The portof Palamós kicks off the 2026 cruise season on the Costa Brava this Wednesday. This year, Palamós and Roses together expect to welcome 70,000 cruise passengers, about 1,000 more than last year, which would set a new record for passenger arrivals, with 74 cruise ship calls.
Furthermore, the estimated economic impact of cruise activity in the region is €6.7 million, 1.5% higher than last season. According to data from the cruise industry, each passenger who disembarks at a port of call and visits the destination spends an average of €90 in the region. An additional €6 is spent on port services. It is worth noting that the ports of Palamós and Roses are two ports of call where cruise ships dock for approximately ten hours before continuing their journey through the western Mediterranean.
This year, the ports of Palamós and Roses will welcome 17 cruise lines, and 10 cruise ships will be making inaugural calls, their first time visiting one of these two ports. The port of Palamós kicked off the season on Wednesday, March 4th, and the port of Roses will do so on Thursday, April 2nd.
The Director General of Ports of the Generalitat, Esther Roca, accompanied by the Mayor of Palamós, Maria Puig, and the Mayor of Roses, Josep M. Martínez, among other authorities and directors, has marked the start of the 2026 cruise season on the Costa Brava with the inaugural stop of the Silver Muse cruise ship.
Cruise Activity in Palamós in 2026:
The Port of Palamós began its cruise season this Wednesday, March 4th, and is scheduled to conclude it on Sunday, December 27th. The season will thus last ten consecutive months, one month longer than last year. The Port of Palamós expects to receive 67,000 passengers and 65 cruise ship calls this year, representing a 3% increase in passenger numbers compared to the previous season, with the same number of calls as last year.
74% of cruise ships will arrive during the low season, compared to 26% during the high season. In this way, cruise passengers will help diversify and reduce the seasonality of tourism in Palamós, boosting employment and contributing to the economic improvement of the municipality and its surrounding area.
This season, the Port of Palamós will welcome 13 cruise companies: Azamara, Crystal Cruises, Four Seasons Yachts, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, Marella Cruises, Oceania Cruises, Phoenix Reisen, Regent Seven Seas, Sea Cloud Cruises, Seabourn, Scenic, Silversea and Windstar.
In addition, the port of Palamós will receive eight inaugural calls from the following cruise ships: Silver Muse, Four Seasons I, Silver Shadow, Amera, Star Legend, Scenic Eclipse II, Europa 2 and Allura.
The first cruise ship of the season,
the Silver Muse, kicked off the Costa Brava cruise season this Wednesday with an inaugural stop in the port of Palamós. Authorities and representatives from Costa Brava Cruise Ports presented the ship's captain with a commemorative plaque to mark the vessel's first visit to the port of Palamós.
The ship arrived at 8:00 a.m. from the port of Palma and is scheduled to depart at 7:00 p.m. for Barcelona. The ship has 583 passengers on board, mostly British, American, Canadian, German, and Australian, and 413 crew members.
During their stay, the cruise passengers will visit the municipality of Palamós and various other locations, including excursions to Girona's old town, the medieval villages of Pals and Peratallada, and the historic center of Begur, as well as Figueres and Púbol to discover Salvador Dalí's surrealist legacy. One group of tourists will visit Pals and its rice paddies by bicycle, while another will explore the area by miniature train. A third group will participate in food and wine tours of wineries in the Empordà DO (Designation of Origin), where they will discover a wide variety of local and regional products.
This cruise belongs to the American company Silversea, a cruise line that this year will make fourteen stops in the port of Palamós with four of the ships in its fleet: Silver Muse, Silver Shadow, Silver Ray and Silver Spirit.
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