More cruise ships came to Avalon in fiscal 2025-26 than the previous fiscal year, according to the annual cruise ship report. This was apparently due to better weather which caused fewer cancellations.
The Avalon City Council on Nov. 3 received and filed the Cruise Ship Annual Report for the year ended June 30.
The finance director attributed the increase in visitors to the cruise ship industry moving to larger vessels during his Tuesday, Nov. 3, presentation to the City Council.
“We do recognize that the larger ships present certain challenges and so during the last fiscal year we did enter into port agreements with two cruise operators. In both those agreements they’ve committed to bringing smaller passenger vessels to the island,” Baker said.
“I do expect that trend to change to go back to smaller average passenger counts. The largest vessel that visits Avalon frequently, his last scheduled arrival is December of this year. Then the other passenger ship that regularly carries over 4,000, I believe September was their last scheduled arrival,” Baker said.
From the report
“In March 2017, the City amended the municipal code to increase wharfage fees from $2.50 per passenger to $5.00 per passenger over five fiscal years through annual $0.50 per passenger increases,” wrote Finance Director Matthew Baker in his staff report to the council.
“Per passenger wharfage rates had remained unchanged since increasing to $5.00 per passenger on July 1, 2020. On September 3, 2024, the City Council adopted a rate increase of $2.50 per passenger for a new per passenger rate of $7.50 effective January 1, 2026 based on the findings of a rate analysis performed by City Staff. The rate increase generated $548,672.50 in additional Harbor Fund revenues dedicated towards capital maintenance and improvements,” Baker wrote.
He told the council on Nov. 3 that wharfage collected for the hospital project was not included in the report.
“Passenger counts are reported to the Harbor Department upon arrival to the harbor by the cruise operator. Ship occupancy rates are determined by comparing the reported manifest passengers to the ship’s published passenger capacity, which generally assumes all cabins at double occupancy, and may exceed 100% occupancy as a result of three or more passengers sharing a cabin,” Baker wrote.
“During FY 2025-26, the City welcomed 121 arrivals compared to 101 arrivals in the prior fiscal year (FY 2024-25). FY 2024-25 had the fewest number of arrivals in the past 10 years, excluding the pandemic,” Baker wrote.
“The increase in the number of arrivals compared to the prior fiscal year was driven by increased activity during the repositioning or transition months of September-October (23 arrivals compared to 11 in the prior year) and March-April (29 arrivals compared to 23 in the prior year). The City also experienced fewer cancellations due to weather that were unable to be rescheduled in FY 2025-26 (4 cancellations compared to 9 in the prior year) which also contributed to the overall increase,” Baker wrote.
“In addition to the increase in number of arrivals, FY 2025-26 continued the trend in increased passenger counts in arriving vessels, with an average of 3,625 manifest passengers compared to an average of 3,519 passengers in the prior fiscal year,” Baker wrote.
“However, the City anticipates this trend to reverse with the largest vessel, arriving 36 times in FY2025-26, not scheduled to return to Avalon beginning in January 2027,” Baker wrote.
“Cruise ship revenues now account for approximately 24.4% of Harbor operating revenues,” Baker wrote.
“As a result of prior rate increases and increased occupancy, cruise ship wharfage has been the fastest growing revenue funding Harbor Operations and accounts for the majority of revenue growth in the Harbor Fund. In addition to the wharfage revenues generated, cruise ship passengers account for more than one third of all visitors to the City and contribute an estimated $25 million of taxable sales activity for businesses located in the City,” Baker wrote.
“There were no safety or security incidents to report in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2026,” Baker wrote. According to the report, the city’s policy, established by the council in 2024, limits cruise ships to three visits a seek during the summer season unless authorized by the harbor master and the city manager. Weekend visits are not allowed without approval.
“Repositioning, infrequent, or small cruise ship vessels (1 ,000 passengers or less) may be considered for visitation by the Harbor Master, taking into account the day requested, holidays, event(s), harbor activity(ies), impacts to public safety, etc.,” Baker wrote.