The ship, belonging to the premium shipping company Azamara Cruises, will remain in our city until 2:00 p.m. It is a cruise ship with a length of 180 metres and a draft of 5.9 metres.
Around a thousand people, including tourists and crew members of different nationalities, will make tourist visits in Ceuta and its surroundings.
The Port Authority of Ceuta reports the arrival this Thursday, November 16th, 2023, of the ship ‘Azamara Onward’, which will be docked from 8:00 a.m. in the morning and will remain until 2:00 p.m. at the España Dock. The cruise comes from the port of Barcelona and will depart for Lisbon after spending a few hours in our city.
This cruise is the first to arrive in Ceuta belonging to the luxury shipping company “Azamara Cruises”. This visit shows that the port of Ceuta is also very attractive for luxury shipping companies, which look for different destinations that surprise even the most experienced cruise passengers. Specifically, this cruise takes on board passengers and crew of several nationalities and its arrival in Ceuta is the result of the hard work carried out by the Commercial and Marketing Department of the Port Authority of Ceuta with its presence in a great number of international congresses and sector events.
About 1,000 people on board between passengers and crew
The ‘Azamara Onward’ ship has the capacity to accommodate approximately 650 tourists, most of them North American and European, and around 400 crew members of different nationalities who will carry out some of the usual tourist tours around Ceuta during the time they remain in the city. From 9:30 in the morning, tourists will get off the cruise, either independently, or to take the bus excursions organized by Tourist Services, which has the usual information point next to the pier.
Plaque exchange
As usual, given that this is the first visit made by the cruise ship, a commemorative plaque will be presented to the captain of the cruise ship during a brief meeting on board.
With the arrival of this new call, which will be the last of the 16 we have received during 2023, the tourist health of the port is consolidated. Therefore, tourism has managed to reactivate despite the hard years of the pandemic that forced all activities to be suspended. It is also worth highlighting the positive result of the commercial efforts that the Port Authority has been carrying out together with Tourist Services of Ceuta, with our presence in international forums and our participation in associations for the promotion of these traffic, as well as the investments made in the Spain Dock to accommodate these ships and receive tourists who will transit through our city producing some economic benefits.
Finally, it is worth noting that, at the close of the 2023 season, the number of cruise calls in the port of Ceuta has increased by 69% compared to 2022. Likewise, the total number of passengers and crew grew by 77% (nearly 37,000 people visited Ceuta, compared to the same period last year) and 8 different shipping companies have visited us in the last 24 months.
