ARCHIVED - First cruise ship docks in Alicante after 15 months of paralysis in the sector

The Mein Schiff 2 carried 868 tourists and is the first of around 30 vessels to visit Alicante port this season

The first cruise ship to resume coastal cruising in Spain since Covid-19 paralysed the cruising sector docked in Alicante port on Saturday on its maiden journey around a new coastal route; the 'Mein Schiff 2', operated by TUI which made the first stops of its journey in Malaga and Cartagena earlier this week.

The first cruise ship to dock in the port since March 2020, arrived in the port city early with 868 passengers of German, Swiss and Austrian nationality on board.

The decision of the Spanish government to permit a resumption of international cruising has given the sector the welcome boost it needed, as it had been feared that vessels docking in Spanish ports would only be permitted to visit national ports this summer.

As a result of this decision, the port authority in Alicante now has around 30 vessels confirmed for the remainder of this year if the first voyages proceed without any major health scares and confidence returns to the sector.

The vessel will return to Alicante on July 10 and after leaving Alicante, continued its journey, with the next scheduled stop-off being Valencia city.

The cruising sector is very obviously determined to ensure that all goes well and that passengers feel fully confident in booking cruises once again, so the hygiene protocols for passengers arriving in port aim to ensure that they are kept within a protective “bubble”, as are all members of the public with whom they come into contact.

For this reason, passengers are not given free rein to explore independently as would normally be the case and are instead being carefully secured within their cruise ship bubble by participating in excursions from the ports at which the vessel stops.

The British represent the largest market for cruise ship operators visiting Spanish ports, with 30 per cent of cruisers from the UK and 18 per cent from Germany.