The Port of Bilbao has begun a new cruise season, expecting to receive over 90 cruise ship calls at its Getxo facilities, a record number surpassing last year's 81. It also anticipates welcoming more than 150,000 tourists on board, compared to 137,477 cruise passengers in 2024.
If these forecasts hold true, these results will once again validate the investments and work carried out over the years by the Port Authority of Bilbao—with the support of public entities, tourism offices, and tour operators—to make the Basque Country an attractive destination for cruise lines and passengers. It also reaffirms the commitment to creating dedicated infrastructure for this traffic in Getxo, separate from the cargo docks, and recognizes the service provided by the numerous professionals who attend to and provide this service (pilots, tugboat operators, mooring crews, shipping agents, port operations and commercial teams, port police, security forces, etc.).
The season began on March 17th with the arrival of the Ambition, a 216-meter-long ship from Ambassador Cruise Line. It docked at 8:45 a.m., having sailed from Lisbon, and departed at 6:00 p.m. bound for Le Verdon. On board were 983 passengers and 499 crew members.
The season, if forecasts hold true, will end around the end of December with the Ambience, operated by Ambassador. May, with 19 cruises, and August, with 15, are the busiest months. Two cruise ships will also be in port on the same day approximately ten times, and three cruise ships will be in port on two separate days.
Eight cruise ships will call at this port for the first time; nine will stay overnight, and three will have significant embarkation/disembarkation operations in April, July, and September. These three cruise ships are:
- MSC Poetry by the MSC Cruises company (April). Seven-day itinerary from Bilbao: Bilbao, Southampton, Le Havre, Rotterdam and Copenhagen.
- Hapag Lloyd Europe 2 (July). Twelve-day itinerary from Bilbao: Bilbao, Gijón, A Coruña, Porto, Lisbon, Cádiz, Marbella, Ibiza, and Barcelona
- MS Vista of Oceania (September). Eleven-day itinerary from Bilbao: Bilbao, Gijón, A Coruña, Porto, Lisbon, Tangier, Almería, Cartagena, Palma de Mallorca and Barcelona.
Royal Caribbean Group cruise lines will be the most frequent visitors to the Port of Bilbao, with 26 calls. Companies such as MSC with the MSC Poesia and MSC Virtuosa; Carnival Cruise Line with the Carnival Miracle; and Disney with the Disney Fantasywill also return to this destination with several port calls. Highlights include the arrival of iconic cruise ships such as the Queen Anne from the renowned Cunard line and the Ritz-Carlton Ilma from Ritz Cruises, as well as distinctive vessels like the six ships from the French cruise line Ponant and the Japanese ship Asuka II from Crystal Cruises.
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