Several major cruise shipping companies, including Carnival Corporation's AIDA, Costa, MSC, RCI-Royal Caribbean, and TUI, will not be stopping in Palma de Mallorca (Majorca Island, Balearic Spain) in the immediate future.
According to CLIA's Alfredo Serrano (Cruise Lines International Association), they are diverting ships to ports in Greece, Turkey, Israel, and Egypt instead. He added the Spanish Government’s decision not to allow international vessels to dock had forced the companies to reschedule.
These passenger shipping lines have also created some new routes, including Israel-Cyprus-Greece, Turkey, and Red Sea cruises will benefit from the change in scheduled calls.
CLIA Spain said it had already asked the Spanish Central Government to authorize voyages between Spanish ports.
Serrano explained that in Spain's archipelago Canary Islands, cruises had been running since November 2020 and now other communities wanted to do the same, particularly Andalusia and Murcia.
“The shipping companies expect the Balearic Islands to enter into this dynamic as well, because they are complying with all protocols and it’s not logical to continue as if we are still in March 2020. There are guidelines set by the European Commission to reactivate cruise tourism now.”
Carnival Corporation decided to postpone cruises to Palma in June 2021, which will have a direct impact on tourist transport, trade, restaurants, excursions, and taxis in Palma and the rest of the Majorca Island.