By Laura Del Rosso and Rebecca Tobin
MONTEREY, Calif. -- For the first time in five years, cruise
ships are returning to pristine Monterey Bay, although under
stringent new environmental controls adopted by the city council
this year.
Crystal Cruises' Harmony will call here in October, following
earlier visits by Princess's Star Princess and Royal Caribbean's
Grandeur of the Seas. Celebrity's Mercury is slated to make six
calls in 2003.
But meeting environmental constraints are a key to continued
cruise ship visits.
The waters off Monterey are part of the Monterey Bay National
Marine Sanctuary, the largest marine sanctuary in the U.S.
The city now requires all cruise lines that call at Monterey to
agree in writing not to discharge anything -- even treated waste
that legally can be discharged.
If a ship is found guilty of discharging waste in the bay, that
line will be banned from ever calling at Monterey again.
The environmental restrictions and the lack of large docking
facilities as well as other factors are expected to keep cruise
traffic at modest levels, but the ship calls were a remarkable
boost for Monterey, said a spokeswoman for the Monterey County
Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The county attracts 1.2 million overnight visitors a year to
such famous locations as Carmel, Pebble Beach, the Monterey Bay
Aquarium and John Steinbeck's Cannery Row, but as a tourist
attraction it is overshadowed by San Francisco, about 120 miles to
the north.
However, the spokeswoman said, Monterey is "a convenient spot
for repositioning cruises from Mexico to Alaska."
"There were some concerns from environmental groups," she said.
"They were concerned about any kind of discharge. But a lot of
those issues were addressed."
Dean Brown, Princess' vice president of sales and marketing,
said Monterey's tough environmental regulations do not have
anything to do with a decision by Princess not to call in the city
in 2003 -- the Star Princess called there during a coastal
California introductory sailing.
Similar regulations against discharge in the waters exist in
Glacier Bay in Alaska and pose no operational problems to the line
there, Brown said.
As for Celebrity, the line said its interest in Monterey was
piqued by travel agent partners and guests via casual conversation
and letters.
Additionally, Celebrity said, the line wanted to gain additional
brand exposure in California.