2015 turned out to be a good year for cruise ship traffic at the Port Authority of Almería. The season concluded with a visit from the elegant sailing ship Wind Star, from the North American cruise line Windstar Cruises.
The cruise traffic we are receiving in 2016 confirms this very positive trend. A dozen different cruise lines have chosen to include Almería in their itineraries this year, offering port calls there, with 34 calls scheduled for the port this year.
Thus, on Tuesday, July 5th, two large cruise ships will call at the Port of Almería, bringing more than 3,000 tourists to the city. The first is the Oosterdam, carrying approximately 2,000 American tourists from Holland America Line. It will arrive from Corsica and continue its journey to Ceuta. The second ship is the Riviera, from Oceania Cruises, with 1,250 tourists arriving from Alicante and bound for Gibraltar.
On the other hand, prior to that double visit, on Friday, July 1st, the Thomson Spirit, from the Thomson Cruises line, is scheduled to call at Ceuta. It will arrive from Ibiza and also visit Ceuta. This ship carries 1,300 British passengers.
This brings the total number of cruise ships that have visited Almería this year to 14, out of the 40 planned for all of 2016. The expected number of passengers is 30,200, representing a significant increase compared to 2015. Specifically, there has been a 48% increase in the number of port calls and a 58% increase in the number of passengers.
