The Port Authority is prepared to welcome tourist cruise ships back to the port with all health guarantees, now that the central government has lifted the ban on international cruise ships docking at state ports, starting June 7.
The president of the Port Authority, Francisco Martín, considered it "magnificent" news and pointed out that the port has "all the necessary resources and information to facilitate port calls and do so with complete safety." Martín, who championed cruise tourism as "animportant element that helps boost Cantabria's industry," assured that the Port Authority has been working throughout these months of the pandemic with operators, shipping companies, State Security Forces, health authorities, and other Cantabrian administrations to, "once the health situation has improved and cruises are allowed to return, reactivate a sector of tourism that is of great importance to the hospitality and retail sectors of Santander and which extends, through excursions, to other parts of the Autonomous Community.
The Port of Santander stopped receiving cruise ships in March 2020, when the state of emergency was declared and cruise traffic was prohibited in Spain. Twenty cruise ships were scheduled to arrive at the Cantabrian port that year. With the end of the restrictions, Santander hopes to recover this traffic, and currently, two calls by the luxury ship SeaDream I, from the SeaDream Yacht Club line, are scheduled for July 3rd and 11th. The Port Authority is also receiving inquiries from other cruise lines about calling at Santander throughout the year.
