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The cruise industry is changing, and not always for the better. In this video, we’ cover the 12 disappointing changes to cruising in 2025 that were unavoidable. From rising costs to limited itineraries and changes to popular cruise lines, these changes could impact your future cruise vacations.
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Disappointing Changes to Cruising in 2025
0:00 Cruise Changes in 2025
0:40 Cruise Ship Bans
3:40 New Travel Requirements
5:15 Increased Cruise Fares
8:05 Increased Costs of Add-Ons
9:50 Cruise Lines Leave Australia
11:45 New Travel Fees
13:35 More Private Destination Stops
15:55 More Mega Ships
17:50 Cruise Line Cutbacks
19:35 Beverage Package Changes
21:15 More Upcharge Dining
🚢 The Disappointing Cruise Changes in 2025
Beverage Package Changes: Norwegian Cruise Line is discontinuing its Premium Plus beverage package and what it means for your onboard drinks.
Mexico’s New Cruise Tax: Cruising to Mexico? Be prepared for a new per-person tax that could add up quickly.
Reduction in Cruises to Australia: Several cruise lines are reducing their presence in Australia. Find out why and how this impacts your Down Under cruise options.
Overcrowding in Ports: As cruise ships get bigger, overcrowding in ports and private islands is becoming a major issue. We’ discuss the impact of these cruise changes on your port experiences.
New Visa Requirements for Europe: Planning a European cruise? You might need a new visa. We’ll explain the details and who is affected.
MSC’s Drink Package Limit: MSC Cruises now limits alcoholic drinks for those with beverage packages. Learn more about this change and how it could affect your cruise experience.
More Stops at Private Destinations: While some cruisers love private islands, others are disappointed by the lack of authentic local experiences. We’ll discuss the pros and cons of these changes to cruising.
Increased Costs of Add-Ons: Expect to pay more for gratuities and drink packages on many cruise lines. We’ll explore how these cruise changes impact your vacation budget.
Upcharge Restaurants Onboard: Specialty restaurants are becoming more common, and some cruise lines are even adding fees to casual dining options.
Cruise Ship Bans: Environmental concerns and overcrowding are leading some ports to limit cruise ship traffic. Discover how this could change your cruise itineraries.
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LEARN MORE ABOUT CHANGES TO CRUISING IN 2025 ON THE BLOG
—TRENDING VIDEOS FROM EAT SLEEP CRUISE——
We Tackle the 13 Most Controversial Cruise Questions: https://youtu.be/Q3DkUAzVExQ
The Best New Cruise Ships Coming in 2025: https://youtu.be/E4HDzQJZbaw
The Cruise Rip-offs Cruisers Never Pay For On a Cruise: https://youtu.be/cjbKOLTVStQ
31 Cruise Embarkation Day Mistakes: https://youtu.be/6MHk9_3YbmM
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27 Comments
Any update on how the cruise lines are doing with paying back all that debt that they occurred from the shutdown? Are they anywhere near having that paid back or are they still sinking in debt?
As usual, things only get worse over time.
The private destinations are better than going to the other parts of filthy third world countries.
Experience local culture, like getting scammed or pick pocketed?
We like to cruise and have been on 11 so far since 2001, but I agree with limiting the amount of tourists/ships a day to many places, the billion dollar cruise companies have gone ham. Can you imagine living on an island or even a medium sized city that gets inundated with thousands of more people a day?!
They need to limit cruise ships. They have gotten too big and costing these places a ton of money as well as ruining the everyday life of residents.
The requirement for the British ETA for transiting has been eliminated
My favorite ships are between 90,000 and 115,000 GMT
15 drinks/day?! Chapel needs to double as an AA meeting room 🍻🥂🍺🍹🥴
I said this a few years ago, the BIGGER the ship the more ports were going to either turn away ships on the daily. Or fees and still limiting ships into their ports. Cruise lines are just cutting off business/ports despite their bottom line. Sad. And it’s causing overcrowding on ships which seems to already upping fighting on the ship, over pricing the fares.
The idea that port cities charging more per passenger is preventing people from cruising is the wrong perspective while cruise lines increase fares and report record profits
You’re getting into the woods when you talk about impacts to the communities of the ports. I’m pretty sure everybody watching has many more things to worry about before that.
I don't understand why the cruise companies are building bigger and bigger ships when the number of ports they can visit is dwindling. Why can't they build smaller mid-size ships that are exciting and beautiful and cruisers would want to cruise on. It seems to be working for Virgin Voyages.
Big NO to private islands. Smaller ships are my choice. Too many folks visiting a port ruin the reason I travel.
I expect the Cruise business model, as we knew it, to collapse within the next 5 years or so. More and more Megaships and less and less ports that are willing to accommodate them. What will be left is an endless number of trips of floating resorts to the Bahamas, Bermuda and Private Islands. Alaska and Europe will be full of limits. Gone is what cruising was all about before, smaller ships going to unique port globally to allow you to sample unique cultures. Only the few smaller ships, mainly owned by the luxury lines, will still do this and that might be out of financial reach of most. There are now less cruises in Africa, parts of Asia as example compared to pre-Covid as many smaller ships have been scrapped and there is so much to be seen in these regions and beyond.
Santorini may not exist soon-over 2000 earthquakes around 5 in the last 48 hours.
The Mayor of Nice was found dead after all the vendors who make money off cruise passengers killed him.
There is a balance that has to be found between allowing people in; and not being overrun.
I find the limits, frankly, bewildering. I've never heard of an entire town barring entry to people based on their mode of transport before. I'm very sad to hear about all of these cities turning away cruise passengers. So many places I will likely never afford to see! It is much more expensive to arrange individual trips to each place than to travel via ship!
Great to see so many countries finally setting limits on the size and frequency of cruise ships! Hopefully, these massive floating cities stick to Miami, where 'bigger is better,' no matter how tacky it gets. The rest of the world deserves cruises with more elegance and fewer passengers—enough of these overcrowded mobs invading cities like locusts. Let's aim for quality over quantity in tourism!
they all want the money without the side effects of tourism…you cant have it both ways…and once they find out just how much money they will lose…they will go back…
do cruise employees know if you prepaid gratuities??
Another great one. You continue to be one of my favorite bloggers.. the content is always fresh and novel unlike some others.
Cruising is getting worse, right when I’m getting into it 😭
The mayor of Nice believes cruise ship passengers leave their trash behind.
Nah, maybe it’s the migrants in the city.
What a moron!
Another reason for us to stop cruising. The prices are getting too high for us.
Its going to be interesting to see if Mexico adds their $42 cruise passenger fee in July of 2025. It was supposed to start on January 1st, but was delayed.
I’m going to Santirini and Venice this july. My excursion takes me across the island where it is less crowded.