The Port of Almería received the Nieuw Amsterdam cruise ship yesterday, belonging to the American company Holland America Line. The 285-meter-long vessel carried over 2,100 passengers, primarily from the United States, and a crew of approximately 900. It had sailed from Alicante and its next port of call is Cádiz. Afterwards, it will cross the Atlantic to spend the winter season in the Caribbean.
The stop in Almería is what we call a repositioning stop, which cruise lines make in the autumn to move the ship to a more popular winter destination, such as the Caribbean. In spring, the opposite is usually true, with ships coming from the Caribbean to spend the summer in the Mediterranean. Many of these large ships are based in Barcelona, from where they offer weekly itineraries to southern France, Italy, and the Balearic Islands. This makes it easy for the ports in these areas to have many calls throughout the year. In contrast, the ports of southern Spain are mainly visited by cruise ships passing from one sea to another, but which don't stay in the area on weekly itineraries. This is partly because North African ports haven't been developed for tourism, and there aren't many ports with which to combine itineraries.
Furthermore, the area includes Cádiz, Málaga, Motril, Cartagena, and Alicante, where airlines can make stopovers without significant differences in pricing. Therefore, there is fierce competition for a market (number of stops in the area) that is not as significant as in other parts of the Mediterranean.
The thing is, yesterday the cruise tour operator informed us that the ship had requested a guide for a group of crew members, and given the difficulty of finding professional tour guides in Almería, they asked us to accompany a group of about 30 cruise ship crew members to visit the Alcazaba, the Cathedral, and the city center of Almería. We did this with the collaboration of the management of both the Alcazaba and the Cathedral. They enjoyed it immensely and were delighted, something the ship's Human Resources manager thanked us for. It's part of our job to try to ensure that the ship, the passengers, and their crews have a pleasant stay in Almería, because the success of future port calls depends on it.
