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ARCHIVED - First cruise ship docks in Cartagena following 15-month break
Around 300 passengers visited local tourist attractions in organised “bubbles”
The first cruise ship to resume coastal cruising in Spain since Covid-19 paralysed the cruising sector docked in Cartagena on Saturday on its maiden journey around a new coastal route; the 'Mein Schiff 2', operated by TUI which made the first stop of its journey in Malaga earlier this week.
The first cruise ship to dock in the port since March 2020, arrived in the port city early with 900 passengers of German, Swiss and Austrian nationality on board.
Passengers were met by an enthusiastic welcoming committee headed up by the new Mayoress of Cartagena, Noelia Arroyo and the president of the Cartagena Port Authority (APC), Yolanda Muñoz, together with a group from the “Romans and Carthaginians” Fiestas Federation, fully costumed.
The decision of the Spanish government to permit a resumption of international cruising has given the sector the welcome boost it needed, as it had been feared that vessels docking in Spanish ports would only be permitted to visit national ports this summer.
As a result of this decision, the port authority in Cartagena now has 39 vessels confirmed for the remainder of this year, and envisages that the total number of cruise ships could even climb as high as 100 this year if the first voyages proceed without any major health scares and confidence returns to the sector.
The next vessel will arrive in Cartagena on July 14.
The cruising sector is very obviously determined to ensure that all goes well and that passengers feel fully confident in booking cruises once again, so the hygiene protocols for passengers arriving in port aim to ensure that they are kept within a protective “bubble”, as are all members of the public with whom they come into contact.
For this reason, passengers are not given free rein to explore independently as would normally be the case and are instead being carefully secured within their cruise ship bubble by participating in excursions from the ports at which the vessel stops; in this case around 300 passengers came ashore and visited local tourist attractions.
These were closed for other visitors whilst the tour groups from the ship were inside in order to maintain the protective bubble and the situation was the same when the groups went into pre-booked hostelry venues for special taster sessions of typical Murcian gastronomic products.
This does mean that local shops missed out on the sales which normally accompany cruise ship travellers, but at least the sector is once again resuming activities following the Covid-19 paralysis.
The British represent the largest market for cruise ship operators visiting Spanish ports, with 30 per cent of cruisers from the UK and 18 per cent from Germany.
Image 1: Ayto-Cartagena; 2: Polica Local Cartagena