3 large vessels with a capacity to accommodate ~9000 passengers are expected to dock at Port Malaga (Spain Granada) to coincide with the city's Feria celebrations.
The first ship arrived last Friday, August 12, which coincided with the fireworks that opened the summer fair. It was the Windstar's ship Wind Surf (5-masted schooner) considered one of the world's biggest cruising sailships. The 312-passenger vessel docked at Palmeral de las Sorpresas just a few metres from the fair.
The arrival of one of the world's largest cruise liners - Anthem of the Seas (capacity ~5000 passengers) is scheduled for August 18th. Anthem OTS will arrive from Gibraltar and dock at ~7 am and will depart at ~4 pm for Valencia (Spain). The Quantum-class vessel is owned by RCI-Royal Caribbean, and is only surpassed by MSC's Meraviglia class and RCI's Oasis class.
A day later, MSC Cruises' ship MSC Orchestra is expected to dock at Malaga, arriving from Marseille (France) and docking at ~8 am, to leave for Cadiz (Spain) at ~7 pm. This is the MSC ship homeported in Malaga for the summer season.
According to data from CLIA (Cruise Lines International Association in Spain), the average spending per passenger per day in a destination is EUR 341, which represents a significant impact on the local economy.
In total 40 stopovers are scheduled to arrive at the port facilities of Malaga for the summer season, which runs from June 15 through to September 15.
From the Port Authority of Malaga, they pointed out that although the summer season was not considered one of the high seasons for cruise tourism, it consolidated the figures for the same period of 2019.
"This is not the case for passenger numbers though, since the ships still do not carry their maximum capacity, although the total reactivation is expected soon”.