Key West Debates Future of Cruise Industry

Historic and funky Key West will vote on whether to study expanding its shipping channel to allow entry to some of the cruise industry's largest vessels.

Like Charleston, the historic seaside community is grappling with whether is current cruise travel industry is in scale, according to the New York Times. Residents want the dollars from the cruise travelers, but they are leery of allowing even larger ships to call on the island.

“I do recognize we need our cruise ships to help with the city budget,” Tony Falcone, a store owner and Key West, told the newspaper. “But I want a balance. ... We don’t want to be known as a town that has sold our soul to the cruise ship industry."

Already some of the industry's largest ships bypass Key West because they can't squeeze into its narrow shipping channel. Those ships carry as many as 5,000 passengers and continue to grow.

Residents will cast a vote in the fall on whether to study deepening its channel. Even if approved and the study confirms the need and feasibility, the project is more than 10 years away, the New York Times reports.

Charleston homeported Carnival Fantasy, one of the industry's oldest ships, is a full 300 feet shorter and 100 feet narrower than the world's largest ship, Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas.

The largest cruise ship to call on Charleston in 2012, Emerald Princess, carried 2,000 fewer passengers than the largest ships at sea.

Charleston's shipping channel, however, is far deeper than Key West's. At high tide, container ships with drafts of nearly 50 feet have called on the port. That's 20 feet deeper than what Key West would need to accommodate the 5,000-passenger vessels.