The Port Authority of Ceuta welcomed approximately 2,600 people, including tourists and crew members of various nationalities, from the Tui Discovery 2 cruise ship, belonging to the Thomson Cruises line. They were able to enjoy sightseeing tours of the city and its surroundings. The cruise ship, which arrived in Ceuta from the port of Almería, was handled by the company Global Agency Ceuta and docked at the Muelle España (east side) until its departure for Málaga.
This is the second of four scheduled calls by the TUI Discovery 2 to the Port of Ceuta this season. The ship, recently acquired and refurbished by Thomson Cruises, has become its flagship vessel and will be making stops throughout the Mediterranean during the summer, including Ceuta, with one call per month. Its home port is Málaga, serving as both departure and arrival point for its itineraries.
The British company Thomson Cruises is a regular visitor to the port of Ceuta. In 2008, its ships made nine calls at this port, last year with the arrival of the Thomson Spirit on five occasions, and this year's visit with four calls, confirming the shipping company's interest in including the port of Ceuta in its cruise itineraries.
This large cruise ship, 264 meters long and with a draft of 8.5 meters, has 915 cabins and 11 decks. Among its public areas, it has 7 restaurants, 7 bars, a nightclub, a casino, jacuzzis, 2 swimming pools, etc., in addition to a series of improvements in its furniture and decoration that make it more attractive to its customers, mostly British.
The Tui Discovery 2 cruise ship carried 1,880 passengers and approximately 760 crew members of various nationalities, who were able to enjoy the usual tourist excursions and shopping in Ceuta during its stay in the city. To facilitate this, the Ceuta Autonomous City Tourism Service assisted in welcoming the tourists, setting up a tourist information point near the ship's dock and providing buses to transport them to the city center.
The arrival of this cruise ship for the second time confirms the commercial efforts that the Port Authority has been making in recent years in international contracting forums and participation in associations for the promotion of this traffic, and which comes to complete the number of port calls and visitors for the benefit of the city's tourism and economic sector.
