More than 1,400 tourists, mostly from England, Ireland, and Germany, have arrived at the port of Cartagena aboard two ships: the "Bolette," from the Fred Olsen shipping company, and the "Marella Explorer," from Marella Cruise. This marks "the first double cruise ship call Cartagena has received this year since the post-COVID era, thanks to the port's infrastructure and the work of the APC staff, which has positioned us as one of the leading Spanish ports for cruise traffic," said the Port Authority President, Yolanda Muñoz, this morning at the welcome ceremony for the captain of the Bolette on its first docking in the port of Cartagena.
Accompanied by the Minister of Tourism, Marcos Ortuño, and the Councilor for Tourism of the Cartagena City Council, Cristina Pérez, Muñoz highlighted “the importance of these two cruise ships from England, with which we are recovering the British market, which represents 50 percent of the cruise passengers who call at our port.” Both the Bolette, with nearly 500 passengers plus crew, which will be making its only stop in Cartagena, and the Marella Explorer, with nearly 300 passengers plus crew, which will be returning, departed from the English ports of Dover and Southampton, respectively, before continuing their itineraries through Spanish ports.
This has been thanks, as Councillor Ortuño has pointed out, to “the coordinated work between the Regional Government, the Port Authority and the Cartagena City Council, which is allowing us to consolidate Cartagena in a position that accredits it as a safe destination and the forecasts are not only being met, but are even being improved.”.
To date, “13 ships have docked with 13,000 passengers who have enjoyed and toured the city, its museums, its interpretation centers, its hotels, and which add to the forecast we have to close the year with 58 cruise ships and nearly 60,000 tourists,” said the president of the APC, who highlighted that “80 percent of cruise passengers stay in Cartagena.”.
Ortuño recalled that “cruise ships are key to the economic recovery of Cartagena and the Region, and the pace of arrivals after a very difficult year represents the definitive boost for the reactivation of tourism and the impetus to closely linked sectors such as commerce, restaurants, culture or passenger transport.”.
For her part, Cristina Pérez highlighted the cultural offerings of Cartagena, including excursions on foot, on the tourist train, visits to museums and interpretation centers, and nature and gastronomic experiences.
Cruise ships must maintain strict safety standards, including a 50-60% reduction in ship capacity, the requirement that cruise passengers have a negative PCR test and up to three negative serological tests in the case of the crew, in addition to carrying out a period of isolation.
