On Friday, the port of Palamós (Baix Empordà) welcomed the stopover of Tui Discovery for the first time, a cruise ship with 1,713 passengers (mostly British) and 780 crew on board. The visit of this liner entailed the arrival of many tourists who visited the town of Palamós and its area of influence, such as the Dali Museum in Figueres (Alt Empordà), the medieval villages of Pals and Peratallada (Baix Empordà), Tossa de Mar and Lloret de Mar (Selva) and Barcelona, among others.
The Tui Discovery arrived at 8am from the port of Villefranche-sur-Mer (France) and at 6pm set sail for Palma de Mallorca. Coincidentally, it was in Mallorca where Thomson Cruises expanded its fleet on 10 June with the launch of the Tui Discovery. This cruise ship boasts 915 cabins, restaurants, bars, coffee shops, swimming pools, a rock climbing wall, mini-golf course, library, gym, hot tub and children’s playrooms, to name just a few of the amenities. The ship has a length of 264 metres, a beam of 32 metres and a gross tonnage of 69,130 tons.
Medium-sized ships
Thomson Cruises first docked at the port of Palamós in the 2004 season and has been calling at the Costa Brava ever since. This cruise line’s strategy has focussed on incorporating medium-sized vessels with capacity for between 1,200 and 1,500 passengers, which in turn has led to greater numbers of tourists. Over these 13 years, the cruise company has brought in 136 ships and 200,000 tourists to the port, a figure that has helped promote tourism and give an economic boost to the region.
The first liner from the Thomson cruise fleet to visit the Costa Brava was the Thomson Spirit. Then followed the Thomson Destiny, the Thomson Celebration, the Island Escape and the Thomson Dream. This season, Palamós will be receiving two of the company’s new liners, each calling at the port three times: the Thomson Majesty, who will arrive on Thursday 14 July; and the flagship Tui Discovery, who made her first stopover last Friday. This ship used to be called Splendour of the Seas and belonged to Royal Caribbean. She was bought by Thomson in 2015 and rechristened Tui Discovery this summer after an extensive refit.
