May will be a great month for cruise tourism in Cartagena with twenty-two ships and more than 34,000 passengers, of which twelve will arrive at the Port of Cartagena in the first week with 22,000 passengers on board.
On May 1st, the first triple port call of the year will arrive with 1,200 tourists on board, followed by three double port calls on May 4th, 5th, and 7th. These will also be the first three of seven new port calls scheduled for this month, most notably the arrival of the Disney Dream on May 19th.
Arriving from Barcelona and bound for Lisbon, the Viking Neptune, from Viking Cruises, made its maiden voyage on the 1st. It is the first ship in the cruise industry to use a hydrogen fuel system. Built in 2022 by Fincantieri, with an investment of over €400 million, it measures 227 meters in length, 28 meters in beam, and has a capacity for 930 passengers and 465 crew members.
Along with the Viking Neptune, the Star Clipper ships, from the Star Clippers shipping company, one of the most coveted luxury sailing ships on the market, which has the peculiarity that its 170 passengers can be part of the crew, and the Corinthian cruise ship, from the Grand Circle shipping company, with capacity for 100 tourists, and which will return on Sunday, May 7, returned to the Port.
On May 2nd and 3rd, two ships will make their first port calls: the World Navigator, from Atlas Ocean Voyages, marking the cruise line's first call at Cartagena, and the Celebrity Beyond, from Celebrity Cruises. May is the month with the highest number of first port calls of the year at the Port of Cartagena, accounting for seven of the nineteen we will receive throughout 2023.
On May 4, the Port will once again receive a double call with the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Explorer of the Seas, carrying 3,200 passengers, and the Celebrity Cruises ship Celebrity Reflection, carrying 3,000 passengers. The following day, the Port will welcome another double call with the Arvia, carrying 5,000 passengers, and the MSC Magnifica, carrying over 3,000 passengers. The final double call of the week will be on May 7, with the Holland America Line's Corinthian and Nieuw Statendam.
Cruise tourism is recovering to pre-pandemic levels in 2023, and Cartagena is firmly on the cruise map, thanks to the confidence of cruise lines that return year after year. Cruise traffic forecasts for 2023 predict 150 port calls and over 180,000 passengers.
