The Port of Cartagena welcomed a double cruise ship call early this morning with more than 3,000 passengers, mostly German and British, arriving aboard the Vasco da Gama and Britannia cruise ships. "They will be able to move freely around the city, visit its museums and interpretation centers, and enter shops and restaurants, complying with the health regulations established in the Region of Murcia, following the reduction of restrictions in the protocols of many shipping companies," reported the president of the Cartagena Port Authority, Yolanda Muñoz.
The current forecast is that 50 percent of the cruise ships that will call at the Port will do so without the bubble group protocols and complying with social distancing measures and the use of masks in enclosed spaces, thanks to the “work done by this Port Authority, the Cartagena City Council and the Autonomous Community to consolidate Cartagena as a safe tourism destination with COVID distinctions and certificates in museums, interpretation centers, the Cruise Terminal, restaurants and shops,” said Muñoz, who added, “an intense promotion of Cartagena and the Region at fairs and tourism events with tour operators and shipping companies to recover cruise tourism in Cartagena since it was reactivated on June 7th.”.
The improved health situation is allowing shipping companies to relax their protocols, eliminating bubble groups, a decision that will be extended to more shipping companies over the coming months, allowing the free movement of passengers on board international cruises through Spanish cities
The president of the Port Authority, accompanied by the Councillor for Tourism of Cartagena, Cristina Pérez, the head of the shipping agent Erhardt Mediterráneo, Sergio Conesa, and APC cruise staff, welcomed the captain of the ship Vasco de Gama, on its first docking in the port of Cartagena, with the traditional exchange of plaques.
The Vasco da Gama cruise ship, carrying 600 passengers, mostly German, and arriving from Almería, has docked in Cartagena for the first time and will return on November 26. With a crew of 550 and a capacity for 1,258 passengers, the vessel, part of the Portuguese fleet Mystic Cruises and currently sailing for the German cruise line Nicko Cruises, is cruising the Mediterranean and will depart this afternoon for Valencia. Measuring 219 meters in length, 30 meters in beam, and with a draft of 7.5 meters, the ship has 13 decks and 630 cabins.
As for the Britannia cruise ship, which is visiting for the third time this year, it docked with 2,380 passengers, mostly British, and 1,398 crew members, arriving from Livorno and bound for Gibraltar. Operated by P&O Cruises, it is one of the largest cruise ships in the UK, measuring 330 meters in length and 44 meters in beam, with a displacement of 143,000 metric tons. Built in 2015, with a capacity for 4,000 passengers, it has 17 decks, half a dozen restaurants, 16 elevators, a large theater with 950 seats, as well as a casino and a gym.
Cartagena is positioned as one of the leading cruise destinations in Spain, with 75 planned calls for 2021 and more than 60,000 cruise passengers, since the first docking after the pandemic on June 17.
October and November are the peak months for cruise ship arrivals at the Port of Cartagena. On October 21st, five ships will dock with approximately 3,000 passengers. Additionally, three triple cruise ship calls are scheduled for November, on the 10th, 11th, and 16th, with approximately 2,300, 1,000, and 1,400 passengers, respectively.
To date, 34 cruise ships carrying 26,682 passengers have docked in Cartagena, playing a key role in the economic recovery of the city and the surrounding region, a sector that suffered greatly during the pandemic. This represents a definitive boost for the reactivation of tourism and a drive for closely linked sectors such as commerce, restaurants, culture, and passenger transport.
