At the closing of cruise season in 2012, the Port of Lisbon received on December 31 the Balmoral that berthed during the new year’s eve celebrations in the Portuguese capital city.
Lisbon was included on a 14 nights itinerary called “Canary Island Cruise & Christmas" that began and ended in Southampton. The Balmoral also made a call in Las Palmas on 29 December and sailed from Lisbon on January 1, heading to Oporto.
The port of Lisbon states that December 2012 will be the “best ever”. The largest number of calls and cruise passengers to date will arrive during this winter month at 24 and 40,000 respectively.
The port of Lisbon states that the month of December 2012 will be the best ever predicting the largest number of calls and cruise passengers for this month, 24 calls and about 40 thousand passengers.
These figures reinforce the last years trend of extending the cruise season through the last trimester and the reduction of the cruise seasonality. This is justified by the fact that cruise ships remain in Europe during winter, especially in the Mediterranean, instead of the reposition in the Caribbean.
The Costa Favolosa, one of 14 cruise ships that form the fleet of the operator Costa Cruises, calls Lisbon for the first time next December 2nd, during a transatlantic voyage starting in Savona, passing through Marseilles, Gibraltar, Funchal, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Recife, Maceio, Salvador da Bahia, Ilheus, Rio de Janeiro and ending in Santos.
Once again the Port of Lisbon is attending the 9th edition of Seatrade Med & Superyacht Convention which runs from 27 to 29 November, in Marseille.
Together with ports of Leixões and the Azores, the Port of Lisbon incorporates the Portugal stand, similar to what has been happening in other international events where the ports are promoted as cruise destinations.
The port of Lisbon, together with another 32 local partners, created the Lisbon Cruise Club, involving several public and private stakeholders from the different sectors of cruise activity.
During the month of October the port of Lisbon received more than 70,000 cruise passengers, carried by 49 ships. Therefore, October is the month with the highest passenger movement in the year of 2012, which corresponds to 13% of the total 520,000 passengers expected for this year.
The high movement of ships and cruise passengers during this month is similar to previous years in port of Lisbon, justified by the end of the season in the Mediterranean and the reposition of cruise ships to the American continent.
On September 29 AIDAmar the latest cruise ship from the operator AIDA Cruises called Lisbon, in a cruise that started in Hamburg, calling London, Le Havre, La Coruña and Santander. After AIDAmar spending overnight in Lisbon sailed to Cadiz, Tangier, Barcelona and to Palma de Mallorca where the cruise ended.
On the next 22st August, the port of Lisbon will welcome six cruise ships, bringing around 9500 tourists to Lisbon in one day.
In Santa Apolónia quay will berth the cruise ships Silver Cloud, Balmoral, Ryndam and AIDAaura, in Alcântara quay and Independence of the Seas, and in Rocha for a turnaround operation, the Seven Seas Mariner, and together they will carry to the Portuguese capital city around 9500 passengers.
Port of Lisbon will host 21 cruise ships throughout the month of August, which promise to fill the city with tourists. In a year that has been marked by the growth in the number of calls and passengers, August will bring more 33,000 passengers to the Portuguese capital.
