A highly anticipated event will finally take place in the Port of Malaga on Tuesday, June 15th: TUI Cruises' 'Mein Schiff 2' will arrive in Malaga at 8:00 AM to spend a day in our destination as part of its Canary Islands to Balearic Islands itinerary. It will be the first cruise ship to call in the area after 15 months and is expected to be the first cruise ship stop on the Iberian Peninsula.
This stopover by TUI Cruises will be followed by two more, also by the “Mein Schiff 2”, which will take place in June and July.
AIDA Cruises has also recently announced the Spanish itineraries of the 'AIDAPerla' from July to November, stopping in Malaga every two weeks for a total of 9 stops.
For the time being, Spain can only receive cruise ship calls as part of domestic itineraries, with authorization from the regional governments. Andalusia, the region where Malaga is located, was the first region on the Iberian Peninsula to approve a specific protocol for cruise ship calls on domestic itineraries, followed by Murcia, the Valencian Community, the Balearic Islands, and Catalonia. The Canary Islands have been receiving cruise ships for a few months.
The president of the Port Authority of Malaga, Carlos Rubio, believes that “this is truly important news, because we have been working for months to reach this point, implementing all the necessary safety measures.” He also emphasizes that “from now on, we expect to gradually recover the number of cruise passengers we had in the past, who are a source of wealth and employment. This type of tourism will continue to grow and contribute to Malaga's economy in the future.”.
Málaga is in talks with other cruise lines that have expressed interest in restarting operations at the port. More port calls are expected in the future, also as ports reopen to cruise ship calls as part of international itineraries, as soon as the national government allows it.
