On Saturday, June 26, the MSC's cruise ship Grandiosa arrived at Port Barcelona Spain becoming the first international liner to visit the Catalan capital since the start of the COVID crisis.
The arrival of the liner marked the restart of the cruise activity in the port city with ~2,000 cruise passengers onboard Grandiosa, mostly Germans and Italians.
The restart of cruises will be gradual, according to the Deputy Director-General of Sales & Marketing of the Port of Barcelona, Carla Salvado. Salvado added they were aware of the responsibility to ensure public health and believed that "the resumption of activity should be done when the figures for contagion and vaccination in Spain allow it."
To ensure social distancing, the capacity was limited to 70%, although Grandiosa arrived in Barcelona port with ~50% occupancy. The company's goal is ~1,000 passengers to board in the port each week in August.
Port Barcelona's health and safety protocols are established by the Ministry of Health and Sanitat Exterior. In addition to basic hygiene measures, like the use of face masks, hydroalcoholic gel and safety distance, companies are required to report on their health plan as well as ensure implementation. This includes information about the medical facilities and diagnostic capacity of the ship, but also about the procedures before embarking guests.
Port Barcelona is expected to see increased activity in the following weeks with the arrival of TUI's ship Mein Schiff 2 on June 29, Costa's Smeralda on July 5, and AIDA's AIDAperla on July 9.