The Hanseatic Inspiration cruise ship, from the Hapag Lloyd company and consigned by Incargo, inaugurates the cruise season of the Port of Bilbao on August 31.
Built in Norway in 2019, this 138-meter-long, 22-meter-wide cruise ship has a gross tonnage of 15,500 tons and can accommodate more than 200 cruise passengers and 160 crew members. However, to comply with the health measures established by the company, this time the number of passengers has been reduced to 150, mostly from Germany, and 120 crew members.
The ship will dock at 6:00 AM in Olatua, the cruise terminal that the Port of Bilbao operates in Getxo, arriving from the port of Saint-Jean-de-Luz. It will remain in Getxo until 8:00 PM, when it will depart for the port of Angra do Heroísmo in the Azores. Although no excursions will be sold on board, cruise passengers can enjoy those organized on land by the inbound tourism company Bilbao Paso a Paso.
The cruise ship has 120 cabins with balconies, three decks, three restaurants, two bars/cafés, a beauty salon, spa, casino, library, shops, gym, swimming pools, and all kinds of amenities for cruise passengers. The Hanseatic Inspiration's first stop at the Port of Bilbao was scheduled for October 14, 2020, but had to be postponed due to restrictions resulting from the coronavirus pandemic.
This marks the first cruise ship to call at the Port of Bilbao since cruise activity ceased due to measures taken worldwide to combat the coronavirus pandemic. The last cruise ship to dock at the Port of Bilbao before the outbreak of Covid-19 was the AidaSol, carrying 2,216 passengers, on November 1, 2019.
The Port Authority of Bilbao has prepared the Getxo cruise terminal facilities to guarantee the safety and health of passengers, with marked routes on the terminal floor and designated sanitary areas. The maritime station will thus become a self-contained environment, in which both staff and passengers must comply at all times with established health regulations: masks, use of hand sanitizer, maintaining social distancing, etc.
These measures complement those already being taken by cruise lines on all cruises, such as requiring cruise passengers to have a negative test before boarding, limiting ship capacity, creating bubble groups, and avoiding crowds of passengers in common areas of the ships.
All of this is aimed at resuming cruise activity with the greatest safety and being able to welcome the cruise passengers expected to arrive at the Port of Bilbao throughout this year.
