Fewer cruise ships are visiting Newport.

Only 41 cruise stops are booked for the 2026 season, according to the city. That is down from over 50 cruises last year and a depar­ture from the typical volume seen before 2025, when more than 60 cruise ships visited each year.

The downward trend means fewer passengers coming to New­port during the shoulder seasons, when the city has traditionally scheduled most cruise ship stops. Roughly 88,000 passengers came ashore in Newport each year in 2023 and 2024. That number is expected to decrease by about 30,000 this year.

The decline follows the city’s cancellation of two summer cruises in 2024, when city officials and city councilors testified that the volume of passengers can overwhelm city resources and the public. It also comes after a suc­cessful bid by the city council in the same year to petition the state for permission to raise per-passenger docking and disembarking fees for cruise lines from $5 to $10, with the added revenue benefitting the city’s harbor upgrades in Perrotti Park estimated at $20 million.

The council is currently fighting off another $5 per-passenger in­crease in Gov. Dan McKee’s pro­posed budget, since the funds gained from this increase would be used exclusively by the state. McKee said the estimated $1 mil­lion in revenue from the proposed increase in Newport would go toward the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority, which is facing a nearly $14 million deficit.

Fearing repercussions on the local economy and stating that it was not consulted prior to the idea being put forward, the council unanimously approved a resolu­tion in opposition to McKee’s pro­posed hike on March 4.

“We could lose the cruise ship business,” said Councilor Jeanne-Marie Napolitano. “I just think it’s ridiculous this late in the game. I’m not into power grabs of money of any kind from any other project or entity. I just think it’s wrong. It was like we got smacked right after we read this proposal.”

“The state would be scooping dollars, which Newport is ulti­mately deserving of, because we pay for the underlying resources,” said Councilor David Carlin. “The police and fire departments, among other people, know how much the city puts out with re­spect to our visitors from cruise ships. We hope that through this resolution the state legislature will listen to us and reject this budget proposal.”

The rift between the city and state on the proposed fee increase puts Councilor Xay Khamsyvora­vong in an odd position. Kham­syvoravong was mayor when the city petitioned the state for per­mission to raise the fees in 2024. He declared his candidacy for lieu­tenant governor at the beginning of March, a position that would see him work closely with McKee if both are elected in November.

Khamsyvoravong recused himself from the March 4 council vote and declined comment for this article. Prior to declaring his candidacy for statewide office, he publicly opposed McKee’s pro­posed fee increase and said the state “scooping” the city’s ideas to increase revenue is harmful.

The fees are assessed to cruise lines and consist of a per-pas­senger docking and disembarking fee. The governor’s proposal to increase them also comes during a time of change for the industry that has seen some destinations take a more heavy-handed approach to managing cruise ship volume.

Since 2022, voters in Bar Harbor have twice supported bans on cruise ships carrying more than 1,000 passengers, which previ­ously accounted for most of the town’s cruise ship visits. Bar Har­bor’s sentiment mirrors that of some Newporters, who believe the cruises place an undue burden on the city.

“We have found we’re really oversaturated with the cruise ships in the summertime,” Napolitano said when the council voted to cancel two visits scheduled for the summer of 2024. “We got nothing but complaints from locals. It be­came really difficult.”

Typically, passengers aboard cruise lines are traveling to and from New York and make their way north on fall foliage and other shoulder season-themed tours. Newport is a stop along the way that often includes destinations like Boston, Portsmouth New Hampshire, Bar Harbor, Maine, Quebec and Montreal.

As communities like Bar Harbor tighten the knot on cruises, it is possible the industry pivots by shifting away from such commu­nities, including Newport, which are on the southern end of the tour line, to get to the more desirable destinations in the north.

According to Erin Dono­van Boyle, the Greater Newport Chamber of Commerce executive director, who wrote an editorial in opposition to McKee’s proposed fee in the March 19 edition of New­port This Week, the cruise industry is sensitive to changes in harbor fee structures.

“Ports across the east coast and Canada compete aggressively for itineraries, and even small pas­senger fee increases can influence decisions when multiplied across thousands of guests and dozens of sailings,” she wrote. “Cruise opera­tors have alternatives. Policies that steadily increase costs risk making Newport less competitive over time.”

The Rhode Island General As­sembly is considering McKee’s proposal and is expected to vote on the $14.9 billion budget in June.