The Excellence Cruise Awards celebrate the resilience and reactivation of the sector with a grand gala in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
Article from CruisesNews magazine no. 59 – December 2021
Cruise Excellence Awards Website
The historic Hotel Santa Catalina in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria hosted the fourteenth Excellence Cruise Awards Gala, the awards of the Spanish cruise industry which, since 2008, have been presented in different locations in Spain, including port cities such as Malaga, Palma de Mallorca, Cartagena or A Coruña.
This year's edition was a very special one, which CruisesNews Media Group wanted to dedicate to the resilience and subsequent reactivation of the tourism sector most affected by the pandemic, almost two years after the industry came to a complete and sudden halt due to the coronavirus.
The event brought together top executives from cruise shipping companies, as well as cruise tour operators, shipping agents, ports and destinations, travel agents, partners, professionals, entrepreneurs and suppliers in the sector, as well as professionals from Las Palmas and the Canary Islands.
The gala began with a warm welcome from Virginia López, CEO of Cruises News Media Group, who invited some of the hosts, representing the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria City Council and the Port Authority of Las Palmas, to join her in opening the event by addressing the audience. During an entertaining gala hosted by comedian and showman Mr. Corrales, and featuring performances by the Volcandrum percussion group from Memvus Arte and acrobats Lena Delaire with her pole dance act and Alba Muñoz with her handstand, 15 awards were presented in recognition of various milestones in the reactivation of cruise tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic. The gala concluded with remarks from the Canary Islands Government's Ministry of Tourism, Industry, and Commerce, and after the Excellence Awards ceremony, guests enjoyed a pleasant dinner at the Bodegón del Pueblo Canario.
This year, given the circumstances, there were no votes or categories, but there were awards recognizing the effort, resilience, and courage shown in restoring an industry that, at the start of the pandemic, was at its peak. The award winners stood out for their resilience and for driving the sector's recovery. Several companies chose the Canary Islands as their first destination to resume operations, many continued launching new ships, while others developed protocols that served as models for the industry.
The winners at this special gala were:
Princess Cruises, for their exemplary performance during the major COVID-19 outbreak on board their ship Diamond Princess, in Japan.
The shipping agents, represented by the Spanish Association of Ship Agents, for their efforts to repatriate passengers and crew, maintain supplies on ships, their actions in ports during the pandemic and their effectiveness in solving serious problems at the right time.
Richard Fain, CEO and Chairman of Royal Caribbean Group, for exemplary professional conduct during the pandemic, with inspiring and encouraging messages to his employees, partners, and also to all members of the cruise industry.
Travel agencies, represented by the Canary Islands Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators, for their tireless work in rebooking and their actions towards end customers, all while facing the uncertainty of not knowing when the time would come to reopen their business.
TUI Cruises, for being the first cruise line to resume operations through Blue Cruises and cruises without destinations, and later with itineraries through the Canary Islands.
Celebrity Cruises, for starting its activity in Greece, one of the first destinations open to tourism, with the Celebrity Apex, its newest ship, which had been stopped for a year without being able to be inaugurated; and for being the company that owns the first cruise ship to sail in North America since the pandemic, the Celebrity Edge.
The Canary Islands Government, for its efforts in creating an effective health protocol that allowed cruise traffic to resume, being at the forefront worldwide with a protocol that served as a model for other destinations.
MSC Cruises, for successfully carrying out its first cruises to Italy in August 2020 with passengers from different European countries with negative PCR tests and organizing bubble excursions for them, followed by cruises on other ships, in addition to receiving two new ships during this time, the MSC Seashore and the MSC Virtuosa, being an example of perseverance and confidence in the future.
Costa Cruises, for creating new itineraries in Italy, promoting tourism in new regions and boosting the local economy, as well as for welcoming the new Costa Firenze, which also began operations successfully, and on the same day, December 2, the Costa Toscana.
Hapag Lloyd, for being one of the first cruise lines to resume operations sailing in the Canary Islands in December 2020, accepting British passengers in addition to its usual German customers.
Silversea Cruises, for receiving three new ships during this time: the Silver Origin, which currently operates in the Galapagos Islands; the Silver Moon, with which it celebrated an in-person christening ceremony in Athens, the first since the pandemic; and the most recent, the Silver Dawn.
Norwegian Cruise Line, through its alliance with a competitor, Royal Caribbean Group, formed the Healthy Sail Panel, composed of virology and health experts, to guide them during the pandemic and create a safe protocol to return to sailing without putting passengers or crew at risk.
Mystic Cruises, for moving forward in such a complicated time with its planned construction of 7 ships, betting on the future with the delivery of two of them during the pandemic; and for choosing the Canary Islands for the launch of the World Voyager.
The Port Authorities of Las Palmas and Tenerife, for their joint work and collaboration in welcoming ships in lay-out, repatriating or welcoming crew members and for their exemplary performance in solving the problems suffered by the ships and their crew members during this crisis.
Juan Francisco Martín Naranjo, Commercial Director of the Port Authority of Las Palmas, for his professionalism, dedication and personal values, always sharing his knowledge with generosity, kindness and willingness.
Cruise Excellence Awards
The CRUISE EXCELLENCE AWARDS are the only awards specializing in the Cruise industry in Spain that annually recognize the work of its protagonists, hand in hand with their own customers.
They are the result of a large-scale survey conducted among cruise passengers, a fact that gives special value to the results because they are the assessment of the travelers themselves.
The award ceremony was attended by around 200 people, including national and international executives from major shipping companies, ports, auxiliary industries, tourism services, travel agencies, tour operators, public administrations, press, promotional entities and cruise users.
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, host of the 2021 Cruise Excellence Awards.
The selection of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is due, among other considerations, to the progress made in the summer of 2020 with the creation and approval of the first health protocols that allowed the port to begin receiving cruise ships again in October 2020 after seven months of inactivity, making it the first Spanish port to resume operations. Thus, while most European ports remained closed to cruise tourism, the ports of Las Palmas received 206 calls between November 2020 and June 2021 with 103,500 passengers on board.
Undoubtedly, this pioneering initiative strengthened the ports of Las Palmas as a cruise port, and in the 2021-22 season a total of 661 calls are expected between the ports of Las Palmas (283 calls), Arrecife (268 calls) and Puerto del Rosario (110 calls), 18.04% more than in 2018-19 (pre-pandemic season).
This edition, promoted and sponsored by the Port Authority of Las Palmas, the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria City Council, Tourism of the Canary Islands, and the Gran Canaria Tourism Board, also had the sponsorship of State Ports and Global Ports Holding.
