Do cruise passengers boost business in Key West or just use the toilet? That depends
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A conflict over cruise ships in Key West
Cruise ship passengers have returned to Key West, making some businesses happy. But an activist group wants fewer and smaller ships, citing damage to the environment.
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Before the arrival of COVID in 2020, Key West business owners knew immediately when a cruise ship had docked. They didn’t need a calendar.
Thousands of passengers would suddenly swarm downtown streets for five hours. In a typical year, nearly one million people arrived in Key West on a cruise ship.
But do they spend money on the island? That depends on the business.
“They’re using our toilets and stuff like that, which is a bit frustrating,” said Paul Menta, who owns and operates the Key West First Legal Rum Distillery, 105 Simonton St.
“Are they buying? Not really. They need a toilet.”
Key West raked in $1.1 billion from about two million tourists who visited in 2018. The tourist count was up 8% from the year before, during which Hurricane Irma struck in September 2017, leaving damage in the Lower Keys.
Of that billion, cruise ship passengers chipped in 7% — $73 million, according to a study released in August 2020 by Cruise Lines International Association, which bills itself as the world’s largest trade association for the industry.
But when cruise ships stayed away for nearly two years, Key West’s economy hardly cratered. Tax revenues flourished, with the island taking in 25% more in 2021 than it did in 2019, according to City Manager Patti McLauchlin.
Last year, the Keys set a record with $9.2 million in taxes from hotel, motel and short-term vacation rentals in one month, according to the Monroe County tax collector. The island chain, though, also had a record high average daily rate of about $450 per night.
Cruise passengers spend less per visit — $72 — than day-trippers, who on average part with $96 for a mini-vacation, the study reported. But neither type of tourist comes close to touching overnight tourists, who shell out $620 per visit.
Menta said his restroom-related bills are a measuring stick. In 2019, before the pandemic, his water and bathroom repairs, such as replacing sinks, ran about $4,000. It’s fallen to about $1,000 a year, he said, even with Key West packed with tourists despite COVID-19.
“It’s not like we don’t have traffic coming through here,” Menta said.
Voters wanted smaller ships
In 2020, a group of city activists formed the Key West Committee for Safer Cleaner Ships and led a successful campaign to downsize the cruise industry’s footprint on the island.
They placed three referendums on the ballot, including one to cap the number of people who disembark daily — including crew members — to 1,500, banning the largest ships and giving docking priority to cruise lines with the best environmental records.
Voters approved all three by at least 61%, with every precinct in the city supporting Safer Cleaner Ships, which initially argued, in addition to environmental concerns, that large cruise ships in the time of COVID-19 were a threat to public health. This would, they said, in turn hurt the economy as tourists would avoid places with thick crowds.
But state lawmakers responded, overturning voters with new legislation that said they can’t have the power to make changes that affect maritime commerce. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed it in June 2021, and local advocates demanded that city commissioners adhere to the cruise ship limits.
In March, the seven-member commission unanimously agreed to direct large ships away from the two piers they manage and send them to the island’s only privately run dock, Pier B. That means no more days of two or three ships in town at the same time.
Cruise ships bring Hemingway fans
So now that cruise ships are back, having returned in November 2021, which businesses on the island rely on passenger spending for the bottom line?
“The attractions are the ones who benefit the most out of the cruise ships,” said Andrew Morawski, director of the Hemingway Home and Museum, where visitors can see where the legendary author lived in the 1930s — and marvel at the dozens of six-toed cats that roam the mansion and grounds.
Tours take about 20 minutes, which can suit cruise ship passengers who are in town for only a few hours before they have to board again and steam to the next port. These tourists make up about 20 percent of the museum’s business, Morawski said.
“It was a stellar year for a lot of bars, restaurants and the city as a whole,” he said. “But in 2021, I was comparing numbers back to 2013 on some months. Say 10,000 people walked through the gate in 2021. The last time the number was that low was 2014. “In 2021, I was comparing numbers back to 2013 on some months,” he said.
The museum could survive without the ships — but at a cost.
“We would have continued to cut staff and not hire or we would have had to raise our prices,” he said.
“I do believe they have spending power,” said Bill Lay, who owns two La Trattoria restaurants in Key West. “You can’t just cut that pipe off.”
Lay said when the cruise industry ground to a halt in 2020, businesses didn’t know how it would affect them. He said he has no problem with the reduction in the number of cruise ships to Key West, but questioned whether the small city can count on that to work in the long run.
“I’m very happy and ecstatic that the business is as good as it is in the Keys,” Lay said. “We’ve not hit the end of it, but it’s going to level off. Florida was ahead of the game because we were open.”
Cruise passengers exposed to the Southernmost City on a short visit can also return for longer stays as hotel customers, said Robert Goltz, executive vice president of the Key West Chamber of Commerce.
Goltz said passengers can help fuel the island’s tourist-dependent economy by spreading the word of Key West as a destination they want to see again — but for more than a quick afternoon.
“We believe that cruise ships open the door for people to see our community and come to visit again and stay for a longer time and stay in our hotels,” Goltz said.
Marcia Weaver, who has owned and operated Frita’s Cuban Burgers in downtown Key West for seven years, said she sees the issue as both a business owner and a resident.
“We do get business from the cruise ships,” Weaver said. “I also want a clean island. I think meeting in the middle of that is what’s best for everybody.”
Cruise ship passengers do stop by for her Cuban food, she said. But she would like to see smaller ships come to town.
“The island isn’t big enough for the huge cruise ships,” Weaver said.
‘The bubble is going to burst’
One small business in Key West watched its revenues plummet when cruise ships disappeared. And after voters put limits on cruise ships in November 2020, Christopher Ellis said his business took a gut punch.
He laid off all 13 employees at his Key Lime Bike Tour company, which has contracts with cruise lines that account for half of his business.
“I had zero employees,” Ellis said. “I gotta pay my bills.”
Business is down half since before the pandemic, he said.
Cruise ship passengers pay $45 each for the bike tour while on board and a cruise line’s cut is $1. He makes the whole $45 per person from the hotels that send him customers.
“My labor costs were $100,000 pre-pandemic,” Ellis said, but they hit $40,000 in 2021.
Ellis doesn’t believe that would-be cruise ship passengers stayed away from Key West when the industry stopped. People simply took a flight instead, he said.
“We’re better because Key West was the only place you could go,” Ellis said. “You couldn’t go to the Caribbean. You going to New York City where you have to wear a mask or to Florida where our governor pretended we didn’t have COVID?”
He’s not convinced the Key West economy can flourish without the passengers.
“We’re in a bubble right now and the bubble is going to burst.”
A shot glass and a T-shirt
Almost everything cruise ship passengers could want — food, drinks, entertainment, activities — is built into the cost of their ship tickets.
So while in town, they’re not prone to spending sprees, said art gallery owner Rachel Garreau, who has lived in Key West for 45 years.
They go sightseeing and take pictures outside spots like the fabled Captain Tony’s Saloon on Greene Street.
“I know the whole routine,” Garreau said. “They just want to get from point A to point B and maybe pick up a shot glass or go to the T-shirt shops.”
Garreau has owned several businesses over the years, including a swimsuit shop on Greene Street. Now she runs SeaSister Island Gallery, 303 Duval St.
Garreau has seen how the cruise ship industry has turned Key West into one of its favorite ports of call over the decades. But passenger habits haven’t changed, she said.
“They’re spending a little bit of money,” Garreau said. “They share a plate of conch fritters between five people and a Key lime pie.”
Garreau is a supporter of Safer Cleaner Ships and voted in favor of the cruise ship limits.
“We’re not saying, ‘No cruise ships,’ ” she said. “We’re just saying, ‘Please be considerate.’ ”
This story was originally published April 3, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
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