There are about 10,000 tourists in town today, disembarking from four cruise ships. That’s a record.
I don’t pretend to understand the economics of cruise ships. Perhaps more people are opting off the European vacation and taking relatively less expensive cruises closer to home instead. Maybe the cruise lines are offering fantastic deals in a hyper competitive market. Or maybe cruises are simply a vacationing fad, and next season it’ll be mountain climbing or something. Like I say, I have no idea what’s up.
But it does seem unlikely that this sort of business can hold through a tanking American economy.
This article appears in Oct 2-8, 2008.