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Preserve Yorktown is a group of citizens concerned that the cruise industry with large ships like the Princess Island (2,200 passengers + crew) are attempting to make Yorktown, Virginia an international port of call. Yorktown will be used as a transportation hub to Williamsburg and Jamestown. Yorktown is a small historically significant village of 285 people with no existing infrastructure to properly manage the influx and transport of large groups without adversely affecting the waterfront that is already a destination for locals and land tourists. The members of Preserve Yorktown believe the cruise industry will fundamentally alter the character of this small historic village.
On 1/26/2024, Preserve Yorktown was made aware that the Princess Cruise Line pilot program was cancelled. The closure notice was posted to the York County website (yorkcounty.gov). Since the cancellation, there have been comments by a Princess lobbyist that they could consider coming in 2025. See the Preserve Yorktown statement here.
We want the York County Board of Supervisors to permanently stop not only Princess, but all Mega-Class Cruise ships from coming to Yorktown. The cruise industry has sidestepped local governments in places like Key West, Florida, and Sitka, Alaska by building private piers despite community outcry. We are requesting the following:
Absolutely not - Preserve Yorktown is for sustainable tourism. We endorse and promote American Cruise Lines (ACL) whose 200 passenger riverboats have been visiting Yorktown for 20 years. We met with the CEO of ACL to encourage their visits and for ACL to expand their offerings of Yorktown - this was well received. We welcome responsible tourism approaches compatible with the character of Historic Yorktown.
It is unclear. Originally the pilot program was to include only the Island Princess and the Emerald Princess for approximately 5 to 8 visits for 2024-2025. However, even though the pilot is cancelled for 2024, per cruisemapper.com there are still large ocean-class ships coming to Yorktown in 2025.
It’s a matter of improper scale, air and water pollution, traffic, overcrowding, lack of infrastructure, and no proven economic benefit to York County. Once Princess comes, it will “open the door” to other large cruise lines as has occurred in other ports. For example, Holland America put Yorktown on their itinerary in 2025 for multiple visits without the express permission and approval of York County.
The influx of large cruise ships puts a strain on the infrastructure including water and waste management systems, transportation networks, police/security and other public services. Local resources may be depleted to meet the demands of cruise ship passengers.
Princess Cruise Lines and others fly a “flag of convenience” to avoid paying US taxes and labor laws. The article, Economics of Cruise Ships, states that, “According to annual report filings, the major cruise lines pay an average tax rate of 0.8%.” The industry exploits US infrastructure but does not give back its fair share. BTW the Federal corporate tax rate is 21%. American Cruise Lines with its river-class ships (<200 passengers) is American built and registered, unlike the Princess’ large ocean-class (2,200 - 3,080 passengers)
Large cruise ships can have a negative impact on the overall sustainability of tourism in coastal areas. They often prioritize profit over environmental and social considerations, leading to the degradation of natural resources, loss of biodiversity, the displacement of local businesses and communities, and in Yorktown’s case, the commodification of its historical legacy.
These ships are floating cities. Princess’ small ship has over 3000 people aboard (passengers & crew). This requires significant power generation when in a port. To save money cruise ships traditionally burn "bunker fuel" to generate power. Pitch black and thick as molasses, it is made from the dregs of the refining process. It is loaded with sulfur, heavy metals, and other toxins that, when burned, produce noxious gasses and fine particles that can harm human health and the environment. Some of the toxicants are “scrubbed” from the exhaust, but open-loop scrubbers flush this directly into the water. There is also water pollution from offshore dumping of gray/black water. In addition to water pollution the air pollution, light pollution, and noise pollution are of concern. Learn more about York River pollution, here.
York County voters and taxpayers in York County were not made privy to any information regarding Princess making Yorktown a port of call until it appeared as a fait accompli in a February 2023 press release. There was no public notice, no transparency, and therefore no public input from York County taxpayers. In December 2022 (prior to the February press release) York County requested $15M from the Commonwealth for the construction of a pier. Again, with no public statement. From FOIA’d documents we know that correspondence from Princess and the Watermen’s (the proposed site of the peer) were marked “CONFIDENTIAL” and “EYES ONLY.” It is likely that some had good intentions but the process clearly lacked citizen input and transparency.
That is the million-dollar question. Was it the president of Princess Cruise Lines? Was it York County governance or Virginia commonwealth governance? Was it a lobbyist? Was it a few private individuals/institutions who stand to benefit? Was it the Colonial Williamsburg trustees? Preserve Yorktown does not know who initiated the Princess pilot program.
A valid question - It is a question that Preserve Yorktown has not received an answer from either Princess or York County.
The county was asked this question. The response from the York County Public Information Officer, was “We do not have any records that are responsive to your request because at this time there’s nothing to review since the pilot program has yet to begin.” Analysis was not performed by the county but we know from a Key West Report, the cruise industry estimates are greatly inflated.
As far as we can tell the entities that stand to profit most are not located in York County and include 1) Princess Cruise Lines 2) Harbor Pilots out of Hampton or Norfolk 3) AFR Tours out of Norfolk 4) Colonial Williamsburg, 5) Jamestown Settlement, 6) possibly a few local businesses, 7) possibly the county through port fees (although infrastructure costs are unclear). Large cruise ships are considered “fortress hotels”. Entertainment, food, and lodging are all included, there is little incentive to spend money on land other than the cost of a land tour. Passengers that have chosen to go on a land tour disembark in the morning and are back on the ship by 5 PM. They will not spend money for dinner or a hotel as land tourists do.
You decide. The US Department of Justice fined Princess $40M for deliberately dumping waste and falsifying records. Additional fines followed for repeat offenses and probation violations. The U.S. Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez for the Southern District of Florida stated, “The corporate defendant here ignored the court, choosing instead to thwart the compliance plan that was put in place to protect our environment. As this probation violation proceeding demonstrates, the government will not tolerate defendant’s blatant violation of court orders.” Read more here, here, here, and here.
Savannah’s city council voted to only allow 200 passenger river boats to dock in their historic district citing a study indicating no economic benefit from large cruise ships. Monterey Bay blocked the mega-cruise ships as well. Charleston ended its contract with Carnival as a debarkation port and put limits on day visits and numbers of ships. The Key West community voted to limit cruise ships putting Governor Ron DeSantis,presidential candidate, in a pickle having to choose between his touted environmental record and a campaign donor who wants to expand Key West cruise ship operations. Bar Harbor, Sitka, Santa Barbara, Juneau are all looking to decrease ship visits as are worldwide ports including Venice, Marseille, Dublin, Amsterdam, Barcelona among others citing over tourism, environmental damage, threatened heritage status, and air pollution. The quiet of the pandemic led many ports to reevaluate their relationship with cruise industries. Many realized that the pros did not outweigh the cons.
The Conserve Yorktown Foundation, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and the York River Sierra Club have all made statements against the mega-cruise industry in Yorktown. There will be more to come.
Spread the word, sign our petition on Change.org, email the Board of Supervisors, join our Facebook group, and follow our Facebook page. If you are local, attend a Board of Supervisors and Preserve Yorktown meetings. Put a NO PRINCESS sign in your yard - email us to get one PreserveYorktown@gmail.com.
Carnival Corporation is the biggest cruise operator in the world with over 90 fleet vessels across nine cruise line brands including Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Seabourn, Cunard, AIDA Cruises, Costa, P&O Cruises (UK), P&O Cruises (Australia).
Few details have been shared officially on the logistics of moving 1000s of cruise ship passengers through Yorktown. For the “pilot program,” the ship will be docked in the York River. Princess cruise ships have tenders that will carry passengers to the Yorktown public pier. Tenders typically carry ~100 passengers at a time. Note that these tenders are not small. Still, assuming 2000 passengers come ashore, 20 or so tenders will have to dock for drop-off and pick-up of passengers. From correspondence with the USCG, our understanding is that these ships will require a higher level of security than the small river-class cruise ships that currently frequent Yorktown. We believe that the public pier will be guarded and closed to the public during the time that Princess is in Yorktown. Again, assuming 2000 passengers and 50 passengers/bus, approximately 40 buses will be needed to move the passengers to their Williamsburg and Jamestown excursions.
Long term plans are also unclear, but we know funding has been allocated for a pier. Current concepts show this pier at the Watermen’s Museum as a tender pier. Unofficially we have been told that docking these large ships at the waterfront is “off the table.” But Preserve Yorktown still has valid concerns given the track record of the cruise industry at other ports of call. In even small towns, like Sitka, Alaska, piers have been built to dock these massive ships. Private piers are a serious concern also as they allow the cruise industry to side-step local government controls. Lastly, even if these ships do not directly dock in Yorktown, the river pollution is not mitigated by tendering passengers.
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