The Oasis of the Seas will visit the Port of Vigo for the first time on September 27th and will make a repeat stop in this city on October 18th.
- Thelength of the Oasis of the Seas -362 meters- exceeds the 301 meters of height of the Eiffel Tower, the 146 meters of the pyramid of Cheops, as well as the 156 meters of the Picasso Tower in Madrid and the 75 meters of height of the tallest building in Vigo, that of the Xeral Hospital.
- With a total of 5,200 cabins, the Oasis of the Seas exceeds the total number of hotel rooms in the city of Vigo, which, according to INE data, has 4,120.
- In the Galician community there are a total of 251 municipalities with a smaller population than the number of people traveling on board this giant of the sea, which has a maximum capacity of 9,000 people.
The Port of Vigo is preparing for the double stop of one of the world's largest cruise ships, the Oasis of the Seas, which will visit the Vigo docks twice this year: on September 27 and October 18, when the Royal Caribbean ship will bid farewell from Vigo to its voyage through Europe.
As explained this morning at a press conference by the President of the Vigo Port Authority, Ignacio López-Chaves, this is an unprecedented event in the history of the Port, since Vigo will be one of the few European destinations chosen by the Royal Caribbean shipping company to make more than one stop.
So much so that the Oasis of the Seas will only call at three ports on the Iberian Peninsula: Vigo, Barcelona and Malaga, while throughout Europe, the Oasis will only stop at seven ports: Vigo, Malaga, Barcelona, Civitavecchia (Rome), Naples, Rotterdam and Southampton.
According to the top port official, Vigo's selection as a port of call for the Oasis of the Seas is due to its excellent operational and safety conditions, "as we already demonstrated with the double stopover of the 2nd and 3rd largest cruise ships in the world," he emphasized, referring to the simultaneous stopover at the Vigo docks of the Independence of the Seas and the Queen Mary 2. "We fought for it and these two stops are the result of that work," he reiterated.
In total, 17,200 visitors (passengers and crew) are expected to arrive during these two stops, and according to a study conducted by the University of Vigo on the impact of cruise activity in the city, its impact on the local economy could be around one million euros.
So much so that the Vigo Port Authority is already working intensively for what will undoubtedly be the stop of the year, a result of the close relationship that the institution, chaired by Ignacio López-Chaves, has maintained for years with the Royal Caribbean shipping company, one of the main clients of the Port of Vigo.
To this end, the Vigo Port Authority is in constant contact with the State Security Forces and Corps in order to plan every last detail of what will undoubtedly be a "special operation".
First stop: September 27
Thus, the first stop of this giant of the seas will take place on September 27th, and during its stay in our city, the Oasis of the Seas will coincide with another passenger ship: the Celebrity Infinity. Between the two, they will bring more than 12,000 people to our city, including passengers and crew.
Its first stop in Vigo is scheduled for 7:00 a.m., where it will remain docked until 7:00 p.m. On its second visit to the Port of Vigo on October 18, it will dock at 8:00 a.m. and is expected to conclude its European tour from the Vigo docks at approximately 8:00 p.m. It will spend a total of 12 hours in Vigo during both stops. “We will be the envy of all port cities,” López-Chaves emphasized during his speech.
Dimensions Oasis of the Seas
According to the Port President, the size of the Oasis of the Seas "is not comparable to that of other ships," so he encouraged the people of Vigo to visit the Port of Vigo during these two stops of the world's largest cruise ship.
A “marvel of naval engineering” whose 362 meters in length leaves out any type of ship that has called at Vigo waters throughout its history, such as the Independence of the Seas - until now the largest passenger ship that had called at Vigo - (339 meters), the MSC Ilona (300 meters) - the largest container ship that the Port of Vigo has received to date -, the British aircraft carrier Victorius (242 meters), the flagship of the Spanish Navy Juan Carlos I (231 meters), the passenger ships Andes (196 meters) and Cristóbal Colón (152 meters) or the schooner Faro de Vigo (70 meters).
Similarly, viewed vertically, the length of the Oasis of the Seas -362 meters- exceeds the 301 meters of height of the Eiffel Tower, the 146 meters of the pyramid of Cheops, as well as the 156 meters of the Picasso Tower in Madrid and the 75 meters of height of the tallest building in Vigo, the Hospital Xeral.
Furthermore, with a total of 5,200 cabins, the Oasis of the Seas surpasses the total number of hotel rooms in the city of Vigo, which, according to INE data, has 4,120. Likewise, the Galician region has 251 municipalities with smaller populations than those traveling aboard this ocean liner, which has a maximum capacity of 9,000 passengers. Similarly, in terms of crew, its 2,400 members far exceed the 241 on board the Juan Carlos I, making it ten times larger.
These figures give a good indication of the dimensions of a ship that has a gross tonnage of 225,282 tons, a length of 362 meters, a beam of 64 meters, 16 decks and a capacity for 2,394 crew members and 6,360 passengers, with more than 5,200 cabins of 69 different types.
