riviera port city.

“Cannes has become a major cruise ship destination, with real economic benefits,” Cannes Mayor David Lisnard said in a press statement. “It’s not about banning cruise ships, but about regulating, organizing, setting guidelines for their navigation.”

Cannes receives about 3 million visitors per year, of whom 320,000 are cruise ship passengers. Cruise lines that make port calls in the city include Royal Caribbean, MSC Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, Virgin Voyages, Windstar and Celebrity Cruises.

The large-ship ban in Cannes is slated to take effect on Jan. 1, 2026. The legislation also calls for capping daily cruise visitors at 6,000.

Both limits would severely restrict the ability of cruise lines to make port calls in Cannes. The average capacity of a cruise ship now stands at around 3,000 passengers, and some “mega ships,” like Royal Caribbean’s Oasis class vessels, can carry 6,000 or more passengers. Only a relative handful of ships now operating in the Mediterranean, such as those in the Windstar fleet, fall under the 1,000-passenger cap.

The Cannes announcement comes amid a wave of anti-tourism sentiment that has been building in Europe in the last few years. In Italy, Venice has banned large cruise ships from the city center, and Amsterdam, Barcelona, and Nice have also made moves to limit cruise visitation.

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In January, for example, the mayor of Nice, also located on the French Riviera, prohibited cruise ships with more than 900 passengers from disembarking at the port of Villefranche-sur-Mer. This was later amended to allow a total of 65 cruise ships carrying a maximum of 2,500 passengers to enter the bay annually, but only one at a time.