Which cities limit cruise ships and passengers?
Last updated · schedules published by 28 September 2026
Juneau caps cruise capacity at 16,000 lower berths a day, Bar Harbor at 1,000 passengers ashore in July and August, Palma at three ships and 7,500 summer passengers a day from 2027, and Dubrovnik at about 8,000 a day. Barcelona is closing two terminals, Amsterdam allows 100 calls a year, and Venice bars large ships.
At least eight cruise destinations now limit ships or passengers, and no two count the same way. Juneau caps lower berths, Bar Harbor caps people ashore, Palma caps ships and passengers, Amsterdam caps calls a year and Venice caps ship size. Each limit below links to the document or report that sets it, checked on 2026-10-03, with Port Day's 2027 scheduled capacity beside it where our coverage is complete.
Which cities limit cruise ships and passengers?
Juneau, Bar Harbor, Santorini, Palma de Mallorca, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Dubrovnik and Venice all limit cruise traffic, each in a different unit: lower berths, passengers landed, ships a day, terminals, calls a year or ship size. Key West voted for limits in 2020 and lost them to Florida law, and Sitka voters rejected a cap in 2025.
| City | Limit | From | Port Day 2027 peak month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Juneau, Alaska | 16,000 lower berths a day Sunday to Friday, 12,000 on Saturday | 2026 season | 355,478 lower berths in August, 74% of the monthly allowance |
| Bar Harbor, Maine | 1,000 passengers disembarking a day; enforceable in July and August only | Ruling of 15 May 2026 | Not shown: 2027 schedules incomplete |
| Santorini, Greece | 8,000 visitors a day reported since 2018; 30% of tendered passengers via Athinios | Tender rule 2026 | Not shown: European lines missing (see below) |
| Palma de Mallorca, Spain | Three cruise ships a day; 8,500 passengers a day June to September, 7,500 in 2027 to 2029 | 2027 | Not shown: European lines missing (see below) |
| Barcelona, Spain | Cruise terminals cut from seven to five | By 2030 | Not shown: European lines missing (see below) |
| Amsterdam, Netherlands | 100 sea cruise calls a year | 2026 | Not shown: European lines missing (see below) |
| Dubrovnik, Croatia | 8,000 passengers a day in most cases; two ships berthed plus one at anchor | Port policy | Not shown: European lines missing (see below) |
| Venice, Italy | Ships over 25,000 GT, 180 m or 35 m air draft barred from St Mark's Basin and the Giudecca Canal | 1 August 2021 | Not shown: European lines missing (see below) |
| Key West, Florida | Voter limits of 2020 voided by Florida law | 1 July 2021 | 69,728 lower berths in March |
| Sitka, Alaska | Proposed 4,500 a day; rejected by 72.8% of voters | 28 May 2025 | 129,522 lower berths in June |
Cruise limits checked against their sources on 2026-10-03. Port Day figures are scheduled lower berths, refreshed weekly; European ports are left blank until our coverage there is complete.
The unit matters more than the number. Juneau counts available lower berths, so a ship counts at double occupancy whatever it actually carries. Bar Harbor counts people stepping ashore. Palma and Dubrovnik count passengers and ships. Amsterdam counts calls over a year. Venice limits ship size. A destination checking its schedule against a cap has to count in the cap's own unit, which is why Port Day reports lower berths and ship calls separately.
What is Juneau's daily cruise passenger cap?
Juneau limits cruise port calls to 16,000 available lower berths a day from Sunday to Friday and 12,000 on Saturday, from the 2026 season. The City and Borough of Juneau agreed the limit in May 2024 with Carnival Corporation, Disney Cruise Line, NCL and Royal Caribbean Group. The city can approve days above the weekday limit.
- Scheduled lower berths
- Cap, summed over the month
An earlier 2023 agreement with the same four companies limits them to five ships carrying more than 950 passengers on any one day, from 2024. In Port Day's count of published schedules, Juneau's busiest month in 2027 is August, with 355,478 lower berths against 480,000 allowed across the month. The detail is in the Juneau 2027 guide.
How does Bar Harbor limit cruise ship passengers?
Bar Harbor, Maine, allows no more than 1,000 cruise passengers to disembark in a single day, under an ordinance voters passed in November 2022. On 15 May 2026 the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine held the cap unenforceable in every month except July and August. A motion to amend that judgment is still pending.
- American Cruise Lines
- Norwegian Cruise Line, grandfathered
Chief Judge Lance E. Walker found the cap not clearly excessive in the peak summer season but excessive in the shoulder months. The town pier takes only American Cruise Lines, whose ships carry 99 to 130 lower berths. Its 2026 schedule lists 55 American Cruise Lines calls plus twelve grandfathered calls by Norwegian Breakaway and Norwegian Jewel, booked in 2020. The town has not published a 2027 schedule, and Port Day's 2027 data for Bar Harbor is still missing most American Cruise Lines sailings, so no 2027 figure is shown.
What limits apply to cruise ships in Santorini?
Santorini has limited cruise visitors to 8,000 a day since 2018, according to Cruise Industry News, and in June 2026 the Municipal Port Fund of Thira capped the share of tendered passengers landed at Athinios at 30%, with 70% through Ormos Fira. Greece also charges cruise passengers €20 a head at Santorini from June to September.
The 8,000 figure was reported in 2018 as a cut from 12,000 the year before; we found no official document that states it, and no source for the common claim that ships count at full occupancy. The 2026 tender rule follows the 2025 seismic crisis and carries fines and suspensions. The Greek cruise passenger fee, in force since 21 July 2025, is €20 at Santorini and Mykonos from June to September, €12 in April, May and October, and €4 in winter.
How many cruise passengers can visit Palma de Mallorca?
Palma de Mallorca allows three cruise ships a day. Its daily passenger allocation from June to September falls from 8,500 to 7,500 in 2027, 2028 and 2029, under a renewed agreement between the Balearic Government, Palma City Council and CLIA. The cut is about 30,000 fewer passengers a month in summer.
The agreement was reported by CruiseMapper in June 2026, citing CLIA's forecast of about 1.4 million cruise passengers in Palma for 2026. Port Day leaves Palma blank in the table: TUI Cruises, Marella and AIDA carry a large share of its calls, and none of them is in our data.
How is Barcelona reducing cruise ship capacity?
Barcelona will cut its cruise terminals at the Moll Adossat from seven to five by 2030, under a protocol signed on 17 July 2025 by the Ajuntament de Barcelona and the Port de Barcelona. Three terminals are replaced by a single new Terminal C for 7,000 passengers at a time, opening in 2028.
Per the city's announcement, the Barcelona Sud terminal closes at the end of 2026 and the project costs €185 million. Catalan News put the change at 37,000 to 31,000 passengers a day; the city release gives no daily figure. On 25 September 2026 the city council initially approved raising the levy on cruise passengers staying under 12 hours from €11 in 2026 to €18 in 2027 and €30 by 2030, subject to a final vote.
How many cruise ships can call at Amsterdam?
Amsterdam limits sea cruise ships to 100 calls a year from 2026, and plans to move its cruise terminal from the Veemkade in the city centre to the Coenhaven by 2035. The city also halved river cruise calls and limited the Passenger Terminal Amsterdam to one sea cruise ship a day.
The Maritime Executive reported 111 sea cruise calls scheduled for 2024 and a previous municipal ceiling of 190 a year. The amsterdam.nl pages did not load for verification on 2026-10-03. Port Day's 2027 schedules list 62 calls at Amsterdam by ocean ships of 10,000 gross tons or more, but that is a floor, not an answer: AIDA and TUI Cruises call there and are missing, and lines sometimes label IJmuiden calls as Amsterdam.
How many cruise passengers can visit Dubrovnik a day?
Dubrovnik limits cruise passengers to 8,000 a day in most cases, according to the Port of Dubrovnik Authority, and books ships on a two-plus-one principle: two large ships berthed at the port and one at anchor off the Old City. The port says only 18 of 243 cruise days exceed 8,000 passengers.
The port authority also argues that counts should not use full ship capacity, because ships sail at about 85% full. That is the opposite convention from Juneau, which counts every available lower berth. The City of Dubrovnik's 2019 agreement with CLIA set the "Respect the City" programme but publishes no number of its own.
Which cruise ships are banned from Venice?
Since 1 August 2021, Italian decree-law 103 bars ships over 25,000 gross tons, longer than 180 metres or with an air draft above 35 metres from St Mark's Basin, St Mark's Canal and the Giudecca Canal in Venice. Large cruise ships now use Marghera, Fusina or other Adriatic ports such as Trieste and Ravenna.
The decree-law also bans ships burning fuel with 0.1% sulphur or more while manoeuvring there, and declares the waterways a national monument. Cruise line schedules usually say "Venice" whichever terminal a ship uses, so Port Day groups Venice, Marghera and Fusina together and does not split them.
Why did Key West's cruise ship limits fail?
Key West voters approved cruise ship limits by referendum in November 2020, and Florida voided them the next year. Section 311.25 of the Florida Statutes, added by Senate Bill 1194 from 1 July 2021, preempts any local ballot measure that restricts ships by size, number or passenger count at a state-funded port.
The statute applies to measures adopted before or after it, so Key West's 2020 votes have no effect (bill history). Key West therefore has no passenger cap, and Port Day's count shows 201 ship calls and 544,330 lower berths scheduled there in 2027, busiest in March.
Did Sitka vote to cap cruise passengers?
No. On 28 May 2025, Sitka voters rejected a cruise cap by 2,071 votes to 773, or 72.8%, in a special election. The measure would have limited ships carrying more than 250 passengers to 4,500 passengers a day and 300,000 a year, with one ship-free day a week, from May to September.
The result was reported by Seatrade Cruise News, citing the City and Borough of Sitka. Port Day's count for 2027 shows 340 ship calls and 629,244 lower berths at Sitka, with June the busiest month at 129,522.
Why are European capped ports left blank here?
Port Day misses several European cruise lines entirely: TUI Cruises and Marella, AIDA, Saga, Fred. Olsen and Hapag-Lloyd. In the Port de Barcelona open data for 2026-09-29 to 2026-10-09, 14 of 41 cruise calls came from ships not in Port Day. Counts for Santorini, Palma, Barcelona and Dubrovnik would therefore read low.
The missing ships in that window were Aidacosma, Clio, Corinthian, Europa 2, Marella Discovery 2, Mein Schiff 2, Mein Schiff 6 and Mein Schiff Flow. Until those lines are added, Port Day shows European capped ports only in a quote, with the gap stated.
Key takeaways
- Juneau caps cruise capacity at 16,000 available lower berths a day Sunday to Friday and 12,000 on Saturday from 2026.
- Bar Harbor's 1,000-a-day disembarkation cap is enforceable only in July and August after a federal ruling of 15 May 2026.
- Palma keeps three ships a day and cuts its summer passenger allocation from 8,500 to 7,500 a day for 2027 to 2029.
- Barcelona goes from seven cruise terminals to five by 2030; Amsterdam allows 100 sea cruise calls a year from 2026.
- Caps use different units, so a schedule check has to count lower berths, passengers ashore, ships or calls to match.
Frequently asked questions
Which cruise port has the strictest passenger cap?
Bar Harbor, Maine, has the lowest number: 1,000 cruise passengers disembarking a day. A federal court ruled on 15 May 2026 that it can be enforced only in July and August. Among large ports, Juneau's 16,000 lower berths a day and Dubrovnik's 8,000 passengers a day are the tightest daily limits.
Does Santorini limit cruise passengers to 8,000 a day?
Cruise Industry News reported an 8,000-a-day limit for Santorini in 2018, but we found no official document that states it today. The rule confirmed for 2026 is a tender split from the Municipal Port Fund of Thira: at most 30% of tendered passengers land at Athinios and 70% at Ormos Fira.
Is Key West limiting cruise ships?
No. Key West voters approved limits on cruise ship size and passenger numbers in November 2020, but Florida passed Senate Bill 1194 in 2021. Section 311.25 of the Florida Statutes voids any local ballot measure that restricts ships by size, number or passengers at state-funded ports, including measures adopted before the law.
What unit does Juneau use for its cruise cap?
Juneau counts available lower berths, the two standard beds in each cabin, rather than passengers aboard. A ship with 2,000 lower berths counts as 2,000 against the 16,000 weekday limit even if it sails with 2,200 guests. Dubrovnik's port authority argues the opposite, that counts should reflect actual occupancy.
Which cruise ships are banned from Venice?
Since 1 August 2021, ships over 25,000 gross tons, over 180 metres long, or with an air draft above 35 metres may not enter St Mark's Basin, St Mark's Canal or the Giudecca Canal. Large ships now berth at Marghera or Fusina, or sail from Trieste and Ravenna instead.