Cruise ships are the target of Key West ire. And the packed-house audience at Mondayâs city commission meeting was having none of that accusation. They grumbled â respectfully, it should be noted â in opposition when a pro-ship speaker accused them of unfairly targeting cruise ships. Saying Key West voters arenât targeting cruise ships is disingenuous. Of course weâre targeting cruise ships. Theyâre monstrously huge against our small island, owned anonymously, easy to vilify (often justifiably) and a scourge to the environment and quality of life in tourist destinations around the world. Cruise ships as Key West knows them ought to be gone or, as the referenda make clear, so tightly regulated that thereâs no reasonable way for them to be here. I suspect our island tourism can withstand their demise, even when the transformative weirdness of our post-COVID-19 world lures our current batch of visitors to adventures on other islands. Weâve been without cruise ships for 18 months, since the COVID-19 shutdown. Weâve adapted economically to their absence as record-shattering visitors disgorge onto the island from vehicles and airplanes in search of their own COVID escapes.